Looking to settle in with a good movie? Me too. That's why I've pored over the release schedules of major streaming services to bring you the best original and new-to-streaming movies you can watch right now.
The start of May is heavy on original, character-driven, romantic movies like Prime's The Idea of You and Max's Turtles all the Way Down. There's also Prom Dates, a teen comedy from Hulu, Jerry Seinfeld's breakfas- based comedy Unfrosted, and truly wild documentary The Contestant. But best of all: Max is streaming a lovingly remastered, 4k version of Stop Making Sense, mandatory viewing.
The Idea of You
If you like romantic comedies, The Idea of You will make your week. Based on a novel by Robinne Lee that began as a piece of Harry Styles fan fiction, this romantic comedy stars Anne Hathaway as Solène, a 40-year-old single mom who goes to Coachella and unexpectedly falls in love with Hayes (Nicholas Galitzine), the 24-year-old singer in August Moon, a band playing the main stage. The Idea of You is sitting at a 90% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes, with reviewers praising Hathaway's excellent performance, the romantic chemistry between the movie's leads, and the film's easygoing, character-driven comedy.
Where to stream: Prime
All that Heaven Allows (1955)
To accompany the release of The Idea of You, Prime is dropping an older take on the May/December romance genre for fans of classic films: 1955's All That Heaven Allows. Jane Wyman plays a rich widow whose life is defined by the opinions of her snooty children and the squares at the country club. Rock Hudson plays the dashing young landscaper/free spirit she falls in love with. Upon its release, All The Heaven Allows was regarded as a well-made melodramatic romance, but director Douglas Sirk was secretly satirizing 1950s middle-class mores and Hollywood romance clichés, a piece of cinematic misdirection that wasn't noticed until decades later.
Where to stream: Prime
Turtles All the Way Down
Based on the young adult novel by John Green (The Fault in our Stars), Turtles All the Way Down is a great choice if you're looking for a deeper than usual coming-of-age movie. High-schooler Aza Holmes (Isabela Merced) suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder, so the normal moments and milestones of her teenage life are informed by her mental illness—i.e., a first kiss is about both an expression of young love and her paralyzing fear of a potential bacterial infection. Green's novel has earned 4.5 stars from readers on Goodreads, and early reviews of the film are positive, so this is definitely worth a stream.
Where to stream: Max
Unfrosted
If you like movies about brands, you're going to be very pleased with Unfrosted. Jerry Seinfeld co-wrote, directed, co-produced, and stars in this comedy that tells the origin story of Pop-Tarts, America's favorite breakfast rectangle. Set in Michigan in 1963, Unfrosted details the cutthroat competition between breakfast kingpins Kellogg's and Post, as each races to develop and market a breakfast pastry for the masses before the other guy steals the show.
Where to stream: Netflix
The Contestant
Back in the late 1990s, Japan took reality TV to its limit with A Life in Prizes, a show in which unknown comedian Nasubi was imprisoned and naked in a bare room and tasked with staying there until he’d won a million yen through mail-order contests. Unbeknownst to Nasubi, his journey into near madness was being broadcast weekly and he’d become the most famous man in Japan. The Contestant tells the full story of this strange experiment through footage from A Life in Prizes and interviews with its director, producers, star, and others who were there. If you like out-there docs, give it a look.
Where to stream: Hulu
Stop Making Sense
Stop Making Sense is the best concert movie ever been made, and I will fight you if you disagree (it's also great to watch when you're high). To celebrate the 40th anniversary of its release, A24 has restored and remastered Jonathan Demme's masterpiece to preserve a pristine, streamable 4k vision of the Talking Heads at the height of their power for posterity (or for at least as long as it remains in Max's rotation). The years have done nothing to diminish the pure joy of watching a new wave band jamming out with funk legends like Parliament keyboardist Bernie Worrell and Brothers Johnson guitarist Alex Weir on banger after banger.
Where to stream: Max
Prom Dates
In this Hulu original coming-of-age comedy, Julia Lester and Antonia Gentry play best friends Jess and Hannah. They've always wanted to have a perfect prom night, but just a day before the big night, everything goes haywire, and they break up with their dates. With only 24 hours until prom, Jess and Hannah will have to get creative to make their perfect night happen. With its classic teen movie set-up and no-holds-barred portrayal of the awkwardness of adolescence, Prom Dates is one to watch for teens, and anyone who has been a teen in the past.
