Who’s watching The Watchers? (CREDIT: Warner Bros. Pictures/Screenshot)
They keep making new movies, and some of them are even worth watching. Here’s what’s at the top of the slate for June 2024:
The Watchers: Perhaps the greatest twist of all … is our ability to reproduce? We’ll find out soon enough when Ishana Night Shyamalan (daughter of M. Night) releases her feature directorial debut about a group of entrapped people coming to grips with their mysterious voyeurs.
The Watchers will be watched in movie theaters beginning June 7.
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Ezra (Theaters) – Some notable names in the cast, so it might be worth checking out.
–Handling the Undead (Theaters)
–In a Violent Nature (Theaters)
–Robot Dreams (Theaters)
TV
–Name That Tune Season Premiere (June 3 on FOX)
–The 1% Club Series Premiere (June 3 on FOX) – New game show hosted by Patton Oswalt.
–The Acolyte Series Premiere (June 4 on Disney+) – Another new Star Wars show.
–Clipped Miniseries Premiere (June 4 on Hulu) – The Downfall of Donald Sterling
Music
-Bat for Lashes, The Dream of Delphi
-Maya Hawke, Chaos Angel
-Crowded House, Gravity Stairs
Release Date: May 31, 2024 (IFC Center in New York City)/June 7, 2024 (Select Cities)
What’s It About?: A woman finds her catatonic elderly mother in her kitchen. A man is informed that his wife is inexplicably alive after a car accident despite an ostensibly insufficient amount of oxygen. An older man digs up his dead grandson, much to the horror of his daughter who’s also the boy’s mother. In case you haven’t figured it out already, the dead have risen in Oslo. But they’re not the lumbering, ravenous zombies that we’re used to. Instead, they’re enigmas for their loved ones, is there hope that they could be fully resurrected, or is this just a never-ending tragedy?
What Made an Impression?: When to Let Go: For the most part, the undead in Handling the Undead don’t seem to be putting their family in any immediate danger (although that eventually changes). But the emotional stress they inflict is profound and inescapable. When they eventually become bitey, it literalizes the lesson they’re imparting: clinging too tightly to the departed can be lethal. Once you notice your own health withering away in this situation, it’s probably time to let go. We Need a Prescription: When a zombie film opts for an atypical approach, it often does so from a postmodern lens, with the characters within the movie familiar with the lessons of previous zombie narratives. But in the case of Handling the Undead, it’s not clear if these people have any of that genre savvy. Even if they do, they don’t really realize that they’re dealing with zombies until it’s too late. Doctors are too puzzled to offer anything resembling a diagnosis. Indeed, no experts are available to suggest any helpful course of action. This complicates the lesson of letting go; sometimes it’s not clear when the end has arrived, and in the meantime, we must sit with the existential ambiguity and simmering threat of danger.
Handling the Undead is Recommended If You Like: Let the Right One In, Let Me In, Going heavy on the subwoofer
A Robot and a Dog Displaying Water Safety Practices (CREDIT: NEON)
Starring: A Dog and a Robot
Director: Pablo Berger
Running Time: 102 Minutes
Rating: Unrated (G-Level with Maybe a Hint of Danger)
Release Date: May 31, 2024 (New York Theaters)/June 7, 2024 (Los Angeles)
What’s It About?: Have you ever seen a movie about a human befriending a machine? Or what about a human befriending a furry fellow? Surely you already know that there’s plenty of both of those! But what Robot Dreams presupposes is: instead of a human, what if an animal and a robot become friends with … each other? And so it goes, as a dog named Dog assembles himself a robot friend, and they quickly become inseparable. They head down to Coney Island one day for a beach outing, but Robot gets stuck in the sand and becomes too heavy for Dog to move him. He tries to come back to retrieve him the next day, but alas, the beach is now closed until next summer, so Dog is forced to be extraordinarily patient if he wants to reunite with his best friend. Will they be able to survive the wait, or does fate have something even more whimsical in store for them? In the meantime, Robot will have to settle for having vivid dreams about their reunion.
What Made an Impression?: Ba-dee-ah: Do you dream in music? Well, Dog and Robot dream in earth, wind, and fire. Specifically, they dream in “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire. It’s also a big part of their waking life as well. It’s the signature song to the soundtrack of their lives, and the potential calling card should they ever be reunited. This is transcendentally joyful funk R&B that strikes right at the connection-forming core of my psyche. I imagine that even viewers who have somehow never heard this song before will have a similar reaction. No Chance for Reassurance: In between seeing Robot Dreams and writing this review, I read about the efforts to reunite migrant families separated at the border during President Trump’s zero tolerance policy. Some reunions have been successful but also profoundly unsatisfying, as the children were too young to understand that their parents were constantly trying to find them. I couldn’t help but draw parallels to the predicament of Robot, who remains similarly unaware of Dog’s efforts to track him down. To be clear, Robot Dreams is not at all as depressing as that real-world tragedy. Quite frankly, I can only hope that those children can be soothed by an imagination as vibrant as the one that Robot displays. This movie isn’t a matter of life and death, but it does offer a portrait of inspiring resilience, which quite frankly we can never have enough of. So if you have the good fortune of free time, do yourself a favor and allow Robot Dreams to place a balm on your soul.
