Everything That’s Streaming in November 2024

The last berries wither, the day shrivels and we wake in darkness. It is November, the hard man’s October, and the bleak, watery light from our televisions is our last comfort. A thin whisper drifts past our desiccated lips: “video… on… demand.” Streaming services are getting us through the winter like a gutted Tauntaun with more excellent monthly content, from musical-crime dramas to romantic comedies and devastating documentaries. Here’s a breakdown of the steamiest, meatiest new content on platforms this November:

Netflix

A Man on the Inside (Nov 21) – Retired widower Charles (Ted Danson) finds new adventure when he answers an ad from a private detective (Lilah Richcreek Estrada) and goes undercover in a tony San Francisco retirement home to recover a stolen family heirloom. Charles sniffs out a Clue’s-who of suspects while dodging suspicious home director Didi (Stephanie Beatriz) and endearing himself to the vibrant residents – learning to add life to his remaining years and reconnecting with his daughter Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) in the process. Created by Michael Schur (Parks and Recreation) and Morgan Sackett (The Good Place) and based on Chilean documentary The Mole Agent, A Man on the Inside explores themes of ageism, loneliness, mental health and family ties.

Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy (Nov 20) – Director Nic Stacey (The World According to Jeff Goldblum) takes a high-tech look at global consumer culture, laying out the careful retail science and psychology behind an elaborate marketing machine that influences our purchasing behavior and carries a dark cost: massive waste, pollution and human rights abuses. Stacey weaves apocalyptic AI effects like the Sydney Opera House swamped in garbage and interviews with insiders at influential brands like Apple and Amazon to expose the evolving machinations that keep consumers opening their wallets in service to lifestyle materialism.

Adam Ray’s Dr. Comedy Phil Special (Nov 19) – Comedian Adam Ray is bringing the Dr. Phil character he made famous on Kill Tony to Netflix – and this time, he’s coming face to face with the real Dr. Phil. Ray’s recent live cross-country tour features him in character as the talk show host, delivering lethal humor in McGraw’s homespun drawl while interviewing fellow comics, playing off-the-wall games and answering advice questions from the audience. Ray will don the trademark skullcap and mustache to chat with his real-life namesake for the Netflix special filmed at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles, along with special guests including Patton Oswalt, Jay Pharoah and *checks notes* Gollum from Lord of the Rings.

Emilia Pérez (Nov 13) – The double Cannes-winning crime musical from Jacques Audiard (Rust and Bone) follows the odyssey of four remarkable people pursuing their own happiness in Mexico. Ruthless cartel boss Manitas (Karla Sofía Gascón) enlists lawyer Rita (Zoe Saldaña overchewing a terrible Mexican accent) to help fake his death so he can retire from his brutal business and live as a woman named Emilia. But Manitas’s wife and the mother of his children Jessi (Selena Gomez) must reckon with Emilia’s long-held desires as she rebuilds her life. The genre-bending tale based on Audiard’s opera libretto also stars Adriana Paz and Edgar Ramírez.

Also playing:

Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson (Nov 15)

The Piano Lesson (Nov 22)

Visit Netflix for a full list of releases.

Hulu

Interior Chinatown (Nov 19) – The series adaptation of Charles Yu’s 2020 novel follows Willis Wu (Jimmy O. Yang), an Asian-American actor from an immigrant family swimming against a tide of stereotypes and cliches while trying to make it big in Hollywood. Willis lands a role as an extra in a cop show, then finds himself in the spotlight after he witnesses an actual murder. He teams up with his best friend (Ronny Chieng) and a detective (Chloe Bennet) to dig up family secrets and uncover a criminal web in Chinatown – while finally putting his kung fu training to use. The action-packed comedy series will take a lighthearted look at the immigrant experience in terms of identity, racism, and the American Dream.

