Movies Update: The Golden Globes are coming

Plus, what our critics are looking forward to in 2025

View in browser|nytimes.com January 3, 2025 By Mekado Murphy Hey, movie fans! I hope your holidays were happy. And now back to our regularly scheduled awards season blitz. Next up is the Golden Globes, which airs Sunday night on both CBS and Paramount+ (with a subscription upgrade). The musical "Emilia Pérez" leads the pack with 10 nominations, while the epic period drama "The Brutalist" follows with seven. You can join us live Sunday to get caught up on the latest from the ceremony. In the meantime, you can follow along as this year's host, Nikki Glaser, works out her monologue. Over the break, a few new movies hit the multiplex. Maybe you caught up with one or two, like the Bob Dylan biopic "A Complete Unknown," which the critic Manohla Dargis called "an enjoyably easy-listening and -watching fiction." Or maybe you saw the new version of "Nosferatu," from Robert Eggers, which the critic Wesley Morris called "a vampire movie that feels configured to our renewed attraction to the strong man." (Read an interview with Eggers and watch a one-shot scene narrated by the director.) Or perhaps you sought out the Nicole Kidman erotic drama "Babygirl." In her review, Dargis wrote that Kidman's performance "exposes a raw vulnerability that can be shocking." These all make for an eclectic number of choices at the theater right now. But if you want to jump ahead, our critics let us know what they are looking forward to in 2025. Take it all in. Happy New Year and enjoy the movies! Macall Polay/Searchlight Pictures 'A Complete Unknown' Review: Timothée Chalamet Goes Electric The actor stars as a young Bob Dylan, who woos folk followers only to betray them later at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. By Manohla Dargis Niko Tavernise/A24 'Babygirl' Review: Nicole Kidman Takes Control Nicole Kidman bares body and some soul in a story about a married woman who enters a dominant-submissive affair with a younger man. By Manohla Dargis Focus Features 'Nosferatu' Review: Drac's Back, Sucking Blood and Souls The director Robert Eggers dares you to feel seduced in his take on the classic vampire tale, starring Bill Skarsgard and Lily Rose Depp. By Wesley Morris Hailey Heaton for The New York Times Nikki Glaser Wants to Kill as Host of the Globes. Is She Overthinking It? To refine her monologue for Sunday's show, she relied on two writers' rooms and 91 test runs. Then came the fickle audiences and a crisis of confidence. By Jason Zinoman CRITICS' PICKS Netflix Critic's Pick 'Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl' Review: It's Alive! In Nick Park's latest charming stop-motion animated film, the inventor-beagle team discovers the joys and dangers of technology. By Manohla Dargis Amazon MGM Studios Critic's Pick 'The Fire Inside' Review: When the Fight Isn't in the Ring The story of the boxer Claressa Shields could have been just another sports movie. Directed by Rachel Morrison and penned by Barry Jenkins, it's much more than that. By Alissa Wilkinson Paramount Pictures Critic's pick 'Better Man' Review: The Boy in the Band The singer Robbie Williams's caustic, often vulnerable narration is the melody that enriches this musical biopic's otherwise familiar beats of pop stardom. By Jeannette Catsoulis Taha Ahmad/Metrograph Pictures Critic's Pick 'Santosh' Review: When Justice Isn't Just An Indian widow becomes a police officer in this crime drama that offers searing social critique. By Alissa Wilkinson Janus Films Critic's Pick 'Vermiglio' Review: Remote Rites of Passage During World War II, life changes for a family in a Northern Italian mountain village when a Sicilian stranger arrives. By Ben Kenigsberg MOVIE REVIEWS Joshua Salzman/MCDC Media Courthouse Documentary Collective Documentary Lens 'The Last Republican': Sometimes Political Opposites Really Can Talk This film about Adam Kinzinger, the politician of the title, benefits from the involvement of the progressive filmmaker Steve Pink. By Alissa Wilkinson Vertical 'The Damned' Review: The Very Deep Midwinter A bleak if repetitive thriller centers on a 19th-century Icelandic fishing outpost and a moral quandary. By Alissa Wilkinson Netflix 'Don't Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever' Review: Matter Over Mind A documentary tracks the tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson's efforts to follow a hyper-regimented body care system. By Ben Kenigsberg Watermelon Pictures 'From Ground Zero' Review: An Inside View of Gaza This collection of 22 shorts by Palestinian filmmakers presents on-the-ground accounts of life and death that might otherwise be ignored. By Nicolas Rapold Neon '2073' Review: Back to the Future Asif Kapadia's documentary-fiction hybrid film, starring Samantha Morton, visualizes a dystopian San Francisco. By Natalia Winkelman ANATOMY OF A SCENE Aidan Monaghan/Focus Features Anatomy of a Scene How Nicholas Hoult Navigates a Transylvanian Village in 'Nosferatu' The director Robert Eggers narrates a one-shot sequence from his film. By Mekado Murphy NEWS & FEATURES Oyow What Our Critics Are Looking Forward to in 2025 "Severance" is finally back for its second season, three New York art museums are set to reopen and ballet goes extreme. By James Poniewozik, Zachary Woolfe, Jon Pareles, Jason Farago, Gia Kourlas, Jesse Green, Salamishah Tillet, Mike Hale, Alissa Wilkinson, Amanda Hess, Jason Zinoman and Maya Phillips Josefina Santos for The New York Times The Projectionist The Sacrifices of Zoe Saldaña The actress is known for big franchises. "Emilia Pérez" is a big shift: "I was doing it for me, and for a long time, I stopped doing things for me." By Kyle Buchanan Janus and Sideshow Films One Indelible Scene: Yearning and Loss in 'All We Imagine as Light' A mysterious rice cooker and a rainstorm combine to convey what a woman doesn't speak of. By Manohla Dargis Mubi One Indelible Scene: A Battle of Gazes in 'The Substance' In the brawl between Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley's characters, the images that loom over them prove the most telling. By Alissa Wilkinson James Mangold/Searchlight Pictures What Do Dylanologists Think of 'A Complete Unknown'? The writer Lucy Sante and the podcast host Ian Grant, both Bob Dylan experts, dissect the director James Mangold's biopic starring Timothée Chalamet. By Marc Tracy Christine Tamalet/Mubi; Iglesias Más/El Deseo, via Sony Pictures Classics; Universal Pictures 'Wicked' Green, 'Room Next Door' Red and 'Substance' Yellow: It's a Bold Season Some potential contenders were especially vivid. Production and costume designers explain the conundrums they faced and their surprising solutions. By Sarah Bahr STREAMING RECOMMENDATIONS Cinephobia Releasing Five Horror Movies to Stream Now This month's picks include a killer in a Mickey Mouse mask and a thriller that goes to extremes. By Erik Piepenburg Elizabeth Morris/Prime Video The Best Movies and TV Shows Coming to Disney+, Amazon, Apple TV+ and More in January "On Call," "The Traitors" Season 3 and "Star Trek: Section 31" are arriving. By Noel Murray Michael Tackett/Warner Brothers Pictures Stream These 11 Titles Before They Leave Netflix in January A bunch of great titles depart this month for U.S. subscribers, including a few beloved TV series and several acclaimed comedy and horror movies. By Jason Bailey Matt Kennedy/Netflix The Best Movies and TV Shows Coming to Netflix in January January will see a deluge of new titles to the streamer for U.S. subscribers. Here's a roundup of the best and most promising. By Noel Murray How are we doing? We'd love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to moviesupdate@nytimes.com. Like this email? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up here. Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for Movies Update from The New York Times. To stop receiving Movies Update, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings. To opt out of updates and offers sent from The Athletic, submit a request. 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