Best First Watches: May 2025
If you’re already following me on my newly launched Instagram, thank you! I’m trying to separate work and life on social media (lol). You’ll have noticed that my Tribeca Festival coverage is already beginning. Respecting the embargos that are still in place, none of my Tribeca watches will be included on this list. That’ll be for June’s first watches! Anyway, happy Pride Month to us all. Go watch a gay movie!
IGNITE FILMS & EAGLE ROCK PICTURES
I was sent a Blu-Ray for the 40th anniversary re-release of this 1985 flick. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I was excited because I have a massive list of over 1,500 movies in poster form that I’m slowly making my way through. Re-Animator is bonkers in the way that ’80s movies tend to be. It’s like Little Shop of Horrors, but replace a murderous plant with a crazy neon-green substance that’s the key to beating death.
The Crazies (2010)
courtesy of Overture Films & Participant Media
When I lived in Los Angeles, I went to the Aero Theater’s twelve-hour horror movie marathon. The one movie I really wanted to see that I hadn’t seen before was The Crazies. Of course, fatigue hit and I passed out, never making it to The Crazies. Now, years later, I have returned to The Crazies and what a blast I had. I haven't seen the George A. Romero original, but it’ll be hard to beat the opening sequence of this one. Bleak and fun!
Nathan for You: Finding Frances
courtesy of Comedy Central
Maybe the reason this list is so short is because I’ve just been mainlining Nathan Fielder content for the entire month of May. I crushed all of Nathan for You, both seasons of The Rehearsal, and the Finding Frances finale of the last season of Nathan for You. I urge everyone to watch Nathan Fielder’s stuff. I feel like Finding Frances (and the one episode of Nathan for You that’s about free gas) is a bit of a turning point for his work, where it shifts from awkward comedy to something more uncomfortable - real feelings. Beneath all our jokes, our defenses, and our strengths is the mushy heart that doesn’t want to be hurt. Somehow, a guy who set out to help struggling businesses has turned his show into a meaningful reflection on the human experience.
Thunderbolts*
courtesy of Disney/Marvel
Never in a million years would I have thought that a Marvel movie would make it onto this list, but I cannot lie, I had fun! I laughed! I cried! I cheered! This is why we go to the movies. Sure, it’s not the most nuanced look at mental health and how we can support those who need it, but it’s a Marvel movie at the end of the day. It was never going to be that. What Thunderbolts* does, however, is show men having real emotional responses and realizing that punching a wall isn’t going to solve anything. It’s easily digestible therapy, and we could all use some therapy in the form of a superhero movie these days.
courtesy of Tribeca
A truly bonkers documentary where the less you know going in, the better. A meditation on family, lies, and what we tell ourselves so we have something to believe in.
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