Thelma (Nov 15) – Oscar nominee June Squibb (Nebraska) is Thelma, a 93-year-old grandmother who loses 10 grand to a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson. With the cops unable to help, she takes matters into her own hands: with the help of a friend and his motorized scooter, she embarks on a treacherous journey across Los Angeles to reclaim what’s hers – with her worried family close behind. Thelma is a heartfelt caper that celebrates independence while embracing the village that carries us through life’s storms. Thelma also stars Fred Hechinger, Richard Roundtree, Clark Gregg, Parker Posey and Malcolm McDowell.

Robot Dreams (Nov 15) – Like a wordless dream itself, the Oscar-nominated animated film with a 98% Rotten Tomatoes score follows the tender bond between a lonely Dog and his Robot best friend in 1980s New York City. On a holiday outing to Coney Island, the water rusts Robot’s metal joints, and Dog is forced to leave him at the beach – but bad timing, apathy, and life circumstances thwart their reunion. The story traces their lives in the aftermath of their separation, and explores how their severed friendship shapes their experiences. Leave it to a dialogue-free allegory about non-people to capture the desiderium and emotional complexity of human relationships.

Endurance (Nov 2) – It’s the ideal watch on a freezing November night: the Oscar-nominated documentary bringing to life the remarkable survival story of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ill-fated 1914 Antarctic expedition. After his aptly-named ship Endurance was trapped and crushed in ice, the 28-man crew survived the world’s wildest oceans and coldest temperatures for a year and 8 months, huddled on a tiny island eating seal meat. Shackleton led a desperate bid for rescue: a month-long, 650-mile ocean crossing in a tiny boat and a trek across a mountain range to reach a whaling station – then returned himself to recover every last man. The film combines restored archival footage highlighting Shackleton’s struggle for survival in the frozen Antarctic with the modern-day quest to discover the wreckage of his sunken ship, which was discovered in 2022.

Also playing:

Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae (Nov 26)

The Honorable Shyne (Nov 18)

Visit Hulu for a full list of releases.

Prime Video

Cross (Nov 14) – After the recent cancellation of Boston cop drama City on a Hill in which he co-starred with Kevin Bacon, actor Aldis Hodge is stepping into the shoes of Alex Cross. Cross is a D.C. homicide detective reeling from the murder of his wife, who works with his partner (played by Isaiah Mustafa) to track down a serial killer while juggling his relationship with his children. Hodge, who is also producing, brings a human element to the series adaptation of James Patterson’s novel series, after three films starring Morgan Freeman and Tyler Perry.

Creator and showrunner Ben Watkins (Burn Notice) plans to use the series format to modernize and deepen the Alex Cross universe. “I didn’t want to fall into the trap of having somebody so dynamic and so heroic that you only admire them and you don’t actually relate to them. I wanted you to be able to see a real person that has struggles and flaws. [The movies] only have a limited amount of time, and they might have to choose plot over character. We got to do both.”

Cruel Intentions Season 1 (Nov 21) – 1999 cult film Cruel Intentions returns to ick us out all over again in a reboot series about devious step-siblings (Sarah Catherine Hook and Zac Burgess) sexily deceiving their way through Greek life at a wealthy Washington D.C. college. They’ve worked hard climbing the social ladder, but after a hazing incident goes wrong, the pair will do whatever it takes to maintain their status – so they set their sights on seducing the Vice President’s daughter.

From the creators behind Prime’s cancelled reboot of I Know What You Did Last Summer, and the original Cruel Intentions writer/director Roger Kumble executive producing, expect 90s Easter eggs and nods to the analog nature of Dangerous Liaisons, the 18th century French novel both the films and series are based on – for example, the story will unfold in a world without social media. The series also stars Claire Forlani, Jon Tenney and Tony-nominated Nikki Crawford (NCIS).

Also playing:

Election Night Live with Brian Williams (Nov 5)

Paris Has Fallen (Nov 15)

Wish List Games (Nov 20)

Visit Amazon Prime for a full list of releases.

Max

Like Water for Chocolate Season 1 (Nov 3) – I watched the 1992 Mexican film Like Water for Chocolate when my tenth-grade Spanish teacher, a mulleted gym coach who didn’t speak a word of Español, popped it into the VCR one day in class. Salma Hayek executive produces a steamy update on the original story: Tita, the youngest daughter in a traditional family, cannot marry her true love Pedro because custom binds her to care for her mother.