Robot Dreams is Recommended If You Like: Bittersweet memories of happy days
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (Theaters)
–Hit Man (May 24 in Theaters, June 7 on Netflix) – Glen Powell starring role.
TV
-“South Park: The End of Obesity” (May 24 on Paramount+)
–My Adventures with Superman Season 2 Premiere (May 25 on Adult Swim)
–Beat Shazam Season Premiere (May 28 on FOX)
–The Quiz with Balls Series Premiere (May 28 on FOX) – SNL alum (Jay Pharoah) hosts a new game show.
Music
-Lenny Kravitz, Blue Electric Light
-twenty one pilots, Clancy
Sports
-French Open (May 26-June 9 on Tennis Channel, NBC, and Peacock)
-U.S. Women’s Open (May 30-June 2 on USA, Peacock, and NBC) – The golf version.
You’re driving me Furiosa! (CREDIT: Warner Bros. Pictures/Screenshot)
Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Alyla Browne, Tom Burke, Lachy Hulme, Nathan Jones, Josh Helman, John Howard, Charlee Fraser, Angus Sampson, Quaden Bayles, Daniel Webber, Jacob Tomuri, Elsa Pataky
Director: George Miller
Running Time: 148 Minutes
Rating: R for The Bloody Violence and Grisly Gruesomeness of the Desert
Release Date: May 24, 2024 (Theaters)
What’s It About?: Imperator Furiosa was the breakout character of Mad Max: Fury Road, and now she’s got her very own prequel! Yes indeed, it’s time once again to return to the sandy, fiery post-apocalypse of the Australian Outback. Originally brought to life inimitably by Charlize Theron nearly a decade ago, the mantle of Furiosa now falls to Alyla Browne as a tween and Anya Taylor-Joy in young adult form. She grows up in one of the few areas in this wasteland where vegetation grows plentifully, but then she’s kidnapped into a life of servitude and forced to watch the execution of her mother (Charlee Fraser). She initially winds up in the clutches of the vulture-nosed warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) before getting passed over to big baddie Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme), who’s happy to have her as one of his many brides. But her mechanical skills, slippery resourcefulness, lust for vengeance, and an unquenchable desire to return home ensures that her life won’t be quite so simple or quite so repressed
What Made an Impression?: Predictable, But Also Not Predictable:Mad Max is one of those franchises where continuity really doesn’t matter. Every single entry has been directed (or co-directed) and co-written by George Miller, but he’s never exactly felt bound by what he himself has established. Fury Road, for example, played more like a reboot rather than a legacy sequel (understandably so, considering its recasting of the lead role and the fact that it came out 30 years after the previous entry). So it’s a little surprising then that Furiosa plays similarly to Rogue One‘s place in the Star Wars timeline, insofar as it barrels right towards the point where Fury Road kicks off. But that’s not to say that Miller is doing anything obvious. It may be true this time that the continuity is more linear than usual, but the depth of imagination is still staggering. Miller doesn’t give us what we think we want, because he’s speaking an entirely different language than anybody else on the planet. How’d He Do Dat?: I’m not sure if I’m fully enthralled by Furiosa’s world. Similarly, I admired Fury Road more than I adored it, and my initial reaction to this distaff follow-up is pretty similar. (Though I wouldn’t be surprised if I gradually start feeling a bit zestier). But I can say without reservation that I am absolutely in awe of George Miller’s nutty band of merry stunt workers. With all sorts of sand bikes, monster trucks, and precision-strike firearms, it’s hard to believe that everyone survived the production. (I pray that no terrible exposés emerge to reveal otherwise!) Fury Road already flame-threw the action adventure genre to levels never witnessed before, and Furiosa somehow manages to be even more relentless. It’s nonstop set piece after set piece, each one of them thoroughly thrilling, witty, and reality-altering. This is cinema, baby!
