What’s New on HBO: May 2018

Fahrenheit 451. Photo: HBO

At the beginning of (and during) every month, HBO adds new movies and TV shows to its library. Below, you’ll find our recommendations for May 2018. For more comprehensive coverage of the best titles available on HBO and elsewhere, check out Vulture’s What to Stream Now hub, which is updated throughout the month.

This Month’s Highlights

Available May 19

Because Michael B. Jordan is in a new movie: Fahrenheit 451

HBO’s latest original film is an adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s classic novel about firemen who don’t fight fires but start them, burning books as state censors. Directed with flair by Ramin Bahrani, who also wrote the screenplay, this take on Bradbury’s eerily prescient novel is anchored by a cast that’s impossible not to love: Michael B. Jordan leads as protagonist Guy Montag, a fireman who begins to question his motives. Opposite him is Michael Shannon as Montag’s superior, Captain Beatty, and Sofia Boutella as Clarisse McClellan, the woman who opens his eyes to the fact that he might be one of the bad guys. Available May 19.

Available May 5

For all your horny costume drama needs: Lady Macbeth

Set in 1865, Lady Macbeth follows a woman named Katherine (Florence Pugh) who is married off to a much older man, in an arrangement that is tacitly acknowledged to be little more than business. Left alone for an extended period of time, she begins an affair with a workman on the estate, and Katherine’s suffocating existence suddenly becomes an unbearably tense one as the affair is discovered. It’s Wuthering Heights as a tense-as-hell thriller, anchored by Pugh’s tremendous performance. Available May 5.

Available May 12

For another dose of Tom Hardy’s eyes: Dunkirk

Tom Hardy has straight-up made a career out of eye-acting, obscuring most of his face and natural voice with masks and accents, and Dunkirk is his crowning achievement, the most subtle performance those eyes have delivered yet. (He plays a pilot who’s very good at concentrating.) What’s more, Dunkirk is tremendously satisfying, a movie that has many of Christopher Nolan’s distinctive tics and stylistic techniques but applied with great restraint. Although Nolan refuses to tell anything straight, it’s hard to want anything different, especially when the result is such intricate clockwork that expertly ratchets up tension to a cathartic release. Available May 12.

Full List

Noteworthy selections in bold.

Available May 1

A Sound of Thunder
Avatar
Cleopatra
Dead Calm
• Dude, Where’s My Car?
• Eurotrip (Unrated Version)
• Garden State
• In the Cut (Director’s Cut)
Kill the Messenger
• Maps to the Stars
• The Newton Boys
Seabiscuit
Secretary
Star Trek: Nemesis
You’ve Got Mail
• Wolves at the Door
• Hijo por Hijo (a.k.a Child for Child)

Available May 3

Lady Macbeth

Available May 4

La cordillera (a.k.a The Summit)

Available May 5

2018 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
• The Lego Ninjago Movie

Available May 7

A Dangerous Son
• Asian Pacific American Visionaries Short Film Competition Finalists: Jiejie, June, and Remittance

Available May 11

La educación del Rey (a.k.a. Rey’s Education)

Available May 12

Dunkirk

Available May 19

Fahrenheit 451

Available May 21

The Final Year

Available May 26

The Tale
• Patti Cake$

Available May 27

Fist Fight

What’s New on HBO: May 2018