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Netflix
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Bugonia
Film, US/UK/Ireland/South Korea, 2025 – 21 May
It’s tough to single out a best performance from Jesse Plemons – a superb character actor who brings a low-voltage calm to unsettling roles, with a knack for holding things at a disquieting simmer. But his role in Bugonia – the latest exercise in whacked-out absurdism c/o Yorgos Lanthimos – must rank near the top. Plemons plays Teddy Gatz, a beekeeper and conspiracy theorist who, with his autistic cousin Don (Aidan Delbis), kidnaps Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone, also excellent), a pharmaceutical CEO they believe is an alien in disguise.
The film bristles with strange dynamics, and is visually and narratively unsettling from the get-go. “How do you reason with a crazy person?” is one of many questions raised – but fans of Lanthimos’s oeuvre will know that he’s as unreliable as Teddy when it comes to adhering to reality.
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Rafa
TV, Spain, 2026 – 29 May
What if an athlete’s real opponent is their own body? That appears to be an angle of this four-part documentary on Rafael Nadal, unpacking the tennis superstar’s final year (2024) before retirement, during which he grappled with persistent injuries and physical limitations. The series also widens its lens to explore his life and legacy, reaching back to his earliest encounter with a tennis racket (reportedly at the age of three). For more tennis-themed viewing, check out the excellent Unbreakable: The Jelena Dokic Story, which lands on Netflix on 15 May.
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The Boroughs
TV, US, 2026 – 21 May
The last TV show created by Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews was the astonishingly good The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. Their upcoming Duffer brothers-produced new series has been described as “Stranger Things for senior citizens”, with Bill Pullman, Geena Davis and Alfred Molina among the cast playing residents of (according to the official synopsis) a “seemingly perfect retirement community.” Well, seemingly perfect except for “an otherworldly threat” that wants to steal “the one thing they don’t have: time.” The trailer is similarly cryptic and intriguing.
Honourable mentions: 30 Rock season 1 (TV, out now), Bohemian Rhapsody (film, out now), You, Always (TV, out now), Scarface (film, out now), Lord of the Rings trilogy (film, 6 May), The Bad Guys 2 (film, 7 May), Remarkably Bright Creatures (film, 8 May), Under a Bamboo Sky (film, 8 May), Marty, Life Is Short (film, 12 May), I Saw the TV Glow (film, 13 May), Crazy, Stupid, Love (film, 14 May), Dr Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat (film, 15 May), Mating Season (TV, 22 May), Sweet As (film, 22 May).
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Stan
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Marty Supreme
Film, US, 2026 – 15 May
Josh Safdie’s exhilaratingly unconventional sports drama, loosely inspired by the real-life US table tennis champion Marty “The Needle” Reisman, arrived on a wave of acclaim and watercooler chatter. Despite sky-high expectations, it still knocked me sideways, unfolding with an abrasively interesting energy that feels closer to a crime film than a sports movie.
Timothée Chalamet delivers a celebrity-shedding performance as the titular character: a weaselly, hustling table tennis prodigy navigating a grubby underworld of bets and schemes, every match as much of a transaction as a game. The film’s stressful as all get-out, the protagonist forever landing himself in hot water, always teetering on the brink of some kind of collapse.
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The Carpenter’s Son
Film, US, 2025 – out now
Not many people have seen this underrated, religiously inflected Nic Cage horror oddity but I certainly have, being a Cage superfan who (*humble brag*) has ranked and reviewed every single one of his movies. Cage plays a brooding, despair-laden carpenter, the father of a child born in Bethlehem at a time when a royal decree has ordered the death of every male child under the age of two. Can you guess who the titular character might be?
The film largely unfolds years later, with “The Son” (Noah Jupe) now a teenager grappling with overwhelming questions, including “what’s for breakfast?” and “am I the son of God?” It’s a deeply unusual, intensely moody piece of work, pitched somewhere between biblical parable and slow-burn psychological horror.
Honourable mentions: American Animals (film, 3 May), The Fugitive (film, 6 May), The Northman (film, 7 May), The Terror: Devil in Silver (TV, 8 May), The Man from UNCLE (film, 9 May), The Bodyguard (film, 14 May), Godland (film, 17 May), The Running Man (film, 19 May).
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SBS on Demand
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A Gentleman in Moscow
TV, UK, 2024 – 14 May
The moustache Ewan McGregor sports in this 1920s-set period drama is such a cultural event, such a significant feat of facial hair, it made the headline of Jack Seale’s four-star Guardian review (“fantastic” and “outrageous”). Set in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, McGregor plays Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, a poet condemned by a Bolshevik tribunal to house arrest inside Moscow’s Metropol Hotel, where he must live in a cramped room in an attic.
Seale says the show “renders its locked-down, snow-globe fantasy world impeccably” and features an “intoxicating” performance from McGregor. And his moustache. We want the ’stache. We need the ’stache. Give us the ’stache.
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The Warwick Thornton collection
Film, Australia, various years – 25-26 May
Warwick Thornton’s latest film, Wolfram, may be a minor work from the Kaytetye auteur but he’s a major talent – one of Australia’s best directors – with an extraordinary oeuvre. Much of it becomes available this month on SBS on Demand including Samson and Delilah, We Don’t Need a Map, The New Boy, The Beach and The Darkside. These titles form part of SBS’ Reconciliation Week collection, which also includes films starring the late and great David Gulpilil including Walkabout, Storm Boy, The Tracker, and the documentary Journey Home, David Gulpilil.
