12 of the Best Movies and TV Shows Available to Stream in June 2022
Reading Time: 6 minutesEvery major streaming service has something worth watching this month.
With so much content out there, the start of the summer is the perfect time to sit back on some of the blockbuster-type films you might have otherwise skipped while binging your favorite shows in the fall and winter. Or, you could take this time to revisit old favorites coming to new platforms. Personally, one of the most notable events in streaming news is that every single episode of Glee is coming to Disney+ on June 1. Happy Pride Month, indeed.
Here are the best of all the best movies, series premieres, or new seasons of returning favorites that will be available to stream in June. Titles arranged chronologically by premiere date.
The Boys likes to push limits, and the third season will allegedly raise the bar for the sort of blood, guts, and raunch that the show can pull off. Based on the comic series of the same name, The Boys is arguably one of Amazon Prime’s best original series. For the uninitiated, The Boys is a superhero drama that satirizes the genre by making our heroes arrogant, amoral, and all-around awful. They’re bad heroes, but great anti-heroes. And most importantly, as I mentioned before: This show is pretty freaking gross. And violent. Boys will be boys, I suppose?
It’s been two years since the last season, so you might need to catch up quick before the first three episodes of season three drop on June 3 (with the next five dropping weekly thereafter).
I consider Uncut Gems an ‘Adam Sandler movie.’ However, whenever I say the phrase ‘Adam Sandler movie,’ I’m often yelled at unless I am strictly speaking about the likes of Happy Gilmore or Billy Madison. But a movie can have Adam Sandler without being an ‘Adam Sandler movie’ (Click comes to mind), so what makes something an ‘Adam Sandler movie’ these days? Can I be so bold as to call Hustle (coming to Netflix on June 8) an Adam Sandler movie, or is it just a movie that stars Adam Sandler? We need a word for conveying that something is still distinctly an Adam Sandler movie, without suggesting that it’s a Happy Madison Productions romp.
In Hustle, Sandler plays a sports talent scout trying to recruit a phenom from Spain. It looks like an inspirational sports drama that takes itself seriously. My prediction is that this is an Adam Sandler vehicle, but not quite an ‘Adam Sandler movie.’ Please don’t yell at me.
The MCU’s presence on Disney+ has had a solid track record so far, with hits like WandVision, Loki, and Moon Knight. All signs suggest the streamer will continue this streak with Ms. Marvel, which premieres on June 8.
As MediaDownloader Deputy Editor Joel Cunningham previously summed it up: ‘Newcomer Iman Vellani plays Kamala Khan, a New Jersey teen who grew up idolizing the Avengers in a society shaped by superheroes who suddenly finds herself imbued with fantastic abilities of her own. The show seems to have switched up her origins a bit (likely to tie into previous films or set up the 2023 film The Marvels, in which Kamala will appear alongside Captain Marvel and Monica Rambeau), but kept the core aspects of the character—chiefly, her endearing nerdiness and fandom—intact.’
News of the revisions to Ms. Marvel’s origin story led to some backlash online, because, well, of course it did. MCU fans aren’t exactly known for their capacity to accept change.
Well. This documentary is tragically timely. The Janes features exclusive interviews with a group of women who helped patients secure abortion in the years before the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade. With the freshly bleak outlook for abortion services in this country, this documentary is more urgent than ever.
Stand Out: An LGBTQ+ Celebration is a highlight reel of all the brilliant, queer, and brilliantly queer acts from last month’s Netflix Is A Joke comedy festival.
While Netflix is problematic for all sorts of reasons lately, let’s relish in some of the talent in this special: Wanda Sykes, Eddie Izzard, Margaret Cho, Sandra Bernhard, Tig Notaro, Trixie Mattel, Fortune, and more. Plus, the event was hosted by Billy Eichner, who has an upcoming romcom that I cannot wait to see in theaters. If you’re a fan of comedy and still holding onto your Netflix subscription, this special is sure to be a delight. Please watch this instead some…other comedians that Netflix continues to showcase.
