May 2020 Releases On My Radar

There’s an awful lot of content coming at us this month which is great since we’re all still stuck at home! I don’t know how much I’ll be able to consume though since I’ll be working on revising a manuscript but there are a few titles I will be sure to make some time for…

TV

Returning:

Dead to Me (Netflix) is back for Season 2 on May 8th! Yessss!!! Season 2 of Ramy comes to Hulu on May 29th and I still haven’t caught season 1 so what better time than right before the new season? It’s been on my watch list since before it premiered but time got away from me. Now I have time, so I will be getting to this one soon. I’ve heard so many great things about this show and can’t wait to finally check it out myself. Season 2 of Homecoming (Amazon Prime) drops on May 22nd and the only reason why I care is because Janelle Monáe joins the cast and takes over the lead role this season. I didn’t watch season 1 but you bet I will be before May 22nd! Season 3 of Magic for Humans (Netflix) debuts on May 15th. If you haven’t seen this show, get on it.

New:

My most anticipated show is easily Snowpiercer. Oh my god, has this show been a LONG time coming. The stops and starts and conveyer belt of creatives behind the scenes. Finally. Finally, it is here. It debuts on TNT on May 17th so  you know I’ll be watching the movie again on that morning haha. Betty premiered yesterday on HBO. I didn’t realize it was based on Crystal Moselle’s original film Skate Kitchen, so I definitely plan on watching the movie after the six episode first season run. I watched the series premiere of Betty and loved it. Can’t wait for more.  Steve Carrell’s new comedy, Space Force comes to Netflix at the end of the month. Why must they torture us making us wait until the end of the month?!?!? *sigh* Ryan Murphy’s limited series, Hollywood dropped on Netflix yesterday to mixed reviews. I’m interested in checking it out but that is always the case with anything Ryan Murphy related. Into the Night (Netflix) is a sci-fi series from Belgium based on a Polish book, The Old Axolotl by Jacek Dukaj. I haven’t read the book and probably won’t decide if I will until after I see the series which is odd since I typically try to read stuff beforehand but alas. This premise sounds way too good and I’ve become a slow reader so it looks like the binge watch wins here. The limited musical series set in Paris, The Eddy starring Amandla Stenberg comes to Netflix on May 8th along with the Spanish romcom series, Valeria (Netflix).  I’m vaguely interested in checking out the limited series I Know This Much is True on HBO which is based on the best selling novel by Wally Lamb, that I haven’t read but have obviously heard about. I’ll wait and see what the people who’ve read it think of the adaptation before moving this up my TBR and watch list.

Docu-series & Specials:

Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind (HBO) is coming May 5th for those who may be interested. True story, I haven’t actually checked out any original content on Disney+ yet and I think Prop Culture, which dropped today, will change that. To be clear, there is so much that I want to watch on there, I just haven’t gotten to it. *shrugs* I’m really excited for Trial by Media coming to Netflix on May 11th. History 101 (Netflix, May 22) should be interesting. At least I’m hoping it is in the best way.

Then we’ve got some comedy specials and musical special coming: Patton Oswalt: I Love Everything (Netflix, May 19), Ben Platt: Live from Radio City Music Hall (Netflix, May 20), and Hannah Gadsby: Douglas (Netflix, May 26).

Movies/Documentaries
The Half of It dropped on Netflix yesterday and oh my god, it was so great! I watched it twice and definitely wouldn’t mind watching it again and again. It was so beautiful. I’m excited for Michelle Obama’s Becoming documentary coming to Netflix on May 6th. Issa Rae’s movie, The Lovebirds which was going to be theatrical but has moved to Netflix, is finally coming to us on May 22nd! A spelling bee documentary is long overdue so I am more excited than most I think for Spelling the Dream (Netflix, May 23). On the Record, the Russell Simmons documentary hits HBO Max on May 27th. I’ve seen a screener of this and it was, as you can imagine, upsetting.

Books
I’d say my most anticipated reads this month are Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins, and all of the adult titles I have listed below. Who knows when I’ll actually get to read these titles since I’m unemployed and since the pandemic, new titles haven’t really been that available through the library. But I’m excited to get to them at some point!

