Poker Face, Another Simple Favor and Tina Fey's new show: what's new to streaming in Australia in May

The Guardian

01-05-2025

TV, USA, 2025 – out now
Sometimes we don't want high concepts and wow factor; we'll settle for a simple, thoughtfully told story with likeable and well-drawn characters. Going by the first two episodes of Four Seasons, that's definitely the case with this enjoyably staged dramedy (remaking Alan Alda's 1981 film of the same name) centred around three well-off married couples: Kate (Tina Fey) and Jack (Will Forte); Nick (Steve Carell) and Anne (Kenney-Silver); and Danny (Colman Domingo) and Claude (Marco Calvani).
The primary source of dramatic tension in those early episodes involves Nick planning to divorce Anne, while, at the same time, she's planning a surprise vow renewal ceremony. Awkward.
Film, USA, 2022 – out 7 May
Robert Eggers has made a career of injecting fusty old narratives – about witches (The Witch), vampires (Nosferatu) and mermaids (The Lighthouse) – with new life and an uncynical appreciation of lore and legend. Taking on the Norse myth that inspired Shakespeare to write Hamlet, The Northman was an attempt, in the writer/director's own words, to make 'the definitive Viking movie'.
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This very trippy and violent revenge story follows Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård), a warrior determined to avenge his father and reclaim his kingdom. It's a stunningly realised work, visceral and lyrical.
Film, Australia, 2024 – out 16 May
As I wrote last year: 'Horror movies directed by Indigenous Australians are a largely rare category of cinema, immediately making Jon Bell's Stolen Generations-themed spook-fest The Moogai a work of cultural significance.' The film is a bumpy ride, far from the allegorical masterpiece many were hoping for, though it's still worth a watch, with plenty to contemplate afterwards. Shari Sebbens leads the cast as Sarah, an Aboriginal lawyer who gives birth to a second child and is haunted by the eponymous monster.
Honourable mentions: Past Lives (film, out now), Cuckoo (film, 8 May), Nonnas (film, 9 May), Bet (TV, 15 May), Love, Death & Robots season 4 (TV, 15 May), Bet season 1 (TV, 15 May), Sirens (TV, 22 May), Fear Street: Prom Queen (film, 23 May), Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders (TV, out 26 May), Aunty Donna's Coffee Café (TV, 30 May).
TV, USA, 2025 – out 8 May
The 'howdunit' is a rare format (most memorably deployed in Columbo) whereby the audience witnesses a crime being committed, then watches the detective put the pieces together. The second season of Poker Face marks the return of Natasha Lyonne's irresistibly sassy Charlie Cale, a former casino employee pursued by murderous goons, who has a supernatural ability to tell when somebody's lying.
The on-the-run premise enables a steady influx of new characters and settings. Season two begins with a fun story centred around sextuplets (all played by Cynthia Erivo), involving impersonations, inheritance and, of course, good ol' fashioned murder.
Honourable mentions: Jojo Rabbit (film, 4 May), The Walking Dead: Dead City season two (TV, 5 May), Red Rocket (film, 6 May), Titanic (film, 17 May), Gnomeo & Juliet (film, 17 May), Borat (film, 24 May), Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (film, 24 May), Kevin Costner's The West (TV, 28 May), Behind the Candelabra (film, 29 May), Sing Sing (film, 31 May).
TV, USA, 2025 – out 8 May
The famous sleuth at 221B Baker Street continues to tossed and turned in the zeitgeist, every generation receiving new variations of Arthur Conan Doyle's iconic character. And it's not just Holmesy who's reinvented but also his colleagues and fam. This year has seen the arrival of the medical drama Watson, following Holmes' longtime assistant, and now a show introducing Amelia (Blu Hunt), a Native American woman who believes that Sherlock (David Thewlis) is her biological father. He's dismissive but, with Watson having disappeared, is in need of an assistant and, well, you know where this is going …
Film, Japan, 2017 – out now
This fiendishly inventive and super-meta Japanese horror flick begins with an audacious, unbroken 37-minute take, capturing what appears to be the production of a low-budget zombie movie that's interrupted by the arrival of actual zombies. Credits roll – and then we get to see what happened before the shoot and what really happened during it. A funny, shrewd, zany film.
Honourable mentions: Gomorrah seasons one to five (TV, out now), Blood Diamond (film, out now), Contact (film, out now), Mars Attacks! (film, out now), Patrick (film, out now), Something's Gotta Give (film, out now), The Black Forest Murders (TV, 8 May), The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 (TV, 14-18 May), The Veil (TV, 27 May).
TV, UK, 2025 – out now
In my household, the arrival of a new season of this long-running British panel show is a big deal. I've not only exhausted every episode released in recent years but watched many twice. Predicated on guests relaying strange stories that may or may not be true, it's always laugh-out-loud funny, with hilarious, finely honed chemistry between the host, Rob Brydon, and the team captains Lee Mack and David Mitchell.
Honourable mentions: Bergerac season one (TV, 4 May), Return to Belsen (film, 5 May), The Kimberley (TV, 13 May), Gruen season 17 (TV, 14 May), The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (film, 18 May), Picasso season one (TV, 26 May).
TV, USA, 2025 – out 22 May
