The best movies new to Netflix, HBO Max, and Prime (November 2022)

Polygon readers: Happy November!

Now that Halloween is finished, we can move into fall and towards winter. As the leaves change, temperatures drop, new films are added to streaming services.

We’ve highlighted the best of the best of new movies on Netflix, HBO Max, Prime Video, Hulu, and other streaming platforms in November 2022. It includes outrageous action comedies, gripping thrillers, spooky horror movies, and more — if there’s a mood you’re looking for, we’ve got a movie for you.

Editor’s picks

Projet A

Image: Golden Harvest

Genre: Comedy about martial arts
Run time: 1h 45m
Director: Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung
Cast: Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao

If I’m looking for a guaranteed good time, there’s no better bet than putting on a Jackie Chan movie from this era. In the 1980s and ’90s, he was working with childhood friends Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao, consistently putting out electric action comedies that tested the bounds of action cinema as much as it did the bodies of Jackie and his fellow performers.

Historical comedy about martial arts. Projet A It is set in Hong Kong, 19th-century. Jackie plays the role of a Marine Police Sergeant trying to stop pirates.

Besides being an absolute blast, it’s a landmark movie for a number of reasons. Projet AJackie Chan Stunt Team was formed. This marked the beginning of Jackie’s legendary Jackie Chan Stunt Team. Jackie further refined his comedy style to become a more stunt-oriented, comical performer. Jackie, Yuen Biao and Sammo starred together in this movie for the first time. And the clock tower stunt (you’ll know it when you see it) remains one of the most famous from a career filled with memorable ones. —Pete Volk

Projet Astreaming on Paramount Plus.

Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow

Image by Paramount Home Entertainment

Genre: Sci-fi
Run time: 1h 47m
Director: Kerry Conran
Cast: Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie

I have an avowed affinity for retro sci-fi throwbacks and modern homages to pulp adventure serials — as is evidenced in my enduring love for shows like Batman: The Animated Series, Big Guy, Rusty The Boy RobotYou can also see films such as GattacaAnd Dark City. So it’s a wonder to me how I let a gem like Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow, director Kerry Conran’s 2004 debut, slip past me when it was first released.

Conceived by Kevin Conran (his brother), the film follows Law, a brave mercenary pilot, and Pattrow, a journalist, as they race across the globe to stop a villainous scientist terrorizing the world with an army of gigantic flying robots.

This movie is a rare example of an anomaly in its day. This sounds absurd in 2022. It is impossible for a first-time producer and director to convince a rich Italian film producer that they could bankroll a new sci-fi movie worth $70 million. Even more absurd is the idea that three of the most recognizable actors in Hollywood would be seen in the movie. Sky Captain’s innovative use of “virtual backlot” filmmaking would go on to inspire similar movies, like 300, Sin City, Casshern, and Tarsem Singh’s Inmortals. Yet, it is all true. In the future, wonders will never end.

If you’re feeling up for a rollicking fun sci-fi throwback à la Buck Rogers meets Indiana Jones, consider Sky Captain and The World of TomorrowGet your tickets to go. —Toussaint Egan

Sky Captain and The World of TomorrowYou can stream it on Prime Video.

Netflix has something new

Moneyball

Columbia Pictures

Genre: Sports drama
Run time: 2h 13m
Director: Bennett Miller
Cast:Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill and Philip Seymour Hoffman

There’s no reason Moneyball It should perform as well as it does. I say this as someone who loved the book — there is nothing cinematic about the source material. It’s a story primarily told through numbers and spreadsheets, with little focus on the kinds of characters that typically get featured in sports stories (namely, star athletes or successful underdogs).

But with a sharp script by a more restrained Aaron Sorkin, a great cast anchored by Brad Pitt and Philip Seymour Hoffman, and the wise decision to go deeper into the backstory of A’s general manager Billy Beane to inform his point of view, Moneyball is one of the better baseball movies that’s ever been made. For baseball fans, what’s happened to Major League Baseball in the years since (and particularly the way owners treat their budgets) will likely color some of the movie in different ways. But I’d argue time has only made Moneyball stronger. —PV

MoneyballNetflix has it available for streaming.

Oblivion

Image by Relativity Media/Universal Pictures

Genre: Sci-fi
Run time: 2h 15m
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Cast: Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko

With his box office success, he had risen to prominence nine years ago Maverick is the Top GunTom Cruise appeared in the first movie he acted with Joseph Kosinski. It was a sci fi action thriller set on postapocalyptic Earth.

It was established in 2077. Oblivion centers on Jack Harper (Cruise), a technician sent on a mission to secure resources for humanity’s successful colonization of the moon Titan and to fend off a horde of scavenger aliens picking through the remnants of civilization. When Harper discovers a woman (Olga Kurylenko) who mysteriously crash-lands in an escape pod, he defies the concerns of his partner Vika (Andrea Riseborough) to search for answers to not only Earth’s long-buried past, but the mystery of his own restless dreams.

Though far from an example of revolutionary storytelling, sci-fi or otherwise, Kosinski’s postapocalyptic action-adventure is a sparse yet nonetheless crowd-pleasing spectacle. As was the case with his previous film — 2010’s Tron: Legacy — Kosinski’s background as an architecture graduate results in a film that boasts a breathtaking vista shots and stunning technical art design that feels like a marriage of concept artist Ron Cobb and the epic romantic paintings of Caspar David Friedrich.