Now, I know there are plenty more books coming out, especially those that I’m anticipating but the release dates are changing left and right due to the pandemic and it’s hard to keep up and quite frankly, is overwhelming. Seeking out new books feels more like a chore now than fun at the moment so if it seems like the book list this month is smaller than usual, that might be why? I’m sure I’m missing a number of books that I know about and want to read as the amount of energy to triple check is lost right now. But you’ve got plenty to work with below, so there’s that.

Also!!!! Everywhere Book Fest is taking place this weekend. If you missed yesterday’s panels or today’s all of them are available on YouTube.

What are you anticipating this month?

May 1, 2020
Movies
The Half of It (Netflix)

May 4, 2020
Books
* All Adults Here by Emma Straub (A)

May 5, 2020
Books
* Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo (YA)
* Once Upon an Eid edited by S.K. Ali & Aisha Saeed (YA)*
* Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender (YA)
* Storybound by Emily McKay (YA)
* Four Days of You and Me by Miranda Kenneally (YA)
* Last Girls by Demetra Brodsky (YA)
* Path of Night by Sarah Rees Brennan (YA)
* Aurora Burning by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff (YA)
* The Betrothed by Kiera Cass (YA)
* Shuri: A Black Panther Novel by Nic Stone (MG)*
* The Down Days by Ilze Hugo (A)
* Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin (A)
* Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner (A)

TV on Blu-ray/DVD
Humans: The Complete Collection

May 6, 2020
Movies /Documentaries
Becoming (Netflix)

May 12, 2020
Books
* The Fascinators by Andrew Eliopulos (YA)
* The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar (YA)
* Dear Universe by Florence Gonsalves (YA)

Movies on Blu-ray/DVD
Birds of Prey
Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island
The Photograph

May 19, 2020
Books
* The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins (YA)
* The Names We Take by Trace Kerr (YA)
* We Are Not From Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez (YA)
* This Coven Won’t Break by Isabel Sterling (YA)
* Atomic Women: The Untold Stories of the Scientists Who Helped Create the Nuclear Bomb by Roseanne Montillo (N)
* Brown Album: Essays on Exile and Identity by Porochista Khakpour (N)

TV on Blu-ray/DVD
The Good Place: The Complete Series
Fear the Walking Dead: Season 5

Movies on Blu-ray/DVD
The Way Back
Onward

May 22, 2020
Movies
The Lovebirds (Netflix)

May 23, 2020
Movies
Spelling the Dream (Netflix)

May 26, 2020
Books
* The Archer at Dawn by Swati Teerdhala (YA)
* Out Now: Queer We Go Again edited by Saundra Mitchell (YA)
* The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta (YA)
* Parachutes by Kelly Yang (YA)
* The Paper Girl of Paris by Jordyn Taylor (YA)
* Camp by Lev A.C. Rosen (YA)
* Nowhere on Earth by Nick Lake (YA)
* Sunshield by Emily B. Martin (A)
* Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner (A)

Movies on Blu-ray/DVD
The Invisible Man

Snowpiercer (TNT)

TV Premieres On My Radar

Note: Like above, the titles listed below are only of shows that I enjoy or am looking forward to checking out (new series are in CAPS), it’s not a definitive list of all of the premieres this month.

Sunday
9pm I Know This Much is True (HBO, May 10)
10pm Snowpiercer (TNT, May 17)

Monday
Midnight Trial by Media (Netflix, May 11)

Tuesday
Midnight Patton Oswalt: I Love Everything (Netflix, May 19), Hannah Gadsby: Douglas (Netflix, May 26)
9pm Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind (HBO, May 5)

Wednesday
Midnight Ben Platt: Live from Radio City Music Hall (Netflix, May 20), On the Record (HBO Max, May 27)
10pm Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC, May 27)

Friday
Midnight Prop Culture (Disney+, May 1), Into the Night (Netflix, May 1), Hollywood (Netflix), Dead to Me (Netflix, May 8), The Eddy (Netflix, May 8), Valeria (Netflix, May 8), Magic for Humans (Netflix, May 15), Homecoming (Amazon Prime, May 22), History 101 (Netflix, May 22), Space Force (Netflix, May 29), Ramy (Hulu, May 29)
11pm Betty (HBO, May 1)