Every month, streaming services add movies and TV shows to their libraries. Here are our picks for some of May’s most promising new titles. (Note: Streaming services occasionally change schedules without giving notice. For more recommendations on what to stream, sign up for our Watching newsletter here.)
New to Amazon Prime Video
‘Spider-Noir’ Starts streaming: May 27
For the animated film “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” Nicolas Cage voiced an alternate universe Spider-Man, who was both a 1930s private eye and a superhero. Cage reprises that character in the live-action series “Spider-Noir.” He plays Ben Reilly, a broken-down detective who once wore a costume and fought crime, before personal tragedy turned him cynical and reclusive. When one of Ben’s cases puts him in the path of a crime boss (Brendan Gleeson) and several superpowered henchmen, Ben’s journalist friend Robbie Robertson (Lamorne Morris) urges him to use his spider-powers again, to save the city. “Spider-Noir” is available to watch in either black-and-white or color. Both versions evoke old movies and pulp novels.
Also arriving:
May 6 “Citadel” Season 2
May 8 “No Place to Be Single”
May 13 “Off Campus” Season 1
May 15 “It’s Not Like That” Season 1
May 20 “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War”
New to AMC+
‘The Terror: Devil in Silver’ Starts streaming: May 7
The third installment of the horror anthology series “The Terror” adapts a Victor LaValle novel, “The Devil in Silver,” about a man wrongly admitted to a mental institution, where the nightmare of administrative incompetence gets supercharged by some truly sinister supernatural force. Dan Stevens plays that man, Pepper, who on his first night in the asylum sees a monster in his cell — which may be real or which could be a hallucination, brought about by the medication the residents are forced to take. Pepper has to rely on his similarly doped-up peers to stand up against the corrupt staff (played by Aasif Mandvi, CCH Pounder, Stephen Root and John Benjamin Hickey, among others) and find out what evils this place may be hiding.
‘Zodiac Killer Project’ Starts streaming: May 15
The experimental documentary filmmaker Charlie Shackleton offers an offbeat take on true crime with “Zodiac Killer Project,” a movie that is more of a commentary on the genre than an example. As Shackleton explains early in the film, he originally intended to make a documentary about a California police officer who had claimed to have solved the infamous Zodiac Killer case. But when Shackleton lost the rights to tell that story, he decided instead to make a movie about the movie he did not get to make, by demonstrating in general terms what he would have shot and how he would have edited it. “Zodiac Killer Project” is a thoughtful and often funny film about the stylistic clichés of true crime docs, and why these kinds of stories appeal so much to artists and to audiences.
Also arriving:
May 1 “Heresy” “Tales from the Crypt” Season 1
May 8 “Whistle”
May 15 “Something Is About to Happen”
May 22 “This Is Not a Test”
May 28 “Marilyn & the Mob”
May 29 “Smothered”
New to Apple TV
‘Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed’ Season 1 Starts streaming: May 20
In this Hitchcockian thriller series, Tatiana Maslany plays Paula, who, recently divorced, copes with her loneliness by chatting with male models on erotic webcam services. When she witnesses an act of violence during a session, she has to figure out whether her favorite model is really in danger, or if she is being scammed. She has to keep her investigation a secret, though, because her ex-husband, Karl (Jake Johnson), is planning to move across the country with their daughter, and is arguing in court that he is the more stable parent. Created and written by David J. Rosen and directed by David Gordon Green, “Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed” is about a woman who is paying a steep price for some questionable choices, but trying desperately to work her way out of trouble.
‘Star City’ Season 1 Starts streaming: May 29
The long-running Apple TV series “For All Mankind” begins in an alternate history version of the 1960s and imagines how the space race might have been different if the Soviet Union had reached the Moon first. The spinoff series “Star City” also starts in the ’60s but tells another version of that story — this time from the Russian point of view. Rhys Ifans plays the Soviet space program’s chief designer, who tries to hold onto his progressive vision for the future while dealing with excessive government secrecy and political infighting. As is the case with its parent show, “Star City” cuts between the story lines of multiple characters, including cosmonauts, security officers, and various low-level employees and spouses, many of whom fear the Soviet state but are still committed to what it can accomplish.
Also arriving:
May 8 “Unconditional” Season 1
New to Disney+
‘The Punisher: One Last Kill’ Starts streaming: May 12
Jon Bernthal returns to his role as the vigilante antihero Frank Castle in this one-off Marvel Television special, spun off from “The Punisher” TV series and “Daredevil: Born Again.” Frank is known for waging a ferocious one-man war against crime, governed by a belief that the ends justify any means, even if he has to break the law. In “One Last Kill,” he is trying to live a changed life, letting go of his anger and his need for retribution. But after years of honing his instincts, Frank still sees trouble around every corner; and when a new threat arises in his community, he has to reckon with the realization that he may be the only one capable of stepping up and saving lives.
