Ready for the restart? These twelve films provide new perspectives for the start of the year.
It’s been a long time since people hoped so much that their New Year’s wishes would come true. Our streaming tips at the beginning of the year give hope and new perspectives for 2024.
1. “A Long Way Down”
Available to rent and purchase on Amazon, iTunes and GooglePlay
Moderator Martin (Pierce Brosnan), politician’s daughter Jess (Imogen Poots), single mother Maureen (Toni Collette) and courier JJ (Aaron Paul) want to leave the old year behind them – and their lives at the same time. When the four strangers happen to find themselves on the chosen high-rise roof at the same time, they make a pact instead of throwing themselves off the roof. They want to look after each other until Valentine’s Day and try to get their lives back on track with the help of their new friends. A resolution that requires a lot of discipline!
2. “It’s all a matter of time”
Available to rent and buy on Amazon, Netflix and Sky
Made stupid mistakes? Didn’t keep your resolutions again? Simply turn back time and start again. What is often considered a desirable solution to all problems is a reality for 21-year-old Tim (Domhnall Gleeson). Dating mishaps and faux pas that Tim makes when getting to know Mary (Rachel McAdams) are simply undone and erased from his memories. But intervening in small, everyday things has an even more dramatic impact on a shared future.
3. “Go!” – Sex, Drugs & Rave’n’Roll”
Available to rent and purchase on Amazon and iTunes
Would you like to go out again? The episodic early work of director Doug Liman (“The Bourne Identity”, “Mr. & Mrs Smith”) ensures exuberant 90s charm, which impresses with story twists and an unbeatable soundtrack by Fat Boy Slim, Air and Massive Attack. Katie Holmes (“Dawson’s Creek”), Sarah Polley (“Dawn Of The Dead”) and Timothy Olyphant (“Justified”) plunge into an unforgettable night of partying full of drugs, music and rash decisions that turn their lives upside down that night place. Consequences? Nonsense, a new day begins tomorrow!
4. “Peter’s Friends – Friends are the best enemies”
Available to rent and purchase on Amazon and iTunes
Celebrating the New Year with old friends can only mean a good start: In this mistaken belief, Peter (Stephen Fry) invites his old university friends to his property to reminisce and relive bygone times. But the group has lost the lightness of youth as it gets older. Marital problems, unspoken confessions and Peter’s secret hang in the air and make for a painfully honest New Year’s Eve that none of the invited guests expected. Finest British (tragic) humor with Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Hugh Laurie and Imelda Staunton.
5. “Something from there”
Available to rent and purchase on Amazon and iTunes
Debts, trouble with the neighborhood boss and one last celebration: the old year ends pretty badly for club boss Oskar (Niklas Bruhn). While his event is in full swing, the noose around his neck gets tighter and tighter, because the patience of Hamburg’s debt collectors is no longer than the fuse on a New Year’s Eve rocket. Based on the cult novel of the same name by Tino Hanekamp, Jakob Lass (“Tiger Girl”) implements the zeitgeist of the book with full force: loud, excessive and the image of a generation that wants everything, fails spectacularly and still doesn’t give up.
6. “The Amazing Life of Walter Mitty”
Available to rent and purchase on Amazon, Netflix and iTunes
With his fifth directorial work, Ben Stiller (“When in Doubt, Happy”) escapes into a fantasy world that makes life a little more bearable. Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller) is an introvert, subject to harassment from his boss (Adam Scott) and unhappily in love with colleague Cheryl (Kristen Wiig). With the assignment of finding a famous photographer (Sean Penn) in Greenland, Mitty sets off on his first big adventure in which the boundaries between fantasy and reality become blurred. A journey begins for him in which the empty spaces in his everyday life are finally filled with life and courage is the best souvenir.
7. “Silver Linings”
Available to rent and purchase on Amazon and iTunes
The Oscar favorite from 2013 not only shines with an exciting cast including Bradley Cooper (“A Star Is Born”), Jennifer Lawrence (“Mother!”) and Robert De Niro (“Joker”), but also shines with bitter truths, that no one likes to hear. If you want to eliminate mistakes, you have to go back to the beginning: for the former teacher Pat (Cooper), this means returning to his hometown after a stay in the sanatorium. When he meets Tiffany (Lawrence), who is also mentally broken and a nymphomaniac, a silver lining seems to appear on the horizon. However, the hope for a normal life comes with a lot of work and discipline. Characteristics that are foreign words to Pat.
8. “PS I love you”
Available to rent and purchase on Amazon, Netflix and iTunes
Let go, say goodbye, start again. What sounds so easy is even harder when true love is involved. With her tragic romance novel “PS I Love You,” Cecelia Ahern provided the template for the film of the same name, in which Hilary Swank (“Away”) as Holly struggles with the death of her lover. Her life comes to an end when she receives the first of twelve letters from her deceased friend – with instructions on how to fill her everyday life with happiness again. For Holly it’s the first step into a new adventure that will be both a farewell and a new start.
9. “Away We Go – Off to Somewhere”
Available to rent and purchase on Amazon, GooglePlay and iTunes
Before his breakthrough as “Jack Ryan” and director of the horror surprise “A Quiet Place”, John Krasinski was considered a popular sidekick in comedy formats such as “The Office”. Unobtrusive, charming and funny in his own way. The right mix for the uprooted Burt, who sets off across the USA with his pregnant partner Verona (Maya Rudolph) to find a new place for their own home. However, visits to parents, friends and relatives show the young couple that the definition of happiness and partnership is not a fixed concept. They have to discover for themselves what they are looking for and wanting for themselves. Tragic and heartfelt: After his Oscar-winning work “American Beauty”, director Sam Mendes proves that he has a knack for bittersweet stories.
10. “Eat Pray Love”
Available to rent and buy on Amazon, Netflix, Sky Ticket and iTunes
Julia Roberts (“Erin Brockovich”) searches for meaning in Ryan Murphy’s (“The Prom”) pastel world: The mid-life crisis has hit Elizabeth (Roberts), who is in her mid-thirties. She has everything she ever wanted, but still feels unfulfilled. In order to come to terms with herself, Elizabeth tears down all bridges to her old life and tries to find new vitality on a culinary trip through Italy and a detour into the religious world of India. Love is the reward for your efforts on Bali’s beautiful beaches. The biography of the same name by author Elizabeth Gilbert is considered the unofficial bible of all the restless people who are looking for inner fulfillment in their lives.
11. “Hidden Figures – Unrecognized Heroines”
Available to rent and purchase on Amazon, GooglePlay and iTunes
In 1961, the USA was well on its way to a breakthrough in space travel. When it comes to views on racial equality, the country lags significantly behind. A difficult time for the three African-American NASA mathematicians Katherine (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy (Octavia Spencer) and Mary (Janelle Monáe) in which their skills are fundamentally less valuable than those of their white colleagues because of their skin color. When the space race against the Soviets threatens to fail, the extraordinary women have a unique opportunity to take a stand against racism and mark the beginning of a new era.
12. “Tomboy”
Available to rent and purchase on Amazon and iTunes
A new city, a new environment. For Laure (Zoé Heran), who feels like a boy inside, moving with her parents offers the opportunity to fulfill a long-held wish. She wants to take on a new identity as Michael and find friends. Fighting, playing football and the tender feeling of first love: a true dream comes true for Michael in the new place. But the facade cracks when Laure’s parents get wind of their daughter’s double life. Director Céline Sciamma tells the story of the difficult desire to be different in a sensitive and light way.