Pop Culture Pick: New Year Movies
For Auld Lang Syne and beyond
Welcome to Pop Culture Pick, a catch-all for subjects I want to highlight outside of the usual weekly Weekend Watch columns. In this edition, can movies help inspire a fresh start for the New Year? Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite and Threads/Instagram: @jammerwhite
I’m switching things up a little for the column this week, since tonight is New Year’s Eve. As the world (well, a large swathe of it) looks to the new year as a time of renewal and potential change –– even if certain corners feel like it might not be for the better –– I figured it’s the right time to consider the idea of movies as inspiration for change themselves. So along with a couple of New Year stalwarts, I’m also taking a look at movies that help nudge you to make some better decisions as 2025 barrels towards us…
And don’t forget that anyone who comments here, reposts or retweets the columns on social media or encourages a friend to subscribe, will be entered into a draw for some fun movie swag!
When Harry Met Sally…
Though the film isn’t set at New Year’s, one of its pivotal and memorable scenes does revolve around finding and kissing the person you’ve realised is your soulmate as the clock strikes 12. So it is for Billy Crystal’s Harry, who seeks out Meg Ryan’s Sally. Directed by Rob Reiner from an endlessly quoted Nora Ephron script, it primarily seeks to ponder the question of whether straight men and women can be friends without love/sex/whatever getting in the way. And the joy of this superb comedy drama means it can be watched at any time of the year –– though it makes for a great NYE suggestion if you’d prefer to spend the night in.
Bridget Jones’s Diary
Bridget (Renée Zellweger) is forever looking for renewal and change, logging her calorie and cigarette/booze intake as she also searches for the right man. She’s a work in progress and this 2001 movie, adapted from Helen Fielding’s columns and books by director Sharon Maguire (with Fielding working on the script alongside Andrew Davies and Richard Curtis), offers up both funny entertainment for NYE and inspiration to keep a log of what you get up to if you’re trying to alter your lifestyle. A fourth Bridget film, Mad About The Boy, will be with us on 13 February, just in time for Valentine’s Day.
Peter’s Friends
Directed by Kenneth Branagh (with script duties falling to Rita Rudner and Martin Bergman), Peter’s Friends is set at a New Year’s party as the titular Peter, played by Stephen Fry, gathers his old Cambridge acting troupe friends together. In the decade since their last performance on graduation, they’ve all embraced (or eschewed) personal growth in different ways; some are married, some are still figuring that out, and there has been love and loss. It boasts a fantastic cast, including Branagh, Rudner, Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson, Imelda Staunton, Tony Slattery and Phyllida Law, and reminds us all to stay connected to friends through the years.
About Time
Is About Time the best film Richard Curtis has written? No. But it certainly has A) New Year themes and B) an important message about cherishing the moments with the people you love, something I’ve certainly been guilty of ignoring through the years. Featuring charming performances by Bill Nighy, Domhnall Gleeson and Rachel McAdams, it’s a rom com with some deeper levels. While it does dip into Curtis-flavoured schmaltz at times, it’s one I’d still recommend.
Doctor Who: The Movie
Who says I can’t zag when you expected me to zig? This US-produced film is certainly not the best thing ever made about Doctor Who, but it carries a special place in my heart since it boasts a committed performance from Paul McGann as The Doctor. It was new Who at a time when the prospect of more seemed like a distant possibility (don’t forget, it would be nearly a decade before the first Russell T. Davies era would usher in the modern incarnation) and given that the main character literally changes with each version of themselves, there’s a message here about evolving yourself.