And like that, May’s coming to a close. But with one month ending, a new month arrives and June is bringing the thunder. The following short-list of twenty-two films doesn’t even break the surface of what’s coming available for audiences – especially when you add in new material from Netflix, Amazon, Shudder, HBO, and more. But for now, start with this list and build your movie-going month from there. From dramas exploring interpersonal relationships to slick con-artists planning a heist to basketball comedies based on a Pepsi marketing campaign, June really does have it all.
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June 1st
All Summers End
Director: Kyle Wilamowski.
Cast: Tye Sheridan, Kaitlyn Dever, Austin Abrams, Ryan Lee, Beau Mirchoff, Annabeth Gish, Pablo Schreiber, Paula Malcolmson, and Bill Sage.
Peer-pressured by his two best friends to prove they’re more important than a girl, Conrad Stevens (Tye Sheridan) pulls an innocent prank that has a disastrous impact on the family life of his girlfriend, Grace Turner (Kaitlyn Dever). Racked with guilt, Conrad tries to make up for his mistake by doing everything he can for Grace-except tell the truth. What began as innocent summer love suddenly transforms into something more real than either could have expected. (Official synopsis courtesy of the Gravitas Ventures YouTube channel.)
Upgrade
Director: Leigh Whannell.
Cast: Logan Marshall-Green, Richard Anastasios, Rosco Campbell, Betty Gabriel, Harrison Gilbertson, Benedict Hardie, Christopher Kirby, Clayton Jacobson, Melanie Vallejo, Sachin Joab, Michael M. Foster, Richard Cawthorne, and Simon Maiden.
After his wife is killed during a brutal mugging that also leaves him paralysed, Grey Trace (Logan Marshall Green) is approached by a billionaire inventor with an experimental cure that will “upgrade” his body. The cure – an Artificial Intelligence implant called STEM – gives Grey physical abilities beyond anything experienced and the ability to relentlessly claim vengeance against those who murdered his wife and left him for dead. (Official synopsis courtesy of the official Upgrade website.)
Action Point
Director: Tim Kirkby.
Cast: Johnny Knoxville, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Johnny Pemberton, Eleanor Worthington-Cox, Dan Bakkedahl, Joshua Hoover, Aidan Whytock, Camilla Wolfson, and Conner McVicker.
Everyone’s favorite daredevil Johnny Knoxville is back to his hilariously painful antics in the upcoming comedy ACTION POINT. Knoxville stars as D.C., the crackpot owner of a low-rent, out-of-control amusement park where the rides are designed with minimum safety for maximum fun. Just as D.C.’s estranged teenage daughter Boogie comes to visit, a corporate mega-park opens nearby and jeopardizes the future of Action Point. To save his beloved theme park and his relationship with his daughter, D.C. and his loony crew of misfits risk everything to pull out all the stops – and stunts – making for another wild ride from the star of BAD GRANDPA and JACKASS. (Official synopsis courtesy of the Paramount Pictures YouTube channel.)
Adrift
Director: Baltasar Kormákur.
Cast: Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin
Starring Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin, Adrift is based on the inspiring true story of two free spirits whose chance encounter leads them first to love, and then to the adventure of a lifetime. As the two avid sailors set out on a journey across the ocean, Tami Oldham (Woodley) and Richard Sharp (Claflin) couldn’t anticipate they would be sailing directly into one of the most catastrophic hurricanes in recorded history. In the aftermath of the storm, Tami awakens to find Richard badly injured and their boat in ruins. With no hope for rescue, Tami must find the strength and determination to save herself and the only man she has ever loved. Adrift is the unforgettable story about the resilience of the human spirit and the transcendent power of love.
American Animals
Director: Bart Layton.
Cast: Evan Peters, Barry Keoghan, Blake Jenner, Jared Abrahamson, Ann Dowd, and Udo Kier.
