Cinema Roundup - January 2026: “The world had an order”
It’s been a slow start of the year with regards to my cinema-going. I was mostly sick during the first half of January, and my first outing was on January 9 to watch Greenland 2. I usually make it a point to watch something in a cinema within the first two days of the new year.
But generally speaking, January wasn’t a busy month for me at the cinema in Dubai (and Amsterdam towards the end of the month).
The films I liked:
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Nia DaCosta)
VOX Cinemas - Wafi City, Dubai
“I do remember there was a sense of certainty. The world had an order. A way about it. There were dramas and upheavals, inevitably, but the foundations, they seemed unshakable.”
I was happy to see that music by Duran Duran from the 1980s had a place in a post-apocalyptic world. Dr Kelson is a proper Gen X.
All That’s Left of You (Cherien Dabis)
VOX Cinemas - Festival City, Dubai
“I'm here to tell you who is my son, but for you to understand, I must tell you what happened to his grandfather.”
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (Mary Bronstein)
Koninklijk Theater Tuschinski aka Pathé Tuchinski, Amsterdam
“Nothing is familiar or real. Ever. Every time I feel this way I get further and further away from being in myself, and, like, I can never get back.”
Not great but had a good time:
Greenland 2: Migration (Ric Roman Waugh)
VOX Cinemas - Waf, Dubai
“You have a chance to start over again. The chance to build a better place. A better world. One led by kindness and compassion and understanding. One not just worth living in, but living for.”
Not as good as the first one.
Hell in Paradise (Leïla Sy)
Star Cinemas - Al Ghurair Centre, Dubai
“Stay away from these people.”
Babysitting in a five star island hotel resort gone wrong. Needed more Maria Bello. Rushed ending.
Primate (Johannes Roberts)
VOX Cinemas - Festival City, Dubai
"Who the fuck has a pet chimp?"
When we first see Lucy on a video call with speaker on whilst boarding her flight to Hawaii, I told myself she (and her friends) will deserve everything bad the chimpanzee will do to them later.