Best Movies Streaming in November 2023: Spider-Verse, The Killer

Technically, Sony’s exhilarating “Spider-Verse” sequel debuted on Netflix on the final day of October, but that won’t stop it from being the biggest new tentpole on streaming this November. “Across the Spider-Verse” earned critical acclaim and $690 million at the worldwide box office. It was also named one of the best films of 2023 so far by Variety: “Given the pop-art bedazzlement — and the thrilling retro comic-book classicism — of 2018’s ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,’ what could the makers of the sequel do for an encore? How about go bigger, go trippier, go even more Jack-Kirby-meets-punk-meets-Warhol-coloring-outside-the-lines crazy, all in the service of the rare story that makes good on the promise of the multiverse: that it’s a space as ominous as it is brain-bending. The adventure of Miles Morales deepens, multiplies, and acquires newly urgent stakes. And seriously, when was the last time you could say a comic-book movie did that?”

David Fincher’s “The Killer” is based on the French graphic novel series by Alexis Nolent and adapted by the director’s “Fight Club” screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker. It stars Michael Fassbender as an assassin who finds himself unraveling after a job gone wrong. The cast also includes Tilda Swinton, Arliss Howard and Sophie Charlotte. The film, backed by Netflix, world premiered at the Venice Film Festival to strong buzz.

From Variety’s review: “Just watching Fassbender do push-ups in his black rubber gloves wires up the atmosphere. When the killer puts music on his earbuds (the Smiths’ “Well I Wonder”) to get into his groove, it becomes the needle drop as homicidal pop-opera soundtrack. The target arrives, and as we watch him move about the apartment, the film generates the hypnotic tension one remembers from ‘The Day of the Jackal’ or certain moments in Brian De Palma films. We realize that the chemistry of cinema hasn’t just put us in the killer’s shoes — it has put us on his side. We want to see him do the deed.”

Emmy winner Colman Domingo is a leading candidate for the best actor Oscar thanks to his riveting performance in Netflix’s “Rustin,” which centers on civil rights leader Bayard Rustin’s attempts to plan and execute the historic March on Washington. Variety film critic Peter Debruge called the film a “career-defining” moment for Domingo, adding: “Most Americans don’t know the name of the man standing over MLK’s shoulder during the March on Washington, but a galvanizing performance and equally compelling script are sure to change that…Directed by George C. Wolfe with the same passion and conviction that defined its subject, ‘Rustin’ reminds that the pursuit for equality has never been and should never be satisfied with the advancement of a single group.”

Annette Bening is earning Oscar buzz for best actress thanks to her leading turn in Netflix’s biopic “Nyad,” directed by documentary Oscar winners Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin in their narrative feature debut. The film details the quest by American marathon swimmer Diana Nyad (Bening) to complete a 53-hour, 110-mile swim from Cuba to Florida through open ocean and without a shark cage. Jodie Foster co-stars. Variety film critic Peter Debruge wrote in his review that Bening and Foster make a “terrific team,” adding that Bening’s performance “feels every bit as committed as the athlete she’s depicting.” Expect Bening to factor into the upcoming awards season. 

Matthew Heineman’s moving “American Symphony” is a bonafide Oscar contender for best documentary feature. The film centers on Grammy-winning music star and Oscar winner Jon Batiste in early 2022 as he finds himself composing an original symphony for a performance at the storied Carnegie Hall in New York City. His career milestone is upended by personal struggle when his life partner, Suleika Jaouad, learns that her long-dormant cancer has returned. From Variety’s review: “It’s essentially a living-with-cancer drama first and portrait of an artist at work almost secondarily — or at least it’s the only film you’ll see that spends equal amounts of time at Carnegie Hall and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where Jaouad is undergoing bone marrow transplant treatment.”

Nia Vardalos’ “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” franchise continued this year with a bit of a whimper, as the third installment in the romantic-comedy series only managed $38 million at the worldwide box office. For those who missed the film in theaters, it is now streaming exclusively on Peacock. Vardolos and John Corbett return to lead the franchise, as their couple travels to Greece for the first time with the entire family in tow. From Variety’s review: “Franchises rarely get better as they go along. Unfortunately, ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ is no exception to the rule, as the expanded saga of the Portokalos family becomes less compelling, introspective and funny the more time we spend with them.”

Patrick Wilson made his feature directorial debut with “Insidious: The Red Door,” the fifth installment in the long-running Blumhouse horror franchise. The film, a summer box office hit with $188 million worldwide, finds the Lambert family still tormented by the trauma created in the original film 10 years prior. They’re forced to put their demons to rest by facing them one last time. From Variety’s review: “A parallel-reality fear zone. Faces in the dark. The return of repressed family demons. These are the elements that ‘Insidious’ elevated (and that Ari Aster sprung ‘Hereditary’ from), but depending on their design and execution they can be spooky — or banal — as hell. For a first-time director, Patrick Wilson doesn’t do a bad job, but he’s working with tropes that have already been worked to death. It’s time to close this carnival of souls down.”

