The Cool Stuff Coming To Hulu In November 2022

Hulu may be unleashing some viewers’ inner Scrooge with a bombardment of Christmas-themed movies. Fortunately, for those who want to avoid saccharine overdose, there are still some worthwhile films to check out this month. See Ryan Coogler’s highly acclaimed directorial debut. Watch Karen Gillan being forced to kill herself, but not in the way you expect.  Or join Cara Delevingne as she discovers her boundaries on personally comfortable sex practices.

This month’s choices may not leave you in a food coma. But they’re certainly better than  yet another argument with your conspiracy-minded uncle over non-existent ballot stuffing.

November 1

28 Weeks Later–The sequel to “28 Days Later” is set in a U.K. decimated by the accidental release of the rage virus, which turns its victims into violent bloodthirsty running zombies.  Six months later, NATO declares that the virus is eliminated, and allows refugees to return to the British Isles to start rebuilding in a designated safe zone.  But one returning refugee secretly carries a far from benign mutation of the rage virus.

Baby Boy–John Singleton’s comedy-drama offers a character study of a young Black man happy to father babies, sponge off his mother, and not even think of looking for work.  Unemployed 20-year-old deadbeat father Jody (Tyrese Gibson) still lives in his childhood room in his mother Juanita’s place.  He also sponges off his employed girlfriend Yvette (Taraji P. Henson).  However, Jody’s ideal (to him) existence looks ready to start crashing down.  Yvette’s getting fed up with Jody,  Best friend Sweetpea (Omar Gooding) is getting involved with gangstas.  And Juanita’s new boyfriend, ex-con Melvin (Ving Rhames), has no patience for Jody’s self-martyrdom.  

God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down A Dynasty–Giancarlo Granda might have remained nothing more than a pool attendant at Miami Beach’s Fontainebleau Hotel.  But his accepting an invitation from a certain female guest to follow her to her hotel room would ultimately lead to the fall of a prominent Christian conservative.  The guest in question was Becki Falwell, wife of Liberty University president Jerry Falwell, Jr.  The resulting 7-year affair would entangle the pool attendant up in the lives of one of the Orange Skull’s biggest religious conservative supporters.

Office Space

Office Space–Mike Judge’s (“Silicon Valley”) cult comedy is back to remind those of us who work from home why doing office work is not a lost paradise.  Programmer Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingstone) is emotionally dying at Initech.  Not only is he frustrated and unmotivated at work, but Initech’s vice-president Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole) sadistically enjoys micromanaging him and the other employees.  A visit to occupational hypnotherapist Dr. Swanson winds up changing Gibbons’ attitude towards his job, which yields unexpected benefits in his life…particularly when Initech starts downsizing.  

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower–Stephen Chobsky writes and directs this adaptation of his novel.  It’s 1991, and shy Charlie (Logan Lerman) is a freshman nervously starting high school.  He’s a clinically depressed teenager who’s just been discharged from a mental hospital.  Making friends seems an impossible task until he’s taken under the wing of two charismatic seniors, Sam (Emma Watson) and her maternal stepbrother Patrick (Ezra Miller).  The trio’s interactions over the next year will bring their secrets to light and even lead to ways for them to find personal peace.  

Second Best–Reclusive Welsh village postal worker Graham Holt (William Hurt) is aware that he’ll be alone once his terminally ill father dies.  So he decides to adopt a son.  However, because Holt is single, only the most troubled children will be offered to him.  James, one such boy, dreams of being reunited with his father despite the fact that the man is in prison and once tried to kidnap him.  Graham and James may individually desire to be left alone.  Yet neither man nor boy want either total emotional freedom or total emotional commitment from the other.     

The Sessions–This adaptation of poet Mark O’Brien’s personal essays begins in 1988 Berkeley, California.  O’Brien (John Hawkes) has lived in an iron lung thanks to polio complications.  He has never had sex, and he wants to lose his virginity before he dies.  With the support of cool priest Father Brendan (William H. Macy), O’Brien employs professional sex surrogate Cheryl Cohen-Greene (Helen Hunt) for no more than six sessions.  But what happens when client and surrogate develop feelings for each other?

November 9

All Rise

All Rise Season 3A–It’s the first half of the new season of this cult favorite legal drama, now at its new home on the Oprah Winfrey Network.  Central character Los Angeles judge Lola Carmichael has managed to be re-elected to her seat after a tough campaign.  However, the closeness of her race makes Carmichael wonder whether her ambitions to disrupt the justice system for the better went too far.  Meanwhile, Carmichael’s court stenographer Sara Castillo has taken on a new job as a victim’s advocate.  And law clerk Ness Johnson has now joined a private law firm.  Some of the cases Judge Carmichael deals with this season includes an Instagram influencer accusing a famous athlete of assault and the efforts to release a wrongly accused prisoner.

November 10

Warm Bodies–It’s eight years after the zombie apocalypse.  R (Nicholas Hoult) is a zombie existing in a zombie-overrun abandoned airport.  When human Julie Grigio and her friends come to the airport to forage for medical supplies, R’s heart starts beating for the first time.  He slowly becomes attracted to Julie, and she in turn begins to trust him.  Is it possible that R and maybe some of the airport zombies are starting to return to life?

