It’s a pretty light month at the powerhouse streamer of all streamers, Netflix. Maybe they didn’t want to distract from the final season of “Squid Game”? Maybe they know more people are out and about at the start of Summer? We’ll never know. And, to be fair, there are a few interesting drops this month, including two very different music docs and a collection of films from the master of suspense.
JUNE 1ST
“Alfred Hitchcock Collection”
Netflix gets a lot of deserved flak for hardly ever including films made before 2000, so we should take this change to laud them for dropping an entire collection of late-career films by Alfred Hitchcock, topped by the Anthony Hopkins biopic of the filmmaker. The collection includes “Rear Window,” “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” “Vertigo,” “The Birds,” “Frenzy,” and “Family Plot.” Watch ‘em all! (Yes, even “Family Plot.”)
Anton Corbijn’s drama was not what audiences were expecting from the guy who played Danny Ocean when it was released in 2010. It’s not a smooth, cool thriller as much as a character study, and it features one of George Clooney’s best performances.
Aspects of this demented film feel like the old game where someone starts a story and then hands it to someone else to finish. This is not a criticism. Rarely have you seen a horror film where you’ll be able to predict where it’s going to go less than this one.
Roger called this Chicago comedy classic “The Sherman tank of musicals.” In a review that often reads like more than three stars, he also drops this gem: “It’s a big, raucous powerhouse that proves against all the odds that if you’re loud enough, vulgar enough, and have enough raw energy, you can make a steamroller into a musical, and vice versa.”
“Dune”
Before Timothée Chalamet was even born, David Lynch was out here making one of the weirdest ‘80s blockbusters of all time in this notorious bomb. “Dune” is interesting most as a historical artifact, a chapter of Lynch’s career that sent him back into his own visions in a way that really benefited the history of the form. For more on the crazy production and release of this film, read this.
“The Town”
Ben Affleck’s second directorial effort (between the excellent “Gone Baby Gone” and his Oscar-winning “Argo”) was this tight thriller that earned Jeremy Renner an Oscar nomination. It’s held up well, the kind of action-driven cops-and-criminals piece that doesn’t get made as often as it did 15 years ago.
“Us”
Jordan Peele defied the sophomore slump in his follow-up to “Get Out,” a fantastic horror film with one of the best performances of the 2010s from Lupita Nyong’o. She’s amazing in a dual role in this consistently sharp and tense film. It’s even better than you remember.
June 7th
The first ever biographical documentary approved by the band, this Led Zeppelin tale was a pretty big box office hit for Sony Pictures Classics this year, especially in IMAX. It won’t be quite the same at home, but it’s better than nothing. Turn it up as loud as your neighbors will allow.
Morgan Neville chose to tell the life story of Pharrell Williams in a manner befitting its subject’s creative approach to art: through LEGOs. The result is an often visually fascinating film in ways that bio-docs are rarely allowed to be.
The Rest
“Bee Movie” (6/1)
“The Devil’s Own” (6/1)
“Focus” (6/1)
“The Great Outdoor” (6/1)
“Hop” (6/1)
“The Legend of Zorro” (6/1)
“MacGruber” (6/1)
“Neighbors” (6/1)
“The Night Before” (6/1)
“Now You See Me” & “Now You See Me 2” (6/1)
“The Tale of Despereaux” (6/1)
“The Theory of Everything” (6/1)
“U-571” (6/1)
“Get Hard” (6/9)
“Plane” (6/12)
“The Last Witch Hunter” (6/16)
“The Intern” (6/22)
“Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank” (6/28)
