I’m knocking on wood here because I’m superstitious like that, but things in some parts of the world are really starting to take a turn for the better, I think. So many have gotten both rounds of vaccines, and it seems as if we can finally start carefully venturing out of our hidey-holes. Many of us will take things slowly, I’m sure, popping out for a groundhogish peep, or to spy an old friend across a table outdoors. While we’re adjusting to some semblance of normalcy, there’s still plenty of time to work through the wealth of new movies on offer. This month’s features run the gamut from comedy to crime thrillers, science fiction to horror, and terrifying creatures from zombies to aliens. Take your fill of the picks and have a glorious May!
Wrath of Man
May 7, 2021 (Theaters, VoD)
Directed by Guy Ritchie; written by Ritchie, Marn Davies, and Ivan Atkinson (The Gentlemen); starring Jason Statham, Holt McCallany, Josh Hartnett, Scott Eastwood, Laz Alonso, Jeffrey Donovan, Eddie Marsan, Raúl Castillo, DeObia Oparai, Rob Delaney, Andy Garcia, Niamh Algar, Babs Olusanmokun, and Josh Cowdery. Ritchie and Statham reunite for another action thriller revolving around murder and crime, and what better to lure us out of our COVID doldrums than beefy mayhem?
Here Today
May 7, 2021 (Netflix)
Directed by Billy Crystal; written by Crystal and Alan Zweibel (North, Dragnet); Billy Crystal, Tiffany Haddish, Sharon Stone, Kevin Kline, Penn Badgley, and Laura Benanti. Crystal and Haddish are the strangers least likely to form a friendship so of course, they become besties — and that’s cool with us. This looks surprisingly sweet and who among us couldn’t use a feel-good comedy right now?
Above Suspicion
May 7, 2021 (Theaters, VoD)
Directed by Phillip Noyce (Dead Calm, Salt, The Saint [1997]; Rabbit-Proof Fence); written by Chris Gerolmo (Mississippi Burning); starring Emilia Clarke, Jack Huston, Karl Glusman, Omar Miller, Thora Birch, Kevin Dunn, Sophie Lowe, and Johnny Knoxville. Thriller based on the Joe Sharkey book about FBI informant Susan Smith, featuring Clarke’s fairly impressive southern accent. This could be a cheesy disaster or, if anything like Noyce’s Dead Calm, become a cult classic. It’s all up to us to decide!
Monster
May 7, 2021 (Netflix)
Directorial debut of music video powerhouse Anthony Mandler; written by Janece Shaffer and Colen C. Wiley; starring Kelvin Harrison Jr., Jeffrey Wright, Jennifer Ehle, Tim Blake Nelson, Nasir “Nas” Jones, Rakim “A$AP Rocky” Mayers, Paul Ben-Victor, John David Washington, and Jennifer Hudson. Based on Walter Dean Myers’s novel about a promising honors student at an elite high school charged with murder, and follows his journey through the legal system. We couldn’t ask for a more phenomenal cast to take on an incredible YA book. I can’t wait to cry my eyes out. No seriously, this is one to watch.
Locked In
May 7, 2021 (Theaters, VoD)
Feature directorial debut and written by Carlos V. Gutierrez (Operation Pedro Pan: The Cuban Children’s Exodus); starring Mena Suvari (long time no see!), Jeff Fahey, Costas Mandylor, and Jasper Polish. Looking for a little jolt to liven up one of your (hopefully) final Friday quarantine nights? Mama bear Maggie (Suvari) must protect her daughter when the pair is trapped at a tech storage facility by a couple of thugs looking for their loot.
Oxygen
May 12, 2021 (Netflix)
Directed by Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes, Crawl, Piranha 3D); written by Christie LeBlanc (How to Make a Reality Star); starring Inglourious Basterds’ Mélanie Laurent, as well as Mathieu Amalric, and Malik Zidi. French/American science fiction thriller featuring Laurent as a woman trapped in a coffin-like medical unit and trying to figure her way out — no thanks to the HAL-like computer who refuses to assist her. That’s a great movie premise, albeit a claustrophobe’s nightmare. The trailer ticks all the boxes AND it’s terrifying.
Riders of Justice
May 14, 2021 (Theaters, VoD)
Directed and written by Anders Thomas Jensen (Adam’s Apples, Men & Chicken); starring Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Nicolas Bro, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Lars Brygmann, and Andrea Heick Gadeberg. The second Danish outing featuring Mikkelsen in as many months (after Oscar-winner Another Round); this black comedy follows Mads’s Marcus hunting down the people responsible for his wife’s untimely death.
