Every month, dozens of movies arrive on Netflix, but it can be a hassle keeping track of all the great content that comes and goes. Don’t fret though, we’re going to break down the best new movies on Netflix each month to help you decide on what to watch. These are the best of what’s coming to Netflix in November, 2020.
Best New Movies on Netflix
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020)
Latest Movies on Netflix • Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Trailer
Written by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Based on Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom by August Wilson, Directed by George C. Wolfe
Starring Chadwick Boseman, Viola Davis, Glynn Turman, Colman Domingo, and Michael Potts
The late Chadwick Boseman steals the show in this 2020 cinematic adaptation of August Wilson’s stage play in which a famed blues singer battles producers and a trumpeter on a suffocating summer afternoon.
Let’s all take a moment to appreciate Boseman’s work here, not just for it’s dramatic weight, but for its intense vitality as well. Boseman was in the midst of a years-long battle with colon cancer whilst shooting – but he never let it show. It’ll be tough competition for him at the Academy Awards, but I think he’ll ultimately win out as this year’s best actor.
Best New Movies on Netflix Right Now
Critic Review Highlight
“Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is the year's best movie thus far, and a fitting tribute to Chadwick Boseman. His loss is still stunning, but oh, what a legacy to leave behind.” - Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal
Top New Movies on Netflix
Mank (2020)
Latest Movies on Netflix • Mank Trailer
Written by Jack Fincher, Directed by David Fincher
Starring Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Arliss Howard, and Charles Dance
The writing of Orson Welles’ best movie Citizen Kane has been mired in controversy for more than 80 years. Mank explores the events leading up to the production of Citizen Kane through the perspective of screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz – and although the film may suggest that Mank was more responsible for the story’s inception than contemporary scholars concur, it still succeeds to a great degree.
Jack Fincher’s script is a masterclass in writing dialogue – it’s quick, witty, and unabashedly unwilling to dumb things down, just like Mank would’ve wanted. “You cannot capture a man’s entire life in two hours, all you can hope is to leave an impression of one.” Perhaps an ironic line from one of Hollywood’s most enigmatic creative forces.
Best New Movies on Netflix Right NoW
Critic Review Highlight
“An astutely probing and pain-filled work of speculative historical psychology-and a vision of Hollywood politics that shines a fervent plus ça change spotlight on current events.” - Richard Brody of The New Yorker
United by Tragedy
The Life Ahead (2020)
The Life Ahead • Trailer
Written by Edoardo Ponti and Ugo Chiti, Based on The Life Ahead by Romain Gary, Directed by Edoardo Ponti
Starring Sophia Loren and Ibrahima Gueye
Sophia Loren returns to the big screen in this quaint drama directed by her son Edoardo Ponti as a former Holocaust survivor and prostitue who is forced to take care of a troublesome youth.
The Life Ahead marked a major breakthrough for Ponti’s directorial career and proved that Loren is still capable of delivering deeply impactful performances.
Best New Movies on Netflix
Critic Review Highlight
“It's pure in its sentiment, direct but eloquent. And if it draws a few tears, just go with the flow. You may very well need it.” - Stephanie Zacharek of Time Magazine.
What New Movies are on Netflix?
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Good New Movies on Netflix • Bonnie And Clyde Trailer
Written by David Newman and Robert Benton, Directed by Arthur Penn
Starring Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard, Gene Hackman, and Estelle Parsons
Arthur Penn’s 1967 classic Bonnie And Clyde follows the story of the famous bank robbers of the same name. Bonnie And Clyde marked a major breakthrough in cinema for its depictions of sex and violence – and even went through French New Wave auteurs Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard before Arthur Penn was given the directorial job.
Bonnie And Clyde is regarded as one if, if not the first film of the Hollywood New Wave. As such, it’s assumed the mantle of an essential film for cinema historians.Best New Movies on Netflix
Critic Review Highlight
“So definitive in so many ways, Bonnie and Clyde has become a 20th-century touchstone.” - Marjorie Baumgarten of The Austin Chronicle
Best New Movies on Netflix
Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Top New Movies on Netflix • Catch Me If You Can Trailer
Written and Jeff Nathanson, Based on Catch Me If You Can by Frank Abagnale Jr. and Stan Redding, Directed by Steven Spielberg
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, and Nathalie Baye
Notorious con man Frank Abagnale terrorized the FBI in the 1960s by writing phony checks and assuming different identities. Catch Me If You Can tells the story of Abagnale’s exploits and eventual capture with intense emotional resonance.