Where to stream: Hulu
The Beach Boys
I love The Beach Boys, first because of Brian Wilson's genius music, but also because, despite their squeaky clean image, they were the most hardcore, drugged out, batshit crazy rock band in history—think Black Sabbath times 100. I doubt this Disney+ documentary will dig into the story of The Beach Boys' collaboration with Charles Manson or other more extreme moments from their personal lives (too many actual band members interviewed for it to be that kind of movie) but I'll watch it anyway because Brian Wilson is the greatest that ever was.
Where to stream: Disney+
The Holdovers (2023)
I can’t say enough positive things about The Holdovers. A character-driven drama directed by the great Alexander Payne, The Holdovers stars Paul Giamatti as Paul Hunham, a hardass classics instructor at a New England boarding school. Tasked with babysitting a crew of poor-little-rich-boys with nowhere to go over Christmas vacation, Hunham strikes up an unlikely friendship with troubled-but-intelligent delinquent Angus Tully (played by Dominic Sessa) and the school's cook, Mary Lamb (a role for which actor Da'Vine Joy Randolph won an Academy Award). It’s the kind of movie that you know will make you cry about five minutes in, but the tears are honest, man.
Where to stream: Prime
Secrets of the Neanderthals
Sir Patrick Stewart narrates this documentary that tries to figure out what those Neanderthals have been hiding from us for 300,000 years. In its quest for answers, Secrets of the Neanderthals takes viewers all over the world, examines the fossil record, and consults top researchers in the field to ask, "What is the deal with cavemen?"
Where to stream: Netflix
Peeping Tom (1960)
Whether Peeping Tom "counts" as the first slasher movie is debatable, but the film's portrayal of a serial killer who murders women with a blade attached to a camera so he can film their last moments is creepier than most splatter movies, even all these years later. Voyeuristic, violent, and deeply unsettling, Peeping Tom was once a critically-derided, impossible-to-see film. It has since been reappraised and given the Criterion blessing so all you need to do it click on it. If you're into horror, but also into quality, don't miss this blood-soaked gem.
Where to stream: Criterion Channel
All of the Die Hard movies
This week, action fans will be able to follow a quarter century of NYPD detective John McClane’s edge-of-your seat adventures when Hulu drops all five Die Hard movies, from the 1988 original to 2013’s A Good Day to Die Hard, all at once. Don’t act like you have something better to do than plan a marathon. It’s what Bruce Willis would want.
Where to stream: Hulu
Last week's picks
Hip-Hop and The White House
When president Obama strode into the White House Correspondent's Dinner in 2013 to DJ Khaled's "All I Do Is Win,” it marked a seismic cultural shift, for both hip-hop and American politics. Narrated by Jeezy, Hip-Hop and the White House goes beyond Obama’s power move to explore the deeper history of hip-hop’s relationship to the nation’s power structures, charting hip hop’s evolution from a disreputable musical form politicians derided for cheap political points, to a cultural force that helps move elections.
Where to stream: Hulu
Late Night with the Devil (2024)
Late Night with the Devil is the most clever, effective found-footage horror film I've seen in years. The story of a late-night talk show host's encounter with the Lord of all Evil is told through footage that was supposedly broadcast live, nationwide on Halloween night in 1977. Late Night with the Devil's period details are so perfect and the performances so spot-on, you might believe that Jack Delroy (played by David Dastmalchian) was a real competitor to Johnny Carson, and that his show, Night Owls with Jack Delroy, really did try to boost ratings by airing an episode where all hell, literally, breaks loose. Funny, smart, and scary, Late Night with Devil is a must-stream.
Where to stream: Shudder
Hundreds of Beavers (2024)
If you're in the mood for a comedy that's different, and I mean really different, check out Hundreds of Beavers. Written by, directed by, and starring Milwaukee filmmaker Mike Cheslik, Beavers is a cinematic outsider's fever dream that mashes up slapstick comedy from the 1930s, internet memes, Warner Bros. cartoons, and a furry convention. Before grabbing its streaming debut through sheer force of will, Hundreds of Beavers earned raves from audiences on festival circuit and a 95% positive rating from Rotten Tomatoes for its frantic pace and anything-for-a-laugh style.
Where to stream: Fandor
Fern Brady: Autistic Bikini Queen
If you like stand-up comedy but you’re sick of the same old shizz, check out Fern Brady: Autistic Bikini Queen. The Scottish standup, podcaster, and writer's unique life story, personality, and neurodivergence guarantees unique and screamingly funny takes on sex, drinking, autism, feminism, and everything else.
Where to stream: Netflix
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