May brings a month stacked to the brim with a heady mix of blockbuster and escapist cinema alike. There is something for everyone, from fans of the MCU and Stephen King, to lovers of Australian stories and animation. To help you survey the lay of the cinema landscape, Popcorn Podcast has the top eight films you have to see on the big screen this month. 

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Sam Raimi returns to the world of comic book films for the first time since his celebrated Spider-Man offerings in the early noughties, taking us to dark places that will no doubt set up foreboding events for Marvel heroes Dr Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen). Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness promises to blow the roof off Phase Four with many theories being thrown around about the trajectory of the MCU. This sequel to 2016’s Doctor Strange unravels the aftermath of Strange casting a forbidden spell that opens the door to the Multiverse, welcoming an alternate version of himself whose threat to humanity is too great. It’s safe to say the stakes are pretty high! We can’t wait to go on this adventure, especially with the return of Olsen as Scarlet Witch.

Listen to Popcorn Podcast’s review of Spider-Man: No Way Home

And it would be remiss not to mention that an exclusive glimpse at the first trailer for Avatar: The Way of Water will play before Dr Strange 2 in cinemas. The Way of Water is planned for release in myriad formats, including 2D, 3D, IMAX, high-frame rate and more. Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, Avatar: The Way of Water picks up the story of the Sully family (Jake, Neytiri, and their kids) and the battles they fight to stay alive. It will release in Australia December 15, 2022. 

The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson

Writer and director Leah Purcell delivers her feature film debut with The Drover’s Wife this month. Based on the 1892 Henry Lawson classic, Purcell has previously adapted this Australian story for the stage in a Belvoir Street Theatre play in 2016. Purcell tells the tale through an Indigenous feminist lens as the action takes place in the Australian Outback of 1893. It’s rough, the people hard-nosed, the law rather secondary. Here, women become the pawns of men; even the town folk have to fight for their place in the hierarchy. Molly Johnson, heavily pregnant and alone with her children on a farm far from town, is aware of her perceived place only too well. Nevertheless, she will do anything to protect her children. We love to support Aussie cinema, so hit up your local and check it out.

Firestarter

Stephen King gets yet another film adaptation of his work in Firestarter. This supernatural story has already had the big screen treatment in 1984, starring Drew Barrymore as a young girl with the destructive power to set things alight with her mind. This latest version stars Zac Efron alongside Sydney Lemmon and Ryan Kiera Armstrong as the troubled girl. After Andy McGee (Efron) is experimented on by a secret government entity called The Shop, he develops psychic powers and meets the love of his life, Vicky (Lemmon). Together they have a daughter with a power of her own and The Shop will stop at nothing to get them back. Blumhouse is the powerhouse horror film studio behind this one and it promises to deliver on the suspense, terror and atmosphere of so many of their films.

Ablaze

Through rare archival footage, state-of-the-art animation, vividly created digital motion graphics and eye-witness accounts, Ablaze is part detective story, part contemporary opera. The Australian film, written and directed by Tiriki Onus and Alec Morgan, tells the story of Bill Onus, a Yorta Yorta and Wiradjuri man from Victoria who revived his people’s culture in the 1940s and ignited a civil rights movement that would, against enormous odds, change the course of history. Watch as Onus and his supporters brilliantly orchestrate their campaign for equality through performance, entertainment, film and sheer audacity, outsmarting forces seeking to destroy Indigenous cultures, languages and communities.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that Ablaze contains themes of violence and oppression against Indigenous Australians, as well as images and videos of deceased persons.

How To Please A Woman

Get set for a funny, escapist trip to the movies best shared with your closest friends. When Gina’s (Sally Phillips) all-male house-cleaning business – featuring cleaners who offer ‘happy endings’ for her clients, if you catch the drift – gets out of control, the middle-aged woman must embrace her own sexuality if she is to make a new life for herself. A slew of Aussie acting royalty stars alongside Phillips, including Erik Thompson, Roz Hammond, Tasma Walton and Cameron Daddo, in what promises to be the most uplifting and cheekiest film of the month.

Little Tornadoes

With the laughs set aside for our previous May movie suggestion, this Australian film delivers a more sober and poignant look at the world if you’re after a drama fix. In Little Tornadoes, a newly single father struggles to weather the turbulence of change in 1970s Australia, set against a backdrop of a country at a turning point. Leo (Mark Leonard Winter) is a metalworker at his small town's local plant who is left to care for his two young children and keep his family afloat after his wife vanishes. Kindness and connection comes from Italian immigrant Maria (Silvia Colloca) who acts as a surrogate homemaker for the reluctant Leo. Both grapple with unfamiliar terrain and finding their place in a world so full of change. Little Tornadoes tackles the challenges surrounding immigration, the Vietnam War and the women’s liberation movement, and will be sure to leave you feeling humbled and grateful for how lucky we all are.

Top Gun: Maverick

The need for speed has been building for 28 years for this sequel! Action, stunts, Cruise. What more could we want? Top Gun: Maverick sees Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell (Tom Cruise) training Top Gun graduates for a specialised mission, the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen. Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice. The marketing for the film was turned up to 100 recently with Paramount Pictures sharing a window into the actors’ training regime. They underwent three months of gruelling training working with the Navy and the Top Gun school to formulate how to shoot things practically. The cast also went through a challenging underwater program, and an intense schedule of experiencing different aircraft to get a feel for their surrounding space and speed when flying. If that doesn’t grab your attention, we don’t know what will, but Top Gun: Maverick isn’t far away. It’s time to return to the danger zone, Mr Cruise awaits.

The Bob’s Burgers Movie

Adult fans of this celebrated animated series are finally getting a feature-length big-screen offering to enjoy. Bob’s Burgers has been running since 2011 and has amassed 233 episodes to date. The film kicks off when a ruptured water main creates an enormous sinkhole right in front of Bob's Burgers, blocking the entrance indefinitely and ruining the Belchers' plans for a successful summer. While Bob (H Jon Benjamin) and Linda (John Roberts) struggle to keep the business afloat, the kids attempt to solve a mystery that could save their family's restaurant. As the dangers mount, these underdogs help each other find hope and fight to get back behind the counter, where they belong. We look forward to sharing a few laughs with our fellow moviegoers with this one and can’t wait to hear what you think. Will it live up to the hype and calibre of the TV show? Only time will tell.