Vehicle designer Daniel Simon, who collaborated with Kosinski previously on the Tron sequel, returns to once again knock it out of the park with the design of Harper’s “Bubble Ship” — to this day one of my favorite ship designs of all-time. If you’re looking for a gorgeous, melancholy sci-fi adventure that’s light on story but heavy on vibes and orchestral synthwave music, OblivionIt is an excellent choice. —TE

OblivionNetflix has it available for streaming.

HBO Max, New

Richard III

Warner Home Video

Genre: Shakespeare adaptation
Run time: 1h 45m
Director: Richard Loncraine
Cast: Ian McKellen, Annette Bening, Jim Broadbent

Who better to incarnate the Bard’s most infamous villain on the silver screen than Ian McKellen, one of the greatest living thespians? This 1995 adaptation was made into a film. Richard III transposes the setting of the tragic historical stage play from 1471 to the 1930s, reinventing the film’s namesake into an aspiring fascist vying to usurp the throne of England for his own gain. McKellen’s performance, as can be expected, is phenomenal, breathing new life into one of the most heavily quoted and frequently portrayed characters in Shakespeare’s oeuvre with a sly magnetism and devilish glee all his own.

All of the supporting performances are fantastic, though special mention is warranted for Robert Downey Jr.’s turn as Queen Elizabeth’s short-lived brother Rivers, as well as Jim Broadbent’s role as Richard’s conniving ally the Duke of Buckingham. This version of “The Crown” is worth watching, if for any other reason. Richard IIIBecause it begins with a tank destroying King Henry VI’s office and ends with an artillery fight outside of a destroyed Battersea Power Station. —TE

Richard IIIIt is now available for streaming HBO Max.

Hulu: New!

Silent Hill

Image: Sony Pictures Entertainment

Genre: Horror
Run time: 2h 5m
Director: Christophe Gans
Cast: Radha Mitchell, Sean Bean, Laurie Holden

The videogame adaptation of the game “The Last Man Standing” is a gem. Silent Hill The movie includes some of the most memorable parts of the game. However, it adds both a sharp, but powerful, central metaphor and a shifting sense of its own horror dynamics. Austen Goslin, my co-worker said it: It rules.

None of this makes for a subtle metaphor, but in a movie that includes monsters like Pyramid Head, it probably shouldn’t be. Nonetheless, it is an effective one — and it’s one that was still largely lost on audience when the movie came out in 2006, an era dominated by post-Saw-sequel “torture porn.” Combine that with the fact that the movie took a few creative liberties at a time when the game series was still in its heyday, and it’s no surprise that this remains one of the hidden video game movie gems.

With a Silent Hill new version You’re almost done with the game, so now is the perfect time to re-visit this topic. —PV

Silent HillThis stream is now available Hulu.

Prime Video – New

Manchurian Candidate

Image by Paramount Pictures

Genre: A conspiracy thriller
Run time: 2h 10m
Director: Jonathan Demme
Cast: Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber, Meryl Streep

Tomorrow, Tuesday Nov. 8th, is Election Day here in the United States. So, what better time than this to see a paranoid political thriller concerning the manipulations of multinational corporations as well as the coercion of American democracy?

Denzel Washington star in the 2004 remake Manchurian Candidate as Bennett “Ben” Marco, a U.S. Army major plagued by disturbing recurring visions of time serving in the Gulf War. When Ben begins to suspect that Raymond Shaw (Schreiber), his former comrade and a vice presidential candidate, is being manipulated in a nefarious plot to take over America, his suspicions draw the ire of Shaw’s mother, Eleanor (Streep), a powerful senator who will stop at nothing to ensure her son’s ascent to power.

It is a combination of talented performances, skilled cinematography and visuals filled with psychological fear. Manchurian Candidate is a gripping thriller that will linger with you long after it’s over. —TE

Manchurian CandidateYou can stream it on Prime Video.

Best of the Rest

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance & Lady Vengeance

Image: Tartan Video

Genre: It’s a thrill
Run time: 2h 9m (Sympathy to Mr. Vengeance); 1h 54m (Lady Vengeance)
Director:Park Chan-wook
Cast: Song Kang-ho, Shin Ha-kyun, Bae Doona (Sympathy to Mr. Vengeance); Lee Young-ae, Choi Min-sik, Kim Si-hoo (Lady Vengeance)

The second movie in Park’s vengeance trilogy, OldboyThe most well-known and popular entry is. But the rest are equally worthy. First, Sympathy to Mr. VengeanceThe film titled “The Best of All”, is my favorite. It’s about a young factory worker, who sets out to help his sister pay for lifesaving surgery. They’re both streaming via the New York Metrograph’s at-home offerings (and Park’s newest movie, my favorite of the year, is now out in theaters). —PV

Lady VengeanceAnd Sympathy to Mr. VengeanceThese are also available for streaming on Metrograph

499

Image: La Maroma Producciones/The Criterion Channel

Genre: Docudrama
Run time: 1h 28m
Director: Rodrigo Reyes
Cast: Eduardo San Juan Breña

The year is 2021, nearly 500 years since Hernán Cortés’ conquest of the Aztec Empire. A ghostly conquistador (Breña) washes ashore on the coast of Veracruz, displaced out of time. Retracing Cortés’ route from Veracruz to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, now present-day Mexico City, the conquistador is forced to reckon with the legacy of colonialism beyond his lifetime, a legacy of real-life tragedies wrought by the failed war on drugs, ongoing humanitarian crises, and the harbinger of greater horrors to come. —TE

499You can stream it on Criterion Channel.