The 7 Best Movies New to Netflix in May 2021

Netflix may have been sitting pretty during the pandemic, but the streamer’s anemic May 2021 lineup makes clear that even the most deep-pocketed and prolific movie studio on Earth struggled to create new content during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The streamer is sticking to its guarantee of releasing at least one new Netflix Original every week, but fulfilling that promise has required them to grasp at straws; notable titles over the next few weeks include the Amy Adams thriller “The Woman in the Window” (which Netflix bought from Paramount, and was originally scheduled for release in 2019) and the Anthony Mandler’s legal drama “Monster” (which has been languishing since its Sundance premiere in 2018, despite a cast that boasts Jennifer Hudson, Jeffrey Wright, and John David Washington).

As usual, there are a handful of intriguing unknowns (e.g. Alexandre Aja’s woman-stuck-in-a-cryogenic-chamber thriller “Oxygen”) and at least one brilliant diamond in the rough — “The Disciple” is technically hitting the service on April 30, but we’re counting it as the biggest May discovery waiting to happen — but there’s a reason why Netflix’s latest slate is heavy on surefire library hits like “Back to the Future” and “Notting Hill.”

That being said, the streaming giant can always be counted upon to help subscribers get ready for the summer movie season, and the company’s efforts to bring the multiplex experience home should be especially appreciated by those who are still hesitant about going back to theaters. The jury is still out on Zack Snyder’s “Army of the Dead,” but the trailer alone has such big “it’s almost Memorial Day” energy that synthetic butter might as well be oozing out of your iPhone screen.

From history’s first(?) zombie heist movie to an Indian character study that will fill your soul with music, here are the seven best movies coming to Netflix this May.

7. “Army of the Dead” (2021)

Zack Snyder’s first post-DC project has yet to screen for critics at the time this article is being published, but during such a sleepy month for Netflix releases it’s hard not to plant a flag in whatever undead, post-apocalyptic mega-nonsense the “Justice League” auteur has cooked up about a Las Vegas heist in the middle of a zombie horde.

The gonzo trailer for “Army of the Dead” suggests we’re in for something that owes a little bit to George Romero, a little bit to George Clooney, and everything else to Snyder’s uniquely steroidal imagination. Will it find the polarizing auteur falling back on bad habits, or will shifting gears (back to zombies) allow him to develop his style in fun new ways? Time will tell, but one thing is for sure: There will be zombie tigers. And that’s more than enough to pique our interest.

Available to stream May 21.
6. “Under Siege” (1992)

Is Steven Seagal the least charismatic human to ever step in front of a movie camera? Yes. Does he perform his fight sequences with all the stiffness of Eddie Murphy’s twin brother karate-chopping bad guys in the last scene of “Bowfinger”? Also yes. Is he the only major action star so toxic that he has a “Conflicts with Stuntmen” section on his Wikipedia page? You know it, baby.

And yet, “Under Siege” — which somehow earned director Andrew Davis the opportunity to helm “The Fugitive” — is a fascinating artifact for those reasons. Well, for at least two of those reasons.

A quintessential example of the R-rated “Die Hard” knockoffs that flooded the box office in the early ’90s, “Under Siege” stars as Casey Ryback, a cook aboard the USS Missouri who takes it upon himself to butcher all of the trigger-happy terrorists who hijack the warship so they can sell its Tomahawk missiles before it’s decommissioned (you can make a killing with those things on Ebay). But this neck-snapping schlock builds such a ridiculous spectacle around Seagal’s soul-deadening screen presence that his anti-charisma almost becomes hypnotic, like a tractor beam of dull light sucking you into an alien spacecraft.

Its pull is at its strongest whenever bad guys Tommy Lee Jones (dressed in Keith Richards drag) and Gary Busey (murdering people in actual drag) are there to vamp it up around him. And if you enjoy this, be sure to check out its masterful sequel “Under Siege 2: Dark Territory,” in which Ryback and his precocious tween daughter (Katherine Heigl) fight to free a train from the evil clutches of — you guessed it — Eric Bogosian. Cinema forever.

Available to stream May 1.
5. “The Land Before Time” (1988)

For those of you who aren’t old enough to be triggered by the above image, the scene where Littlefoot’s mother dies at the start of “The Land Before Time” is the ultimate source of all millennial trauma. Beyond the heartache of it all, Don Bluth’s epic tale of baby dinosaurs journeying to the Great Valley in an effort to escape famine — a VHS staple in so many American homes during the late ’80s and early ’90s — is a cute, quick, and lovingly animated time machine back to a geologic period when kids movies still felt like classic storybooks. It’s the perfect matinee for nostalgic parents and their younger, and a reliable catalyst for so many fun conversations about the nature of death.

