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'The Muppets Take Manhattan' in Queens and more November films in NYC
By
Emma Stefansky
Published Nov 3, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. ET
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Yvonne Hemsey/Getty Images
By
Emma Stefansky
Published Nov 3, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. ET
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It’s a dark and misty night and one man prowls the streets dressed in a creepy mask and a swirling cape. It’s Hugo Weaving from “V for Vendetta!” And he’s ushering in the month of November with a classic action movie that reminds us all of the power of a cool monologue and an even cooler sword.
This month at the movies, New York is playing host to aliens, Muppets, ambitious directors, and families big and small as the onset of the holiday season has us all thinking about finding home wherever we are. Whether you’re staying close by or launching into outer space, there’s no better place to do it than at the movies.
"V for Vendetta"
Remember, remember, the 5th of November, especially when it comes to re-releases of classic dystopian action movies. This month brings the 20th Anniversary of “V for Vendetta,” adapted from the Alan Moore comic (with a script by the Wachowski sisters) about the price of revolution in a totalitarian society. Starring a high-kicking Hugo Weaving wielding a Guy Fawkes mask and a big sword alongside an iconically bald Natalie Portman, the memorably stylized movie invokes the English revolutionaries’ 1605 Gunpowder Plot to spin a tale of rebellion against a system that no longer works in the favor of the people. Better brush up on your V-words.
"Wild Horse Nine"
Eighteen years after his feature-length debut “In Bruges,” Irish director Martin McDonagh returns to his unique brand of spy comedy with “Wild Horse Nine,” starring John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell as CIA operatives dispatched to Easter Island mere days before the 1973 Chilean coup d'etat. The constantly bickering pair wrestle with their inner demons and their mounting disillusionment with international destabilization while the shadows of the island’s giant heads loom.
Angelika Film Center, opens Nov. 5
"Crooklyn"
“Crooklyn” is perhaps Spike Lee’s most personal film, a semi-autobiographical family portrait of a Bedford-Stuyvesant household in the summer of 1973. Told mainly through the eyes of the family’s young daughter Troy Carmichael (Zelda Harris), the film stars a cast of colorful Brooklynites doing what they can to get by. These days, the movie is mainly celebrated for its soundtrack of hits from the 1960s and ’70s, including The Jackson 5’s “ABC” and The Chambers Brothers’ “Time Has Come Today.”
"Everytime"
When a shocking tragedy befalls a teenage girl, what remains of her family — her mother, her younger sister, and her boyfriend — find themselves immersed in the surreality of grief in the modern age, where the dead remain semi-present via a digital realm of photographs, videos and Minecraft islands. Determined to regain some sense of normalcy, the fractured family unit goes on their pre-planned vacation to the Spanish island of Tenerife, resulting in a reality-bending climax that must be seen to be believed. “Everytime” is the third feature film by audacious Austrian director Sandra Wollner, an exploration into the hidden connections between death, grief, and technology.
Film at Lincoln Center, opens Nov. 6
"News from Home"
When Belgian director Chantal Akerman was 21, she moved to New York City for two years, from 1971 to 1973, and later returned in 1976 to capture footage of the places where she’d lived, worked and taken walks. These long takes of NYC streets, subway stations, and the Staten Island Ferry make up her avant-garde documentary “News from Home,” scored with a voiceover of Akerman herself reading the letters her mother sent to her while she was living there. This underseen gem is as much a snapshot of NYC in a bygone era as it is a depiction of all-too-familiar parental anxiety that hits after your children leave the nest.
"Hermia & Helena"
While in New York on an artist’s residency, an Argentine theater director intends to put on a Spanish translation of William Shakespeare’s fantasy play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” One of director Matías Piñeiro’s ambitious series of films loosely inspired by the Bard’s works, “Hermia & Helena” charmingly follows protagonist Camila (Agustina Muñoz) on her romantic and artistic exploits, casting a who’s-who of fellow international creators (French director Mati Diop, American director and critic Dan Sallitt) in supporting roles.
Metrograph, Nov. 8. There will be a Q&A with director Matías Piñeiro following the opening day screening.
"Cloverfield"
New York is rivaled only by Tokyo in the getting-invaded-by-giant-monsters department, and the visceral 2008 found-footage sci-fi horror movie “Cloverfield” took that competition to new heights. When a going-away party is interrupted by an alien invasion, a group of friends must make their way through the city and avoid getting crushed in the mysterious creature’s destructive wake. We all remember where we were when we first encountered the nausea-inducing digital shaky cam with which the movie’s cast of screaming twentysomethings captured a giant extraterrestrial monster’s rampage across Manhattan. (In a cheeky “Cloverfield”-esque twist, though it was shot to emulate a cheap handicam, IFC’s screenings of the movie will be on 35mm.)
IFC Center, Nov. 13, 14
"The Muppets Take Manhattan"
Making it in New York isn’t easy, not even for the Muppets! When the troupe of charming performers put on a variety show for their college’s graduating class, their classmates’ cheers inspire them to take it all the way to Broadway. But showbiz isn’t all song and dance, and Kermit, Miss Piggy, and their pals soon find out that producing a show in the heart of New York City isn’t as easy as it seems. “The Muppets Take Manhattan” is a glowing ode to NYC, featuring a fabulous array of cameos from stars like Joan Rivers, Elliott Gould, and the inimitable Liza Minnelli.
MOMI Redstone Theater, Nov. 21 and 22
All of a Sudden
A director of a Parisian memory care nursing home whose efforts to humanely train the staff lead to frustration and burnout. A Japanese playwright whose diagnosis with terminal cancer hasn’t stopped her from putting on a play in the city. When their worlds collide by happenstance, the two women’s lives instantly mesh, bonding through meditative conversations about healthcare, mental illness and philosophy. “All of a Sudden” is Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s first French-language film, a celebration of life in the face of overwhelming despair.
Tagged
brooklyn
manhattan
queens
Emma Stefansky
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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