The best movies and TV shows to watch this fall

While this was a summer of box office sequels and “Love Island” Season 7 watch parties, the fall landscape for movies and TV feels much crisper.

Sure, there are repeats on a form, but there’s a unique direction to the wind. While “The Paper” is a loose spinoff of “The Office,” lead actor Domhnall Gleeson tells The Times the mockumentary about a struggling newspaper has its own feel. Then there’s drama “The Lowdown” from Sterlin Harjo, co-creator of “Reservation Dogs,” starring Ethan Hawke. One of our critics intriguingly calls it Tulsa noir.

On the big screen, Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” brings wild energy, while Scarlett Johansson makes her directorial debut with “Eleanor the Great,” a Cannes audience favorite. And as an extra special treat, we got the guys from “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” to dish in character — animal print pants and all.

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The movie and TV offerings here, dropping Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, are just the beginning of our fall preview coverage. In the wings for after Labor Day: what’s new in music, books, dance, theater and museums. Bookmark this page to stay in the know. — Brittany Levine Beckman, Entertainment and Features editor

MOVIES

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.