The spooky season is over, but good movies are forever. To paraphrase Gorillaz, November has arrived and it’s brought a slew of new movies to stream on Netflix, Hulu, Max, and more.
This month we have the horror thriller Sam Raimi Drag me to hell and a Michael Bay action thriller starring John Krasinski on Netflix. Medieval action drama by Ridley Scott The last duel starring Matt Damon and Adam Driver comes to Hulu, while Max adds a classic Ernst Lubitsch-directed rom-com starring James Stewart. If that’s not enough, our editor’s pick this month is BellyHype Williams’ divisive yet transcendent crime drama starring Nas and the late DMX.
Let’s dive in and see what this month has in store!
Editor’s choice
Belly
Image: Big Dog Movies/Craft Entertainment
Genre: Crime drama
Director: Hype Williams
Form: Nas, DMX, Taral Hicks
Hype Williams is one of the most prolific music video directors of all time. With a career dating back to the early 1990s, the graffiti artist turned filmmaker has worked with some of hip-hop’s most genre-defining acts, from A Tribe Called Quest to Outkast, developing rap’s mainstream visual language . videos through its signature mix of tilted wide-angle shots, stark, saturated lighting, and slow-motion transitions. Bellyhis feature debut (and only film at the time of writing), is a synthesis of all these elements, resulting in a film that taps directly into the zeitgeist of hip-hop’s mainstream rise.
Nas and DMX star as Sincere and Tommy ‘Bundy’ Brown, two young street criminals who make their money by challenging rivals and dealing drugs in a hallucinatory version of New York. As Bundy climbs her way through the criminal underworld, evading police raids and making deals in Jamaica, Sincere begins to change her mind and chooses a different way of life instead. However, escaping the cycle of violence and injustice is easier said than done, as both men face the consequences of their past in pursuit of a better future.
The story, co-written by Williams and Nas, is far from the film’s strongest element. Instead of, Belly‘s strengths lie in its visuals, which play out as a hallucinatory montage of music video vignettes without music, with dark, shadowy silhouettes looming over spacious exteriors and ethereal interiors. The film was a critical and commercial bomb when it premiered in theaters, but has become a cult favorite among audiences in the decades since for its bold aesthetic and a star-making performance from DMX, who was just weeks away at the time of the release. the second of his first two albums to top the Billboard 200. Belly is a truly fascinating time capsule of late ’90s experimental filmmaking that is definitely worth experiencing. —Toussaint Egan
Belly is available to stream on Criterion Channel.
Drag me to hell
Image: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Genre: Supernatural horror
Director: Sam Raimi
Form: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver
Sam Raimi, the horror master behind the Evil Dead series, hasn’t really made a horror film since this underrated 2009 masterpiece, but luckily it’s now on Netflix for you to discover.
Drag me to hell follows Christine (Alison Lohman), a woman who tries to get a promotion at her banking job by denying a woman a loan extension on her house. However, instead of impressing her boss, Christine is attacked and cursed by the woman, causing an evil entity to follow and torment her.
Raimi’s film is a wonderfully wicked parable about why you should never let your self-interest get in the way of helping people when it’s in your power. In typical Raimi fashion, it’s gleefully cruel, with a playfully evil and sinister ghost at its center that makes the whole film a lot of creepy fun. —Austen Goslin
1 p.m.: Benghazi’s secret soldiers
Image: Paramount Home Entertainment
Genre: Military thriller
Director: Michael Bay
Form: John Krasinski, James Badge Dale, Max Martini
Listen, I get it. When this movie came out in 2016, the last thing I wanted to do was watch a Michael Bay movie about Benghazi. It turns out I just wasn’t ready for it.
13 hours is a thrilling tactical military film about soldiers defending an American diplomatic compound in Libya. The cast is very good – John Krasinski is fine in the lead role, but character actors James Badge Dale, Max Martini and Pablo Schreiber all excel in supporting roles – and it’s one of the best expressions of Bay’s technical mastery of the medium and genre.
The film looks normal So Good. It is Bay’s best digital work, created by Dion Beebe (Miami Vice) with crystal clear colors and sharp sunlight amid the chaos of the attack. The sounds are also intense and compelling (deserving an Oscar nomination for Sound Mixing). It’s an incredible technical display that seems in conversation with the chaos of Sam Peckinpah films.
At the end of the day, 13 hours is not for everyone. The source material makes the film uncomfortable at times, especially its distance from the Libyans who actually live in Benghazi. But there’s a core of sadness in the film – Bay’s sympathies lie with individuals, not the military-industrial complex or its goals – if you’re willing to look for it. —Piet Volk
The last duel
Image: 20th century studios
Genre: Historical drama
Director: Ridley Scott
Form: Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer
Apparently this month I only choose unfairly maligned films from the past decade. Medieval by Ridley Scott Rashomon was my favorite movie of 2021, and now that it’s on Hulu, maybe you’ll give it a fair chance too.
The last duel unfolds in three perspectives: a pompous knight buffoon (Matt Damon), his smarter wife (Jodie Comer) and the squire accused of raping her (Adam Driver). Each shows the events leading up to the duel from their perspective, while Ridley Scott and screenwriters Nicole Holofcener, Damon and Ben Affleck deftly adjust details large and small to show how different people perceive different events – without ever getting into he-said-she to expire. – said Val. It’s a delicate balance, one that the film handles with aplomb.
The duel is fantastic, as is an early fight sequence where Scott gets to bring out some of his old self Gladiator toolbox. There’s also Affleck’s delightful, ridiculously over-the-top performance as the Count to whom Damon and Driver’s characters swear allegiance. It provides some much needed comic relief in what can be a very dark film. If you’re looking for a thoughtful, impeccably made adult film, you could do a lot worse The last duel. —PV
The shop around the corner
Image: Warner Home Video
Genre: Romantic comedy
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Form: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Frank Morgan
For many people, November marks the start of the Christmas season. Why not ring in one of the best Christmas movies ever made?
This romantic comedy from the masterful Ernst Lubitsch follows a salesman (James Stewart) and a new employee in his store (Margaret Sullavan), who cannot stand each other. They regularly get into fights at work, and the only thing that keeps them going through their misery is a secret love they write to anonymously: each other.
Realized later You’ve got mail (And In the good old summer, a musical by Judy Garland), the original is the best version of this story. It’s endearingly sweet, hilariously funny and a Christmas classic for good reason. If you grew up on the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan remake, do yourself a favor this holiday season and check out James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan’s edition. —PV
Master and commander: the other side of the world
Image: 20th century studios
Genre: Period war drama
Director: Peter Weir
Form: Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, James D’Arcy
Sometimes you just feel the urge to step away from your keyboard, put on an admiral’s uniform and sail on a big wooden ship to shoot cannonballs at pirates and sing sea shanties. Who among us hasn’t felt enchanted by the siren of the ocean?
Master and commander: the other side of the world speaks to this desire for adventure on the high seas and delivers a blockbuster maritime period piece, anchored by a pair of great lead performances courtesy of Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany. Captain Jack Aubrey (Crowe) and his crew hunt the French privateer ship Acheron and must endure the perils of their long voyage to achieve victory on behalf of king and country during the height of the Napoleonic Wars. If you’re looking for an adult film for mature adults, Peter Weir’s epic nautical war drama is the film for you. -AT