April was a bit of a low-key month for movies, but there was still plenty of pleasure to be had at the theater. Indies were well-represented with the surreal sci-fi movie The Beast while multiplexes enjoyed the social commentary and IMAX action set pieces of Alex Garland’s appropriately divisive Civil War.
May, however, will be a different story, as the summer season is set to begin on May 3 with the premiere of The Fall Guy, an action comedy starring everyone’s favorite actor of the moment, Ryan Gosling. May will also see apes conquesting another planet, a biopic about Amy Winehouse that’s already enraged people on social media, a different take on the slasher movie genre, and one of the most highly anticipated prequels of the last decade. Oh, and Garfield’s back. Again. Which of these are worth seeing? Find out by checking out our top three picks out of all the movies scheduled for release in May 2024.
The Fall Guy (May 3)
Normally, a feature film adaptation of an obscure 1980s TV show, which starred Lee Majors for Christ’s sake, wouldn’t be on my radar, but this iteration of The Fall Guy is different. First, it stars Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, two of the most charismatic actors around, and both are more popular than ever thanks to the success of Barbie and Oppenheimer, respectively. Secondly, it’s directed by David Leitch, who knows his way around a solid action movie, with Atomic Blonde still being his best movie. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, it’s a movie about stunt people, and was made by some of the best stunt people in the business.
It’s also a mystery of sorts, as Colt Seavers (Gosling), a veteran stuntman, must team with his current film’s director (and Seavers’ ex-girlfriend) Jody Moreno (Blunt), to find out why the star of their film, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), has gone missing. Will there be shady characters? Yeah, looks like it. And will there be kinda unnecessary, but still cool-looking car chase scenes? Oh, yeah. The Fall Guy looks like the perfect summer movie: star-studded, easy to watch, and fun to experience. It’s a rare thing nowadays, so cherish it when it pops up amid all the postapocalyptic genre films. Speaking of which …
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (May 24)
Who would have thought that a sequel to a franchise that had been dormant for decades, and that had a troubled production history that kept tongues wagging for years, would be one of the best movies of the century? Mad Max: Fury Road stunned everyone with its superb action scenes, terrific production values (the film won six Oscars in 2016), and engrossing narrative. The movie was a surprise hit, but because of its high budget, it actually wasn’t that profitable for Warner Bros., the studio that released it. Fortunately, a follow-up was greenlit, and nine years later, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is about to be unleashed to an audience now ready for all of its desert dystopian glory.
Set decades before Fury Road, Furiosa chronicles the rough youth of the title heroine, now played by Anya Taylor-Joy (Dune: Part Two), and her gradual transformation into the one-armed badass everyone fell in love with in the previous film. Snatched away from her home and imprisoned by Warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), Furiosa must fight her way back to freedom and avoid not only her captors, but also Immortan Joe. The trailers and promo photos all indicate Furiosa will be as wild and fun as Fury Road, and the early word is very positive. Can it become the best Mad Max movie ever? That’s a tall order, but director George Miller has done it before, and chances are, he’ll do it again with this movie.
In a Violent Nature (May 31)
It’s a simple concept, and it’s a wonder it hasn’t been done before: What if a horror movie was told from the killer’s point of view? And what if it was not played for laughs, like Student Bodies, but was a genuine, unsettling look at a mad slasher who randomly, and systematically, slaughters anyone in his, er, its path? That’s the concept behind In a Violent Nature, a new horror movie from Chris Nash that wowed crowds at Sundance, where it premiered earlier this year.
At press time, not much is known about the movie, beyond what the trailer shows: a hooded figure roams around the woods, sees some teenagers and random passersby, and decides to start maiming and murdering. Maybe there’s more to it, maybe not, but this kind of movie lives or die by its moody atmosphere and effective jump scares, and it seems to deliver those in bulk. If you’ve ever wondered what it was like to follow Jason Voorhees around in those Friday the 13th movies instead of all those horny, stupid teenagers, then In a Violent Nature is for you.
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