The Woman in the Window
May 14, 2021 (Netflix)
Directed by Joe Wright (Darkest Hour, Hanna, Atonement, Pride and Prejudice); written by Tracy Letts (August: Osage County, Killer Joe); starring Amy Adams, Gary Oldman, new Captain America Anthony Mackie, and faux Captain America Wyatt Russell, Julianne Moore, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Fred Hechinger, and Brian Tyree Henry. Based on the A.J. Finn novel, an all-star cast led by Adams explores an agoraphobic alcoholic’s viewpoint of a possible murder… and no matter how many times we see this slant on Rear Window or Body Double, who among us is not a sucker for a good psychological thriller? Bonus: we longtime quarantiners can so relate to peering out our windows more than we’d like to admit.
Spiral
May 14, 2021 (Theaters, VoD)
Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman (Saw II, Tales of Halloween); written by Josh Stolberg and Pete Goldfinger (Jigsaw, Piranha 3D); starring Chris Rock, Samuel L. Jackson, Max Minghella, and Marisol Nichols. Horror staple Saw’s ninth outing features Rock as Marcus Banks’s (Jackson) detective son caught up in a certain psycho’s web. You know the drill (let’s hope it doesn’t come to that) with this series, though the addition of Rock and Minghella as partners might be enough to shake things up.
Those Who Wish Me Dead
May 14, 2021 (Theaters, VoD)
Directed by Taylor Sheridan (Wind River, writer of Sicario and Hell or High Water); written by Sheridan, Charles Leavitt (Warcraft, Blood Diamond, Seventh Son), and Michael Koryta; starring Angelina Jolie, Nicolas Hoult, Aidan Gillen, Jon Bernthal, Tyler Perry, Finn Little, and Jake Weber. Jolie’s wilderness firefighter/smokejumper discovers a boy on the run from the assassins (Gillen, Hoult) who murdered his father and tries to keep him alive. This cast, with the devilish Gillen (Game of Thrones’ Littlefinger) in another wicked role, and Bernthal as the sheriff should have you all in for what looks to be an excellent thriller.
Army of the Dead
May 21, 2021 (Netflix)
Directed by Zack Snyder, written by Snyder, Shay Hatten (John Wick Chapter 3,4,5) and Joby Harrold (King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Awake, Obi-Wan Kenobi); starring Dave Bautista, Garret Dillahunt, Tig Notaro, Hiroyuki Sanada, Matthias Schweighöfer, Theo Rossi, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Ana de la Reguera, Raúl Castillo, and Huma Qureshi. ZOMBIES, YO! I mean, watch the trailer — you’ll immediately know if this is for you. Hint: It is.
The Dry
May 21, 2021 (Theaters, VoD)
Directed by Robert Connolly (The Slap, Paper Planes); written by Connolly and Harry Cripps (Penguin Bloom); starring Eric Bana, Genevieve O’Reilly, and Keir O’Donnell. Based on Jane Harper’s award-winning thriller about a federal officer (Bana) caught up in a murder mystery when he returns home for his best friend’s funeral. This one was highly anticipated in Australia (Harper’s home), where it was filmed, and broke box office records at its opening. Me, I’ll watch Bana do his intensity thing whenever, wherever.
A Quiet Place II
May 28, 2021 (Theaters, Paramount+)
Directed and written by John Krasinski; starring Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy, Djimon Hounsou, Millicent Simmons, Noah Jupe, and John Krasinski. If you’ve seen the first film, you’re as ravenous for more as the rest of us. Following the original’s crushing closing, Evelyn Abbott leads her family into uncharted terr …ors.
Cruella
May 28, 2021 (Theaters, Disney+)
Directed Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl, Fright Night, I, Tonya); written by Dana Fox (What Happens in Vegas, Isn’t It Romantic) and Tony McNamara (The Favourite, The Great); starring Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Joel Fry, Paul Walter Hauser, Emily Beecham, Mark Strong, and Kirby Howell-Baptiste. Disney’s latest live-action take on 101 Dalmations focuses on the über-wicked Cruella de Vil’s origin story, so to speak, with Thompson’s Baroness boss the Devil-Wears-Prada-ish catalyst for Cruella’s cruelty. Break out the popcorn, because this looks so fun!