Honourable mentions: Going Down (film, out now), Moulin Rouge (film, out now), Hating Alison Ashley (film, out now), Xanadu (film, out now), The Americans seasons 1-6 (TV, out now), The Corsican Line (TV, 7 May), Australia Uncovered season 4 (TV, 24 May), Journey Home, David Gulpilil (film, 27 May), The Tracker (film, 27 May), Walkabout (film, 27 May), Storm Boy (film, 27 May).
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ABC iview
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Bad Company
TV, Australia, 2026 – out now
This show – created, written by and co-starring Anne Edmonds – premiered late last month but I didn’t get around to writing about it, and it’s too fun not to mention. Edmonds stars as Margie Argyle, a vain, delusional theatre company director and self-proclaimed “storyteller” whose world is upended when the powers that be appoint her a new manager, Julie (Kitty Flanagan), tasked with making the company financially viable, casually dropping phrases like “high-profit yield”.
These chalk-and-cheese personalities butt heads in amusing ways across briskly paced episodes, with a solid joke-per-minute ratio. It’s very good fun.
Honourable mentions: Lewis season 1 (TV, out now), Leonard & Hungry Paul season 1 (TV, 12 May), Murder in the Skies: Who Downed MH17? (TV, 19 May), Shetland season 9 (TV, 22 May).
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HBO Max
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Wuthering Heights
Film, UK/US, 2026 – out now
Films like Emerald Fennell’s almost instantly notorious adaptation of Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel really put that old adage to the test: all publicity is good publicity. Some of the reviews were, shall we say, not great. The story of a doomed, obsessive romance between two damaged outsiders, Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi) and Catherine (Margot Robbie), impresses on a visual level: interiors, cliff faces and windswept fields, with proliferating swirls of mist, all coming together with undeniable polish and aplomb.
It remains arresting to look at even when everything else starts to grate, as melodrama and over-egged interpersonal dynamics push things towards unintentional parody. I agree with Peter Bradshaw, who described it as “quasi-erotic, pseudo-romantic and then ersatz-sad, a club night of mock emotion”.
Honourable mentions: Waiting for Guffman (film, out now), A Mighty Wind (film, out now), Heathers: The Musical (film, out now), The End (film, 8 May), Song of the Samurai (TV, 9 May), The Disaster Artist (film, 16 May), The Shawshank Redemption (film, 23 May), Rick and Morty season 9 (TV, 25 May), Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone: Extended Version (film, 29 May), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Extended Version (film, 29 May), The Long Walk (film, 30 May), Make That Movie (TV, date TBC).
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Prime Video
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Spider-Noir
TV, US, 2026 – 27 May
The fabulous animated films Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse conjured a dazzling array of characters, many of them being alternate versions of your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man, beamed in from an assortment of parallel realities. One of the standouts was Spider-Noir, hailing from a shadow-drenched, monochrome world and voiced with gravelly relish by Nicolas Cage.
In Spider-Noir, the character makes the leap to live action, with Cage – in his first leading role in a TV series – playing a down-on-his-luck, web-slinging private investigator in a crime-riddled city. The familiar “one last case” device is duly deployed, pulling him back into a web (no pun intended) of criminal exploits.
Honourable mentions: Citadel season 2 (TV, 6 May), Off Campus (TV, 13 May), To Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War (film, 20 May), The Boys season 5 finale (TV, 20 May), Anaconda (film, 25 May).
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Disney+
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The Testament of Ann Lee
Film, US/UK, 2025 – 13 May
I’ve never seen a film quite like Mona Fastvold’s bizarre musical biopic about the titular historical figure, who founded the Shakers – a Christian sect advocating celibacy – in 18th-century England. Amanda Seyfried brings soul-shaking passion and energy to the lead role; you really feel her character’s yearning, and not just because it’s spelt out in the song Hunger & Thirst. The film’s extensive narration deepens its sense of legend, as the protagonist does her thing, ie, recruiting followers, rallying against the evils of sex, and speaking in tongues. The musical scenes are rousingly written and staged, creating a strangely transfixing spiritual energy.
Honourable mentions: Bridesmaids (film, out now), Ted 1 and 2 (film, out now), A Marvel Television Special Presentation: The Punisher: One Last Kill (TV, 13 May), Rivals season 2 (TV, 15 May), Family Guy: season 23 (TV, 20 May).
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Binge
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Prisoner
TV, UK, 2026 – out now
Some of the reviews haven’t been great but the premise is kind of fun: a prison guard (Izuka Hoyle) and her prisoner (Tahar Rahim) find themselves hand-cuffed together and on the run from various dodgy people. The prisoner’s upcoming testimony could bring down many powerful people, in a completely original plot concept that absolutely has never ever been done before. At least the Guardian’s Priya Elan liked it, describing the show as “a lean, Line of Duty-esque police drama”.
Honourable mentions: Black Phone 2 (film, 7 May), The Bad Guys 2 (film, 7 May), My Mother’s Wedding (film, 8 May), A Woman of Substance (TV, 11 May), Bugonia (film, 21 May).
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Apple TV
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Propeller One-Way Night Coach
Film, US, 2026 – 20 May
John Travolta directs, co-writes and stars in this family-friendly adventure, adapted from his own children’s book and reportedly set during “the golden age of animation” and charting a young aviation enthusiast’s flight to Hollywood. Not much is known about the film at this stage but Travolta is famously aviation-mad (he holds multiple pilot licences), so expect a love letter to flying.
Honourable mentions: Unconditional (TV, 8 May), Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed (TV, 20 May), Star City (TV, 29 May).
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