November 11

Fruitvale Station–Ryan Coogler’s (“Black Panther”) stunning directorial debut recounts the last 24 hours in the life of Oscar Grant III.  It’s December 31, 2008, and Grant’s life could be a lot better.  Girlfriend Sophia is mad at him for his infidelity.  He’s unemployed and trying to get his job back at a grocery store.  On the other hand, his mom’s celebrating her birthday today, and there’ll be fireworks to mark the passing of the old year and the coming of 2009.  But a fateful ride on a BART train will permanently change the lives of Grant and his loved ones… 

November 13

Catch The Fair One–Native American Kaylee used to be a boxer.  But when her younger sister Weeta was abducted into a sex trafficking ring, the boxer hit the skids and became an addict.  One day, Kaylee gets a possible lead on Weeta’s whereabouts.  But as the former boxer starts diving into the world of sex trafficking, just how brutal will she need to become to track down her missing sister?

November 17

Fleishman Is In Trouble–In this miniseries adaptation of Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s novel, 40-something doctor Toby Fleishman (Jesse Eisenberg) has separated from his wife Rachel (Claire Danes) and is now diving into the world of app-based dating.  His success marks a great contrast to the dating failures of his younger days.  But before Fleishman can enjoy a summer of dating all the eligible women he can hook up with, Rachel mysteriously disappears with no word about where she’s going or when she’ll be back.  Fleishman’s now left with taking care of his kids.  But that’s not all the problems on his plate.  A long-desired promotion at the hospital he works at is in his grasp.  A pair of old friends also return into Fleishman’s life.  The doctor soon realizes that if he wants to find out what happened to his wife, he needs to take an honest look at what happened to their marriage.    

My Old School

My Old School–In 1993, a new transfer student joined Glasgow’s Bearsden Academy secondary school’s fifth year class.  The student, Brandon Lee (as in the American actor accidentally killed on the set of “The Crow”), proved an enigma to his classmates and his teachers.  His classmates noticed Lee was taller and more mature than his peers and had an accent that often slipped away.  His teachers considered Lee a star pupil.  But it turned out Lee was not who he seemed to be.  Director Jono McLeod, who attended Bearsden at the time, recounts Lee’s unusual tale in this offbeat documentary.

November 18

The Forgiven–David (Ralph Fiennes) and Jo (Jessica Chastain) are an unhappily married well-to-do London couple who are visiting Tangier.  On a long night time drive to their old friend Richard’s (Matt Smith, “House of the Dragon”) sprawling villa, David accidentally runs over and kills a poor Moroccan teen selling fossils by the side of the road.  The couple think nothing of the incident until Abdellah, the teen’s father, convinces David to come with him to bury the boy.  Jo will meanwhile hang out at Richard’s villa and engage in debaucheries.  David sets off on what he believes will be an overnight trip where he pays off Abdellah’s family.  But fate has other ideas for the couple.   

November 20

Dual–This science fiction satire from writer-director Riley Stearns (“The Art Of Self-Defense”) is set in a world where cloning is easy and instantaneous.  Terminally ill people are particularly encouraged to clone themselves to spare their loved ones the agony of their loss.  When Sarah (Karen Gillan, “Guardians Of The Galaxy”) gets diagnosed with a terminal illness, she makes the choice to get cloned.  But what happens when a) Sarah recovers from her illness, b) Sarah’s loved ones like Clone Sarah more than the original, and c) only one version of Sarah gets to continue to exist?

November 22

Welcome To Chippendale’s–Robert Siegel (“Pam And Tommy”) helms this true crime tale about the dark story behind a revolutionary cultural phenomenon.  Indian immigrant Somen “Steve” Bannerjee (Kumail Nanjiani) dreamed of living a high life of sheer opulence.  But it wasn’t until he saw how women loved a male stripping routine that he found the business niche that would propel him to fame and fortune.  However, Bannerjee’s desires to head the company and to do whatever shady thing was needed to keep Chippendale’s on top will eventually reveal Bannerjee’s true colors as a very bad man.   

November 26

How To Please A Woman

How To Please A Woman–In this Australian comedy-drama, 50-year-old Gina gets let go from the Lifeline Liquidations company for reasons of ageism.  She decides to bounce back by buying the Pleased To Move You moving company.  This odd decision comes about thanks to an earlier encounter with male stripper Tom, whose day job is working for Pleased To Move You.  Her plan is to have all the men of the moving company clean houses and provide sex on demand.  However, making this new venture work involves getting both the men and the women up to speed.

November 29

Planet Sex With Cara Delevingne–In this Hulu-BBC docuseries, model, actress, and LGBTQ+ activist Delevingne travels the globe to explore issues of sexuality and gender.  What cultural and natural forces shape peoples’ sexual identity?  In search of answers to questions on such topics as sexual orientation, gender, and monogamy, Delevingne will attend masturbation seminars, visit a porn library, and even get her blood tested during an orgasm.