November watchlist
The Crown - Season 4
The fourth season of Netflix's The Crown covers the period during the reign of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the courtship and marriage of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer. The life of the British Royals amid personal and political turmoil of Buckingham Palace is well enacted by the wonderful Olivia Colman once again playing Elizabeth II, Gillian Anderson playing Margaret Thatcher and Emma Corrin doing a fabulous enactment of Britain's most favourite princess, Diana. Love them or hate them, you certainly can't escape the fine filmmaking at display, for the fourth time in a row on this Netflix show.
Spiderman : Into the Spider Verse
Spider-Man takes a break from the behemoth of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and finds a brand new direction in this wildly inventive animated movie, which uses the multiverse theory (essentially, that there are an infinite number of parallel dimensions co-existing on top of each other) to take the web-slinger we all know and love in all sorts of weird and wonderful directions. To reveal too much would spoil the joy of watching this alternate universe Spidey - Brooklyn schoolboy Miles Morales - undergo his own origin story, which brilliantly parallels the one we've already seen in so many other movies, comics and games. The fact that it's all brought to life in an amazing (no pun intended) animation style is simply the icing on a delicious cinematic cake. Watch it on Apple TV to enjoy the visuals in the best possible way.
Parasite - Film
Bong Joon-ho's dark comedy didn't just won the Best Picture at last year's Oscars, it won hearts for displaying the class divide and inequality that exists. It is especially relatable coz we big city dwellers are too familiar with such a divide ourselves. Best Movie was a feather in its heart, mose so coz this was the first time a foreign language film won the award. The film was lauded for its funny and satirical take on the events that take place in the lives of poverty-stricken Kim family vis-a-vis the wealthy Parks. A brilliant take on class divide and inequality in the modern world as we know it, that reveals the circumstances that make parasites of us all. Watch it on Amazon Prime Video.
Watchmen - Season 1
The adaptation of the most graphic novels of our times can certainly not capture the complex themes and paranormal atmosphere of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' comics. HBO's newest Tv series does more justice to the comic than the 2009 movie adaptation, but it picks up 30 years after the events of the original book. Showrunner Damon Lindelof has managed to create something special, it seems to have captured the comic's spirit. It certainly feels appropriate for our times, exploring themes of race and identity in modern America through a series of events in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And fans of the comics will be able to catch up with a few familiar faces.