This month sees a wealth of releases for the small screen. From this year’s Oscar nominees to potential award winners of 2018, there’s a towering heap of good films available in November for whatever movie provider you’re tethered to.
New to NEON
Hidden Figures – Available now
This Oscar-nominated true story recounts how three black American women served as the brains behind several key 1960s NASA missions. “Looking for an entertaining film starring women of colour dominating an intellectual field? Then skip this review and watch Hidden Figures right bloody now.” -Liam Maguren, FLICKS (full review)
Manchester by the Sea – Available now
Writer-director Kenneth Lonergan and lead Casey Affleck both scored Oscars for this deep drama about solitude and remorse. “Ordinary, unshowy and, underneath, red raw with real feelings.” -Matt Glasby, FLICKS (full review)
Pete’s Dragon – Available now
Disney’s live-action update of the 1977 family film about a boy lost in the woods and raised by his secret best friend – a big green dragon. “Respects the intelligence of its audience while still offering up lump-in-the-throat emotional beats,” -Steve Newall, FLICKS (full review)
Split – Available now
M. Night Shyamalan thriller about three young women kidnapped by a man with dissociative identity disorder, played by 23 James McAvoys. “Too weird and entertainingly trashy to write off.” -Aaron Yap, FLICKS (full review)
Assassin’s Creed – Available now
Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard re-team with their Macbeth director for this film adaptation of Ubisoft’s colossal videogame franchise. “At least the panning shots look nice.” -Liam Maguren, FLICKS (full review)
Jackie – Available from 24 November
Academy Award winner Natalie Portman is Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy in this dramatic portrait of the First Lady. “A fascinating, high energy, character study and well worth your time if you don’t mind the emotional cost.” -Leonie Hayden, FLICKS (full review)
The Girlfriend Experience: Season Two – Available now
The call-girl series – a spinoff of Steven Soderbergh’s film – has a new season, one that takes an unprecedented narrative shift with two concurrent storylines separate from one another.
Watch it on NEON | Binge season one on NEON | Read Dominic Corry’s chat with the directors of season two
Legion: Season One – Available now
Superhero series inspired by the characters from Marvel’s X-Men comics. And no, this isn’t the series that bombed hard on IMAX screens.
Good Behaviour: Season Two – Available now
New series of the crime thriller series where con artists becomes embedded in a risky relationship with a killer.
Watch it on NEON | Binge season one on NEON
Shameless: Season Seven – Available now
With the seventh season available, you can binge the unapologetically R-rated comedy drama series.
Watch it on NEON | S1 | S2 | S3 | S4 | S5 | S6
Elementary: Season Four – Available from 29 November
The other other Sherlock series with Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu.
Watch it on NEON | S1 | S2 | S3
New to Netflix
Mudbound – Available now
Filmmaker Dee Rees adapts Hillary Gordon’s novel about racial discord after WWII. “Rees’s magic touch as a filmmaker … is powered by her ability to break her characters open one by one and reveal their souls.” -VULTURE
Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond – Available now
A deep-dive look into what happened when Jim Carrey went full Andy Kaufman on the set of Man on the Moon. “An original, unexpectedly affecting tribute to two distinctive comic performers.” -HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice – Available now
The DCEU film that came after Man of Steel but before Suicide Squad and ties into Justice League.
The Revenant – Available now
The one where Leonardo DiCaprio won an Oscar for being mauled by a bear and sleeping in a horse. “As an exercise in pure cinematic style, The Revenant is almost unprecedented,” -Dominic Corry, FLICKS (full review)
The Killer – Available now
This Netflix original, termed ‘a Brazilian western’, follows a feared killer living in the 1940s countryside.
Silver Linings Playbook – Available now
Jennifer Lawrence scored an Oscar in this mental illness romantic comedy from David O Russell, co-starring Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver. “Has signature wit, top-tier performances and a peculiar charm,” -Liam Maguren, FLICKS (full review)
How to Be Single – Available now
Dakota Johnson and Rebel Wilson are two pals trying to figure out the best way to be single in a city that never sleeps (but often sleeps around). “Nothing here will blow you away—think of this one as taking baby steps away from what’s formulaic.” -TIME OUT NEW YORK
A Christmas Prince – Available now
A reporter goes undercover and snoops on a playboy prince only to discover love.