Also arriving:
May 1 “Magicampers” Season 1
May 9
“Chibiverse” Season 4
May 22 “BeddyByes” Season 1
May 26 “Sofia the First: Royal Magic”
New to HBO Max
‘Wuthering Heights’ Starts streaming: May 1
The most recent adaptation of the novelist Emily Brontë’s gothic romance is one of this year’s biggest box office hits so far, finding a huge worldwide audience for its depiction of class conflict and forbidden lust in 18th-century England. Margot Robbie plays Cathy, the daughter of an aristocrat whose Yorkshire Moors estate is in decline. Cathy is expected to marry a wealthy neighbor and secure her family’s legacy, but the plan is complicated by her feelings for the handsome and hot-tempered Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi), a foundling who was raised alongside her. This version of “Wuthering Heights” was written and directed by Emerald Fennell (“Saltburn,” “Promising Young Woman”), who applies a daringly florid visual style to Brontë’s story, enhancing the book’s emotional sweep.
Also arriving:
May 8 “Greenland 2: Migration” “The Palau Family: Under a Dark Spell”
May 9 “Song of the Samurai” Season 1
May 12 “Behind the Bars: Shot in the Spotlight” “U.S. Against the World: Four Years with the Men’s National Soccer Team”
May 13 “The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas”
May 14 “On the Roam” Season 2
May 15 “Lurker”
May 21 “Slaves of Faith: Heralds of the Gospel”
May 22 “Josh Johnson: Symphony”
May 29 “Miss You, Love You” “The Moment
New to Hulu
‘Arco’ Starts streaming: May 22
An Academy Award nominee for best animated Feature, this French fantasy film begins in the year 2932, when humans live in the sky and have developed time-travel technology. When a young boy named Arco accidentally gets stuck in 2075, he meets Iris, a lonely 10-year-old girl who has mostly been raised by robots while her parents are off at work. Iris tries to help her young visitor get what he needs to return to his own time. Directed and co-written by Ugo Bienvenu, “Arco” is a colorful, imaginative family-friendly adventure movie with philosophical undertones, as the two young heroes discuss the advantages and disadvantages of their eras. It’s a story about a shared hope for the future, stretching across decades and centuries.
Also arriving:
May 8 “We Bury the Dead”
May 11 “The Split”
May 14 “Welcome to Wrexham” Season 5
May 15 “Lisa Ann Walter: It Was An Accident” “Rivals” Season 2
May 19 “The Nightmare Upstairs: What Happened to Ty and Bryn”
May 26 “Descendent”
May 28 “Deli Boys” Season 2
New to Paramount+
‘Battlestar Galactica’ Seasons 1-4 Starts streaming: May 1
Paramount+ and Pluto TV are the new streaming homes for one of the best TV dramas of the 2000s. Based on the late-1970s series of the same name, “Battlestar Galactica” follows a fleet of spaceships that contain the last survivors of a dozen devastated planetary colonies, who are trying to find their way to a possibly mythical 13th colony called Earth. On their tail: an army of super-advanced robots, who in many ways are more noble and moral than their human creators. This science-fiction saga’s four seasons (supplemented by a mini-series, a movie and a spinoff) tell one dense, deep story, about the remnants of humanity struggling to unite around a common purpose, while often descending into conflict and chaos.
Also arriving:
May 1 “Battlestar Galactica: The Miniseries” “Battlestar Galactica: The Plan” “Caprica” Season 1 “Doin’ It”
May 15 “Couples Therapy” Season 5 “Dutton Ranch” Season 1
May 21 “SkyMed” Season 4
May 22 “The Chi” Season 8
May 28 “Criminal Minds: Evolution” Season 19
New to Peacock
‘M.I.A.’ Season 1 Starts streaming: May 7
The “Ozark” co-creator Bill Dubuque returns to the world of provincial organized crime with “M.I.A.,” a revenge thriller set in South Florida. Shannon Gisela plays Etta Tiger-Jonze, whose parents have long operated a successful fishing charter business, enhancing their income with regular drug-smuggling runs. When ruthless Miami crime bosses lean on the family to expand their operations into human trafficking, the smart and headstrong Etta soon finds herself pitted against some of the region’s most dangerous gangsters. Cary Elwes plays Kincaid, a private investigator who takes an interest in the Tiger-Jonze case, looking into how it connects to the succession drama that follows the death of a drug kingpin.
Also arriving:
May 8 “Another Man’s Wife”
May 22 “Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair”
The post The Best Movies and TV Shows Coming to Disney+, AMC+, Hulu, Apple TV and More in May appeared first on New York Times.
