Welcome back to winter, kids. It's finally happened and there's no going back. It's darker, colder and generally just more miserable outside so any social obligations that involve being away from your warm, comfy bed really need to be worth the effort.
Which is why we're here to tell you what's on our list of things to do, see and experience in this awkward month of November (let's face it, we're all just waiting for Christmas anyway). You'll be glad to hear that it's a good month for films – the long-awaited Fantastic Beasts sequel is finally hitting cinemas, Viola Davis' hit Widows is almost upon us and if you're in the market for a thriller, Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino has something new (and very, very different) in store for you.
Out in the big bad world there's a welcome alternative to the annual mayhem of Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland, a couple of Instagram-worthy art exhibitions and the new music drops to listen to before everyone else. Here are the best things to fill your long, dark evenings with this month.
Homecoming
We've got another podcast turned TV show for you, this time fronted by Julia Roberts in her poignant first foray onto the small screen. Homecoming is a new (and unnerving) drama series on its way to Amazon Prime Video pretty soon and people are very excited about it. It follows Roberts' character, Heidi, a caseworker at a top secret government facility ostensibly set up to "help" soldiers return to normal life. However, the trailer will leave you suspicious that something far more sinister is going on beneath the surface.
Widows
Put (deep breath) Viola Davis, Daniel Kaluuya, Liam Neeson, Cynthia Erivo, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, Robert Duvall, Colin Farrell and Jacki Weaver in a film directed by 12 Years A Slave 's Steve McQueen and co-written by Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn, and it'd be silly not to be hyped about it, right? The result is Widows – a dark and alluring crime caper which sees four widows (Davis, Erivo, Rodriguez and Debicki) seeking revenge on the bad guys involved in their husbands' deaths.
In cinemas 6th November
LM5
Who could have imagined that one of the world's biggest girl bands, born on X Factor and catapulted to international superstardom, would be about to release their fifth studio album? Because that's precisely what's happening. Aptly named LM5(as in Little Mix 5[th] album), the record is apparently the singers' favourite to date. It features their latest single "Woman Like Me" with Nicki Minaj, and you'll have just enough time to learn all the words before their LM5 tour next year.
House of Cards
The reckoning is coming, and it'll be delivered by our first female president Claire Underwood after the apparent death of her husband, Francis. The new and final season of Netflix's House Of Cards places actress Robin Wright up front and centre as we *finally* find out what's in store for this fictional (although sometimes eerily similar) America at the hands of their new commander-in-chief.
Winterville
I totally understand that you might not be ready for the festive season just yet, so I'll leave you with the gentle reminder that Christmas is indeed coming, and there's lots of holly jolly activity on the way. A crowd favourite has to be Winterville, which has positioned itself as the alternative to Hyde Park's famed Winter Wonderland. We're talking celebrated street food, live music and roller disco club nights along with comedy nights, Backyard Cinema and, yes, plenty of mulled wine.
Phoenix by Rita Ora
It's been a little while since we've had a Rita Ora album, six years in fact. So fans will be delighted to hear that a new body of music has very recently been announced. Familiar favourites are on the track listing – "Let You Love Me", "Your Song", "Anywhere", "Lonely Together" and "Girls" featuring Cardi B, Charli XCX and Bebe Rexha all make an appearance – and yes, there's a tour on the way too.
Dripping Sauce by Maisie Cousins
London-based photographer Maisie Cousins is launching a solo exhibition this month and it's pretty exciting. If you're familiar with her work, you'll know to expect big, bright and bold but this new project invites you to get very up close and personal with the things we associate with eating – a zoomed and intensified portrait of our strange and obsessive relationship with food that'll have you straddling that delicate line between awe and repulsion, if you will. Maisie says that Dripping Sauce is an "amalgamation of all the things that I find charming and funny about food" and it's safe to say you'll be enticed and challenged all at the same time.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
It's here! It's finally here! The second instalment of J. K. Rowling's Fantastic Beasts series (the prequel to Harry Potter, if you somehow didn't already know) arrives this month and we'll finally be introduced to young Dumbledore (played by Jude Law). Though the truth behind one particular fan theory was revealed in the film's latest trailer, we're still super excited to find out more about Nagini's story. And yes, I do encourage attempting a full Harry Potter marathon before you venture to the cinema for the next chapter.
In cinemas from 16th November
Raye's headline tour
Raye is one to know about, you guys. She's the voice behind some of your favourite chart bangers of the last couple of years, and after supporting the likes of Years & Years, Jess Glynne and Rita Ora, it's her time to headline her own tour. There's no doubt it'll be a legitimately fun one, too. Just be ready to dance and jump and ambitiously hit her high notes if she performs the Jax Jones track "You Don't Know Me".
Performances at Academy 2, Birmingham on 1st November; The Wardrobe, Leeds on 2nd November; The Cluny, Newcastle on 3rd November; Thekla, Bristol on 5th November, Koko, London on 6th November and O2 Academy Dublin on 8th November
Nobody's Fool
Chances are, you're going to need a laugh this month and for that we direct you to Tiffany Haddish's newest comedy, Nobody's Fool. She stars as Tanya, a young woman recently out of jail and back in her sister Danica's (Tika Sumpter) life, in need of help getting back on her feet. She soon finds out, however, that her sister is in a relationship with a man she's never met and the priority shifts to hunting down her catfish. There are welcome, hilarious appearances from Amber Riley and Whoopi Goldberg, who stars as their mother. Pencil it in for that girls' weekend you've got planned because it'll rain/you'll be hungover/it looks like one to bond over.
In cinemas 23rd November
Yandhi by Kanye West
Don't think we've forgotten about the promise of this new album, folks. Kanye's high profile project was due to drop back in September amid a strange social media campaign in which he criticised the nature of, erm, social media. There's a lot about Kanye's recent behaviour that neither adds up nor has brought estranged fans of his music back on board. But at the very least, by Kanye's own doing there's a lot of weight on Yandhi and it's safe to say there'll be a fair amount of noise when it (if it) eventually drops.
Available 23rd November
Suspiria
Based on the 1977 horror of the same name, this new film is brought to you by Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino. Starring Tilda Swinton, Dakota Johnson and Chloë Grace Moretz, Suspiria introduces us to a world-renowned dance academy in Berlin where there's something way more menacing going on than a few competitive pirouettes on a sprung wooden floor. Witchcraft lingers in the corners of this narrative and it'll leave you disproportionately nervous about your grand plans to get back into dancing.
In cinemas 16th November
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