American Animals is the unbelievable but entirely true story of four young men who attempt to execute one of the most audacious art heists in U.S. history. The film centers around two friends from the middle-class suburbs of Lexington, Kentucky. Spencer (Barry Keoghan), is determined to become an artist but feels he lacks the essential ingredient that unites all great artists – suffering. His closest friend, Warren (Evan Peters), has also been raised to believe that his life will be special, and that he will be unique in some way. But as they leave the suburbs for universities in the same town, the realities of adult life begin to dawn on them and with that, the realization that their lives may in fact never be important or special in any way. Determined to live lives that are out of the ordinary, they plan the brazen theft of some of the world’s most valuable books from the special collections room of Spencer’s college Library. Enlisting two more friends, accounting major Eric (Jared Abrahamson) and fitness fanatic Chas (Blake Jenner), and taking their cues from heist movies, the gang meticulously plots the theft and subsequent fence of the stolen artworks. Although some of the group begin to have second thoughts, they discover that the plan has seemingly taken on a life of its own. Unfolding from multiple perspectives, and innovatively incorporating the real-life figures at the heart of the story, writer-director Bart Layton (The Imposter) takes the heist movie into bold new territory. (Official synopsis courtesy of The Orchard Movies YouTube channel.)
Limited release begins June 1 2018.
June 8th
Hotel Artemis
Director: Drew Pearce.
Cast: Jodie Foster, Sterling K. Brown, Sofia Boutella, Jeff Goldblum, Brian Tyree Henry, Jenny Slate, Zachary Quinto, Charlie Day, and Dave Bautista.
In Hotel Artemis, set in riot-torn, near-future Los Angeles, Jodie Foster plays The Nurse, who runs a secret, members-only emergency room for criminals. Surrounded by an all-star cast that includes Sterling K. Brown, Sofia Boutella, Jeff Goldblum, Brian Tyree Henry, Jenny Slate, Zachary Quinto, Charlie Day, and Dave Bautista, Hotel Artemis is a stylish, high-octane action-thriller written and directed by Drew Pearce. (Official synopsis courtesy of the Global Road Entertainment YouTube channel.)
Ocean’s 8
Director: Gary Ross.
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Sarah Paulson, Helena Bonham Carter, Mindy Kaling, Rihanna, Awkwafina, James Corden, Olivia Munn, and Matt Damon.
Five years, eight months, 12 days and counting — that’s how long Debbie Ocean has been devising the biggest heist of her life. She knows what it’s going to take — a team of the best people in the field, starting with her partner-in-crime Lou Miller. Together, they recruit a crew of specialists, including jeweler Amita, street con Constance, suburban mom Tammy, hacker Nine Ball, and fashion designer Rose. Their target — a necklace that’s worth more than $150 million.
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Director: Morgan Neville.
Cast: Fred Rogers, David Newell, Joe Begri, Yo-Yo Ma, Francois Scarborough Clemmons, and Joanne Rogers.
From Academy Award® -winning filmmaker Morgan Neville (20 Feet from Stardom), Won’t You Be My Neighbor? takes an intimate look at America’s favorite neighbor: Mister Fred Rogers. A portrait of a man whom we all think we know, this emotional and moving film takes us beyond the zip-up cardigans and the land of make-believe, and into the heart of a creative genius who inspired generations of children with compassion and limitless imagination. (Official synopsis from the Focus Features YouTube channel.)
Hearts Beat Loud
Director: Brett Haley.
Cast: Nick Offerman, Kiersey Clemons, Ted Danson, Toni Collette, and Blythe Danner.
In the hip Brooklyn neighborhood of Red Hook, single dad and record store owner Frank (Nick Offerman) is preparing to send his hard-working daughter Sam (Kiersey Clemons) off to college, while being forced to close his vintage shop. Hoping to stay connected through their shared musical passions, Frank urges Sam to turn their weekly “jam sesh” into a father-daughter live act. After their first song becomes an Internet breakout, the two embark on a journey of love, growing up and musical discovery. (Official synopsis from the Gunpowder & Sky YouTube channel.)
Hereditary
Director: Ari Aster.
Cast: Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff, Ann Dowd, and Milly Shapiro.
When Ellen, the matriarch of the Graham family, passes away, her daughter’s family begins to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry. The more they discover, the more they find themselves trying to outrun the sinister fate they seem to have inherited. Making his feature debut, writer-director Ari Aster unleashes a nightmare vision of a domestic breakdown that exhibits the craft and precision of a nascent auteur, transforming a familial tragedy into something ominous and deeply disquieting, and pushing the horror movie into chilling new terrain with its shattering portrait of heritage gone to hell. (Official synopsis courtesy of A24’s Hereditary website.)
June 15th
Mountain
Director: Jennifer Peedom.