Available to stream May 1.
4. “Notting Hill” (1999)

It’s hard to pick just one Hugh Grant rom-com to rule them all, but “Notting Hill” stands out for its simplicity. Sure, movie star Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) is one of the most famous people on the planet, and it takes some of Richard Curtis’ most cringe-inducing contrivances to spark her romance with a flopsy British man who runs a travel book shop (because 1999 belongs to a different civilization), but at the end of the day she’s just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.

Grant’s almost terminal self-pity and Roberts’ sometimes overpowering stridency make them perfect foils for each other, and director Roger Michell works with Curtis to create an immaculately well-calibrated story around them. The “Horse & Hound” sequence bends rom-com absurdity back towards itself, Rhys Ifans elevates the eccentric roommate character to an archetype all its own, and the rest of the supporting cast (highlighted by Hugh Bonneville, Gina McKee, and the late Emma Chambers) contribute to two of the most charming set-pieces you’ll ever find in a movie like this.

The first is a dinner scene that bakes several different implausibilities into the saddest of brownies. The second is a climactic “race to the airport” that only needs a single gesture — and a Spencer David Group needle drop for the ages — to epitomize the demented appeal of an entire genre. When Roberts married regular human Daniel Moder three years later, it only made the fantasy of “Notting Hill” that much easier to believe.

Available to stream May 1.
3. “Back to the Future” (1985)

Do kids today know “Back to the Future”? Robert Zemeckis’ trilogy-igniting temporal adventure is a Gen X favorite that’s still tightly sewn into the fabric of our pop culture, but does it hold up for audiences who aren’t so eager to hop into Doc Brown’s DeLorean, themselves?

That’s a rhetorical question — though you might want to keep an eye on the Netflix Top 10 — but the fact remains that Zemeckis’ most iconic blockbuster doesn’t need to lean on nostalgia, which is fitting for a movie about the seductive danger of being stuck in the past. An immaculate piece of popcorn entertainment that’s tighter than a steel drum and pays off like a slot machine, “Back to the Future” is big Hollywood at its best. And while it might fall short of the spectacle that viewers have come to expect from studio blockbusters, it perfectly captures the transportive joy that we’re all hoping to re-experience at multiplexes this summer.

Available to stream May 1.
2. “Scarface” (1983)

One of the best things about “Scarface” — which narrowly edges out “Mission to Mars” as the “MTV Cribs” era’s favorite Brian De Palma film — is that it answered a question that cinephiles and scholars had been sitting with since Howard Hawks riffed on the same story in 1932: What would a classic Hollywood gangster picture look like if you filtered it through a metric ton of cocaine?

Based on every basic film bro’s favorite movie poster and boasting an Al Pacino performance so big you can see it from outer space, “Scarface” is a rags-to-riches epic about one man trying to embrace the American Dream (but accidentally snorting it instead). Pacino tears up the screen as Cuban refugee Antonio “Tony” Montana, shooting his way to the top of the Miami drug game and marrying Michelle Pfeiffer in the process. Everyone lives happily ever after.

Available to stream May 1.
1. “The Disciple” (2020)

Indian filmmaker (and Alfonso Cuarón mentee) Chaitanya Tamhane dazzled critics with his debut feature “Court” in 2014, and his follow-up — a bright spot on the dimmed festival circuit last fall — has been met with an even warmer reception in some corners. Now, with little fanfare, “Disciple” is slipping directly onto Netflix, and we’re so excited about it that we’re bending the rules and putting this late April release at the top of our list for May.

Here’s some of what IndieWire’s Eric Kohn had to say about the touching Hindustani character study when it played in the Venice and TIFF lineups in September:

“Ravi Shankar may be the name most closely associated with Norther Indian classical music in the West, but the art form (known as Hindustani music) extends well beyond the accomplishments of one man. That’s the hard truth faced by Sharad (real-life musician and acting newcomer Aditya Modak) in Chaitanya Tamhane’s brilliant sophomore drama ‘The Disciple,’ the story of an idealistic young performer who dreams of capturing the magic of a musical traditional that he may lack the talent to achieve himself. In Tamhane’s dreamy, transcendent character study, the undulating raga melodies serve as a transformative portal to self-discovery that places the audiences in the confines of its entrancing power.”

Available to stream April 30.