WHAT WE CAN’T WAIT TO WATCH
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story Of Fire Saga
The Eurovision Song Contest is already so ridiculous, can Will Ferrell even up the ante? Based on the music video the Volcano Man, it seems like plopping Ferrell and Rachel McAdams into cheesy Icelandic costumes on a black-sand beach and having them sing to hi-NRG synth beats might be effective enough. Will this be a Pop Star-level satire of the beloved pop music competition – which was cancelled this year – or could this film do for Iceland what Borat did for Kazakhstan? June 26
Da 5 Bloods
With BlacKkKlansman, Spike Lee fictionalized history while also challenging Hollywood’s history by depicting pivotal events involving the KKK, the South and Black people. Judging by the wild and psychedelic trailer for Lee’s latest joint, war drama/comedy Da 5 Bloods looks like it too will mix things up with history and pop culture. The trailer jams to The Chamber Brothers’ Time Has Come Today while showing us news footage from the Vietnam War and nods, in both explicit and subtle ways, to Apocalypse Now. And somewhere in between, Delroy Lindo and The Wire’s Isiah Whitlock Jr. star as vets returning to Vietnam to dig up the remains of their fallen comrade (Chadwick Boseman) and find some gold they all buried. June 12
Wasp Network
It’s hard to say no to an Olivier Assayas film starring Penélope Cruz. Based on Fernando Morais’s book The Last Soldiers Of The Cold War, Wasp Network tells the tale of the Cuban Five, government spies who tried to dismantle anti-Castro rebel groups based in Florida and were later convicted. Co-starring Edgar Ramírez, Gael García Bernal and Ana de Armas, you might find yourself tuning in more for the faces than the facts – and there is no shame in that. June 19
Queer Eye (season 5)
Get ready to cry for all the right reasons. The Fab Five are back for season five and are heading to Philadelphia to make over a gay priest, a busy mom juggling work and parenting, a father preparing to attend his daughter’s wedding and a woman who has been teased for being tall. With lockdown measures still in effect, those group hugs will no doubt feel extra special. June 5
Lenox Hill
Having made their name producing and directing medical documentaries for Israeli television, Ruthie Shatz and Adi Barash bring their cameras and their total lack of squeamishness to the eponymous New York City hospital, following two brain surgeons, an emergency room physician and an OB/GYN resident to capture a picture of the medical centre in toto. Shooting concluded last November, so the series now also serves as a snapshot of a health-care system that was showing signs of strain well before the pandemic surged over it like a tsunami. June 10
The Last Days Of American Crime
In a country overwhelmed by chaos, the government is about to activate a signal that makes it impossible for people to commit criminal acts – so a bunch of thieves have to race against time to pull off the perfect heist. Based on a comic-book miniseries that sounds a lot like The Purge in reverse, this… does not sound like the worst idea for a pulpy action movie. Edgar Ramírez, Michael Pitt, Sharlto Copley and Anna Brewster co-star Olivier Megaton, of the Transporter and Taken sequels directs. What the hell, we need a distraction. June 5
Kipo And The Age Of Wonderbeasts (season 2)
Radford Sechrist’s delightful animated series about a teen girl searching for her vanished father on a post-apocalyptic Earth is back for a second season of charming visuals, complex character relationships and unexpected musical numbers. No other show would pair John Hodgman and GZA for a hip-hop track about the history of the universe, and that’s why Kipo is the magical treasure that it is. You really ought to be watching this show. June 12
Jo Koy: In His Elements
The hugely charismatic Filipino-American stand-up Koy has already released two Netflix comedy specials: 2017’s Live From Seattle and last year’s Comin’ In Hot. But this is the first one taped in the Philippines, which gives him the opportunity to celebrate his heritage and give comic shoutouts to other Filipino-American artists like fellow comic Andrew Lopez and breakdancer Ronnie. June 12
The Woods
Novelist Harlan Coben already has two miniseries adaptations of his thrillers currently keeping viewers binge-watching on Netflix: Safe and The Stranger. Now comes The Woods, about a lawyer whose life changes when new information is discovered about the death of his sister a quarter century earlier. The fact that this is a Polish production – and not made in the U.S. or, like the other two, in the UK – adds an intriguing note, but also shows how global Coben’s fanbase is. June 12
Eric Andre: Legalize Everything
If anyone can distract us from the current troubling headlines, it’s Andre, the surreal and absurd guy behind The Eric Andre Show on Adult Swim and one of the freshest, most spontaneous stand-ups around. (He’s performed a lot in Toronto.) His new special, Legalize Everything, was taped in New Orleans, and Andre takes on everything from the war on drugs to the war on… fart jokes. Yup, he goes there. June 23
Dating Around (Season 2)
With all of Netflix’s reality dating series veering heavily towards, shall we say, watchable trash, we’re counting on the second season of Dating Around to save the day. Each episode follows one person as they go on five dates with five different people and then choose their favourite for a second outing. Something so simple has no right to be as good as it is. The first season incited conversation around interracial dating, fuckboy (and girl) behaviours and mature love. By not editing out the tedious chit-chat of first dates, the awkward realization you are definitely not a match or the sizzle when you know you might be (at least for the night), and by featuring people of all ages and backgrounds looking for love, it’s no surprise it gelled with so many. June 12
Seasons 1-3 of Hannibal are hitting Netflix in June.