Cast: Willem Dafoe (narration).
A unique cinematic and musical collaboration between the Australian Chamber Orchestra and BAFTA-nominated director Jennifer Peedom, Mountain is a dazzling exploration of our obsession with mountains. Only three centuries ago, climbing a mountain would have been considered close to lunacy. The idea scarcely existed that wild landscapes might hold any sort of attraction. Peaks were places of peril, not beauty. Why, then, are we now drawn to mountains in our millions? Mountain shows us the spellbinding force of high places – and their ongoing power to shape our lives and our dreams. (Official synopsis courtesy of the Madman Films YouTube channel.)
The Year of Spectacular Men
Director: Lea Thompson.
Cast: Zoey Deutch, Maddie Deutch, and Lea Thompson.
Izzy Klein has (barely) graduated from college, broken up (sorta) with her boyfriend, and has a bad case of pre-real-world millennial-itis. Throughout the year, she falls in and out of some not so romantic romances, and figures out that when it totally feels like the end of your story, it’s often just the beginning. (Official synopsis courtesy of the MarVista Entertainment YouTube channel.)
Tag
Director: Jeff Tomsic.
Cast: Ed Helms, Jake Johnson, Annabelle Wallis, Rashida Jones, Isla Fisher, Leslie Bibb, Hannibal Buress, Jon Hamm, and Jeremy Renner.
For one month every year, five highly competitive friends hit the ground running in a no-holds-barred game of tag they’ve been playing since the first grade—risking their necks, their jobs and their relationships to take each other down with the battle cry: “You’re It!” This year, the game coincides with the wedding of their only undefeated player, which should finally make him an easy target. But he knows they’re coming…and he’s ready. Based on a true story, the New Line Cinema comedy “Tag” shows how far some guys will go to be the last man standing. (Official synopsis from the Warner Bros. Pictures YouTube channel.)
The Incredibles 2
Director: Brad Bird.
Cast: Holly Hunter, Craig T. Nelson, Sarah Vowell, Huck Milner, Samuel L. Jackson, Sophia Bush, Catherine Keener, Jonathan Banks, John Ratzenberger, Bob Odenkirk, and Brad Bird.
Helen (voice of Hunter) is called on to lead a campaign to bring Supers back, while Bob (voice of Nelson) navigates the day-to-day heroics of “normal” life at home with Violet (voice of Vowell), Dash (voice of Milner) and baby Jack-Jack—whose super powers are about to be discovered. Their mission is derailed, however, when a new villain emerges with a brilliant and dangerous plot that threatens everything. But the Parrs don’t shy away from a challenge, especially with Frozone (voice of Jackson) by their side. That’s what makes this family so Incredible. (Official synopsis courtesy of Disney*Pixar’s YouTube channel.)
Superfly
Director: Director X.
Cast: Trevor Jackson, Jason Mitchell, Michael Kenneth Williams, Lex Scott Davis, and Jennifer Morrison.
Superfly – the film that helped define a genre in its characters, look, sound, and feel – is reimagined with Director X, director of legendary music videos (Drake, Rihanna), introducing it to a new generation. (Official synopsis courtesy of the Sony Pictures Entertainment YouTube channel.)
June 22nd
Under The Silver Lake
Director: David Robert Mitchell.
Cast: Andrew Garfield, Riley Keough, Jimmi Simpson, Topher Grace, and Riki Lindhome.
From the dazzling imagination that brought you It Follows comes a delirious neo-noir fever dream about one man’s search for the truth behind the mysterious crimes, murders, and disappearances in his East L.A. neighborhood. Sam (Andrew Garfield) is a disenchanted 33-year-old who discovers a mysterious woman, Sarah (Riley Keough), frolicking in his apartment’s swimming pool. When she vanishes, Sam embarks on a surreal quest across Los Angeles to decode the secret behind her disappearance, leading him into the murkiest depths of mystery, scandal, and conspiracy in the City of Angels. (Official synopsis courtesy of A24’s Under the Silver Lake website.)
Izzy Gets The F**k Across Town
Director: Christian Papierniak.
Cast: Mackenzie Davis, Haley Joel Osment, Lauren Miller Rogan, Lakeith Stanfield, Sarah Goldberg, Alia Shawkat, Carrie Coon, Alex Russell, and Annie Potts.
