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I’m not one to be emotional about such things, but I’m not ashamed that the first thing I thought when NSW restrictions were lifted was of the chance to retreat indoors and watch all the auteur masterpieces distributors have been holding back for this exact moment. So, what’s in store for November?

Marvel’s Eternals (4 November), Chloé Zhao’s follow up to her historic Academy Award Nomadland, is a multi-million dollar superhero epic of Marvel’s cinematic universe that even devoted fans of the comics seem to know very little about. It doesn’t matter, though. Marvel’s machine is impervious to the influence of expectations, and they niftily hired an established award-winning filmmaker and a stellar cast helmed by Angelina Jolie, Kumail Nanjiani and Salma Hayek when they didn’t have to.

James Bond returns the following week but, before you book your tickets, there’s also Wes Anderson’s highly anticipated—and many times delayed—French Dispatch (11 November). It’s a love letter to the heyday of The New Yorker, print media, and French culture in the 1960s, with such an impressive cast of both Anderson’s usual suspects and newcomers.

Last Night in Soho (18 November) is Edgar Wright’s new release after the divisive, if annoyingly entertaining, Baby Driver. It’s a homage to Italian horror thrillers from the 1970s, with a beguiled Thomasin McKenzie in London, mysteriously transported to the 1960s in the body of a singer played by Anya Taylor-Joy.

We finish the month on the opposite spectrum from where we started – Julia Ducournau’s Titane (25 November) is this year’s Cannes Palm D’or, impressive for a second feature, but doubly so for being a violently graphic sci-fi horror thriller that lands somewhere between Cronenberg, Lucile Hadzihalilovic and H.R. Giger. I can’t think of a better way to start the holiday season.

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Film giveaway

LSJ welcomes readers back to the cinema with 10 double passes to The Power of the Dog. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog is a superbly crafted period western set against the backdrop of early 1920s Montana. Coming to cinemas November 11.

To enter, send your name, LawID and postal address to [email protected] with the subject line “Power of the Dog” by Tuesday 9 November.