New Year's Eve is traditionally a pretty insane night to go out and deal with big crowds, crazy drivers, and expensive drinks. Staying at home for a quiet night of food, good company, and a great movie is a much better idea.
With that in mind, I have put together a list of fun movies to watch on that specific night because they either take place on that holiday or have at least one key or crucial scene that happens on NYE.
Some of these films are better than others (A LOT better than others), ranging in genre from musicals to dramas to horror movies to comedies.
So here they are, in no particular order:
This Gene Kelly musical about an American ex-GI living in Paris who finds himself in a love triangle was directed by Vincente Minnelli and co-starred Leslie Caron. It is a true classic.
The film's climax occurs at a New Year's party, where everything comes to a head, and it's remarkable.
A classic 80s slasher flick that not only features Ben Johnson and Jamie Lee Curtis (at her hottest) but was also directed by a guy who made a Bond movie and photographed by Stanley Kubrick's regular cinematographer...yeah, it's weird. It also happens to take place on New Year's Eve.
It goes without saying that Paul Thomas Anderson's extraordinary, brilliant epic covering a decade in the world of porn is a singular masterwork that is beloved by many. It also contains one of film history's best, sharpest, most heartbreaking, and prescient New Year's Eve sequences.
Here's a lovely message from Cuba: The Corleone Family wishes everyone a very Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year!
Well, um.... everyone except Fredo, that is (smooch).
This classic Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd comedy is truly an all-purpose holiday movie since it covers Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. I recommend watching it anytime between the beginning of November and the end of the year.
The New Year's Eve segment on the train is arguably the best section of the entire movie. It has many classic moments like the one featured above. And, yes, it's the second movie on this list that contains a NYE party that takes place on a train in which one of the passengers happens to be Jamie Lee Curtis.
"MERRY NEW YEAR!"
Ridiculous slasher ripoff of "Halloween" that stars Roz Kelly (better known as Fonzie's girlfriend) as a DJ trying to stop a killer before he strikes at midnight in every time zone!! Yeah, it's pretty crappy, but it is a blast to watch at a NYE party, and it has an absolutely hilarious ending.
One of the best American movies of the 60s is Billy Wilder's sublime and lovely comedy about love, ambition, infidelity, and friendship. Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray lead a terrific cast in a movie that covers the holidays and ends (with one of the greatest final lines in film history) on New Year's.
P.T. Anderson makes this list again with his extraordinary dark, gothic romance with Daniel Day-Lewis, an acclaimed dressmaker whose life and work are forever altered by his complicated relationship with his muse. One of the most beautiful sequences in the film takes place during a wild NYE party and its aftermath. It's magical stuff, truly.
A classic. One of the best of the Disaster Films of the 1970s is this all-star romp about a cruise ship that flips over and the survivors trying to get out. All of this ridiculousness takes place on New Year's Eve, and it's a Goddamn delight. Julie and I watched it last year on NYE and timed it so that the countdown to the new year in the movie corresponded with the countdown in real time as we watched. So we rang in the new year with Gene Hackman, Red Buttons, Ernest Borgnine, Shelley Winters, et al.
To watch the movie and time it with the New Year's countdown, you can start watching it at exactly 11:35:28. This will put you on time for the movie's 10-second countdown to midnight.
The best New Year's movie ever made, period.
Kathryn Bigelow's brutally gorgeous science-fiction noir epic is criminally misunderstood, underrated, and underappreciated. Released in 1995, four years before Y2K mania swept the world, it's all about what would happen when the new millennium hits. An incredible cast led by Ralph Fiennes navigates this extraordinary, mesmerizing parable loaded with intense action, shocking violence, deep emotion, and unbelievable music. It's not for the squeamish or the timid, but for those who get on board, it's an incredible ride helmed by one of the master filmmakers of her generation.
I watch it every New Year; it never fails to blow me away and become richer with every viewing.
Happy New Year, and I hope you have a great 2025...enjoy these movies.
What movies do you like to watch on New Year's Eve? Let me know at nick@nickdigilio.com or leave a voicemail at 773-417-6948
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