If you missed this part-revenge, part-redemption thriller in theaters last year, pull up a chair now. The Card Counter follows an ex-military interrogator now in the gambling world, who claims to ‘just wants to play cards.’ Starring Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish, Tye Sheridan, and Willem Dafoe, the film was critically claimed with more mixed reviews from audiences.
Here’s my non-film-critic take: I like when a film dips in and out of a semi-surreal realm. I like when a film about poker isn’t really about poker. I like watching Oscar Isaac act. If nothing else, I find Haddish’s understated performance to be one of the greatest things to come out of this film.
I’ll say this: As I get happier in my personal life, the less I find myself loving this movie. Still, The Worst Person in the World has largely been heralded as one of the best films to come out of 2021. Later on in this round-up I write about how much I’ve been looking for a romcom that hits all the classic tropes. (Like I said: I’m happy right now.) But if you’re looking for a dramedy that subverts your romcom expectations, then you’re in luck with the depictions of romance in The Worst Person in the World.
In this Netflix sitcom, Melissa McCarthy stars opposite her husband Ben Falcone, who stars as a sweet loser recruited by the Almighty to fight Satan. Simple enough. Without knowing too much about this series, what I do know is that I trust McCarthy to move seamlessly between laugh-out-loud line delivery and more heartfelt, meaningful moments. Perhaps you could argue that sitcoms are imperfect vehicles to deal with questions of heaven, hell, and the apocalypse. I’d argue that you’re wrong.
A little over 30 years since Steve Martin originated the titular role, Andy Garcia stars in a new version of Father of the Bride premiering on June 16. If you’re skeptical of a remake on principle, it looks like the story has been reimagined a good bit. This version still tells the story about a father unprepared for his daughter’s wedding, this time focusing on a Cuban-American family. Plus, the marriage plot is modernized with the parents’ own divorce plot—a divorce that Garcia and Gloria Estefan try to hide in order to get through the wedding smoothly. As Paste Magazine writes, ‘one can only imagine that the film must have been pitched to HBO execs as Crazy Rich Latinos, and it’s easy to say why they would have jumped on the potential of such a concept.’ And like when Crazy Rich Asians originally premiered, audiences are ready for a classic romcom to hit the spot right now.
Starring Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening, this Paramount+ exclusive is inspired by the true story of a small-town Michigan couple who legally gamed the lottery. What ensues is a loophole-based heist that also seems to be a testament to giving back to the community. Of all the movies and shows on this list, Jerry & Marge Go Large is your best bet for a classic summer blockbuster experience from the comfort of your couch.
And you know what? As an OG Breaking Bad fan, it’s about time I got to see Bryan Cranston with stacks of cash again.
Jeff Bridges playing an off-the-grid CIA agent? I’m intrigued. He’s being hunted down by John Lithgow? I’m interested. His protégé is played by Alia Shawkat? I’m all the way in. Based on the best-selling novel of the same name, the first two episodes of its seven-episode season premiere June 17.
Rounding out this list is the season two premiere of one of the most delightful murder mysteries to ever exist. Once again I turn to MediaDownloader Deputy Editor Joel Cunningham for his take on my favorite shows:
‘I’m not sure the idea of a podcast-obsessed trio of amateur gumshoes really needed to be stretched into a second season, but if any concept is amenable to the ‘onto the next case’ format, it’s a murder mystery, and Martin Short, Steve Martin, and Selena Gomez will no doubt continue to be one of the most endearing, oddball ensembles ever assembled as, this time, they try to uncover the killer of their swanky Upper West Side building’s manager. Still, if they try to go for a third season, people are going to start to wonder why anyone bothers to live in that building (except New Yorkers, for whom the real estate appeal is obvious).’
I’m hesitant to get my hopes up that season two live up to the hype, if for nothing else that the first season had the element of surprise contributing to how endearing I found it. I call this the Ted Lasso effect. For now, I’m rooting for it.