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The first season of Nine Perfect Strangers played like Agatha Christie at a wellness resort, following a group of strangers carefully selected by Nicole Kidman's Masha – a mysterious Russian guru with cult leader vibes. Her methods are a mite unconventional, including secretly feeding her guests psychedelic substances.
I found the whole thing deliciously entertaining and moreish, so I'm looking forward to the second season, which is based in the Austrian Alps. The official synopsis promises that nine new suckers, er, strangers, will be 'connected in ways they could never imagine' by old mate Masha, who'll 'try anything in the interest of healing everyone involved, including herself'.
Film, USA, 2025 – out now
Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively shared memorable chemistry as young mums and frenemies in Paul Weig's twisty, spritzy neo-noir A Simple Favor, which centres around the mysterious disappearance of Lively's charismatic and flighty Emily.
The plot of the sequel has Kendrick's Stephanie (now a true crime author) and Emily (freshly released from prison) visiting the island of Capri, Italy, where murder and mayhem ensue. It reportedly delivers more absurd twists. While the Guardian's Adrian Horton says it 'does not match the intoxicating magic of the original' she also calls it 'confidently ridiculous' and 'stylishly absurd'.
Honourable mentions: Misery (film, out now), Teen Wolf 1 and 2 (film, out now), The Birdcage (film, out now), Mad Max: Fury Road (film, 6 May), Octopus! (film, 8 May), Kraven the Hunter (film, 12 May), Overcompensating (TV, 15 May), Motorheads (TV, 20 May), Edge of Tomorrow (film, 20 May), Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (film, 27 May), The Better Sister (TV, 29 May).
TV, USA, 2025 – out 16 May
Fans of Lost may be pleased to know that Duster reunites its co-creator JJ Abrams and star Josh Holloway. Pegged as 'a throwback to classic 70s crime shows', the series is set in the south-west of the US in 1971 and follows the FBI's first female Black agent (Rachel Hilsin) as she teams up with a getaway driver (Holloway) to combat a crime syndicate. The trailer features funkalicious clothes, skidding wheels and jivey tunes.
Honourable mentions: The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (film, 3 May), Jay & Pamela (TV, 6 May), Pee-Wee as Himself (TV, 24 May), Rick and Morty season eight (TV, 26 May), And Just Like That … season three (TV, 30 May).
TV, USA, 2025 – out 29 May
Remember that period in your life when you were kind of OK with sharing a toothbrush with a friend? Adults, which was formerly titled Snowflakes, is about this time, following a group of twentysomethings in New York who do twentysomething stuff. The show's official synopsis claims it puts 'a slightly heightened twist on the wins, losses and humiliations of starting out in the adult world'.
Honourable mentions: Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld (TV, 4 May), FX's Welcome to Wrexham season 4 (TV, 16 May), Tucci in Italy (TV, 19 May).
TV, USA, 2025 – out 16 May
The protagonist of this twisted sci-fi series based on Martha Wells' books The Murderbot Diaries is a bizarre creation: a robot (Alexander Skarsgård) that hacks its own firmware, enabling it to disobey instructions and do its own thing. Which sounds liberating but, if people realise this hunk of bolts has true autonomy, it'll almost certainly be destroyed.
Murderbot must, therefore, hide its independence and suck it up, while protecting a group of hippy-ish scientists working on a planet where there are terrible insect-like monsters the size of cargo ships. I'm only two episodes in but, already, I'm pretty sure I've never encountered a character quite like this. Murderbot's personality is brought to life through excessively whiny voiceover narration, dropping a tonne of misanthropic lines – like 'Stupid fucking humans!' and 'These people, honestly!'
Film, USA, 2024 – out 16 May
The director of An Inconvenient Truth, Davis Guggenheim, teams up with deaf actor and activist Nyle DiMarco for this documentary about a week of protests held at Gallaudet University – the world's only deaf university – 1988. They were triggered by four students responding to the university board's decision to select a hearing president, which the school had done for 124 years. The Hollywood Reporter calls it 'a fine entry' in the 'birth of a movement' genre, and Variety a 'propulsive nonfiction story' that 'feels as inspirational as any scripted feature'.
Honourable mentions: Long Way Home (TV, 9 May), Fountain of Youth (film, 23 May), Bono: Stories of Surrender (film, 30 May).
Film, Australia, 2025 – out 30 May
I doubt anybody was champing at the bit for the cinematic return of Johnny 'Spit' Spitieri, the criminal and former heroin addict hilariously played by David Wenham in the 2003 Australian film Gettin' Square. But, gawd luv 'im, it's good to see the dodgy bugger back on screens in his very own spin-off feature.
It's not an amazing movie but, as I wrote in my review, it's enjoyably low-key and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, the plot revolving around Spitieri being arrested after trying to return to Australia. Goons want him gone forever; cops want his assistance; Spit just wants to do his own thing.
Honourable mentions: The Trouble With Harry (film, 1 May), Beaches (film, 1 May), Ghost Cat Anzu (film, 5 May), Strife season two (TV, 8 May), Kraven the Hunter (film, 12 May), Saturday Night (film, 29 May).