Can you believe it’s November already? This means it’s crunch time for the big releases hoping to cash out before the end of the year. Each week it seems there’s a new form of awards contender and a requisite blockbuster. It’s a great time to be a film fan with a tremendous amount of interesting and critically acclaimed films making official debuts this month, with some of our living greats releasing films being dubbed their best to slowly rising new talents ready to take center stage.
While some still look like potential duds, there’s more than enough on the slate to make it an exciting month jam-packed with plenty of projects that will no doubt pique your interest. Needless to say, November is shaping up for a busy month of moviegoing.
So, here’s what we’ve singled out as some of the most interesting titles of the month.
“Terminator: Dark Fate”
Cast: Linda Hamilton, Natalia Reyes, Diego Boneta, Gabriel Luna
Synopsis: Almost three decades have passed since Sarah Connor prevented Judgment Day, changed the future, and re-wrote the fate of the human race. Dani Ramos is living a simple life in Mexico City with her brother and father when a highly advanced and deadly new Terminator — a Rev-9 — travels back through time to hunt and kill her.
What You Need to Know: Adding to the ever-growing list of franchises that just will not die, the latest in the “Terminator” saga “Terminator: Dark Fate” has two immediate positives going for it. The first is that it brings back fan-favorite Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor and does so with gusto, her involvement informing most of what makes the latest a relative success. The second is the low bar that was 2015’s “Terminator Genisys,” and the hope that at the very least the Hamilton starring flick would leap over it with ease. Our critic made sure to signal out Hamilton as the ultimate and unsurprising MVP, saying, “The great and undeniable pleasure in ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’ is Linda Hamilton. Her reprisal of the role of Sarah Connor is done without any gloss of vanity…”
Release Date: November 1
“Motherless Brooklyn”
Cast: Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Gugu Mbatha-Raw Bobby Cannavale
Synopsis: Set against the backdrop of 1950s New York, “Motherless Brooklyn” follows Lionel Essrog, a lonely private detective living with Tourette’s Syndrome, as he ventures to solve the murder of his mentor and only friend, Frank Minna. Armed only with a few clues and the engine of his obsessive mind, Lionel unravels closely-guarded secrets that hold the fate of the whole city in the balance.
What You Need to Know: Edward Norton is a tremendous actor that has had an eclectic career, making it odd that he’s seemingly slid out of the limelight. Aside from some wonderful turns in his partnerships with Wes Anderson or his supporting role in “Birdman” his most notable films of the decade have been the disastrous “Collateral Beauty” and his bizarre cameo in this years “Alita: Battle Angel.” All of which is to say that it makes his high-profile return with “Motherless Brooklyn” all the more peculiar. Directing, writing, and starring in the feature film, it’s clearly a passion project for the actor, with a pulpy story based on a novel by Jonathan Lethem. Our critic found much to praise at Telluride and wrote: “‘Motherless Brooklyn’ can be really odd and definitely takes time to acclimate to. There’s definitely at least a mild air of narcissistic vanity project to it at times, as well.”
Release Date: November 1
“The Irishman”
Cast: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Jesse Plemons, Bobby Cannavale, Anna Paquin
Synopsis: This biographical crime thriller follows Frank Sheeran as he recalls his past years working for the Bufalino crime family. Now older, the WWII veteran once again reflects on his most prolific hits and, in particular, considers his involvement with his good friend Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance in 1975.
What You Need to Know: A movie that’s been decades in the making, which unites the creative forces of Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, and Martin Scorsese, and all of this was nearly eclipsed by the whole Marvel isn’t cinema nonsense. A shame, considering this is yet another tremendous entry into Scorsese’s oeuvre, a masterclass of his lifetime of work which marries all of the best parts of his best works together for one film. Even the de-aging surrealism from the trailers seemed to have gone over decently enough with critics. With a limited run before it’s debut on Netflix, our critic who saw it at the New York Film Festival sang its praises, writing “Ultimately, ‘The Irishman’ is a major success for Scorsese—not only does it incorporate the best aspects of his past crime dramas and their thrilling energy, but it adds context to those films and wrestles with their legacy resonantly.”
Release Date: November 1 (Theaters), November 27 (Netflix)
“Marriage Story”
Cast: Adam Driver, Scarlett Johannson, Laura Dern, Alan Alda
Synopsis: A stage director and his actor wife struggle through a grueling, coast-to-coast divorce that pushes them to their personal and creative extremes.
What You Need to Know: If there is but one film that at this point we’d advise you to keep your eye on going into award season, it would undoubtedly be Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” which has consistently drawn euphoric praise from critics as it’s made its rounds on the festival circuit. Both stars Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson have won raves for their work and Baumbach himself is being lauded for creating arguably his finest work today with something that’s equally biting as it is vulnerable. Our critic certainly found much to celebrate and wrote, “’Marriage Story’ feels like a massive scar for its filmmaker to look back on and thank, for a wounding sorrow that made one understand and appreciate all one ever has and experiences, suffering and all.”
Release Date: November 6 (Theaters), December 6 (Netflix)
“Doctor Sleep”
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, Kyleigh, Curran
Synopsis: Still irrevocably scarred by the trauma he endured as a child at the Overlook, Dan Torrance has fought to find some semblance of peace. But that peace is shattered when he encounters Abra, a courageous teenager with her own powerful extrasensory gift, known as the “the shining.”
What You Need to Know: With so many films premiering in November that have already been seen by critics across the multiple fall season film festivals, there are only so many that are left with giant question marks hanging over their release. “Doctor Sleep” is one of them and likely the one that fans are most cautious to get too hopeful for. A continuation of “The Shining” but now focusing on the troubled adult Dan Torrance, it’s difficult to live in a shadow that is the near-perfect Stanley Kubrick adaptation, even if it is based on Stephen King’s own sequel. Directed by Mike Flanagan who has helmed films such as “Hush,” “Oculus,” and “Gerald’s Game,” he’s now no stranger to both King’s work and building tension in manners that confront expectations in horror films. We’ll have to wait and see if “Doctor Sleep” is another strong entry or just another, soon to be forgotten King adaptation.
Release Date: November 8
