October had some hits, but November is the biggest month of the year for hit movies. While Bond will likely take the top spot, there are about a half-dozen other films I’d spend my money on.
November 6 – Kill Your Friends
Starring: Nicholaus Hault, Craig Roberts, Rosanna Arquette, Tom Riley, James Corden
While the premise of this movie doesn’t really push any hot buttons for me – a movie starring a grown man version of Nicholas Hault does. You loved him as Beast in Days of Future Past, and Nux in Mad Max: Fury Road (collective orgasm noise from the audience), but this version of Hault is just as weird. Based off a 2008 John Niven novel, Kill Your Friends explores the ridiculousness of the music industry, and what it takes to stay alive. It could be interesting, but it reaches for a similar demographic that Spectre draws in; are you really going to miss out on Bond to see this? I didn’t think so. – Sherif
November 6 – Spectre
Starring: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris
It’s pretty rare when a James Bond movie strings a plot throughout more than one movie, but that is exactly what Spectre is doing. Tying in the story line of all of Daniel Craig’s Bond movies, Spectre pits Bond against the organization SPECTRE, last seen in 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever. Other than how the story has been plotted out, I’m most excited for another Bond movie. The explosions, the cars, the gadgets… it’s just damn cool. And I have wanted to hate Christoph Waltz again for a while now. His performance in Inglorious Basterds was the epitome of evil and seeing him in films as a good guy, while great, is just not the same. – Adrian
November 6 – The Peanuts Movie
Starring: Noah Schnapp, Bill Melendez (archival recordings), Hadley Belle Miller
Did somebody order a feel-good movie?? One that closes the gap between several generations? Charlie Brown and Co. have always been relevant, but the only thing parents have to show their kids are the old Holiday-themed ones from yesteryear. I’m a bit leery of this remake. There’s a decent chance that it will be too corny to incite nostalgia from adults, and too dated for kids to be relevant, but it’s guaranteed to be worth some laughs. The key might be to not walk into the theater expecting something revolutionary, but rather making you remember the simplicity of what made you laugh ages ago. Although, I’m still not on board with a DJ Khaled song making the trailer. – Sherif
November 6 – Trumbo
Starring: Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, Louis C.K., Elle Fanning, John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg, Helen Mirren
You say Bryan Cranston, I say “how high?” The Heisenberg has been on a tear lately, portraying 50’s icons – first by playing Lyndon B. Johnson on Broadway, and now with his title role in Trumbo. Trumbo is based off the story of Dalton Trumbo, a famous Hollywood screenwriter and novelist in the late 1940’s during the Communist witch hunts of America’s post-war paranoia. Instead of adhering to the government’s wishes, he basically flipped them the bird and continued to write classic works like Spartacus and Exodus even though we was openly blacklisted. It’s not my top (or even top 3) choice for the weekend, but it looks like a solid informative biopic. – Sherif
November 6 – Spotlight
Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Michael Keaton, Stanley Tucci, Liev Schreiber, Billy Crudup
Say your Hail Marys; Jesus can’t save the Catholic Church from Mark “F*cking” Ruffalo and the Boston Globe! Honestly, this is a story that needed to be told, and it’s full of headlining actors that push it from being a B-list lame documentary into a movie that people might actually give a crap about – and they should. Not even the infallible Pope Francis can stop this holy shitstorm from hitting theaters. – Sherif
November 13 – Entertainment
Starring: Tye Sheridan, Michael Cera, John C. Reilly, Lotte Verbeek
Let’s make a bold prediction. Entertainment will receive rave reviews. It’ll be considered genius and multi-layered and all the other fancy shit that Academy Award movies get called, but nobody will watch it. It won’t make sense to most of the world, and people will find it hilarious in a non-obvious, cathartic way. Basically like a Wes Anderson movie that takes itself too seriously. The movie’s focus is on small-time showbiz, but I think your focus should be on other movies. – Sherif
November 13 – By the Sea
Starring: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie
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Some may call it narcissistic, but just based off the preview By the Sea looks quite beautiful. Angelina Jolie Pitt’s project (she wrote and directed) stars herself and her hubs Brad Pitt. The film follows a couple who is trying to save their relationship by going on a vacation. It obviously doesn’t end well; however, it does look like a great character study on relationships, people with addictions, and the fine line between love and hate. The two lovers haven’t starred in a movie together since Mr. and Mrs. Smith; this will be a far cry from the comedy. So far the reviews aren’t great. I am still really interested because I find their love incredibly elusive. I just hope this doesn’t turn into Tom and Nicole’s Eyes Wide Shut. – Adrian
November 13 – Heist
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Kate Bosworth, Morris Chestnut, Dave Bautista, Gina Carano
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For a moment there, I thought Robert de Niro was really going to accept that he’s an old man now. With movies like The Intern and the upcoming Dirty Grandpa, I thought he was aging gracefully into Morgan Freeman-like roles, but Heist looks like a bunch of cliché garbage that needed to come out solely to keep budgets up for next year. The cast is likable enough, although Morris Chestnut has been in just about one Tyler Perry movie too many to be considered muscle for the bad guy. Seriously, get out of my face, Heist. You’re embarrassing yourself. – Sherif
November 13 – The 33
Starring: Antonio Banderas, Lou Diamond Phillips
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If a group of sweaty coal miners is your thing, then boy are you going to love The 33. For those of you living under a rock – sorry, that was in poor taste – in 2010, a group of Chilean miners were trapped in a collapsed tunnel for over two months. Everybody got out alive. To be fair, it was a miracle. BUT, to be fair to me as a movie-goer, this does not seem like it would translate into a good movie at all. I’m glad they all survived, but screw going to watch a movie about how they did it. – Sherif