Riot grrrl rocker and shameless hot mess Izzy wakes up hungover AF to find out that her ex-boyfriend is celebrating his engagement to her ex-best friend tonight at a bougie party across town. Enraged and desperate, Izzy embarks on a frenetic quest across Los Angeles to break up the party in order to fulfill what she believes to be her destiny … before it’s too late. (Official synopsis courtesy of the Shout! Factory YouTube channel.)
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Director: J. A. Bayona.
Cast: Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Pratt, Jeff Goldblum, Toby Jones, BD Wong, Rafe Spall, and James Cromwell.
It’s been four years since theme park and luxury resort Jurassic World was destroyed by dinosaurs out of containment. Isla Nublar now sits abandoned by humans while the surviving dinosaurs fend for themselves in the jungles. When the island’s dormant volcano begins roaring to life, Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) mount a campaign to rescue the remaining dinosaurs from this extinction-level event. Owen is driven to find Blue, his lead raptor who’s still missing in the wild, and Claire has grown a respect for these creatures she now makes her mission. Arriving on the unstable island as lava begins raining down, their expedition uncovers a conspiracy that could return our entire planet to a perilous order not seen since prehistoric times. (Official synopsis courtesy of the Universal Pictures YouTube channel.)
First Reformed
Director: Paul Schrader.
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried, and Cedric Kyles.
Reverend Ernst Toller (Hawke) is a solitary, middle-aged parish pastor at a small Dutch Reform church in upstate New York on the cusp of celebrating its 250th anniversary. Once a stop on the Underground Railroad, the church is now a tourist attraction catering to a dwindling congregation, eclipsed by its nearby parent church, Abundant Life, with its state-of-the-art facilities and 5,000-strong flock. When a pregnant parishioner (Seyfried) asks Reverend Toller to counsel her husband, a radical environmentalist, the clergyman finds himself plunged into his own tormented past, and equally despairing future, until he finds redemption in an act of grandiose violence. From writer-director Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver; American Gigolo; Affliction) comes a gripping thriller about a crisis of faith that is at once personal, political, and planetary. (Official synopsis courtesy of A24’s First Reformed website.)
June 29th
Three Identical Strangers
Director: Tim Wardle.
Cast: David Kellman, Robert Shafran, and Eddy Halland.
Three strangers are reunited by astonishing coincidence after being born identical triplets, separated at birth, and adopted by three different families. Their jaw-dropping, feel-good story instantly becomes a global sensation complete with fame and celebrity, however, the fairy-tale reunion sets in motion a series of events that unearth an unimaginable secret – a secret with radical repercussions for us all. (Official synopsis courtesy of the NEON YouTube channel.)
Sicario: Day of the Soldado
Director: Stefano Sollima.
Cast: Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin, Isabela Moner, Jeffrey Donovan, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, and Catherine Keener.
In Sicario, Day of the Soldado, the series begins a new chapter. In the drug war, there are no rules – and as the cartels have begun trafficking terrorists across the US border, federal agent Matt Graver (Brolin) calls on the mysterious Alejandro (Del Toro), whose family was murdered by a cartel kingpin, to escalate the war in nefarious ways. Alejandro kidnaps the kingpin’s daughter to inflame the conflict – but when the girl is seen as collateral damage, her fate will come between the two men as they question everything they are fighting for. (Official synopsis courtesy of the Sony Pictures Entertainment YouTube channel.)
Uncle Drew
Director: Charles Stone III
Cast: Kyrie Irving, Lil Rel Howery, Shaquille O’Neal, Reggie Miller, Nate Robinson, Chris Webber, Erica Ash, Lisa Leslie, with Tiffany Haddish and Nick Kroll.
After draining his life savings to enter a team in the Rucker Classic street ball tournament in Harlem, Dax (Lil Rel Howery) is dealt a series of unfortunate setbacks, including losing his team to his longtime rival (Nick Kroll). Desperate to win the tournament and the cash prize, Dax stumbles upon the man, the myth, the legend Uncle Drew (NBA All-Star Kyrie Irving) and convinces him to return to the court one more time. The two men embark on a road trip to round up Drew’s old basketball squad (Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Webber, Reggie Miller, Nate Robinson, and Lisa Leslie) and prove that a group of septuagenarians can still win the big one. (Official synopsis courtesy of the Lionsgate Movies YouTube channel.)
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