Happy Feet – Available now
Oscar-winning family-friendly animated film about dancing penguins from the director of Mad Max: Fury Road. “Not only the year’s best animated movie, it’s one of the year’s best movies, period.” -NEW YORK POST
The Pursuit of Happyness – Available now
Chronicles the inspiring, true-life story of Chris Gardner (Will Smith) who is left to fend for himself and his son (Jaden Smith, before he grew up and started rapping about Batman). “Smith brings it. He’s the real deal.” -ROLLING STONE
Inception – Available now
Christopher Nolan’s science fiction thriller that became so popular, it turned dreams into memes. “Pretty damn-near perfect,” -Steve Newall, FLICKS (full review)
New to Everything Else
A Monster Calls – Available now
The director of The Impossible adapts the award-winning children’s fantasy novel about a bullied boy with an ill mother whose problems are put into order by a giant tree monster. “A cinematic masterwork in visualised empathy.” -Liam Maguren, FLICKS (full review)
A Ghost Story – Available from 23 November
A deceased man returns to his home as a spirit and tries to reconnect with his former lover (Rooney Mara) in this cosmic drama from David Lowery (Pete’s Dragon). “Lovely, mysterious, and cosmic.” -TIME OUT NEW YORK
A Date for Mad Mary – Available now
After a spell in prison, Mary sets out to prove she can’t get a date for her friend’s wedding in this Irish comedy. “Full, resonant, rounded and exclusively female main characters keenly coalesce harsh comedy with fervent drama.” -Maria Walls, FLICKS (full review)
War for the Planet of the Apes – Available now
The film that completes the Caesar trilogy. “It’s a fantastic finish to a brainy trilogy that favours moral dilemmas over explosions, but finds room for a few of those too.” -Tony Stamp, FLICKS (full review)
Your Name – Available now
The body-swapping fantasy drama phenomenon that took over Spirited Away to become the biggest anime ever in the worldwide box office. “Mightily impressive and immensely satisfying to watch.” -Liam Maguren, FLICKS (full review)
Neruda – Available now
Gael García Bernal plays a real-life Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet who becomes the target of a witch hunt in his own country for joining the Communist Party. “Singularly winning mixture of irony, semi-parody and powerfully moving drama,” -FILMINK
Una – Available now
Oscar nominee Rooney Mara (Carol) tracks down the man (Ben Mendelsohn, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) who sexually abused her as a teen. “A confronting, compelling drama fuelled by the lack of easy answers.” -SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
The Wall – Available now
A sniper keeps a US soldier pinned behind a wall in this one-location war thriller from Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow), co-starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson and John Cena. “A relentlessly taut thriller, a cautionary tale on the folly of starting wars you can’t finish.” -TOTAL FILM
Everything, Everything – Available from 22 November
A teenager who’s lived a sheltered life because she’s allergic to everything falls for the boy next door. “While the young-love melodrama isn’t about to entice older viewers, the target audience will swoon.” -HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
The Circle – Available now
Emma Watson lands a position at a giant tech firm run by a Steve Jobs-like Tom Hanks, but soon suspects something sinister underlying the company’s motives. “A nightmare vision of what digital culture is turning all of us into, with all of our help.” -VARIETY
Atomic Blonde – Available now
Charlize Theron leads this spy action flick from the co-director of John Wick. “I can guarantee you at least one moment of ass-kicking amazement that will make the whole film feel like it was worth seeing.” -Liam Maguren, FLICKS (full review)
Logan Lucky – Available from 22 November
Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Riley Keough and Daniel Craig star in this NASCAR heist comedy from Oscar-winning director Steven Soderberg. “Ain’t deep, but it sure is fun.” -Adam Fresco, FLICKS (full review)
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets – Available from 22 November
Cara Delevingne (Suicide Squad) and Dane DeHaan (Chronicle) lead this galactic sci-fi adventure from Luc Besson (The Fifth Element). “An expansive, expensive adventure whose creativity outweighs its more uneven elements.” -VARIETY
The Dark Tower – Available from 22 November
Idris Elba is The Gunslinger set to take down The Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey) in this adaptation of the Stephen King novel. “A hugely missed opportunity.” -Steve Newall, FLICKS (full review)
Hampstead – Available from 22 November
Diane Keaton plays a woman who helps a nature-lover (Brendan Gleeson) fight to keep his home when developers intend to destroy it. “The end result does enough to pass muster.” -Joel Hopkins, STUFF.CO.NZ
Polina – Available from 22 November
Ballet epic co-directed by French dancer/choreographer Angelin Preljocaj, starring Anastasia Shevtsova and Juliette Binoche. “Whereas dance is beautifully expressed, we don’t quite get to the heart of what drives this young woman,” -Francesca Rudkin, NZ HERALD
An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power – Available from 29 November
A decade after the release of An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore is back in this follow-up documentary. “My fervent hope is that you will go and see it before you pick a side.” -Graeme Tuckett, STUFF.CO.NZ
The Hitman’s Bodyguard – Available from 29 November
Ryan Reynolds is the bodyguard to Samuel L Jackson’s hitman in this buddy action comedy. “Engaging throughout, even when it’s dropping the ball.” -Daniel Rutledge, FLICKS (full review)
Gifted – Available from 29 November
Chris Evans plays the uncle of a gifted child he’s been left to raise. “Not your run-of-the-mill melodrama. More like an exceptional melodrama.” -SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
Girls Trip – Available from 29 November
Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah, Regina Hall and Tiffany Haddish star in this summer holiday comedy. “The funniest, filthiest and one of the most likeable films of 2017.” -Graeme Tuckett, STUFF.CO.NZ
The Beguiled – Available from 29 November
A girls boarding school takes in an injured, scheming, Civil War defector in this Cannes Best Director-winning period drama from Sofia Coppola. Stars Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning. “Engaging and dryly funny, with ironic bite courtesy of old-fashioned worldviews.” -Tony Stamp, FLICKS (full review)
Raw – Available from 29 November
Animalistic horror from French filmmaker Julia Ducournau, following a teen vegetarian who develops a carnivorous nature at veterinary school. “It’s viscous, and vicious, a twisted, oddly poignant collision of midnight-movie yucks and coming-of-age turmoil.” -Aaron Yap, FLICKS (full review)
The Book of Henry – Available from 29 November
The movie that may have gotten Colin Trevorrow kicked off the Star Wars set.