November 20 – Love the Coopers
Starring: John Goodman, Diane Keaton, Marisa Tomei, Amanda Seyfried, Olivia Wilder, Ed Helms, Anthony Mackie
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Holiday ensemble movies are a staple in Hollywood, and very rarely do they actually translate into anything timeless, let alone enjoyable. Here, though, I’m hopeful. Reason #1: John Goodman is at the top of my “Celebrities I Wish Were My Grandparent” list. Reason #2: There are funny people of all ages, not just the “main couple” of people to carry the comedy. Reason #3: Olivia Wilde is in it. I like Olivia Wilde. My wife has an unhealthy obsession with Olivia Wilde. The film doesn’t try to hide the dysfunctional family, but rather celebrate it. Love the Coopers might suck, but at least it will suck with good intentions. – Sherif
November 20 – The Night Before
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogan, Anthony Mackie, Lizzy Caplan, Jillian Bell, Michael Shannon, Mindy Kaling
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Now that I think about it, I’ve never seen JGL actually cut loose in a movie. He’s always actually acting – weird, huh? This movie smells a lot like a Christmas-themed This is the End, but simplifies the equation with actors that already mesh well together. Reuniting Seth Rogan with Joseph Gordon-Levitt (50/50, the funniest cancer movie ever), and adding in the most harmless token black guy (sorry, Anthony Mackie), The Night Before looks to join the rare breed of original adult comedies in an era crowded by adaptations and franchises. – Sherif
November 20 – The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Natalie Dormer
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I can’t believe the Hunger Games saga is finally at an end. Get ready for a lot of heartbreak, folks, because the end of the third book is full of it. Primarily focusing on the infiltration of District 13 into the Capitol, there is no going back for Katniss and crew – no more safe points. It’ll be a welcome change of pace from the other movies, and a good way to send the franchise out with a bang. Weird to think that the first movie debuted only 3 years ago; it feels like it’s been forever. So many crappy book-to-movie adaptations have come out in that time. Well, get your handkerchiefs out and sit down with somebody you love to watch the sun set on one of the most epic movie franchises of the decade. – Sherif
November 20 – Secret in Their Eyes
Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts, Dean Norris
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I’m sorry, but I burst into tears laughing when I think of any character Julia Roberts plays committing murder in cold blood. Now that Sandra Bullock has successfully stolen any role that Roberts would be typecast for, maybe it’s time to turn over a new leaf. Secret in Their Eyes follows a detective who quit the force when one of the victims she found turned out to be her own daughter. Then she tracks down the killer and is forced to deal with the morality of whether or not to murder him… Welcome to the most recycled plot point in a cop show ever. Pass. – Sherif
November 25 – Legend
Starring: Tom Hardy, Tom Hardy, Emily Browning, Christopher Eccleston, Paul Bettany
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Tom Hardy plays twins Ronnie and Reggie Kray, who together ran an organized crime ring in London in the mid-1950s. The “based on real life events” thing comes into play and sort of spoils the ending here – both were arrested and served out life sentences in prison, but that doesn’t mean that a ton of crazy crap happen along the way. Hardy is one of the best character actors around (don’t believe me? Check out Bronson), and I’m sure he’ll do a splendid job playing the homicidal paranoid schizophrenic Ronnie. Crime, violence, and Tom Hardy. I’m in. – Sherif
November 25 – The Good Dinosaur
Starring: Raymond Ochoa, Jack Bright, Sam Elliott, Anna Paquin, Steve Zahn, Jeffrey Wright
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It’s an entertaining-looking movie based off a cliché concept: what if dinosaurs were still alive when there were humans? Any time I hear a new “dinosaurs + humans” concept, I start thinking about a reboot of We’re Back, the greatest human-dinosaur movie of all time. However, this is a Pixar movie, and we all know that Pixar movies are on a whole other level visually and in the feels department. It’s movies like this that will make dinosaurs cool again. It’s a buddy movie starring a young Apatosaurus and his pet human (THERE’S a twist). There’s a much larger cast, but it seems as though the movie revolves around these two. – Sherif
November 25 – Creed
Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Slyvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson, Wood Harris
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I’m not a Rocky fan by any stretch of the imagination. I make fun of the movies way more than I ever enjoyed them, and my wife has been haunted by Stallone’s guttural moan “Yo Adrian!” ever since she was a little kid. However, I am a huge Michael B. Jordan fan, and Apollo Creed was by far the best rival that Rocky faced in the ring, so a movie with Apollo’s son is interesting enough to get people out to the theaters. Hopefully it’s not full of the same lame nostalgia that Rocky V had. – Sherif
November 25 – Victor Frankenstein
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, James McAvoy, Charles Dance, Noah Emmerich
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Mary Shelley’s work continues to grasp people nearly 200 years later. In the latest rendition, the story is told from Victor Frankenstein’s assistant Igor’s viewpoint. Starring Daniel Radcliffe (Harry freakin’ Potter!) and James McAvoy (Charles freakin’ Xavier!), the two decide to make a man of body parts. Their endeavors find them being investigated by detectives. Because it will be from Igor’s point of view, I don’t know how accurate the movie will be to Shelley’s masterpiece (Elizabeth doesn’t even seem to be in the movie, and she is an integral part to the book). It looks like this will be more about the poor humans, which if you’ve seen this meme, you should know isn’t the point. However, some of the dialogue seems to match with the original work, and the lighting and colors are spot on to what I have imagined when I have read the original 1818 work. Also, the Monster looks damn scary. – Adrian
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