The best films to see in May: from ‘Mission: Impossible 9’ to ‘Final Destination: Bloodlines’

Coral reefs, kelp forests, huge ocean swells. Darting dolphin pods. The odd porpoise. You know what to expect from a new David Attenborough documentary, but nothing will prepare you for how spectacular it all looks up on the big screen. His new feature-length film is an anthem to our oceans with a stirring call to arms to turn back the wide of climate change and pollution. The message is as uplifting as the oceanic photography – although Sir David needs you there to hear it. 

In cinemas May 8

Remember when Nicolas Cage wanted to get that bunny back to his daughter in Con Air? Well, it’s that but for gnarly waves in an Aussie beach-sploitation flick that sees the great man trying to take his son surfing only for a bunch of no-good locals to start intimidating them. Probably a mistake knowing the ‘inner nutter’ that Cage characters tend to keep tucked away. Irish filmmaker Lorcan Finnegan’s pulp thriller has cult hit written all over it.  

In cinemas May 9

For anyone looking to give something fresh a go this month, his music-tinged performance film is a masterclass is playful memorialising. Miss Flower is a bon vivant called Geraldine Flower, who left behind a suitcase of letters full of true-life tales of romance, espionage and adventure. These have been transformed into dramatised vignettes evoking a bygone era of mystique, smoke and mirrors that’s given a dreamfolk wash by Icelandic singer and songwriter Emilíana Torrini. 

In cinemas May 9

Will the second most watched horror trailer of all time become a colossal box office hit? One of the questions of the early summer will be answered when this enduring franchise unleashes a new batch of karmic kills on an unsuspecting family. It’s been 14 years since Final Destination 5, so the anticipation levels are sky-high among genre fans. Is horror about to get its own Lava Chicken moment? 

In cinemas May 14

Millennials are already gathering for a live-action redo of a movie that occupies a special place in the hearts of anyone who grew up in or around 2002. For the uninitiated, Lilo is an orphaned Hawaiian girl who bonds with Stitch, an extra-terrestrial agent of chaos. Director Dean Fleischer Camp, who made stop-motion gem Marcel the Shell With Shoes On, is charged with getting Disney’s live-action mini-franchise back on the road after the disaster of Snow White. We’re rooting for him.

In cinemas May 21

The big one is landing this month. Yes, Tom Cruise’s IMF agent Ethan Hunt is back on the case of a sinister, world-threatening AI in a climactic blockbuster that promises more sprinting, more explosions and more clinging from airplanes at ridiculous altitudes. You will need to rewatch Dead Reckoning to refamiliarise yourself with the cast of devil-may-care spies, outwitted CIA spooks and shadowy assassins, but veteran M:I director Christopher McQuarrie has a knack of stitching all the threads together with elegant aplomb. 

In cinemas May 21

While we all debate whether or not Wes Anderson’s films have any political edge, he delivers a black comedy set in a world of autocrats, arms dealers and capitalist extremists. This time his protagonist is Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro), ‘a maverick in the fields of armaments and aviation and among the richest men in Europe’, who goes down in a plane crash, only to find fresh perils await him on the ground. The stacked cast with feature at least two of your favourite actors and one you’re completely allergic to. 

In cinemas May 21

Punch the nearest plank in half because Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio are back in a Karate Kid movie that will crown a new legend – Ben Wang’s Li Fong – and unleash plenty of dojo action. It’s the first of the six films to feature Macchio’s Danny LaRusso since Cobra Kai wrapped and the fence-painting, crane-kicking OG should bring new impetus to a franchise that was running on nostalgia and fumes in 2010’s dismal reboot. 

In cinemas May 30

Plenty of great comedies have started as short films – Napoleon Dynamite, Brian and Charles, Marcel the Shell With Shoes On – and Tim Key and Tom Basden’s 2007 short, The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island, may be about to join them. The title might be streamlined but the thrust is the same: a lonely lottery winner (Key) invites the estranged members of his favourite folk duo (Basden and Carey Mulligan) to his remote island. Chaos – emotional and actual – ensues.

In cinemas May 30

Fans of rugged coastal vistas are doubly well served this month. Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs play a married couple who lose their home and gain new perspective as they walk 630 miles along Britain’s South West Coast Path, finding stirring resilience along the way. Acclaimed playwright Rebecca Lenkiewicz – who also makes her directorial debut with Hot Milk this summer – has adapted Raynor Winn’s bestselling memoir, so expect plenty of meaty dialogue. 

In cinemas May 30