November Movies: 20 Reviews in One Sentence Each

It is truly the holiday season for film buffs, as more movies are released into theaters. Some are future Oscar winners while others are money grabs of disappointing quality.

Here are November’s 20 films, each rated on a scale ranging from zero to five, with zero representing The Dreaded Fist of Badness — a film so bad we should be able to pop someone on the snout to get our money back — while the best score an absolutely terrific five-fingered High Five. Decency prevents the giving of a “one finger” review, so a two rating means the movie is not worth paying to see with a three being “just a movie.” A four-finger review means the movie is excellent. The High Fives rating are truly superb.

This month’s films rate all across the board but there are at least five really great High Fives out there, with seven more rating four fingers.  There is only one total stinkbomb out there that must be avoided at all costs, so November has substantive depth to enjoy good movies both at the cinema or from the comfort of your sofa.

As always, feel free to chime in if I’ve got one wrong. I love to hear what everyone thinks and one of the great things about the movies is the pure democracy of viewer voting: All opinions are 100 percent equal and 100 percent right.

Here we go:

Hacksaw Ridge – 5 stars. Look for an Oscar nomination for director Mel Gibson’s intense World War II fact-based drama about a most unlikely hero—a conscientious objector who is a medic during the famous bloodbath battle in Okinawa—with another nomination for lead actor Andrew Garfield.

Katie Says Goodbye – 5 fingers. This visceral drama about a happy young waitress (played by a fabulous Olivia Cooke) working at a dusty truck stop restaurant but dreams of moving to San Francisco is new to the festival circuit and an absolute gem of a film — proving yet again that great filmmaking is more than possible on modest budgets that do not rely on special effects.

The Tip of the Iceberg – 3 fingers. This Spanish film, told through the voice of a young woman sent to a corporate location to poke around and file a report for headquarters after four co-workers commit suicide, eviscerates Spanish corporations and executives who exert near sadistic pressure on their workers to make a buck while crushing lives.

SCORE: A Film Music Documentary – 3 fingers. This very well researched and carefully homage to composers and musicians who score motion pictures benefits from 55 interviews with those who provide the music and will appeal to cinephiles and music afficionados curious about how a brilliant score contributes mightily to an unforgettable film.

The Fairy – 4 fingers. This hysterical French comedy showcases the sensational team of Dominique Abel as an odd hotel clerk who unexpectedly falls in love with a woman (Fiona Gordon) who walks up to his front desk, announces that she is a fairy, and offers to grant him three wishes—the first two of which cause more mayhem than you can possibly imagine.

Things to Come – 3 fingers. French legend Isabelle Huppert is her usual fabulous self in this somber drama about a late-career philosophy professor suddenly forced to piece together some semblance of a happy life alone following a chain of unexpected sorrows.

Dr. Strange – 4 fingers. A great cast and superb special effects launch Marvel’s latest superhero tentpole with a well made and very entertaining story thanks to a great performance by Benedict Cumberbatch as a self-centered genius neurosurgeon who survives a horrendous car accident and devotes himself to learning the secrets of time and space.

BANG! The Bert Berns Story – 5 fingers. You can’t ask for more from a music industry documentary than this perfectly made biopic about the meteoric rise and premature death of BANG Records founder Bert Berns—a New York songwriter and producer who rocketed from poverty to industry legend in less than a year and earlier this year was posthumously enshrined in the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame.

The Handmaiden – 4 fingers. This sexually charged Japanese period drama about a young man and woman determined to con a wealthy but wily Japanese heiress out of her family fortune has more twists and turns than a black diamond ski slope and although long -– roughly 2 ½ hours –- is really well done and very entertaining.

Arrival – 3 fingers. This sci-fi “let’s preach to the planet” film about a young woman (Amy Adams) recruited to communicate with space aliens is good but not great, as it bogs down early and a bit too frequently and is, at time, too melodramatic to keep the viewer emotionally vested in story and characters.

The Edge of Seventeen – 4 fingers. Any time James L. Brooks is attached as a producer you know the film you are paying to see is very well written, and this one—a fresh, relevant, and on-point high school coming of age film starring Hailee Steinfeld—is all that and more.

The Eagle Huntress — 5 fingers, High Five. This rural Mongolian documentary about a young girl’s determination to become an eagle hunter – the tradition’s first female in 13 generations – features breathtaking cinematography, an interesting and well told story, and a glimpse into a way of life most viewers would never know existed.

Bleed For This – 3 fingers. Boxing fans will appreciate this fine film based on the tumultuous life and head-busting career of brawling New England middleweight Vinnie Pazienza, who is expertly portrayed by Miles Teller and superbly supported by Aaron Eckhart and Katey Sagal.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – 2 fingers. A surprisingly weak cast, overdone special effects, messy directing, and poor editing drag down Freddie Redmayne’s noble lead effort in this very disappointing tent pole launch of J. K. Rowling’s new five-film fantasy series.

Aquarius – 4 fingers. Brazilian actress Sonia Braga delivers an unforgettable performance as a stubborn old woman determined to hang on as the final resident willing to sell her beachside condo to ruthless developers who will stop at nothing to force her out.

Seasons –0 fingers, The Dreaded Fist of Badness. This French nature film proves that it is somehow possible to waste four years making an absolutely dreadful movie (theoretically about man pressuring nature into duress) despite having uncountable hours of year ‘round flora and fauna footage to draw from.

Allied – 4 fingers. Too many production errors mar an otherwise outstanding film about World War II spies (Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard) who fall in love, a relationship full of surprising twists that showcases how brilliant Cotillard is when given a role with meat on the bones.

Rules Don’t Apply – 2 fingers. Warren Beatty’s much anticipated return to the big screen in this Howard Hughes biopic is a boring, disjointed, and poorly edited mess that should have gone straight to video or been buried in oblivion as a February release.

Loving – 3 fingers. Based on back story leading up to the landmark Supreme Court that legalized interracial marriage in America, this taut social drama features sparse dialogue, wistful storytelling, and a couple of quiet blue-collar Virginia nobodies with the starch and fortitude to change a nation.

Nocturnal Animals – 4 fingers. Director Tom Ford’s outstanding psychological thriller about a divorced couple dealing with mind games 20 years later delivers the goods thanks to a clever story-within-a-story and great work by the perfectly cast trio of Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Michael Shannon.

That’s it for November, film fans. December means the next wave of quality films is upon us. See you at the cinema.