With a new year carrying the pressure of big dreams and plans, it is easy to fall into old habits.

Addictions, despair, broken legs and ethics add obstacles to hurdles. Realistically, by mid-January most people drop their goals for no substantial reason.

From Babylon to Cruel Intentions, these films bring into perspective path-adhering tactics that awaken the shakiest resolves.

The $cience

Requiem for a Dream (2000)

Tidbit: Heroin and amphetamines increase the probability of psychoses and OCD, respectively.

If there ever was a work of art that depicted scared straight, it is this adaption of Hubert Selby Jr.’s 1978 novel. Losing youth and dreams for nothing- addiction. Harry, Marion and Tyrone love heroin more than they love the dreams of entrepreneurship, fashion and a better life. One of the scariest things seen on the screen. Harry’s mom is not denied this tragedy as her game show dreams and diet pill compulsion is closer to the reality TV shows of today with Ozempic-loving starlets. The intensity of this story accompanied by haunting music impels the biggest binge-watcher to escape regret by doing something significant with every minute of their life.

Babylon (2022)

Tidbit: In nature, adaptation to the environment is necessary for evolution and survival. This occurs through genetic mutation and lifestyle changes, such as through diet, activity and socializing.

Adapt or die screams this Damien Chazelle film. As talkies overtook silent movies, “it” girls and boys faced their mortality. Margot Robbie’s Nellie LaRoy loosely depicted the 20’s original It Girl Clara Bow (below in It 1927)- her career went out with her Jersey accent. LaRoy’s desperation to escape her circumstances led her to a place of despair. Babylon puts into perspective career navigation with a boulder-sized drop of caution. What is really bothering you about life? Pretty good question to ask when the January blues hit.

There Will be Blood (2008)

Tidbit: Ambitious Pitta-leading doshas experience high blood pressure. Cognitive impairment can occur as a result of hypertension-induced small vessel disease. Limiting negative competitive behavior reduces cardiovascular and cognitive diseases.

The title reflects the fight in, of and for Daniel Plainview. But, there is nobody by his side. Except for his money, land and oil. Adapted from Oil! (1927) by Upton Sinclair, Blood depicts how a miner capitalizes on his misanthropy. This Daniel Day-Lewis character annihilates all competition, even his unofficially adopted son. Plainview’s drive propels the entrepreneurial set to get up every day and do it despite a broken leg and scheming “brother”. Just how you do it may take a bit more of an idealist approach.

Cruel Intentions (1999)

Tidbit: The emotional attachment that bilingualism enhances does not impel naturally mean people to be less cruel.

Predating the depravity of 2023’s Saltburn, the 90’s took us on a feral ride with Witherspoon-Phillippe. Love found and lost on film and in real life, this Dangerous Liaisons remake modernized the 1782 original without giving Buffy the Vampire Slayer smallpox. No, Kathryn’s pretty petty face was saved by a white rosary. Intentions underscores the motivation of hideous human behavior: hating another person because they exposed the loser you are.

Moral of this story: It’s 2024, don’t be a vindictive asshole.

Fat Man, Little Boy (1989)

“Yet by now the problem of living with the new dangers and the new hopes is where it belongs: with the public and its officers, the governments.”

— Robert Oppenheimer, 1956

Anything with Paul Newman and science turns a movie night into a teaching moment. Over 30 years prior to Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, Fat Man depicted ‘the father of the atomic bomb’ as a labyrinthian human. The affairs, ethics and turmoil were more explosive than the bomb. This story of the science and the scientist inspires even the Elon Musks to put humanity over innovation. Hello, AI?