There’s less streaming than usual–no Hulu original movies at press time–and not a single Nicholas Cage film, but still, plenty to see this month at home and in theaters.
Streaming this week on Netflix:
Hold Your Breath: The Ice Dive …Here is what I sent for our daily feature, What to Watch: “This beautifully shot documentary follows freediver Johanna Nordblad as she trains to break the world record for distance traveled under ice with one breath.”
40 Years Young is a Mexican dramedy. A chef joins his best friend in a restaurant competition in hopes of finding his “zest for life.” Netflix hadn’t uploaded a trailer at press time.
New in theaters Friday, May 6:
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the sequel to 2016’s Doctor Strange (and Marvel’s 28th film). Benedict Cumberbatch’s Dr. Strange, “with the help of both old and new mystical allies, travels into the multiverse to face a mysterious new adversary.”
Suicide for Beginners, a comedy, is about a Nice Guy (you know the kind) who is “deadset” on murdering the love of his life, when whoops! He becomes a serial killer.
Happening, an adaptation of Annie Ernaux’s novel, which looked back on an illegal 1960s abortion in France. (And, oh, look, it’s not fully legal in America anymore.) An abortion thriller! I can’t believe there aren’t more of these already.
The Sanctity of Space is yet another climbing documentary.
New on Netflix the same day:
Marmaduke, an animated film about the famed dog from your daily comics.
Thar, a thriller from India: “Mysteries and mirages, twists and turns. In the heart of an unforgiving desert, unfolds a gritty thriller, unlike any other.”
The Takedown, a French cop drama.
New in theaters Friday, May 13:
The Last Victim is a crime drama. A group of outlaws are pursued by the law, which in this film, is represented by Ron Perlman.
Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story is a documentary about Jazz Fest, an annual music festival in New Orleans.
Jayeshbhai Jordaar is an Indian-language dramedy about a man who believes in equal rights.
The Innocents is a Norwegian thriller about supernatural children.
Family Camp is about a stressed family who goes to church camp for the summer, and… remember the time Homer let the legendary fish go for Marge? This movie looks unwatchable.
Homebound, a British thriller, find a couple in the countryside in a manor crowded with ghosts.
Mau is a documentary about “design visionary” Bruce Mau.
On the Count of Three, starring our favorite, Jarrod Carmichael (who directed and co-wrote the film), Christopher Abbott, Tiffany Haddish, J.B. Smoove, and Henry Winkler, is about two friends determined to kill each other by the end of the day. (I assume they won’t.)
Firestarter, a reboot of the 1984 film franchise, itself an adaptation of the 1980 Stephen King novel, stars Zac Efron, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Sydney Lemmon, Michael Greyeyes, and Gloria Reuben.
New that day on Netflix:
Senior Year stars Rebel Wilson as a woman who awakes from a 20-year coma to find out she’s 37, and not the hot, popular cheer captain enjoying her senior year of high school. Could be great or deeply problematic as Wilson’s character faces the many advancements of the last two decades.
And later that week:
Cyber Hell: Exposing an Internet Horror is a South Korean documentary about cyber crime and sexual harrassment.
A Perfect Pairing is a romantic comedy: “To land a major client, a hard-driving LA wine-company exec (Victoria Justice) travels to an Australian sheep station, where she ends up working as a ranch hand and sparking with a rugged local (Adam Demos).” Somehow the opposite of Life & Beth.
The Photographer: Murder in Pinamar is a documentary about the murder of photojournalist José Luis Cabezas.
New in theaters Friday, May 20:
Downton Abbey: A New Era, the sequel to 2019’s Downton Abbey, reunites the cast and family as they receive a visit from the King and Queen.
Digger is “a contemporary Western about a native farmer who lives and works alone in a farmhouse in the heart of a mountain forest in Northern Greece.”
Hold Your Fire is a documentary about the 1973 hostage incident in Brooklyn that led to modern hostage negotiation.
Men, written and directed by Alex Garland, stars Jessie Buckley as a widow whose getaway is thoroughly ruined by Rory Kinnear, who plays the owner of the inn she’s staying at and the men in town.
That day on Netflix:
F*ck Love Too is a romantic comedy.
New in theaters Friday, May 27:
The Bob’s Burgers Movie is a feature-length adaptation of the much-beloved animated comedy! I laughed out loud in the theater when I saw this.
Top Gun: Maverick stars Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly, and Val Kilmer return for a Top Gun sequel I cannot believe they made. Miles Teller also stars, and I can’t believe he’s getting cast anywhere, so I guess I’m gobsmacked all around this weekend at the box office. Thanks a lot, Gen-X.
A Taste of Whale is a documentary about “Faroe Islanders’ ritual slaughter of pilot whales.”
Rite of the Shaman is a coming-of-age drama about a young man who strives to follow in the footsteps of his deceased grandfather, who was a “shaman.”