November film preview: Family dramas, fantasy blockbusters, and swords and sandals kick off the holidays

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Thanksgiving may promise a bounty on the dinner table, but the multiplex still looks bare. Continuing this year’s theme, our November film preview features another relatively light month at the movies. Still, it’s quality over quantity, and if you ignore Red One, the $250 million attempt at turning Christmas lore into a Marvel movie, some fascinating films are coming out this month. Clint Eastwood returns with a tight-looking legal thriller perfect for chilly days, and Robert Zemeckis returns with his most formally ambitious movie (and potentially disastrous) movie in years. Plus, the Wicked Witch Of The West takes flight, and Moana sets sail. Are you not entertained? Don’t fill up on sides; there’s still plenty of popcorn this November.

A Real Pain (November 1)

Cast: Kieran Culkin, Jesse Eisenberg, Will Sharpe

Director: Jesse Eisenberg

Jesse Eisenberg takes a step behind the camera for the second time with A Real Pain, crafting a movie that couldn’t look more suited for Eisenberg. As the uptight cousin of Kieran Culkin, Eisenberg tries his best to keep a leash on his pot-smoking, shit-stirring relative as they retrace their family history on a tour of Poland. Coming off his lauded performance as Roman Roy on Succession, Culkin is white hot and ready to make Eisenberg’s life a living hell.

Blitz (November 1)

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Elliott Heffernan, Harris Dickinson, Paul Weller

Director: Steve McQueen

Someone needs to rescue Steve McQueen from streaming. A decade after 12 Years A Slave won him an Oscar, McQueen is disappearing into the Apple TV vortex with Blitz, a World War II epic starring Saoirse Ronan, Harris Dickinson, and legendary singer-songwriter Paul Weller. The movie looks like the grandest and most lavish of McQueen’s productions. It also looks like his most conventional and cliche. Luckily, it’s coming to Apple TV+ after a shrug of a theatrical release, so maybe it’ll make for an excellent post-dinner drama.

Here (November 1)

Cast: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Jeremy Johns, Paul Bettany, Kelly Reilly, Robin Wright, Eric Roth, Michelle Dockery, Jonathan Aris, Andrew Golov, Thom Zadra

Director: Robert Zemeckis

We might be in the minority here, but this is the kind of ambitious project that could, maybe, bring out the best in Robert Zemeckis. A movie shot from one angle, in one location, with de-aged movie stars is the kind of gambit that made Cast Away, a movie about a man talking to a volleyball, such an unexpected success. Granted, Zemeckis is a quarter century removed from Cast Away, his last creative peak. But a sentimental version of A Ghost Story shot from a single angle is a compelling enough premise to make us wonder, could Here actually be good?

Juror #2 (November 1)

Cast: Nicholas Hoult, Zoey Deutch, J.K. Simmons, Toni Collette

Director: Clint Eastwood

Cable better clear space on Saturday afternoons for more Eastwood. Juror #2 promises a classical, if ludicrous, legal thriller starring Nicholas Hoult as a man in the unenviable position of sitting on the jury for a crime he may have committed. The trailer hints at the 94-year-old director’s fears that we’re locking up too many abusive husbands as murderous jurors walk the streets, which should shake up the discourse surrounding the movie. Even if the trailer posits an ugly premise, it still looks plenty entertaining and fits neatly into Eastwood’s strengths as a director. Also, what a relief the near century-old director won’t worry us by getting on a horse.

Small Things Like These (November 8)

Cast: Cillian Murphy, Emily Watson, Michelle Fairley, Eileen Walsh

Director: Tim Mielants

Cillian Murphy’s Oppenheimer follow-up takes audiences to 1980s Ireland for an adaptation of Claire Keegan’s award-winning novel. As a coal merchant trying to keep his wife and young daughters fed, Murphy uncovers a secret about the local convent threatening to upend his meager life. Small Things Like These looks like the intense drama one would expect from an actor fresh off an Oscar. Murphy, who also produced, is working with longtime collaborator, director Tim Mielants (Peaky Blinders, Wil), so it’s something close to the actor’s heart.

Christmas Eve In Miller’s Point (November 8)

Cast: Michael Cera, Maria Dizzia, Francesca Scorsese, Elsie Fisher, Ben Shenkman, Sawyer Spielberg, Gregg Turkington, Laura Robards, Delancey Shapiro, Matilda Fleming

Director: Tyler Thomas Taormina

Before we get to the big Christmas event film of the month, the season’s greetings begin with Christmas Eve In Miller’s Point. Armed with a sprawling cast of alt-comedians, character actors, and the children of master directors, Miller’s Point promises a Wet Hot American Summer-style throwback comedy to the seasonal hits of yesteryear. With hints of A Christmas Story and Christmas Vacation, Miller’s Point glows with offbeat yuletide cheer. Who doesn’t want to unwrap a buddy cop comedy starring Michael Cera and Gregg Turkington this holiday season?

Bird (November 8)

Cast: Barry Keoghan, Franz Rogowski, Nykiya Adams, Jason Buda, Franki Box, Jasmine Jobson

Director: Andrea Arnold

Andrea Arnold’s latest again sees the director scooping up one of Hollywood’s brightest young leading men and covering them with stick-and-poke tattoos, giving the crust punk treatment to Barry Keoghan. Something of a spiritual successor to American Honey, Bird stars Keoghan as a young, bicycle-riding father named Bug, living with his daughter Bailey and her brother Hunter in an English squat. The movie follows Bailey as she finds adventure in lieu of fatherly attention, with Arnold adding her lyrical grace notes that have made her work so powerful.