Furiosa is Recommended If You Like: Stunts, Stunts, Stunts, Stunts, and also Stunts
This review was written on a Monday. (CREDIT: DNEG Animation)
Starring: Chris Pratt, Samuel L. Jackson, Hannah Waddingham, Ving Rhames, Nicholas Hoult, Cecily Strong, Harvey Guillén, Brett Goldstein, Bowen Yang, Janelle James, Snoop Dogg
Director: Mark Dindal
Running Time: 101 Minutes
Rating: PG for Kitty Calamities
Release Date: May 24, 2024 (Theaters)
What’s It About?: Everyone’s favorite lasagna-loving feline is back on the big screen, and this time, it’s called… The Garfield Movie! (I guess all those other cinematic outings were merely “A” Garfield Movie?) Anyway, now he’s voiced by Chris Pratt, and his gluttony is fueled by his owner Jon Arbuckle’s (Nicholas Hoult) seemingly limitless credit card and all the food delivery apps he can get his paws. He’s pretty happy just lounging around devouring his daily feasts with his beagle buddy Odie (Harvey Guillén). But then his absentee dad Vic (Samuel L. Jackson) shows up out of the blue to wrangle him into a hero’s journey, as they attempt to heist some milk from a farm to square away Vic’s debt with Jinx (Hannah Waddingham), the devilish crime boss Persian cat.
What Made an Impression?: Slingshot All Day: I’m not going to call out a cartoon for its unrealistic portrayal of physics. After all, part of the advantages of this medium is that it doesn’t have to be bound by the laws of science in the same way that live action movies are. That comes into play with a series of train-based set pieces, as Garfield fails to board one of the cars cleanly and ends up getting bounced around by a ridiculous series of objects providing an inordinate amount of thrust. I wasn’t scandalized by the lack of respect for the natural world, but I was befuddled. Perhaps if I had been in a sillier mood, I would have been more ready to throw out a laugh or several. Wait, What World is This?: The plot of The Garfield Movie isn’t much to write about (or at least it’s not much that I’m interested in writing about), so instead I’m focusing on the weird details that made me go, what the heck is the context here? To wit: at one point during Garfield’s adventures getting tossed hither and thither, he flies by a giant balloon float version of… himself. So does that mean that this movie is taking place on Thanksgiving? And that Garfield is famous in this world as an actual real-world somewhat-anthropomorphic kitty?
Also, what’s the deal with all the blatant product placement? I guess Garfield is just a classic capitalist consumer with a bad case of brand loyalty. Perhaps you won’t notice these details as much as I did. Or perhaps you will notice them but will find them amusing. The people in my screening who were cracking up the most appeared to be in their twenties or thirties, so you apparently don’t need to be a kid for these shenanigans to work. But you probably do need to hate Mondays and LOVE telling people that you hate Mondays.
The Garfield Movie is Recommended If You: Believe That Mass Quantities of Food Are the Most Hilarious Thing Ever
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Babes (Theaters)
–Back to Black (Theaters)
–IF (Theaters)
–The Strangers: Chapter 1 (Theaters)
TV
–RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 9 Premiere (May 17 on Paramount+)
-Marvel Studios’ Assembled: The Making of X-Men ’97 (May 22 on Disney+) – I don’t always watch these BTS docs, but I do when they’re about X-Men ’97.
–Don’t Forget the Lyrics Season Premiere (May 23 on FOX)
–Evil Season 4 Premiere (May 23 on Paramount+) – To be followed by a mini Season 5 (the Final Season) soon thereafter).
Music
-Cage the Elephant, Neon Pill
-Billie Eilish, Hit Me Hard and Soft
-Beth Gibbons, Lives Outgrown – Lead singer of Portishead.
-Slash, Orgy of the Damned
Starring: Cailey Fleming, Ryan Reynolds, John Krasinski, Fiona Shaw, Alan Kim, Steve Carell, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Liza Colón-Zayas, Bobby Moynihan, Louis Gosset Jr., Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Maya Rudolph, Jon Stewart, Sam Rockwell, Sebastian Maniscalco, Christopher Meloni, Awkwafina, Richard Jenkins, Blake Lively, George Clooney, Matthew Rhys, Bradley Cooper, Amy Schumer, Keegan-Michael Key
Director: John Krasinski
Running Time: 104 Minutes
Rating: PG for Mild Potty Humor and Imaginary Nudity
Release Date: May 17, 2024 (Theaters)
What’s It About?: Ever since her mom died, 12-year-old Bea (Cailey Fleming) has pretty much forgotten how to have fun. It certainly doesn’t help that her dad (John Krasinski) is about to undergo heart surgery, though he tries to maintain her childlike wonder with his constant magic tricks and corny gags. While staying at the NYC apartment of her grandmother (Fiona Shaw), she encounters a couple of cartoon characters, as well as their seemingly human partner named Cal (Ryan Reynolds). As it turns out, they’re imaginary friends (or IFs, as they like to be abbreviated), and it’s highly unusual for someone of Bea’s age to be able to see them. But she could really use the power of imagination right now. Or maybe, these supernatural hypothetical creatures could really use the power of Bea right now.
