November's Streaming Roulette: The Harder They Fall at Block Parties and in Nightmare Alleys

HELLO NOVEMBER. You know the drill. We point out ten random titles that are brand new or new (again) to streaming and just for fun, freeze frame them at a totally random place in the scroll bar (no cheating - what comes up is what comes up). If there's a link in the long list after the selected titles it goes to previous articles on that film.

Now I aint gonna kill you, Wiley. You and I were friends once.

THE HARDER THEY FALL (2021) on Netflix
Idris Elba (speaking, hovering over the fallen man) is the antagonist in this movie with Jonathan Majors as our outlaw hero (a rare hero named "Nat", yay!!!) in this all-star Black western. Love those long shadows. The cinematography here is by the super talented Romanian DP Mihai Malamaire, Jr (The Master, Jojo Rabbit, Youth Without Youth).

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Streaming Review: "Finch" on Apple TV+

By Ben Miller

Miguel Sapochnik's Finch revolves around the love between a man (Tom Hanks), his dog...and his robot.

The world has effectively ended.  Solar flares have killed much of mankind and the rest have resorted to living out of society and fighting for food and shelter.  The holes in the ozone layer have made living in the sun impossible, so the surviving humans must don radiation suits or stay in the shade to live...

In St. Louis, Missouri, our titular hero scours the remains of the city for supplies...

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Beauty Break: Celebrity Halloween

Look it's Madonna as Harley Quinn.

Halloween is past (*sniffle*) but now we get to relive it vicariously since celebrities have been posting the pics from their spooky holiday night out on Instagram. Lupita Nyong'o, Naomi Watts, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Elliot Page, and more after the jump...

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International Contenders: Egypt, Lebanon, Thailand, Venezuela, etc..

by Nathaniel R

Time to check in again with the International Oscar submissions as eight more countries join the fray which include teen girl dramas from North Macedonia and Egypt and a Thai horror film that's currently streaming on Shudder...

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Ask Nathaniel

Hey all! In the October wrap-up, Pedro requested a return of the old Q&A column wherein I, well, Answer your Questions. So why not? Let's do it! Since we had to implement a membership step to commenting there is less engagement but would be happy to feel "connected" again to you all of you  [Norma Desmond voice] "wonderful people out there in the dark".

Put your questions in the comments or e-mail them my way and I'll whip up some answers in the next couple of days.