New May 2015 Movies and TV Streaming on Netflix

TV Features Netflix

April showers bring May flowers, supposedly, but who needs showers or flowers when Netlfix keeps delivering hot new content every single month? This month, the world’s most popular streaming service is bringing us a Tarantino classic, a Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner, the best concert film of all time, and a movie about undead beavers. Now that’s an eclectic mix.

Check out our featured recommendations, and read on for the full list of this month’s new offerings. (And for the movies leaving Netflix in May, click here.)

fruitvale-station-dvd-cover-25.jpgFruitvale Station
Year: 2013
Director: Ryan Coogler
Available: May 12
Grand Jury Prize, Sundance Film Festival, 2013.
When someone dies young—especially in a tragic fashion—it can be tempting for the bereaved to reduce the deceased to little more than an angelic, idealized figure. We’re so understandably wrapped up in our grief that we focus on that person’s most positive characteristics, setting aside everything about him or her that doesn’t fit that glowing remembrance. Writer-director Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station aims for something far more difficult: mourning an ordinary, clearly flawed man without denying his inherent failings. This more nuanced portrait does nothing to diminish the shame of Oscar Grant’s death—if anything, it only intensifies its sting. —Tim Grierson

inglourious_basterds_ver14.jpgInglourious Basterds
Year: 2009
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Available: May 22
Quentin Tarantino’s dual loves of vengeance and cinema have never had a purer expression than the face of a Jewish cinematheque owner projected Oz-like onto the smoke of Nazis aflame…To an almost touching degree, Inglourious Basterds recognizes that the vengeance driving so many films—and certainly Tarantino’s own—is a cinematic impulse, a fantasy of light and sound, a bonfire of highly combustible nitrate film stock, cleanly separated from common sense and actual history. For once, Tarantino doesn’t allude left and right to other movies, but instead makes celluloid itself a literal part of the story. Put another way, he draws his story into the celluloid.—Robert Davis

Zombeavers.jpgZombeavers
Year: 2014
Director: Jordan Rubin
Available: May 19
The final 20-30 minutes is strongest portion of Zombeavers, because that’s when things unexpectedly go off the rails of convention and into a delightfully weird territory. I’ll admit I did not see the twist coming whatsoever, through some combination of distraction or being lulled into complacency, but the film takes an abrupt, hard left turn in the last fourth, and this is to its credit…By the time the final shots roll, a bizarre stylistic change has come over the movie, recalling shots from the likes of High Tension or Martyrs. These influences aren’t present for long, but they’re what I’ll remember. —Jim Vorel

last_waltz_DVD.jpgThe Last Waltz
Year: 1978
Director: Martin Scorcese
Available: May 1
A disclaimer at the beginning of the film insists that “THIS FILM SHOULD BE PLAYED LOUD!” What follows is one of the most incredible sets of performances ever caught on film. After 16 years on the road, The Band decided to finally say goodbye. Farewell concerts have become extremely commonplace nowadays, and the farewell usually just lasts until the artist/group decides they want more money. But The Band knew how to say goodbye before saying goodbye was cool…In between their former employers, like Bob Dylan, the show featured performances from some of the biggest names in music, including Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and many more. —Wyndham Wyeth

Avail. May 1
Beyond Clueless (2014)
Jimi: All Is On My Side (2013)
Legally Blonde (2001)
Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003)
No No: A Dockumentary (2014)
The Last Waltz (1978)
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (2005)
Underclassmen (2015)
Longmire (season 3)
Shameless (U.K. version, season 10)
Witnesses (season 1)

Avail. May 2
Lalaloopsy: Festival of Sugary Sweets (2015)
LeapFrog Letter Factory Adventures: Amazing World Explorers (2015)

Avail. May 3
Anita (2013)
D.L. Hughley: Clear (2014)
Royal Pains (season 6)

Avail. May 5
A Few Best Men (2011)

Avail. May 6
The Longest Week (2014)
Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas (2013)

Avail. May 8
Grace & Frankie (season 1)
Puss in Boots (season 1.5)

Avail. May 9
Jinn (2014)
The Liberator (2013)

Avail. May 12
Extraterrestrial (2014)
Fruitvale Station (2013)
Magical Universe (2013)

Avail. May 13
The Identical (2014)

Avail. May 14
American Restoration (new collection)
Counting Cars (new collection)
Dance Moms (new collection)
Hoarders (new collection)
Modern Marvels (new collection)
The Universe (new collection)

Avail. May 15
Cyber-Seniors (2014)
Dawg Fight (2015)
Give Me Shelter (2014)
Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (season 4)
Granite Flats (seasons 1-3)

Avail. May 16
First Period (2013)

Avail. May 17
Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast (2015)

Avail. May 19
Before I Disappear (2014)
Girlhood (2014)
Zombeavers (2014)

Avail May 21
Between (new eps every Thursday)

Avail. May 22
H20 Mermaid Adventures (2015)
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Jen Kirkman: I’m Gonna Die Alone (And I Feel Fine) (2015)
The Other One: The Long, Strange Trip of Bob Weir (2014)
Richie Rich (season 2)
The Transporter: The Series (season 1)

Avail. May 23
Antarctica: A Year on Ice (2013)
The Boxtrolls (2014)

Avail. May 24
Love and Honor (2013)
Welcome to the Punch (2013)

Avail. May 26
Graceland (seasons 1-2)

Avail. May 27
Before I Go to Sleep (2014)

Avail. May 29
Hot Girls Wanted (2015)
Mako Mermaids (season 3)

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