SOLID BETS
Hannibal (seasons 1-3)
A series as visually scrumptious as the suspicious meals Hannibal (Mads Mikkelsen) cooks up by each episode’s end, this series was gone far too soon. Based on characters in Thomas Harris’s novels, this show lasers in on FBI investigator Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) as he forms an unusual connection with the psychiatrist thanks to his empathy for serial killers. A cult classic, fans are still waiting on a new season or even a movie. But due to creator Bryan Fuller’s seeming curse – which has seen his brilliant series Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls and Pushing Daisies all cancelled early on – this might be the closest we’ll get to sink our teeth back into Dr. Lecter. June 5
Funny Girl
Is there anyone more delightful than Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl? Absolutely not. In this 1968 comedy/drama musical, based loosely on the life of comedian Fanny Brice (Streisand) and her relationship with gambler Nick Arnstein (Omar Sharif), the film won Streisand her first Oscar, for Best Actress. At the time of its release, many critics panned the rest of the film for being a little too over the top. In the decades since, it’s become a beloved classic for the very same reason. And for those not in the know, it’s something of a Streisand primer, introducing her as not only a vocal powerhouse, but a comedian in her own right. Don’t Rain On My Parade and My Man forever. June 1
The Hunt For Red October / U-571
Okay, after spending three months indoors maybe a double-bill of submarine movies aren’t the best idea for escapist entertainment. But give them a chance: John McTiernan’s 1990 adaptation of the Tom Clancy best-seller remains one of the best strategic thrillers ever produced, with Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin at the head of an all-star cast and a taut, clever cat-and-mouse plot. And though it’s not in Red October’s class, the decade-later U-571 is a solid WWII programmer about American commandos trying to change the course of the war by stealing an Enigma machine from a German sub. It’s complete fiction, but director Jonathan Mostow keeps everything moving quickly and lets Matthew McConaughey and Bill Paxton be quietly terrific in the middle of it. So that’s nice. Both films available June 1
List of new titles available in June by date:
TV Shows
Coming soon
It’s Okay To Not Be Okay
One Take
The Show Must Go On: The Queen + Adam Lambert Story
June 1
Cocomelon (season 1)
June 2
Fuller House: The Farewell Season
Garth Brooks: The Road I’m On (season 1)
June 4
The 100 (season 7)
Baki: The Great Raitai Tournament Saga
Can You Hear Me?
June 5
13 Reasons Why (season 4)
Hannibal (seasons 1-3)
Queer Eye (season 5)
June 7
Patriot Act With Hasan Minhaj: Volume 6 (new episodes weekly)
June 9
Modern Family (seasons 9-10)
New Girl (season 7)
June 10
Curon
Reality Z
June 12
Dating Around (season 2)
F Is For Family (season 4)
Jo Koy: In His Elements
Kipo And The Age Of Wonderbeasts (season 2)
The Search
The Woods
June 13
Alexa & Katie (part 4)
June 14
Marcella (season 3)
June 17
Mr. Iglesias (part 2)
June 18
The Order (season 2)
June 19
Floor Is Lava
Girls From Ipanema (season 2)
The Politician (season 2)
Rhyme Time Town
June 22
Anne With An E (season 3)
June 23
Eric Andre: Legalize Everything
June 24
Crazy Delicious
Sons Of Anarchy (season 2)
June 26
Amar Y Vivir
June 30
Adú
Movies
June 1
Beethoven
Black Snake Moan
Breakfast At Tiffany’s
Broken City
Cape Fear
Coraline
The Darkest Hour
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
First Knight
Funny Girl
Goon
The Grudge 2
The Hunt For Red October
Into The Wild
Jurassic Park
Kung Fu Hustle
The Last Airbender
The Lost World: Jurassic Park
National Lampoon’s Van Wilder
The Road To El Dorado
Schindler’s List
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret Of The Ooze
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie
U-571
June 3
2 Fast 2 Furious
Fast & Furious
Fast & Furious 6
Fast Five
Furious 7
The Fast And The Furious
The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift
Spelling The Dream
June 5
Choked: Paisa Bolta Hai
The Last Days Of American Crime
June 9
Teen Titans Go! To The Movies
June 10
Lenox Hill
June 12
Da 5 Bloods
ONE PIECE: Alabasta
ONE PIECE: East Blue
ONE PIECE: Enter Chopper At The Winter Island
ONE PIECE: Entering Into The Grand Line
Picture Perfect 2
Sicario: Day Of The Soldado
June 16
Captain America: Civil War
June 18
A Whisker Away
June 19
Babies: Part 2
Disclosure
Father Soldier Son
Feel The Beat
Lost Bullet
One-Way To Tomorrow
Wasp Network
June 20
Push
June 23
The Meg
June 24
Athlete A
Nobody Knows I’m Here
June 25
Castle in the Sky
The Cat Returns
From Up On Poppy Hill
Howl’s Moving Castle
Kiki’s Delivery Service
My Neighbor Totoro
My Neighbors The Yamadas
Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind
Ocean Waves
Only Yesterday
Porco Rosso
Pom Poko
Ponyo
Princess Mononoke
The Secret World Of Arrietty
Spirited Away
The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya
Tales Of Earthsea
When Marnie Was There
Whisper Of The Heart
June 26
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story Of Fire Saga
Home Game
June 30
BNA
George Lopez: We’ll Do It For Half
Last Call
TV series and movies leaving Netflix this month.
June 3
Baby Mama
Cinderella Man
The Bone Collector
June 9
Mad Men (seasons 1-7)
June 14
Star Trek
June 24
Avengers: Infinity War
June 29
Wet Hot American Summer
June 30
The Dark Crystal
Now You See Me