Adam Sandler’s Netflix run takes an unexpected turn as he provides his voice to the upcoming animated musical comedy “Leo.” Per the official logline, Sandler voices Leo, a class pet who discovers that he only has one year left to live. Faced with the prospect of imminent death, Leo decides to head out and explore the outside world. However, he finds his plans derailed by the students of his classroom and a mean substitute teacher. The comedy boasts an impressive cast, with Bill Burr voicing a fellow class pet and turtle named Squirtle. “Saturday Night Live” alum Cecily Strong, Oscar-nominated “Everything Everywhere All at Once” actor Stephanie Hsu and “Seinfeld” star Jason Alexander round out the cast, along with Sandler’s own wife, Jackie Sandler, and their two daughters Sunny Sandler and Sadie Sandler (“You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah”).

Awkwafina and Sandra Oh join forces as mismatched sisters in Hulu’s zany original comedy film “Quiz Show,” launching on the streaming platform this month after a successful world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. The two actors play estranged sisters who are forced to cover their mother’s gambling debts. Their bright idea? Set out on a road trip so that Awkwafina’s Anne can participate in her favorite gameshow and win the ultimate cash prize. The film is directed by Jessica Yu, who won the Oscar for best documentary short subject in 1996 for “Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O’Brien.” Variety wrote in its review that the two stars are “hilarious together,” and their crackling chemistry make “Quiz Lady” worth the watch.

Ben Marshall, John Higgins and Martin Herlihy, the “Saturday Night Live” trio better known as Please Don’t Destroy, are becoming movie stars in their Judd Apatow-produced feature “The Treasure of Foggy Mountain,” launching Nov. 17 on Peacock. Here’s the official logline: “John Goodman narrates the adventure of Ben, Martin and John, three childhood friends turned deadbeat co-workers, who fend off hairless bears, desperate park rangers (played by Meg Stalter and X Mayo) and a hypocritical cult leader (Bowen Yang) in the hopes of finding a priceless treasure, only to discover that finding the treasure is the easiest part of their journey. Oh, and Conan O’Brien plays Ben’s dad in it.” The film was originally intended for a theatrical release in August, but Universal pivoted to a streaming release instead.

Disney+ served as a hot destination for Beatles fans when it world premiered Peter Jackson’s acclaimed “Get Back” documentary in 2021. Now the streamer will once again be a must-have for fans as it launches the 12-minute documentary “Now and Then,” which chronicles the decades-long construction of the “final” Beatles song of the same name. The single “Now and Then” is being touted as the group’s‘ “last song,” and it includes contributions from all four members: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison. Written and directed by Oliver Murray, the mini-doc includes behind-the-scenes footage of the track’s making and launches a day before the song gets officially released.

Directed by Thom Zimny (“Springsteen on Broadway,” “Elvis Presley: The Searcher”), “Sly” is described as an “intimate and unexpected look” at the early life of the action star Sylvester Stallone and a reflection on his decade-spanning career. The documentary chronicles Stallone’s rough beginnings as a troubled kid in New York City, where he would distract himself from the outside world by writing movie scripts. His career exploded when “Rocky,” a role he created and had to fight to play, catapulted him to a new level of fame. Variety film critic Owen Gleiberman called the documentary “headier than you expect” in his review, adding that it’s “an infectious and fascinating portrait of Stallone and his movies.”

Will Ferrell’s holiday classic “Elf” arrives on Hulu this month just in time to kick off the holiday movie season on streaming. From Variety’s review: “Ferrell graduates to his first solo leading role with flying colors in a holiday comedy about a clueless innocent who saves Christmas and fosters a renewed sense of family in his reluctant father. Sweet-natured outsider fantasy neither skimps on nor overplays its sentimentality, which should make it a major family audience draw through the holidays.”

Spider-Man finally web-slinged onto Disney+ in April with the debuts of Tobey Maguire’s trilogy and Andrew Garfield’s “The Amazing Spider-Man.” These films were the first batch of Sony-owned superhero movies to debut on the Disney streamer. Tom Holland’s Spider-Man joined wit the May arrival of “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” followed by the launch of Garfield’s “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” in August. Now another Tom Holland effort, 2019’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” joins the Disney+ streaming library this month. Holland’s Peter Parker heads overseas with his classmates but is forced to bring Spider-Man with him when a global crisis involving Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) takes shape. From Variety’s review: “Tom Holland grows in the role of Peter Parker in a ‘Spider-Man’ sequel that spins a web of illusion, proving the MCU can fly after the Avengers”

From Disney: “Eddie Garrick (Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges) is a good-hearted man who has turned his back on Christmas due to a traumatic childhood experience. At the request of his wife Allison Garrick (Teyonah Parris), from whom he is separated, Eddie takes his 8-year-old daughter Charlotte (Madison Skye Validum) out with him on Christmas Eve, where they meet a mysterious man in a red suit named Nick (Lil Rel Howery). Eddie, who is a social worker, thinks the man is delusional and needs professional help, but when he evokes the wrath of a local politician (Oscar Nuñez), he and his daughter are taken on a magical adventure that just might restore his faith in Christmas.” The film is directed by Tim Story (“Barbershop,” “Fantastic Four”) and written by Scott Rosenberg.