The tension ramps up when Pedro marries Tita’s older sister and Tita becomes the family cook, pouring her unfulfilled passion into scandalous dishes that result in uncomfortably erotic family dinners. The lovers navigate a world of magical realism and rich flavors as Tita struggles between her imposed destiny and her fight for love. Tita’s kitchen is a refuge and her magical connection to cooking becomes an act of resistance, channeling her deepest desires into her recipes and transforming all who taste them.

Dune: Prophecy Season 1 (Nov 17) – Not Dune yet: the sci-fi juggernaut rides the sandworm of profit into a new six-episode prequel series exploring the origins of the Bene Gesserit sect. Based on the novel Sisterhood of Dune, Prophecy takes place 10,000 years before Paul Atreides and follows two Harkonnen sisters as they combat forces that threaten the future of humanity to establish the formidable all-female Bene Gesserit. The group’s supernatural powers become a social, religious and political force, covertly influencing the expansive Dune universe from the shadows for millennia. Alongside the series, which stars Emily Watson, Olivia Williams, Jodhi May and Mark Strong, a companion podcast will be available after each new episode that offers insights from the series’ creatives and cast.

Night Is Not Eternal (Nov 19) – Experience a deeply personal exploration of political activism through the eyes of Chinese American filmmaker Nanfu Wang. For over seven years, Nanfu follows Rosa Maria Paya, a young Cuban activist and daughter of five-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee Oswaldo Paya, in her fight for democratic change in Cuba. Driven by her own experiences in China, Nanfu is drawn to Rosa’s story and the parallels between their homelands. With intimate access, Nanfu follows Rosa’s journey from the streets of Havana to rallies and conferences worldwide, capturing her transformation from a grassroots activist to an international public figure and documenting the challenges faced by activists resisting authoritarian regimes.

 Also playing:

Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid (Nov 14)

Surveilled (Nov 20)

Get Millie Black (Nov 25)

Visit HBO Max for a full list of releases.

Disney+

Tsunami: Race Against Time (Nov 25) – “A quarter of a million people left this planet in one day.” Stunning ground-level footage sweeps away the emotional and temporal distance in a comprehensive docuseries that explores one of the worst natural disasters in world history, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami which claimed over 225,000 lives across 14 countries. Featuring blood-curdling images from the event along with survivor interviews, the series will focus on the initial quake that caused the wave, the tsunami’s devastation on land, and the millions of people whose lives changed forever. From a multi-story wall of water sweeping in with the force of 23,000 atomic bombs to the jagged breath of one victim running for their life, Race Against Time captures the true scope of the horror by sifting the massive disaster through individual experiences.

The Stanford Prison Experiment: Unlocking the Truth  (Nov 14) – “In the summer of 1971, Dr. Philip Zimbardo took a bunch of college kids, randomly assigned them to be prisoners and guards, and locked them in a basement.” Half a century after the Stanford Prison Experiment was prematurely abandoned amidst chaos and abuse, Unlocking the Truth offers a groundbreaking look at one of history’s most notorious psychology studies through the firsthand accounts of the original prisoners and guards, many of whom are speaking on camera for the first time. Their stories unravel a narrative that challenge Zimbardo’s motives, while exploring darker, larger questions of human nature through powerful reenactments.

 Visit Disney+ for a full list of releases.

Apple TV+

Silo Season 2 (Nov 15) – Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson) is locked outside in a lethal wasteland and struggling to get to safety before she runs out of air–after season one’s finale revealed that the world outside is indeed toxic but there are other silos holding possible survivors. Juliette finds herself in an abandoned silo before realizing she is not alone – and a surprising twist could complicate her desperate situation further. Meanwhile, the aftermath of a rebellion gone wrong reverberates through the original silo’s levels. Steve Zahn (The White Lotus) will join season 2’s cast as Solo, a key but mysterious character in the novel trilogy the show is based on.