Emilia Pérez (November 13)

Cast: Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, Mark Ivanir, Édgar Ramírez

Director: Jacques Audiard

One of the most lauded and divisive movies out of Cannes, Emilia Pérez is a surreal musical crime comedy about a cartel leader faking her death to find her true self. So, yeah, setting up a clear premise right up top is a strong move, but that’s not all. With the help of a stuck-in-a-rut lawyer (Saldaña), Emilia’s musical fantasia of self-discovery enters the realm of the surreal. Wicked, this ain’t. It’s the type of movie we wish to see in a theater, but, get this, Emilia Pérez will be buried in Netflix’s algorithm this November.

Red One (November 15)

Cast: Chris Evans, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, J.K. Simmons, Lucy Liu, Bonnie Hunt, Kiernan Shipka, Nick Kroll

Director: Jake Kasdan

Come on. This is clearly a fake movie. No one would ever suspend north of $200 million on a Santa Claus kidnapping movie that went years over schedule, despite The Rock’s best efforts to save time by pissing in water bottles. Nevertheless, we must indulge. Red One is somehow not the sequel to The Rock’s Red Notice but rather an action comedy about the Santa Claus mythos. Chris Evans plays the world’s greatest tracker, hired by Santa’s security detail to find the big guy and his sleigh (“Red One”) in time for Christmas. But wait, there’s more! “Kiernan Shipka is Gryla.”

Heretic (November 15)

Cast: Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East

Director: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods

Firmly in his “freak-show era,” Hugh Grant has been on a career hot streak for the last 15 years, particularly with regard to his villain work. Roles in Cloud Atlas and Paddington 2 allowed him to weaponize that English charm, turning his bumbling affectations into something sinister. With Heretic, he goes full, mask-off monster, playing a scented-candle-loving killer with a penchant for young Mormons. Heretic’s marketing has shrouded the movie’s plot in mystery, but the fairy tale elements we do see give this thriller a fantastical bent. Is Hugh a minotaur, and are these missionaries trapped in his labyrinth? It’s starting to appear so!

Gladiator II (November 22)

Cast: Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Denzel Washington

Director: Ridley Scott

Continuing his drop grenades and run era, Ridley Scott has taken another $200 million of studio money to make whatever he damn well pleases. After the ups and downs of House Of Gucci, The Last Duel, and Napoleon, it doesn’t seem likely that Scott will give anyone what they want, only what Scott wants, on this long-awaited follow-up to the 2000 Oscar-winner. That said, the trailer promises a Gladiator sequel with movie stars and up-and-comers. Denzel is putting this dress on, these rings, he’s going crazy. What more could we ask for?

Wicked (November 22)

Cast: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode, Jeff Goldblum

Director: Jon M. Chu

Of all the films coming out this month, Wicked might be accompanied by the biggest question mark. It’s based on the beloved Broadway musical, but, like many musicals these days, Wicked hasn’t been upfront about its characters breaking into songs. If you’re unfamiliar with the musical, the CG-heavy Wizard Of Oz prequel offers memories of Oz The Great And Powerful we’d like to forget. Is a Wizard Of Oz prequel about Wicked Witch Hogwarts going to connect? More importantly, will it get its expected sequel?

Moana 2 (November 27)

Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Auli’i Cravalho, Nicole Scherzinger, Rose Matafeo, Rachel House, Dana Ledoux Miller, Alan Tudyk, Temuera Morrison, David Fane, David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda

Director: David G. Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, Dana Ledoux Miller

The sequel to Moana was almost a multi-part TV show. However, Disney was so impressed by the show’s quality that the Mouse House gave it a theatrical run. No one should wonder how retrofitting a six-episode TV show into a two-hour movie might affect said quality. Still, we’ll enjoy Disney admitting that streaming and theatrical are unequal while we can. (One makes money!) Nevertheless, the whole gang, including Cravalho, The Rock, and Alan Tudyk, are back. Is it time to reconsider the coconut? Perhaps it is.

Queer (November 27)

Cast: Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey, Jason Schwartzman, Lesley Manville

Director: Luca Guadagnino

Thus far, Luca Guadagnino’s second sex odyssey of the year has been sold on how graphic the sex is. But, if we may, we’re excited to see how drunk and pathetic Daniel Craig gets. He’s in dire straits in the only clip currently available for Queer. Queer is based on William S. Burroughs’ novel and sees Craig play an American expat who becomes infatuated with a Navyman played by Starkey. Guadagnino doesn’t need to put out another one of the best films of the year, but if he did, we wouldn’t mind. We’re still whirling from Challengers, after all.

The Seed Of The Sacred Fig (November 27)

Cast: Soheila Golestani, Missagh Zareh, Mahsa Rostami, Setareh Maleki

Director: Mohammad Rasoulof

Mohammad Rasoulof’s latest thriller, The Seed Of The Sacred Fig, follows an investigating judge whose gun goes missing during Tehran’s political protests. But while the job offers a higher salary and a better life for his family, the judge soon learns that he’s wanted more for signing off on death sentences than actually adjudicating. Made with actual footage of protests suppressed by the Iranian government, the movie’s release coincided with Rasoulof being sentenced by the Islamic Republic to eight years in prison. He has since fled to Germany.

September 5 (November 29)

Cast: Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, Ben Chaplin, Leonie Benesch, Benjamin Walker

Director: Tim Fehlbaum

Following in the tradition of Munich, Tim Fehlbaum’s September 5 tells the story of the first televised act of terrorism, the Munich Massacre, from the perspective of the ABC Sports control room. From this vantage, the film dramatizes the attack at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, wherein two members of the Israeli Olympic team were killed, and nine were held hostage by the Palestinian militant group Black September.