From ‘The Fall Guy’ to ‘Back to Black,’ Here’s What We’re Watching This Month

Keith Phipps
·5 min read

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You hear that? ? Summer movie season is about to begin. If it has an official kickoff date it’s Friday, May 3, which marks the debut of The Fall Guy, the first big, multiplex-friendly blockbuster of a season surprisingly (refreshingly?) light on the superhero fare that’s defined it for the past decade or so. May has a ton of must-see titles, from Anne Hathaway’s The Idea of You on Prime Video to a Beach Boys doc on Disney+. But TV is far from inactive, either. When it comes to returning favorites, Doctor Who fans can celebrate the arrival of a new season and the month kicks off with an ambitious literary adaptation. We’ll start there too.

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What to Watch: May 2024 Movie & TV Shows Guide

Ready to sit back, relax, and watch the best new films and series? Here’s what’s on our radar this month:

A Man in Full (Netflix, May 2)

Tom Wolfe’s bestselling 1998 novel chronicled an Atlanta businessman’s struggle to hold onto his empire and doubled as a snapshot of Atlanta’s ascent at the end of the 20th century. That should make this miniseries, created by David E. Kelley and starring Jeff Daniels, not only a long-awaited adaptation but also a period piece of a particular moment before the century turned. Watch on Netflix

The Idea of You (Prime Video, May 2)

In the latest film from Michael Showalter, Anne Hathaway stars as a single mom whose trip to Coachella with her daughter takes a surprising turn when she strikes up a flirtation with Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galiztine), the lead singer of a British boy band. Based on a novel by Robinne Lee (that sounds a lot like it was inspired by Harry Styles), the film earned a warm reception when it premiered at South by Southwest earlier this year. Watch on Prime Video

The Fall Guy (Theaters, May 3)

Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt star in what appears to be a loose adaptation of a once-popular 1980s series starring Lee Majors as a stuntman who also foiled crimes. Here Gosling plays a veteran stunt double who joins his ex’s directorial debut only to get drawn into a kidnapping when the star (Aaron Taylor Johnson) disappears. David Leitch (Bullet Train) directs. Get Tickets on Fandango

I Saw the TV Glow (Theaters, May 3)

Jane Schoenbrun follows their haunting debut We’re All Going to the World’s Fair with a different sort of story centered around the relationship between art, media, and identity. Justice Smith stars as Owen (played as a boy by Ian Foreman), who sorts through the pivotal roles played by a supernatural-themed 1990s series and Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine), the older teen with whom he watched it. Get Tickets on Fandango

Dark Matter (Apple TV+, May 8)

Adapting his own 2016 novel, Blake Crouch serves as the creator of this new series starring Joel Edgerton as a Chicago physics professor trapped in an alternate dimension drastically altered due to a decision he made years earlier. Jennifer Connelly co-stars as his wife (or his wife in one dimension, anyway). Watch on Apple TV+

Bodkin (Netflix, May 9)

Will Forte heads an ensemble cast otherwise largely made up of Irish actors in this new comic thriller series set in a small Irish coastal town that’s the site of some mysterious disappearances. Can a team of podcasters get to the bottom of the mystery? Watch on Netflix

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (Theaters, May 10)

A follow-up to the trilogy of Planet of the Apes films that ended with War for the Planet of the Apes in 2017, this new installment is set centuries after the film’s conclusion, when humans have been reduced to feral creatures and apes have started to build a society of their own — one, it would seem, not immune to tyranny. Wes Ball assumes the directorial chores. Get Tickets on Fandango

Back to Black (Theaters, May 17)

Amy Winehouse gets the biopic treatment in a new film starring Industry’s Marisa Bela. It’s a tough role to step into, but at least director Sam Taylor-Johnson has some experience in the field thanks to the John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy. Get Tickets on Fandango

IF (Theaters, May 17)

Stepping away from the scares of the Quiet Place movies, John Krasinki directs this fantasy film about Bea (Cailey Fleming), a girl who can see imaginary friends. Krasinki plays her father, joined by Ryan Reynolds as Cal, a grown-up with the same gift or, perhaps, curse. Get Tickets on Fandango

The Big Cigar (Apple TV+, May 17)

How did Black Panther founder Huey Newton escape to Cuba while awaiting trial for murder? With the help of Bert Schneider, a sympathetic Hollywood producer. This new six-episode miniseries, starring André Holland as Newton, Alessandro Nivola as Schneider, and Tiffany Boone as Newton’s girlfriend Gwen Fontaine, tells the strange-but-true story. Watch on Apple TV+

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (Theaters, May 24)

In 2015, George Miller returned to the post-apocalyptic wasteland of the Mad Max films for a new installment that introduced a tough new heroine named Furiosa (played by Charlize Theron). In this prequel, Anya Taylor-Joy assumes the role opposite Chris Hemsworth as her antagonist, Warlord Dementus (this series has the best names, doesn’t it?). Get Tickets on Fandango

The Beach Boys (Disney+, May 24)

It’s likely that only Elvis and The Beatles have been the subjects of more documentaries than The Beach Boys at this point, though this new history of the band promises plenty of fresh interviews and previously unseen footage. Watch on Disney+

In a Violent Nature (Theaters, May 31)

Ever wonder what a slasher film would look like if it were shot like an austere art film? Wonder no more thanks to this offbeat Canadian horror movie that wowed audiences at Sundance and the horror-themed Overlook Film Festival. Get Tickets on Fandango

Robot Dreams (Theaters, May 31)

Nominated for Best Animated Feature at the most recent Academy Awards, this new feature from Spanish animator Pablo Berger is set in an alternate Eighties where a lonely dog answers an advertisement for a robot friend. Bittersweet adventures follow. Get Tickets on Fandango

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