Best Movies Streaming in January 2026: ‘Smashing Machine’ and More

Dwayne Johnson earned career-best reviews for his dramatic transformation into UFC fighter Mark Kerr in Benny Safdie’s “The Smashing Machine.” The movie was named a Variety Critic’s Pick: “Johnson, shifting his whole aspect (he seems like a new actor), invests that silent, moody, hidden side of Mark with a quality of mystery. He gives an extraordinary performance, playing Mark Kerr as a gentle giant with demons that will not speak their name, yet the audience can feel them there; we want to see those demons healed.”

Rose Byrne has emerged as a formidable Oscar contender for best actress after profitable honors from the New York Film Critics Circle, the National Board of Review and more. She headlines “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” as a spiraling mom struggling to help her sick little one and her personal sanity. From Variety’s review: “Byrne is brilliantly unhinged in a chaotic maternal-meltdown drama. Writer-director Mary Bronstein sees something in Byrne the industry missed, casting the ‘Damages’ star as a woman overwhelmed by life in an alternately exhilarating and maddening Safdie-like indie… Delivering a feverish, raw-nerve performance sure to go down as one of the year’s greats, Byrne has never had a role even remotely this intense to prepare us for the emotional acrobatics her writer-director has in store.”

Jared Leto’s “Tron: Ares” struggled at the box workplace with $142 million worldwide, however more viewers are more likely to uncover its pulse-pounding thrills on Disney+ when it begins streaming. Directed by Joachim Rønning, “Ares” facilities on dueling firms who’re decided to deliver digital creations into the real world. The supporting forged consists of Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Jodie Turner-Smith, Hasan Minhaj, Arturo Castro, Gillian Anderson and returning “Tron” star Jeff Bridges. From Variety’s review: “The latest installment’s best ideas compete with director Joachim Rønning’s fetishistic focus on classic Tron mythology, which looks and sounds great in Imax 3D.”

Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone’s latest collaboration “Bugonia” hit Peacock at the tail end of December, that means January is the pitch-black comedy’s first full month of availability on streaming. Jesse Plemons performs a conspiracy theorist who kidnaps Stone’s CEO under the impression that she is an alien. The movie earned practically $40 million at the worldwide box workplace in the fall.

“Bugonia” was named the fourth best film of 2025 by Variety movie critic Owen Gleiberman: “Lanthimos’s wild and woolly kidnap drama is a violent, hate-fueled, thrillingly warped act of cinematic screw-tightening. It’s also rooted in a humanity that sneaks up on you… For a while, it’s like watching ‘Misery’ restaged as a riveting culture-war two-hander. But Stone and, especially, Plemons keep deepening their characters. (He does a piece of acting that’s like tragedy on the high wire.) And the trick ending has a blow-you-away power that’s worth a dozen doomsday dystopias.”

Netflix kicks off its authentic 2026 movie slate with what is bound to be a streaming hit with “People We Meet on Vacation,” based on the massively well-liked Emily Henry e book that has bought more than 2 million copies and spent 69 weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers listing. Per the movie’s synopsis: Poppy (Emily Bader) and Alex (Tom Blyth) “have been unlikely best friends for a decade, living in different cities but spending every summer vacation together. The careful balance of their friendship is put to the test when they begin to question what has been obvious to everyone else — could they actually be the perfect romantic match?”

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck reunite as soon as again for the Netflix authentic action thriller “The Rip,” directed by Joe Carnahan. The supporting forged options Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Sasha Calle, Néstor Carbonell, Lina Esco, Scott Adkins and Kyle Chandler. The movie’s official logline reads: “Upon discovering millions in cash in a derelict stash house, trust among a team of Miami cops begins to fray. As outside forces learn about the size of the seizure, everything is called into question — including who they can rely on.”

Toni Servillo was awarded the Volpi Cup for best actor at the Venice Film Festival this 12 months for his performance as fictional Italian president Mariano De Santis in “La Grazia,” the latest from “The Great Beauty” Oscar winner Paolo Sorrentino. Per the official synopsis: “As his term draws to a close, amid uneventful days, two final duties arise: deciding on two delicate petitions for a presidential pardon. True moral dilemmas, which become tangled, in ways that seem impossible to unravel, with his private life. Driven by doubt, he will have to decide. And, with a deep sense of responsibility, that is exactly what this remarkable Italian President will do.”

One 12 months after breaking out at the Sundance Film Festival, James Sweeney’s twisty comedy “Twinless” arrives on streaming by way of Hulu. Sweeney stars alongside Dylan O’Brien as two younger males who meet at a twin bereavement help group and forge an unlikely friendship. Each finds the other fills their lacking half, and they grow to be inseparable. But as the friendship expands, it turns into evident that each are holding secrets and techniques, some of them darkish and harmful.

Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa headline Prime Video’s action “The Wrecking Crew,” in which they star as two estranged half-brothers who’re compelled to reunite after their father’s mysterious dying. As they set out to uncover the fact, buried secrets and techniques resurface and loyalties are examined, unveiling a conspiracy that can tear their household aside. The movie is directed by “Blue Beetle” helmer Angel Manuel Soto and also stars Claes Bang, Jacob Batalon, Stephen Root and Morena Baccarin.

James Bond is now owned by Amazon, however that’s not stopping the 007 assortment from hitting Netflix. Starting Jan. 15, Netflix subscribers in the U.S., German-speaking nations, France, Latin America and a number of other territories can watch the most latest Bond film “No Time to Die” in addition to “Die Another Day,” “Quantum of Solace” and “Skyfall” and more for a three-month interval. 

“Minding the Gap” Oscar nominee Bing Liu directs Prime Video’s soulful adaptation of Atticus Lish’s 2014 novel. Starring Sebiye Behtiyar and Fred Hechinger, “Preparation for the Next Life” is ready in New York City and facilities on the blossoming romantic relationship between a Uyghur migrant and an American soldier. From Variety’s review: “Bing Liu makes his fiction debut with a superbly acted drama chronicling the unstable relationship between an undocumented woman and a U.S. Army vet with mental health issues.”

Judd Apatow’s two-part Mel Brooks documentary “The 99 Year Old Man!” explores “the life, career, friendships and loves of legendary writer, director, producer and performer Mel Brooks. One of Hollywood’s most daring satirists from the early years of television sketch comedy through his film and stage hits, Brooks has held a funhouse mirror up to the human condition and used laughter as a path to resilience, connection and joy for nearly a century.”

“I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not” is a certified however unfiltered documentary on comedy legend Chevy Chase. Directed by two-time Emmy Award winner Marina Zenovich, whose work consists of “Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic” and “Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind,” the movie “brings viewers into Chase’s inner world through interviews with his family, friends and co-stars, revealing what is beneath the surface of his bravado.”

Chad Hartigan’s “The Threesome” stars Zoey Deutch, Jonah Hauer-King and Ruby Cruz in the story of a younger man whose sudden threesome results in two pregnancies. From Variety’s review: “Hartigan classes up a bawdy premise in a frisky comedy about a carefree sexual encounter with a lasting impact.”

Don’t be shocked for those who see the action thriller “Stone Cold Fox” climbing the Netflix charts this month contemplating subscribers often devour lower-profile action thrillers. Starring Kiernan Shipka, Krysten Ritter and Kiefer Sutherland, the Sophie Tabet-directed movie is ready in 1986 and follows a younger lady who breaks out of an abusive commune only to have to show again round and infiltrate it when her little sister is kidnapped. 

Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” is now streaming on Max because it enters Oscar season as certainly one of the greatest frontrunners for best image. The director’s last directorial effort, “Licorice Pizza,” arrives again on Netflix this month just in time to maintain the PTA streaming going. Cooper Hoffman performs a captivating teen who turns into smitten with Alana Haim’s wayward younger lady. The film was nominated for Oscars for best image, best director and best authentic screenplay. 

“Emily in Paris” favourite Lucien Laviscount jumps to Hulu this month as the star of the action thriller “Safe House,” which facilities on six federal brokers who develop suspicious of 1 another after they’re compelled into hiding amid a Los Angeles terror assault. Is the perpetrator already among them? The supporting forged consists of Hannah John-Kamen, Ethan Embry, Lewis Tan, Holt McCallany and Adam Levy,

Evan Ari Kelman writes and directs the crime thriller “Barron’s Cove,” which makes its exclusive streaming debut on Paramount+ this month. Garrett Hedlund leads the movie as a grieving father who decides to kidnap a boy after the courtroom system fails to apprehend the particular person chargeable for his son’s dying. The supporting forged consists of Hamish Linklater, Brittany Snow, Christian Convery, Tramell Tillman, Raul Castillo and Stephen Lang.

The Rihanna-headlined “Smurfs” film earned $124 million at the worldwide box workplace last 12 months and is now turning into accessible to stream on Prime Video this month at no additional value to subscribers. From Variety’s review: “It feels perfect for these PG times. But though it may be the best of the Smurfs movies, it still puts the innocuous in innocence… ‘Smurfs’ is the first Smurfs movie I’ve seen — and I’ve seen them all, because I do this, dear readers, so you don’t have to — that’s explicitly modeled on ‘Trolls,’ the 2016 fairy tale that I think is one of the five most inspired animated films of its decade.”