What Made an Impression?: Tina Turner-ing Back the Clock: Baa eventually meets a whole crew of IFs in their hideaway on the Coney Island boardwalk. The encounter is fueled by IF‘s big set piece: an imagination-fueled dance number set to Tina Turner’s 1984 hit “Better Be Good to Me.” Honestly, it’s quite possibly my favorite cinematic choreography since Napoleon Dynamite let loose to some Jamiroquai 20 years ago. If you told me that IF was really just writer-director Krasinski’s excuse to make an entire movie around his own unique tribute to Turner, I would buy it. Such a film did not have to be about imaginary friends, but as it is, it worked out quite swimmingly. Imaginary Friends, Real Motivation: I wasn’t expecting to tear up at IF, as all indications pointed to it being a simple sugar rush. But its final act lays its thesis out for the taking. As Bea’s journey would have it, imaginary friends aren’t mere fake companions; instead, they’re representations of our innermost desires. We might not be able to “see” them anymore after we grow up, but remaining in touch with them is essential to accomplish our dreams. In that sense, they’re essentially embodiments of everyone’s unique motivations. So the next time you look at a childhood photo or drawing that makes you suddenly remember a big purple monster or a talking ice cube, roll with it. A satisfying life might just depend on it.
IF is Recommended If You Like: Inside Out, Humorless kid protagonists, Tina Turner
Starring: Ilana Glazer, Michelle Buteau, Hasan Minhaj, John Carroll Lynch, Stephan James, Sandra Bernhard, Oliver Platt
Director: Pamela Adlon
Running Time: 104 Minutes
Rating: R for Filterless Conversations
Release Date: May 17, 2024 (Theaters)
What’s It About?: Eden (Ilana Glazer) and Dawn (Michelle Buteau) are at that stage of life when maintaining annual traditions necessitates taking four different subway lines and futilely attempting to have one last great restaurant feast before going into labor. They’re the titular Babes, insofar as that’s a term of endearment for platonic life partners. But “Babes” also refers to actual children, who make quite an impression on this story. There’s Dawn’s toddler son, who’s quite the handful when he starts regressing after his new baby sister arrives. And then there’s the bun growing in Eden’s oven after a life-changing one-night stand. When she decides to keep the baby, Dawn is right there to support her along the whole journey, but this could just be the ultimate test of their friendship.
What Made an Impression?: Same City, New Broads: In addition to starring, Glazer co-wrote the screenplay of Babes (alongside Josh Rabinowitz), while Pamela Adlon handled directing duties (in her feature debut). Glazer is best known for the Comedy Central sitcom Broad City, which she co-created and co-starred in along with her good buddy Abbi Jacobson, while Adlon is most recently known for the FX sitcom Better Things. While I’m sure there’s plenty of overlap in the fandom of those shows (myself included), they represent two tonal extremes. Whereas Broad City is whimsical and boisterous, Better Things is much more low-key and sarcastic. Glazer and Adlon’s collaboration unsurprisingly turns out to be a real peanut butter-and-hot sauce situation, with the slang-heavy exaggerated dialogue that is Glazer’s calling card proving to be an odd fit with the more grounded approach of just about everyone else in Babes. But that clashing sensibility might just be the point. One could theorize that Better Things is the mellowed, middle age version of Broad City, with Babes serving as the missing link to motherhood in between. A Question of Family: One common reason for friendships drifting apart is the onset of parenthood for one friend, while others remain childless. But what Babes presupposes is, maybe that drifting apart can happen even when both friends are having kids. In the case of Eden and Dawn, it’s a matter of evolving values and possibly incompatible expectations of their relationship. The way Eden sees it, she and Dawn are more family than friends, especially because they’ve known each other longer than Dawn has known her husband (Hasan Minhaj) or either of her kids. Alas, her perhaps co-dependent demands to maintain some sort of status quo don’t sufficiently reckon with practical matters of reality. Nevertheless, her desire brings up a fair and urgent crossroads that demands to be answered: when friendship stops being convenient, how do you define the terms in which you show up for each other? Use Your Head: If you were a regular viewer of The Drew Carey Show in the 90s and early 2000s, and a time-traveling visitor from the 2020s showed up and asked you to guess which cast member of that sitcom would eventually play a gynecologist who tries to please his wife with a series of toupees and other ineffective baldness solutions, do you think you could correctly guess the answer? Of course you could! Who else could it be besides John Carroll Lynch?! As Eden’s OB-GYN, he’s a sadsack clown of a man. But he’s also a fully trustworthy professional. In other words, he’s exactly the sort of medical figure who can manage to sufficiently match wits with an Ilana Glazer character and guide her into the messy miracle that is a vagina yawning wide enough to release a new human into the world. John Carroll Lynch: Total Babe.
Babes is Recommended If You Like: Stretching out your vowels, The messy fluids of life, Character actor dads
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