What's New To Streaming In May 2024
Jim Carrey, a 1950s masterpiece, and 'Challengers' - it's an eclectic newsletter this week!
What’s up, DYLAers. It’s another new to streaming edition of the newsletter, which means we get to recommend two extremely different movies. Jim Carrey and 50s noir in the same newsletter! After our recs, keep scrolling for notable new to streaming titles this month, as well as our podcast review of Challengers and a summer movie preview.
Drew recommends…
The Night of the Hunter
Have you ever done a total 180 on a movie after you see it again? I first saw The Night of the Hunter for a film class in college, and I came away thinking it was mostly uninteresting and a little silly. Over a decade later, I gave it another shot and discovered how deeply wrong I was. This unsettling and profound 1955 noir about a preacher who preys on a widow and her children during the Great Depression is one of the influential masterpieces of the 20th century. It’s frightening, strange, and downright elemental in its allegorical telling of good vs. evil, the story of love and hate.
But I wasn’t alone in my initial dismissal. The Night of the Hunter was received quite poorly by critics and audiences at the time of its release. Director Charles Laughton, known mostly as a legendary actor, never made another movie after this reception. There’s at least a couple reasons for this. First, the film has a strange look that was considered weird and provocative at the time. Inspired by German Expressionism and silent film, Laughton’s movie is all slanted angles and soul-shaking silhouettes. And second, audiences were surely turned off by handsome movie star Robert Mitchum portraying a monstrous villain named Harry Powell masquerading as a pious man of God.
Mitchum is nothing short of brilliant in the film. His booming voice and wolfish grin make him a captivating presence even as he is clearly up to no good. Harry Powell has rightly gone down as one of film’s most memorable villains (you’ll never hear “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” the same way again). Due to Mitchum’s central performance and Laughton’s daring filmmaking, The Night of the Hunter became highly influential for directors like Spike Lee, Martin Scorsese, and Guillermo del Toro.
I’m glad I gave The Night of the Hunter another chance. What seemed odd at first glance became entrancing on rewatch. It’s a visionary noirish plunge into sin, faith, and community that I’ll return to time and again.
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video and Tubi
Billy recommends…
Liar Liar
There are better Jim Carrey movies. There are better Jim Carrey performances. But no performance in Carrey’s career showcases his ability to go in and out of comedy and drama so seamlessly.
Jim in 1997 is three years removed from one of the most legendary years in comedy history. That year was 1994 when he rattled off Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber. Following was some box office fare like Batman Forever that was a step down of the previous quality from this series, but his performance maintained relevance. Showing hints at what could be for his soon-to-be prestigious career.
Liar Liar marks the time. An insignificant moment in the world, but a mighty moment in the Carrey universe. It pulls at the heart strings while simultaneously proving the genius of this comedy legend. In a world where I think a lot of us think of Carrey as too self-serious, Liar Liar is a blast to look back on… And if this rambling wasn’t a tease enough, this movie was the first time I heard “juggs” be used as a nickname for boobs.
Streaming on Netflix
New To Streaming in May 2024
Netflix
Dark Waters
Eat Pray Love
Girls Trip
Hulk
Jumanji
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Patriots Day
Public Enemies
Shrek
Starship Troopers
The Edge of Seventeen
The Equalizer
The Gentlemen
The Matrix: Resurrections
The Wedding Planner
Traffic
The Peanut Butter Falcon (May 5)
Sing Street (May 9)
Madame Web (May 14)
Amazon Prime Video
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Airplane!
Atonement
Bottle Rocket
Call Me By Your Name
Cold Mountain
Emma.
Erin Brockovich
Everybody Wants Some!!
Fatal Attraction
Gattaca
Glory
In a Lonely Place
Malcolm X
Schindler’s List
Serpico
The Deer Hunter
The Last Detail
Vertigo
Whiplash
American Fiction (May 14)
BlacKkKlansman (May 14)
Hulu
Big
Big Daddy
Cast Away
Elvis
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Good Boys
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
The Mask
Ocean’s 8
Once
The Royal Tenenbaums
Sideways
Walk the Line
13 Going On 30
Eileen (May 10)
Paddington (May 16)
Creed (May 16)
Pearl (May 16)
Ferrari (May 24)
The Boys in The Boat (May 28)
HBO and Max
All About My Mother
The Dead Don’t Die
The Florida Project
The Killing of a Sacred Deer
The Lighthouse
Mad Max
Silver Linings Playbook
Stop Making Sense
The Iron Claw (May 10)
DYLA Podcast
It's time to start thinking about the summer movie season! This week on the podcast we are preparing you for all the big releases coming in the next few months. But first, we review Challengers (no spoilers), the tennis love triangle drama starring Zendaya. Then, we preview 19 upcoming summer movies to watch out for and our hype level for each one, including Furiosa, Twisters, A Quiet Place: Day One, Inside Out 2, and many more.