Guide

May streaming highlights: the films and series you just can’t miss

1.5.2023

Translation: Megan Cornish

New month, new streaming highlights. Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+ or Sky Show: here’s what’s on streaming services this March.

What do you call an unconscious PlayStation enthusiast? Out of the game. Oh dear. My latest series and film tips to watch are anything but – find them this month on Netflix, etc.

White House Plumbers (mini series)

The hand-picked top team of former CIA and FBI agents actually should have stopped politically sensitive leaks that threatened to bring down Richard Nixon. Hence their nickname: White House Plumbers. Instead, through their own clumsiness, they’re the ones who set things in motion that go on to cost their president the Oval Office. Above all, the mother of all scandals: Watergate.

It’s a must-watch. If only because Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux play the leading roles. The series, in which «no names were changed to protect the innocent, because almost everyone involved has been found guilty», is also produced by renowned American cable channel HBO. What could possibly go wrong? Exactly.

When: starts 1 May
Where: Sky Show (Entertainment Pass)

Star Wars: Visions (anthology series, Season 2)

This second season on Disney is no everyday Star Wars project. It’s not mainstream enough for that. It’s too experimental. Because Star Wars: Visions involves nine independent animation studios – not Lucasfilm – each producing a short film in their own style. Sometimes gloomy. Sometimes childlike. No story builds on the previous one. Or fits into the official canon. But they’re all part of the Star Wars universe.

In fact, Visions is far more innovative and bold – adjectives I rarely associate with Disney – than I first gave the first season credit for two years ago (article in German). But each of the then exclusively Japanese studios took the creative freedom as an opportunity to let their undoubtedly talented artists «just get on with it», even if the result would offend us Star Wars fans. But it’s exactly this hit-and-miss approach that’s a strength rather than a weakness and makes Visions so exciting.

What’s more, Disney hasn’t spared any expense on the nine new studios. Need examples? Cartoon Saloon is a five-time Oscar-nominated animation studio, while Aardman is known for the iconic stop-motion plasticine characters Wallace and Gromit. Studio Mir has enjoyed animated hits including The Legend of Korra and Harley Quinn. If you’re not excited by now, I can’t help you.

When: starts 4 May
Where: Disney+

Silo (mini series)

What’s the gigantic, underground silo all about? Nobody knows. Except that what little is left of humanity lives in it. Because the outside world was destroyed by an unknown catastrophe and made uninhabitable. Anyone who leaves the silo dies. Those who stay inside must abide by the rules of the community designed to protect them and ensure their post-apocalyptic survival. At least that’s how it seems…

I love mystery series. It’s a narrative gimmick where the entire plot revolves around a mystery that needs to be unravelled. This means you get one answer and three new questions per episode until the shocking truth is revealed at the very end. Until then, unusual theories can spring up and the wildest of guesses can be made. It’s a bonus for me that Dune actress Rebecca Ferguson also features and that the series – like all Apple TV+ series – is at least visually impressive.

When: starts 5 May
Where: Apple TV+

The Muppets Mayhem (Film)

The Electric Mayhem aren’t just any rock band. They’re the rock band. The whole world has heard of them. Because ordinary people love rock stars, but rock stars love The Electric Mayhem. That’s how legendary they are. There’s just one problem: in their 45 years of touring, they haven’t released a single album. No way. They have to put that right.

Haha. Only with the Muppets could the synopsis alone pass as a meta joke. Because in case you didn't know, The Electric Mayhem – Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, to be exact – are real. They’ve been the house band since the pilot of the original The Muppets Show in 1975 and have appeared in Muppets movies and TV specials. It’s about time the (still) living legends finally recorded their first album!

When: starts 10 May
Where: Disney+

Tiny Beautiful Things (mini series)

Warning: If you’re a sensitive soul ~~like me~~, make sure you have a few tissues ready for this series. The focus is Clare, a mother, wife and author. But her life’s a mess. The spark has gone between her and her husband. She and her teenage daughter are growing apart. And her career has never been the most successful. But then comes the offer from a former colleague: she of all people, who’s in danger of losing control of her own life, is offered the chance to take over the advice column «Dear Sugar».

