Movies

A slew of great movies and TV shows are leaving Netflix for U.S. subscribers in November. Here’s a roundup of the best.Three inventive and engaging biopics are leaving Netflix in the United States this month, along with a scorching stage adaptation, a thrilling Tom Cruise vehicle and an animated comedy that is decidedly not for the kiddies. (Dates indicate the final day a title is available.)‘Edge of Tomorrow’ (Nov. 6)Stream it here.If James Cameron remade “Groundhog Day,” it might come out looking like this fast, funny and thrilling Tom Cruise vehicle from the director Doug Liman (“The Bourne Identity”). Cruise stars as a military public relations man with a cowardly streak who is reluctantly thrown onto the front lines, where he discovers he is trapped in a time loop: When he is killed, he jolts awake back at the beginning of his adventure, forced to keep doing it until he gets it right. Emily Blunt is dynamite as the heroic soldier who shows him the ropes (and has a fair number of laughs at his expense), while Liman orchestrates the comic and action beats with equal grace and skill.‘First Man’ (Nov. 14)Stream it here.A common thread of this month’s titles is unconventional biopics — stories about important historical figures that mostly manage to eschew the cradle-to-grave framing, on-the-nose dialogue and shallow insights of too many screen biographies. Take this portrait of Neil Armstrong, first man on the moon, which is less interested in telling a broad historical story than an intensely personal one. As played by Ryan Gosling, Armstrong is a modest man, one who takes that “one giant leap” more from a sense of duty and service than from ambition or ego. It’s a character study; the character just so happens to be the first man to walk on the moon. The director Damien Chazelle, re-teaming with his “La La Land” leading man, is as aware of the biopic clichés as you are, and he smoothly sidesteps most of them to make a picture that is surprisingly urgent and emotional.‘Harriet’ (Nov. 15)Stream it here.The “Eve’s Bayou” director Kasi Lemmons directs this similarly outside-the-lines dramatization of the life of Harriet Tubman, brought to scorching life by the gifted Cynthia Erivo (on the big screen this fall in “Wicked”). The telling is fairly direct: Working from a script written with Gregory Allen Howard, Lemmons hits the biographical milestones in Tubman’s journey from slave to runaway to guide for those who wished to do the same. But Lemmons’s direction is artful and lyrical, taking its cues from the visions that Tubman said guided her, which gives the enterprise an almost otherworldly quality. Erivo’s performance is powerful and textured; she is supported by an excellent cast, including Joe Alwyn, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Janelle Monáe, Leslie Odom Jr. and Clarke Peters.‘Sausage Party’ (Nov. 22)Stream it here.Parents who aren’t quite paying full attention might assume that this animated feature about anthropomorphic supermarket foods is typical kiddie fare — and boy, oh boy, would they be in for a surprise. This is very much an R-rated, adults-only venture, the brainchild of the actor and filmmaker Seth Rogen and his frequent collaborator Evan Goldberg. As with their previous films “Superbad,” “Pineapple Express” and “This Is the End,” the jokes are rude and crude, and the cast is stuffed with comic stars. But the nicest surprise of “Sausage Party” is its thoughtfulness; in the end, it’s a pointed examination of conventional wisdom surrounding religion and death, which is not quite what you might expect from a film that culminates in a food orgy.‘Ali’ (Nov. 30)Stream it here.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More