Christmas is over and there is still another big holiday coming up in 2023: New Year's Eve. Unlike most holidays, New Year's Eve is celebrated continuously day and night. This usually involves getting dressed up, buying some alcohol or food (or at least a few Ring Dings and Pepsi), and enduring the crush of crowds as they say goodbye to 2023 and hello to 2024.
Digital Trends has a different party in mind: a movie party. Why go out when you can stay home, log into your Netflix subscription, and hang out with cool people like Timothée Chalamet, Julia Roberts, or Jennifer Lawrence? The following list includes films from genres such as science fiction, thrillers and comedies, as well as newly released titles and classics from the 80s and 90s. It's the perfect way to celebrate New Year's Eve, and it's pretty cheap too.
Are you looking for something different? Check out the best movies on Netflix, the best shows on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime, and the best movies on Disney+. For Netflix fans, check out the 10 most popular movies on Netflix right now.
No Hard Feelings (2023)
Macall Polay/Sony Pictures/Sony
Macall Polay/Sony Pictures/SonyAlready excited for summer? The best way to relive the sunny season is with Jennifer Lawrence and Netflix. One of the funniest summer comedies to come out last year was No Hard Feelings. The film focuses on Maddie Barker (Lawrence), who is on the verge of losing her childhood home after failing to pay property taxes and accepts a wealthy couple's offer to take her introverted teenage son Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman, new to films) to deflower a Broadway veteran).
Yes, “No Hard Feelings” is rough and more than deserving of the R rating, but it’s also surprisingly sweet and at times touching. Lawrence and Feldman have good chemistry, and the bittersweet ending will leave you feeling great as you welcome 2024.
The Murderer (2023)
Image via Netflix
Image via NetflixOne of the best films of 2023 was David Fincher's noir thriller The Killer, starring two-time Oscar nominee Michael Fassbender and Oscar winner Tilda Swinton. The plot follows the title character, who embarks on an international manhunt after a botched attack in Paris.
Cool and stylish, The Killer is aimed at action movie fans who enjoyed John Wick: Chapter 4 or one of Fincher's previous works such as Se7en or Zodiac. Fassbender shines as the titular assassin, whose tone-deaf performance gives the film a nice comedic kick. Unexpected, bitingly funny and wild, and with the electrifying moments that make action films truly timeless, The Killer is sure to become a modern classic.
Field of Dreams (1989)
Universal images
“If you build it, he will come.” Everyone knows that line, and almost everyone knows it was uttered in Field of Dreams, the ultimate dad movie if there ever was one. Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) is an Iowa corn farmer who receives a mysterious message while walking through his field. A menacing voice says, “If you build it, he will come.” Ray then sees a picture of Shoeless Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta).
Despite his financial hardships, Ray plows part of his field and builds a baseball diamond. The field becomes a playground for the ghosts of famous baseball players, who begin playing games at night. However, Ray realizes that baseball is only the first step as the voice takes him on a cross-country journey of self-discovery.
Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)
Universal images / Universal
Universal images / UniversalThe original Ouija movie isn't good, but Origin of Evil is the rare prequel that's actually better than the original. In 1967, when a woman decides to improve her séance act, she accidentally calls upon real dark spirits. When one of her daughters is possessed, she must fight to save her child and send the spirits back to the realm from which they came.
Despite being a by-the-numbers plot, the sharp direction of Fall of the House of Usher's Mike Flanagan makes the film unsettling in a way that most horror films fail to achieve. It's a really scary movie and a really scary way to ring in the new year.
The Imitation Game (2014)
The Weinstein Company
Oppenheimer was one of the most popular and critically acclaimed films of 2023. It's not on Netflix yet, but if you want something like that, The Imitation Game should be right up your alley. Like Oppenheimer in the United States, England treated Alan Turing unfairly and unkindly after World War II. Turing also played a crucial role in tipping the war in the Allies' favor by cracking codes at Bletchley Park during World War II.
Directed by Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Turing, a British mathematician and computer scientist hired to work for the British government in 1939. Because of his interest in cryptography, Turing and a team of cryptanalysts are tasked with deciphering the Enigma machine, the cipher device the Nazis used to send secret messages. With an intriguing premise, great performances from Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, and a competent Oscar-winning screenplay, The Imitation Game is a clever World War II thriller that should satisfy fans of Oppenheimer and historical thrillers.
