What’s new to stream on Amazon Prime for November 2022

Crossing the Streams is our series of guides looking at all the offerings hitting the big streaming services each month. This time we take a look at what’s new for streaming on Amazon Prime in November 2022, including a western series with Emily Blunt, a new Harry Styles acting endeavor, and more!

Amazon Prime Pick of the Month for November 2022

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – there can never be enough Westerns. Sure, audiences in the 30s to 50s might disagree because they were influenced by western movies, but they are very rare these days. After this, congratulations to Prime Video for its new series The English. The six-episode (loving it already!) series follows a woman’s (Emily Blunt) quest for vengeance as she hunts down the man responsible for her son’s death.
Blunt’s action skills have been proven as well as her acting talents, so we’re all for her journey of revenge. The Englishwoman is a fish out of water in America’s Wild West, but she can stand it with a man (Chaske Spencer) she meets along the way. Early reviews have been positive, so that’s a good sign, and we’re betting with the talent involved this will be a great entry in the western genre.

Prime Originals for November 2022

His pop music stardom is assured, but criticisms of Harry Styles’ acting have left him in sketchier waters. 2022 sees him playing lead roles in two films. High profile is Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling, a film that subsequently garnered more press before its release, and now attention turns to My Policeman. Michael Grandage’s dramatic romance is currently underwater at Rotten Tomatoes, but some kind words have seeped through the criticisms. The film follows three friends, as adults in their 90s and their much younger selves in their 50s. Drama, betrayal, and infidelity rear their heads toward forgiveness and reunion. Linus Roache, Rupert Everett, and Emma Corrin co-star.

Attention all Bob’s Burgers/The Great North fans – the wildly talented Lizzie Molyneux and Wendy Molyneux are making their live-action feature debut this year with The People We Hate at the Wedding (premieres November 18). It’s a comedy about adult siblings clashing in and around a weekend wedding in the country, and stars some familiar faces Randall Park, Lizzy Caplan, Kristen Bell, Allison Janney, Ben Platt, Jorma Taccone and Many are included. The trailer suggests that it should be a rollicking good time with some zingy one-liners and fun-filled beats. And wondering about Molyneux’s next film? A little thing called Deadpool 3?!

Halloween Is Over, But You Can Still Watch Horror!

Director Adrian Lyne is better known for his edgy thrillers (Fatal Attraction) and sexy comedies (Deep Water), but he also delivered one hell of a chiller in Jacob’s Ladder (1990). Tim Robbins stars as a Vietnam veteran living with Elizabeth Peña in New York City, but both his days and nights are haunted by visions and beings from elsewhere. There is suspense and plenty of scares, but the emotional punch the film lands on will have you thinking about it for weeks.

If there’s one subgenre in horror that’s underrepresented these days, it’s the monster movie. Forget ghosts, demons, possessions and zombies – sometimes all you want is a good old-fashioned creature feature. Peter Hyams’s The Relic (1997) gives us more thanks to a generous studio budget and a game cast (Tom Sizemore, Penelope Ann Miller, Linda Hunt).
The Monster is a rhinoceros-sized lizard eating people around a popular museum, and Hyams impresses the victim with lots of action along the way.

Jennifer’s Body (2009, freevee) may have been maligned upon release, but Karyn Kusama’s film has only found new fans in the years since. Amanda Seyfried and Megan Fox play besties in high school, but all bets are off when the latter turns into a succubus. Funny, sad and as sharp as the skew of male expectations, this is a film that deserves reevaluation and affirmation as a wickedly dark thriller with both humor and heart.

It’s had some damage in recent years, mostly fueled by an understandable outburst toward one of its co-writers, but Drew Goddard’s The Cabin in the Woods (2012) is a full-fledged horror/comedy. It is made with bangs. The setup unfolds as expected when five friends head to a remote cabin in the woods only to uncover hell, but the devil in the details explodes into a hilarious meta tale of impending apocalypse. Simply brilliant from start to finish with one of the best endings the genre has ever seen.

Remakes You Understandably Missed!

This column is generally geared toward recommendations for readers looking for a streaming service, but this entry is a little different. I won’t recommend any of these four movies because they are all beautiful, so instead consider this a public service message – did you know they even exist?! Down to Earth (2001) is an 87-minute remake of 1978’s Heaven Can Wait. That’s right. One of the American Pie filmmakers made a remake of something written by Elaine May and cast Chris Rock in the role of Warren Beatty. so enjoy.

Jonathan Demme was a beloved filmmaker who made great strides across multiple genres, but you’d still have trouble finding anyone defending The Manchurian Candidate (2004) with anything like genuine passion. You can’t argue with the talent pool as Demme roped in Denzel Washington, Jeffrey Wright, Anthony Mackie, Liev Schreiber, Meryl Streep and more for the film, but it still feels like a copycat of John Frankenheimer’s 1962 original.

Well, you’d be forgiven for not knowing that Gridiron Gang (2006, FreeVee) is a remake because, technically, it’s a narrative adaptation of the 1992 documentary. Still, there’s no reason to rush out to see it. Phil Jonou directs a pre-blockbuster era Dwayne Johnson as a football-loving counselor at a juvenile detention center. He works through the bringing together of teenagers and the celebration of discipline, sportsmanship and hard work. It’s a sports drama with a positive message, so that has to count for something.

Speaking of big egos, Mark Wahlberg stars in Contraband (2012), a remake of an Icelandic thriller from four years earlier. He plays an ex-smuggler who gets back into the game to protect his brother-in-law. The film is the epitome of a standard action/thriller, something that would have gone straight to home video if not for Wahlberg’s presence. This is right?

The Complete Amazon Prime List for November 2022