Clare reluctantly accepts the job. Because, she thinks to herself, if there’s anyone not to take advice from, it’s her. To her surprise, she completely throws herself into her new role. Because her column enables her to look at her own life, with all its beautiful but also painful moments. So, she not only gives comfort and hope to her readers, but also to herself.

When: starts 10 May
Where: Disney+ (Star)

Black Knight (mini series)

Netflix relies heavily on South Korea. More specifically, the US streaming giant plans to invest a whopping 2.5 billion dollars in its film and series industry over the next four years. No wonder, as South Korean productions have been booming internationally since the release of Oscar-winning film Parasite. Of course, this also includes «Squid Game», one of the most watched series on Netflix to date.

Black Knight, the latest in what has become a long line of South Korean productions on Netflix, will be along the same lines. The six-part mini-series is set in the year 2071, when global air pollution has reached such levels that people can only live with breathing masks. It’s hit the world hard. And South Korea is no different: only one per cent of the population has survived. Oxygen delivery drivers are vital, transporting the now valuable goods through dusty wasteland and at risk of raids. The best-known of these drivers is «5-8», whose extraordinary skills have made him a living legend.

I’ll admit that the trailer looks a bit trashy. But therein lies the charm of the series. I’ll give it a chance.

When: starts 12 May
Where: Netflix

White Men Can’t Jump (film)

Have you heard of White Men Can’t Jump from 1992? I hadn’t. But it should be an absolute classic. The film celebrated Los Angeles street basketball culture back then and the remake will do the same. So far, so unspectacular. It’s only when I see who played the lead roles in the original that I feel bad: namely the then unknown Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson. Holy moly. I definitely have a big gap in my cinematic education.

In the remake, rapper Jack Harlow (his film debut) and actor Sinqua Walls play Jeremy and Kamal. Both were predicted to have great basketball careers. Both failed before they could really get started. Now, instead, they mix up the street basketball scene together and bet their opponents on the outcome of their matches. It works a treat. After all, Jeremy is constantly underestimated as a white man – hence the title. Nobody knows about his talent, and their opponents are always lulled into a false sense of security. At least until someone smells a rat and plots their revenge.

When: starts 19 May
Where: Disney+ (Star)

Muted (mini series)

Sergio Ciscar is mute. Not because he wants to be. But because his psyche is trying to cope with a traumatic act that he himself is said to have committed: the murder of his parents. Now, years later, he’s out of prison – on probation. But there’s more to it: Sergio hasn’t really been released. He’s been placed in a familiar environment – his home – under constant observation without his knowledge. Because as long as he remains mute, there’s no clear evidence whether Sergio deserves his freedom or whether he should be locked up as a despicable murderer. His supposedly unobserved behaviour, on the other hand, could reveal more, including his deepest secrets.

Another Spanish series on Netflix? After «Casa de Papel» and «Élite», I’ve seen enough of them to be at least cautiously optimistic about a new release. They’re good for drama anyway. And the trailer of this crime thriller series gives me good vibes. I’ll give it a watch.

When: starts 19 May
Where: Netflix

American Born Chinese (mini series)

First of all, the trailer makes no attempt to grab me with a story that I’ve seen umpteen times. The series is about Jin Wang, who’s often bullied because of his Asian background and starts his second year at school hoping to make it onto the soccer team. He’s hoping that’ll improve his social status and impress his crush. But then he has to look after the new exchange student Wei-Chen – who’s also Asian, and anything but cool. It seems his plans have been thwarted.

Right. Now let the action begin.

Suddenly, gates open to worlds between heaven and earth. Wei-Chen isn’t who he says he is. Jin Wang suddenly finds himself in the midst of a battle between Chinese deities. And the fate of the world depends on his actions. Well, that escalated quickly. When I see actress Michelle Yeoh and actor Ke Huy Quan in the midst of martial arts fights, I get strong Everything Everywhere All at Once vibes. Well, in the end, the trailer does get my attention.

When: starts 24 May
Where: Disney+

FUBAR (mini series)

Arnold Schwarzenegger. Just watch it.

When: starts 25 May
Where: Netflix

Header image: White House Plumbers, HBO

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Luca Fontana

Senior Editor

Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.ch

I write about technology as if it were cinema, and about films as if they were real life. Between bits and blockbusters, I’m after stories that move people, not just generate clicks. And yes – sometimes I listen to film scores louder than I probably should.

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