With $2.9 billion at the worldwide box office, the four-film “Hunger Games” franchise was such a worldwide sensation that it’s no surprise a prequel film, “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” is on the way this month. Before “Ballad” hits theaters Nov. 17, all four original “Hunger Games” movies are arriving on Peacock so that fans can catch-up on all the brutal twists and turns of Panem. Jennifer Lawrence was already an Oscar nominee for “Winter’s Bone” when the first Gary Ross-directed “The Hunger Games” debuted and made her an instant worldwide star. 

The upcoming HBO documentary “Albert Brooks: Defending My Life” chronicles the comedian’s very early work all the way to present day while exploring the evolution of his career and the impact he has had on the world of comedy. Championing Brooks’ influence in the comedy and entertainment world is a host of celebrity interviewees that include Chris Rock, Conan O’Brien, Wanda Sykes, Jon Stewart, Ben Stiller, Steven Spielberg, Sarah Silverman, David Letterman, Larry David, Jonah Hill, Judd Apatow, Sharon Stone, Brian Williams, Anthony Jeselnik, Tiffany Haddish, Alana Haim, Nikki Glaser, James L. Brooks and Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Kino Lorber’s new streaming library launches this month, and one of the first highlights among its offerings is Manuela Martelli’s expertly crafted character study “Chile ’76.” The film, set three years after dictator Augusto Pinochet’s rise, centers on a middle class housewife who reluctantly becomes a nurse to a young man who is fighting in the resistance against Pinochet’s rule. From Variety’s review: “Martelli’s threading of the personal and the political doesn’t just splinter the story out into her country’s history, but formally toys with genre expectations. What begins as a muted marital melodrama slowly boils into a restrained political thriller, with an ease and skill all the more impressive in a first feature.”

“Lisa Cortés’s film, in perceiving Little Richard as a wild genius of Black and queer culture, sees him more clearly than ever,” reads Variety’s review of “Little Richard: I Am Everything,” which was named a Critic’s Pick out of the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. The film uses archival footage and performances to dive deep into the entertainer’s upbringing and music career, while featuring interviews with the likes of Mick Jagger, Tom Jones, Billy Porter, Nile Rodgers and John Waters. The review adds: “It’s the enthralling documentary that Little Richard deserves. It’s a movie that understands, from the inside out, what a great and transgressive artist he was, how his starburst brilliance shifted the whole energy of the culture — but also how the astonishing radical nature of what he did got shoved under the rug of the official narrative of rock ‘n’ roll.”

Tyler Perry’s historic Hollywood rise gets the documentary treatment in “Maxine’s Baby.” Directed by Gelila Bekele and Armani Ortiz, the documentary presents a “tender, intimate portrait” of the director, actor and producer, with its title being a nod to his late mother Willie Maxine Perry, who died in 2009. Born Emmitt Perry Jr., he changed his name to Tyler Perry due to his estranged relationship with his abusive father. “I just could not understand how this man could look at me and hate me with such passion,” Perry recalls in the doc. But his father wasn’t his only adversary. Once Perry arrived in Hollywood, he battled other naysayers who couldn’t see the vision for his career. “I had all these people tell me what I would never be. Nobody said what I could be,” Perry adds.

“Evil Dead Rise” has been available to stream on Max, but it’s now making its Amazon Prime Video debut at no extra cost to subscribers. Halloween may be over, but demons last all year. The latest blood-soaked entry in the “Evil Dead” franchise is set in a single apartment complex as evil spirits possess a single mother and put her three children in harm’s way. From Variety’s review: “When the lights go out, the body count mounts in Lee Cronin’s effective urban nightmare… A kinda-sorta sequel, it offers incontrovertible evidence that predatory and possessive bogeymen are just as frightful when their hunting ground shifts from a cabin in a dark corner of the woods to a gone-to-seed apartment building in downtown Los Angeles.”

Florence Pugh headlines Zach Braff’s “A Good Person” as an addict trying to overcome personal demons after accidentally causing a tragic accident involving her boyfriend’s family. Variety film critic Owen Gleiberman called the film a “return to form” for Braff as a director, adding: “It’s an addiction drama that has scenes you can bicker with, a few contrivances, and other peccadilloes. Yet beneath the middlebrow situational conventionality, there’s a core of raw feeling and truth to it. The movie creates a highly specific situation — about its heroine, and about an entire family — that it carries right through. It’s not a melodrama about scraping bottom. It’s a story of lives that have been frozen by tragedy, and of how the unfreezing happens.”