Catch Me If You Can puts movie magic on full display. It has bravado story, careful direction, star-studded performances, and a thematic kernel so tender it could melt even the most cynical of hearts.Best New Movies on Netflix
Critic Review Highlight
“One of Spielberg's most gratifying films--quick and charming and exciting without ever being too obvious about its intentions.” - Chuck Rudolph of Slant
The Animals Come Out at Night
Nocturnal Animals (2016)
Nocturnal Animals • Trailer
Written and Directed by Tom Ford, Based on Tony and Susan by Austin Wright
Starring Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson
Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals is a visually intoxicating neo-noir thriller about the dark side of the creative process. Adams, Gyllenhaal, Shannon, Taylor-Johnson, Isla Fisher, Armie Hammer and more round out an excellent cast.
It’s a shame that Tom Ford hasn’t directed more feature films because his filmmaking eye is truly unlike any other – but I guess that’s what happens when you’re also one of the biggest fashion designers in the world.
New Movies Out on Netflix
Critic Review Highlight
“It's a tale bluntly told that arouses intense, evanescent emotion and then leaves you haunted, long afterward, by provocative but arguably answerable questions.” - Michael O’Sullivan of The Washington Post
Best New Movies on Netflix
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
New Movies to Watch on Netflix • Cool Hand Luke Trailer
Written by Donn Pearce and Frank R. Pierson, Based on Cool Hand Luke by Donn Pearce, Directed by Stuart Rosenberg
Starring Paul Newman, George Kennedy, Strother Martin, Jo Van Fleet, and Joy Harmon
Cool Hand Luke marked a decennial movie opening scene in which Paul Newman is busted for performing drunken shenanigans in a parking lot – the other was for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. The former film follows Newman’s character Luke as he rebels against the perceived pecking order of a prison chain gang. Yes, chain gangs were real and astoundingly ridiculous.
Cool Hand Luke is regarded as one of the best films of the 1960s – and it features an all-time iconic quote, “What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.”Latest Movies on Netflix
Critic Review Highlight
“Well written by Pearce and Pierson and acted by a most talented ensemble of performers, Luke succeeds as both a highly humorous and deeply dramatic study of the immolation of human spirit in captivity and as an allegory.” - John Mahoney of The Hollywood Reporter.
Best New Movies on Netflix
Into the Wild (2007)
What New Movies are on Netflix? • Into the Wild Trailer
Written by Sean Penn, based on Into the Wild by Jon Krakaeur, Directed by Sean Penn
Starring Emile Hirsch, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, and Jena Malone
Sean Penn’s Into the Wild is a stirring recreation of the late vagabond Christopher McCandless’s journey into the Alaskan wilderness. Emile Hirsch stars as McCandless and does a terrific job of imparting a very special kind of wayward and youthful energy.
Into the Wild has become a contentious film over time, with critics suggesting the story idolized a selfish nomadic lifestyle. Supporters suggest that McCandless (otherwise known as Alexander Supertramp) was a dreamer who yearned to leave society to get closer to nature.Latest Movies on NetfliX
Critic Review Highlight
“Although McCandless's story is undoubtedly fascinating, and Penn's film contains moments of magic, it is a lesser piece of work because it prefers to accept its subject at face value rather than ask a few crucial questions.” - Wendy Ide of the Times (U.K.)
Best New Movies on Netflix
Mud (2012)
New Movies Coming Out on Netflix • Mud Trailer
Written and Directed by Jeff Nichols
Starring Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Tye Sheridan, Jacob Lofland, and Sam Shepard
Jeff Nichols’ Mud is a truly unique modern film that shares more similarities to a fairy tale than a piece of blockbuster cinema. Matthew McConaughey stars in the title role of Mud as an outlaw hiding on a river island.
