The 6 best movies new to streaming in November 2023

The spooky season is over, but the best movies will always be around. As Gorillaz would say: The month of November brought with it a slew new movies available on Netflix, Hulu Max and other streaming services.

This month, we’ve got the Sam Raimi horror thriller Drag me to HellNetflix has a Michael Bay thriller starring John Krasinski. Ridley Scott’s medieval action drama The Last DuelHulu now offers a Matt Damon/Adam Driver movie, while Max has added an Ernst Lubitsch directed romcom with James Stewart. If that wasn’t enough, our editor’s pick this month is Belly, Hype 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 pick

Belly

Image: Big Dog Films/Artisan Entertainment

Genre: Crime drama
Director:Hype William
Cast:Taral, DMX and Nas

Hype Williams has been a prolific director of music videos for many years. With a career spanning as far back as the early ’90s, the graffiti artist turned filmmaker has worked with some of the most genre-defining acts in hip-hop, from A Tribe Called Quest to Outkast, carving out the prevailing visual language of rap videos through his characteristic blend of canted wide-angle shots, stark saturated lighting, and slow-motion transitions. Belly, his feature debut (and only film as of this writing), is a synthesis of all these elements, resulting in a movie that taps directly into the zeitgeist of hip-hop’s mainstream ascendance.

Nas and DMX co-star as Sincere and Tommy “Bundy” Brown, two young street criminals who make their living sticking up rivals and dealing drugs in a hallucinatory version of New York. Bundy, who is a rising star in the criminal world, has a sudden change of heart. He decides to live a different life, and begins to avoid police raids. While it is possible to break the cycle, both men are faced with their own pasts and the consequences.

Instead, the co-written story by Williams and Nas is the weakest part of the film. Instead, Belly’s strengths are found in its visuals, which play out like a hallucinatory montage of music video vignettes sans music, with dark, shadowy silhouettes looming across spacious exteriors and ethereal interiors. The film was a box office and critical failure when it was released in cinemas. However, in recent years, audiences have embraced its bold aesthetic, and DMX’s performance, which was a major highlight. Belly is a genuinely fascinating time capsule of late-’90s experimental filmmaking that’s well worth experiencing. —Toussaint Egan

BellyCriterion Channel is streaming the movie.

Drag me to Hell

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

Genre: Supernatural horror
Director: Sam Raimi
Cast: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver

Sam Raimi, the horror master behind the Evil Dead series, hasn’t really made a horror movie since this underrated 2009 masterpiece, but thankfully it’s now on Netflix for you to discover.

Drag me to HellFollows Christine (Alison Lohman), who is trying to earn a promotion in her job at a bank by refusing a woman’s request for a house loan extension. Christine (Alison Lohman) is unable to impress her bank boss when she refuses to extend a woman’s loan on her home. Instead, the woman attacks and curses Christine, which causes an evil spirit to torment her.

Raimi’s movie is a deliciously mean little parable about why you should never let self-interest get in the way of helping people when it’s in your power. In typical Raimi fashion, it’s joyfully cruel, with a playfully malevolent and sinister spirit at its center that makes the whole movie a ton of creepy fun. —Austen Goslin

Benghazi: 13 hours of secret soldiers

Paramount Home Entertainment

Genre:Military thriller
Director: Michael Bay
Cast: John Krasinski, James Badge Dale, Max Martini

Listen, I get it. In 2016, I was the furthest thing from my mind to watch Michael Bay’s Benghazi movie. Turns out, I just wasn’t ready for it.

The 13-hour workday. This is a tactically tense military film about American soldiers protecting a diplomatic compound in Libya. The cast is very game – 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 displays of Bay’s technical mastery of the medium and genre.

It’s just an amazing movie So, if you want to know more about how to get started with your own business or organization, please contact us. good. It’s Bay’s best digital work, shot by Dion Beebe (Miami ViceThe colors are crystal clear and the sunlight is sharp, amidst the confusion of the attack. Sound mixing was nominated for an Oscar, and the sounds were intense. It’s an incredible technical display that feels in conversation with the chaos of Sam Peckinpah movies.

After all, The 13-hour workday. isn’t for everyone. The film can feel uncomfortable because of its source material, and the way it portrays the Libyans in Benghazi. But there is a core of sadness to the movie — Bay’s sympathies lie with individuals, not with the military industrial complex or its aims — if you’re willing to look for it. —Pete Volk

The Last Duel

20th Century Studios

Genre:Historic Drama
Director: Ridley Scott
Cast: Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer

Apparently this month I’m just picking unfairly maligned movies of the past decade. Ridley Scott’s medieval Rashomon was my favorite movie of 2021, and now that it’s on Hulu, maybe you’ll give it a fair shot, too.

The Last Duel The story unfolds from three different perspectives. A pompous, bumbling knight (Matt Damon), a smarter woman (Jodiecomer), and a squire who is accused of having raped her (Adam Driver). Each shows the events that lead to the duel from their perspective, as Ridley Scott and screenwriters Nicole Holofcener, Damon, and Ben Affleck deftly adjust major and minor details to show how different people perceive different events — without ever falling into he-said-she-said trap. It’s a delicate balance, and one the movie handles with aplomb.

Scott brings out his old weapons in the early battle scene. Gladiator toolkit. There’s also Affleck’s delightfully, ridiculously over-the-top performance as the count to whom Damon and Driver’s characters swear allegiance to. This comic relief is needed in a movie that can sometimes be very dark. If you’re looking for a thoughtful, impeccably crafted movie for grown-ups, you can do a lot worse than The Last Duel. —PV

Around the Corner: The shop

Warner Home Video

Genre:Romantic Comedy
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Cast: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Frank Morgan

Many people associate November with the beginning of Christmas. Why not celebrate the start of Christmas with one or more of the greatest movies?

From the masterful Ernst Lubitsch, this romantic comedy follows a salesman (James Stewart) and a new employee at his shop (Margaret Sullavan), who can’t stand each other. They get in frequent arguments at work, and the only thing that keeps them going through their misery is a secret love they anonymously write to — each other.

Then made into You’ve Got Mail (and The Good Old SummertimeThe original version is best. It’s endearingly sweet, uproariously funny, and a Christmas classic for good reason. You may have grown up watching Tom Hanks’ and Meg Ryan’s remake. This holiday season, treat yourself to the James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan edition. —PV

Master and Commander – The Far Side of the World

20th Century Studios

Genre: Period war drama
Director: Peter Weir
Cast: Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, James D’Arcy

Some days you feel like stepping away from the keyboard to don an admiral’s uniform, sail around on a wooden boat, fire cannonballs into pirates, and sing sea shanties. The siren song of the ocean has enchanted many people at different times.

Master and Commander The Far Side of the WorldThis blockbuster, naval adventure is delivered by Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany in a stunning performance. The crew of Captain Jack Aubrey, played by Crowe (Crowe), must endure the perils of a long voyage to win the war for king and nation during the Napoleonic Wars. If you’re looking for a grown-ass movie for grown-ass adults, Peter Weir’s epic nautical war drama is the film for you. —TE