I live on movies and TV, so consider this your guide to what’s coming and what I’m watching first.
In cinemas
A monster and a cat open the month (Nov 6). Warner Bros. moved The Cat in the Hat out of February for a longer holiday run, and it opens the same day as Godzilla Minus Zero. Bill Hader voices the Cat, with Quinta Brunson, Bowen Yang and Matt Berry in the cast. Godzilla Minus Zero is an R-rated sequel to the Oscar-winning Minus One.
Scrooge and a heist (Nov 13). Ti West (X, Pearl) directs Johnny Depp as Scrooge in Ebenezer, a PG-13 take on A Christmas Carol with Ian McKellen as Marley and Rupert Grint as Bob Cratchit. The counter-programming is How to Rob a Bank, an R-rated comedy-thriller from Bullet Train director David Leitch, with Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz and Pete Davidson. Critics have been warmest on James Gray’s Paper Tiger, with Miles Teller, Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, and Pedro Almodóvar’s Bitter Christmas, both in limited release.
The month’s biggest opening (Nov 20). The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping follows the 50th Games, 24 years before Katniss. Joseph Zada plays a young Haymitch, with Ralph Fiennes as President Snow and Elle Fanning as Effie Trinket.
Thanksgiving week (Nov 25). Disney Animation’s Hexed stars Hailee Steinfeld as a teenager with hidden witch powers. Focker-in-Law reunites Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro and Owen Wilson, with Ariana Grande joining the cast. The one to argue about is The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, with Brad Pitt returning as the stuntman from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. David Fincher directs from a Quentin Tarantino script. Netflix is giving it a two-week IMAX-only run before it streams on December 23.
What I can’t wait for : Searchlight’s Wild Horse Nine from Martin McDonagh (Nov 6) and A24’s Club Kid are both reviewing very well.
On TV and streaming
Prime:
- The Greatest (Nov 4) is an authorized eight-episode drama about Muhammad Ali, with Jaalen Best in the lead.
- The Rings of Power returns for Season 3 on Nov 11, with Jamie Campbell Bower joining as Celeborn and Simon Pegg voicing the Balrog. Four episodes drop at launch.
- Blade Runner 2099 (Nov 25) is a miniseries set 50 years after Blade Runner 2049, starring Hunter Schafer and Michelle Yeoh. All eight episodes arrive on day one.
- Madden: David O. Russell’s film, with Nicolas Cage as John Madden and Christian Bale as Al Davis, skips most theaters and lands on Nov 18.
Netflix:
- Black Doves Season 2 and North of North Season 2 both arrive Nov 5.
- The Empress ends with its third season on Nov 12.
- The Altruists (Nov 19) is an eight-episode drama about the FTX collapse, with Anthony Boyle as Sam Bankman-Fried and Julia Garner as Caroline Ellison.
- The Hunting Wives returns Nov 26.
- On the film side, Possible Love, Lee Chang-dong’s first film in eight years (Nov 6), is one of the year’s best-reviewed. Jessica Chastain’s Nashville noir thriller Heartland follows on Nov 13.
Apple, Peacock and the rest
Peacock brings a big comedy and a thriller. Dig (Nov 23) reunites Amy Poehler and Mike Schur as archaeologists at a dig site in Greece, with Hugh Laurie. All 10 episodes stream at launch. Before that, The Good Daughter (Nov 12) is a six-part adaptation of Karin Slaughter’s novel with Rose Byrne and Meghann Fahy.
Apple TV premieres 12 12 12 on Nov 13. Anthony Mackie plays an FBI agent chasing Jamie Dornan’s thief across three timelines, with new episodes weekly through Dec 25. Sian Heder’s Being Heumann, with Ruth Madeley and Mark Ruffalo, streams the same day.
Paramount+ and others. Yellowjackets returns for Season 4 on Nov 20, and the British comedy It Gets Worse arrives on Nov 6. NBC’s The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins is back for Season 2 starting Nov 2, and The Gilded Age is airing on HBO.
My picks: the movies Wild Horse Nine and How to Rob a Bank, and the TV series Dig.
And remember: one person’s masterpiece is another person’s two-hour nap