Mud tells a simple story about love and loss but it’s elevated by some careful direction and a great performance by McConaughey.Latest Movies on Netflix
Critic Review Highlight
“In its energy and nuance, Mud seems like the kind of film Hollywood would've made in the Seventies, and would've continued to do if not for the advent of market-conscious filmmaking.” - Violet Lucca of Film Comment Magazine
Best New Movies on Netflix
Goodfellas (1990)
Best New Release Movies on Netflix • Goodfellas Trailer
Written by Nicholas Pileggi and Martin Scorcese, Based on Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, Directed by Martin Scorcese
Starring Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco, and Paul Sorvino
The 1990 gangster classic Goodfellas isn’t just one of Martin Scorcese’s best films, it’s one of the best gangster movies of all-time. Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, and Joe Pesci all give iconic performances as mobsters dominating the criminal underworld.
Goodfellas is a touchstone piece of cinema and the perfect antithesis to Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather. Whether you’ve never seen it or are simply looking to see it again, don’t miss Goodfellas on Netflix this month.New Movies Out on Netflix
Critic Review Highlight
“Anti-romantic, it nevertheless sweeps us into the allure of mob glamour -- then slams us with its cost of admission.” - Jay Carr of The Boston Globe.
A War of Words
The Professor and the Madman (2019)
The Professor and the Madman • Trailer
Written by Todd Komarnicki and P. B. Shemran, Based on The Surgeon of Crowthorne by Simon Winchester, Directed by P. B. Shemran
Starring Mel Gibson, Sean Penn, and Natalie Dormer
Two of Hollywood’s most enigmatic and contentious personalities Mel Gibson and Sean Penn star in this biographical drama about the making of the Oxford English Dictionary.
The Professor and the Madman was marred by legal issues and lawsuits between Gibson, Farhad Safinia (who was credited as director under a pseudonym) and the production company Voltage Pictures. Gibson and Safinia detached themselves from the project saying the released film was not representative of their vision – but still it’s hard to deny how shockingly beautiful it looks.
Good New Movies on Netflix
Critic Review Highlight
“We'll never know where Shemran's movie truly lost its way, but its current form of saving face by sounding smart will make viewers want to simply move on from it, just like its star and director and have.” - Nick Allen of RogerEbert.com
Best New Movies on Netflix
The Departed (2006)
Best New Release Movies on Netflix • The Departed Trailer
Written by William Monahan, Based on Infernal Affairs by Alan Mak and Felix Chong, Directed by Martin Scorcese
Starring Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, and Jack Nicholson
Martin Scorcese swapped out his usual NYC setting for a beantown backdrop with The Departed. The picture follows career criminal Frank Costello, who was ~ not so subtly a fictionalized Whitey Bulger ~ as he struggles to retain control of his illicit empire amidst a police investigation.
The Departed isn’t Scorcese’s sharpest work – but it’s a layered gangster flick that’s sure to satisfy fans of the genre. If you’re feeling Hollywood fatigue, consider checking out the film’s inspiration Infernal Affairs instead.New Movies Out on Netflix
Critic Review Highlight
“What makes this a Scorsese film, and not merely a retread, is the director's use of actors, locations and energy, and its buried theme. I am fond of saying that a movie is not about what it's about; it's about how it's about it.” - Roger Ebert of RogerEbert.com
Best New Movies on Netflix
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
New Movies on Netflix this Month • The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Trailer
Written by Steven Zallian, Based on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larrson, Directed by David Fincher
Starring Rooney Mara, Daniel Craig, Christopher Plummer, and Stellan Skarsgard
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an unflinching story of serial killers and sinister crime in Sweden. Rooney Mara received an Academy Award nomination for her performance in the film.
David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo wasn’t the first cinematic adaptation of Larrson’s story; that distinction squarely belongs to Neils Arden Oplev’s 2009 work. But Fincher’s version is probably the most popular iteration of the work – and it’s an essential film in his catalogue.Good New Movies on Netflix
Critic Review Highlight
“Fincher's Dragon Tattoo is a faithful adaptation that brings the dazzle but shortchanges on the daring... It's gloriously rendered but too impersonal to leave a mark.” - Peter Travers of Rolling Stone
UP NEXT
Best Movies on Netflix
Some great new movies are coming to Netflix in May, 2020, but perhaps you’re still looking for something else to watch. Don’t worry, check out our list of the best movies of all time that are on Netflix! We update this list as movies come and go from the service so make sure to check back each month,
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