Leave the World Behind (2023)
Netflix
If you're more in the mood for vague films that might be about the end of the world, we have just the right film for you. Leave the World Behind, an adaptation of Rumaan Alam's 2020 novel of the same name, stars Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke as Amanda and Clay, a couple on vacation on Long Island. But their vacation takes a turn when two strangers (Mahershala Ali and Myha'la) arrive in the middle of the night seeking refuge from a cyberattack. In their small refuge, the four people have to deal with a world that is quickly collapsing around them.
Leave the World Behind is already one of the most popular Netflix films ever and is pleasingly absurd. As always, Roberts is great and Hawke once again displays a boyish charm that made him one of the most pleasant and reserved actors around. Just leave your common sense and your Tesla at the door.
Dune (2021)
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.Dune: Part Two will be released later in 2024, so now is a good time to rewatch the original, one of the best modern science fiction films. On Arrakis, the most important planet in the Galactic Empire, Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac) has been given the nearly impossible task of making peace with the native Fremen while maintaining the flow of spice that allows humanity to travel in space. But when House Atreides is betrayed by the Emperor and handed over to rivals House Harkonnen, Leto's son Paul Atreides (Wonka's Timothée Chalamet) and his mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) must flee for their lives into the unforgiving deserts of Dune.
Only three years old, Dune still packs a visual and emotional punch, and the cast, which also includes Jason Momoa, Zendaya, Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem and Dave Bautista, is even more impressive now that they've starred in hits like Spider have -Man: No Way Home and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in recent years. Dune is a great way to transport yourself to another world without ever leaving the comfort of your home.
Reptile (2023)
Kyle Kaplan / Netflix
Ignored when it was first released last year, Reptile is an intense crime thriller that never lets the audience get too attached to the main character, Detective Tom Nichols (played by Benicio del Toro). In the film, a young woman named Summer (Matilda Lutz) was killed and her body was discovered by her boyfriend Will Grady (Justin Timberlake, taking a break from singing pop songs). And it seems as if several men in Summers' life have done harm to her, including Grady himself.
As he continues to investigate the case, Nichols shares some details with his wife, Judy (Clueless star Alicia Silverstone). But even Nichols' relationship with Judy may not be what it seems, as he is forced to reexamine his own life and search for answers that could bring a murderer to justice. “Reptile” is a great example of lead actor del Toro being an ideal noir hero: conflicted, brooding and ever so slightly dangerous.
Stand By Me (1986)
Columbia Pictures
Columbia PicturesThis film is aimed at anyone who feels nostalgic or wants a good coming-of-age film. Stand by Me, one of the best Stephen King adaptations of all time, is set in 1959 in Castle Rock, Oregon. After 12-year-old Gordon “Gordie” Lachance (Wil Wheaton, before appearing on Star Trek: The Next Generation), and his friends Chris Chambers (River Phoenix), Teddy Duchamp (Corey) learn where the body of a missing boy is Feldman) and Vern Tessio (Jerry O'Connell) decide to find the body in hopes of being recognized as heroes.
Along the way, they encounter aggressive dogs, really bad bullies, and some snails that appear in the most unlikely places. Unlike most of King's works, “Stand By Me” is not about the supernatural; Instead, it's about something far scarier: growing up and learning to let go. The final five minutes represent one of the greatest movie endings of all time, and will have you humming the theme song well into 2024.
My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)
TriStar
Everyone laments the decline of the romantic comedy, but why complain when one of the genre's classics is right in your Netflix queue? Julia Roberts is both the heroine and villain in My Best Friend's Wedding, a unique take on a classic tale in which the girl wants the boy even though he's engaged to someone else. Roberts' Julianne Potter tries to stop her best friend Michael O'Neal (Scream VI's Dermot Mulroney) from marrying sweet Kimmy Wallace (Cameron Diaz), even though they seem perfect for each other.
Unlike most romantic comedies from the '90s, “My Best Friend's Wedding” still holds up today, in part because it's not afraid to get a little nasty. Roberts does some pretty shady things, but her actions are somewhat justified. The film is famous for its Chicago locations and Cameron Diaz's karaoke scene, but the best sequence by far is the spontaneous sing-along to Dionne Warwick's “I Say A Little Prayer.”
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