Bread and Roses (Nov 22) – Bread & Roses reveals the devastating impact on women’s rights and livelihoods after the Taliban took over Kabul in 2021. Director Sahra Mani captures the resilience of Afghan women through unprecedented access to their cloistered lives as they fight to exist in public spaces like parks and gyms, the workforce, and schools. The documentary, produced by Jennifer Lawrence, follows three women as they fight to regain their autonomy: Sharifa, a former government employee living a life of boredom and unfulfillment indoors; Zahra, a dentist who must stop working and begins organizing activists in her former practice; and Taranom, an activist exiled to Pakistan.

Visit Apple TV+ for a full list of releases.

Paramount+

Landman (Nov 1) – Inspired by the popular 2019 Boomtown podcast, Taylor Sheridan sets his latest serien the oil towns of West Texas, in a modern-day treasure tale of roughnecks and wildcat billionaires riding a fuel boom that reshaped our climate, economy and geopolitics. The ten-episode show will follow Sheridan’s formula of tooling larger events around the singular drama of one family and its narrative investments of dominance and survival: the Norris family juggles the environmental impact and ethical dilemmas of the oil industry as personal and professional grievances threaten their grip on power.

The Dead Don’t Hurt (Nov 1) – When French Canadian pioneer Vivienne (Vicky Kriepsv) meets and falls in love with rugged Danish settler Holger (Viggo Mortensen), they begin a life together on the harsh American frontier. But when Holger leaves to fight in the Civil War, Vivienne suffers the consequences of being a lone woman in an isolated town controlled by a corrupt mayor and his sadistic son. When Holger returns, he and Vivienne must confront and make peace with the traumas that have separately shaped them. The non-linear Western written, directed and produced by Mortensen pulls no punches about the brutality of pioneer life on women specifically, and the indelible ties of love and loyalty that bind beyond blood in a dynamic period of nation building.

The Agency (Nov 29) – “I believe there’s one type of agent: the insane.” Fresh from his carefully restrained stalker-assassin role in Netflix’s The Killer, Michael Fassbender highlights the fundamental instability of living a dual life and sets an introspective tone for a new political thriller that destabilizes its own narrative from the jump. When a covert CIA agent must abandon his undercover life and find a missing agent, his mission falls into conflict when the love he left behind reappears – hurling them both into a deadly game of international espionage. Fassbender is masterful at highlighting the psychological effects of high-stakes deception in a world where nothing is personal, and personal experience is by necessity profoundly internal.

Visit Paramount+ for a full list of releases.

Peacock

The Day of the Jackal (Nov 14) – Another retread of a classic espionage thriller finds Eddie Redmayne stepping into the paws of elusive assassin The Jackal in a moody serial adaptation of the novel and 1973 movie that counts the emotional toll of spycraft. On a mission to carry out a daring assassination, The Jackal meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence officer (Lashana Lynch) who tracks down the high-dollar hit man in a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase across Europe, leaving destruction in their wake. Redmayne juggles spy gadgets, reels off languages and peels off disguises as The Jackal, while navigating a difficult off-the-clock relationship with a woman in his life (Úrsula Corberó) who suspects he’s living a double life.

Based on a True Story Season 2 (Nov 19) – Kaley Cuoco is surprisingly winsome in this sharp, clever dark comedy that pulls at the thread between millennial women and true crime. Season 2 finds new parents Ava (Cuoco) and Nathan (Chris Messina) focused on taking care of their family and determined to return to normal after the Westside Ripper slayings. But when the Ripper claims a series of new murders,  it upends Ava’s suburban TikTok margarita life, pulling her back into her morbid obsession. Is Matt (Tom Bateman), established in season one to be the Ripper, behind the slayings? Is Tory (Liana Liberato), now engaged to Matt, in danger? Cuoco channels Christina Applegate’s dark but resonant wine-mom humor in Dead to Me, finding in true crime podcasting an intimacy and frankness about the bad things in life that women rarely share in public spaces.

 Also playing:

Making Manson (Nov 19)

Visit Peacock for a full list of releases.