For this months streaming offerings: Martin Scorsese revisits a key tour in Bob Dylans career; the Jonas brothers offer fans a peek into their most intimate moments; Adam Sandlers partnership with Netflix continues; and water-cooler series as Black Mirror and The Handmaids Tale return to the programming calendar. Heres what coming to a Smart TV or laptop near you. (You can check out our cable TV recommendations for June here.)
Black Mirror, Season 5 (Netflix, June 5th)
From the heir apparent to The Twilight Zones throne of short-form suspense come three new visions of the macabre laced with technological anxiety. In one, a pair of buddies (Anthony Mackie and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) shirk the responsibilities of adulthood with a VR video game. Another features Miley Cyrus as a pop starlet lending her likeness to an Alexa-type home assistant that sparks an unhealthy obsession in one teen girl (Angourie Rice). The third concerns a rideshare driver (Andrew Scott) at the end of his rope, finally taking revenge on a corporation he reviles. Cherish the tantalizing techno-terror!
Chasing Happiness (Amazon, June 4th)
They were three pastors sons from New Jersey Nick, Kevin, and Joe Jonas who hit the jackpot and scored overnight boy-band stardom. Then, they threw it all away. And then, they tried to get it back. This behind-the-scenes doc charts the gents rise-and-fall-and-rise-again narrative, covering fame, fortune, a breakup, marriages, kids and seemingly whatever else life can throw at them.
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Das Boot (Hulu, June 17th)
Imported from Germany, this miniseries acts as a sort-of-sequel to Wolfgang Petersens classic men-on-a-submarine film, picking up in 1942 to adapt the rest of Lothar-Gnther Buchheims source novel and its follow-up. The series divides its attention between the upheaval among the resistance fighters in France and the harried crew of the submarine U-612 as they stave off madness, complete with an international cast featuring Vicky Krieps, Lizzy Caplan, Vincent Kartheiser and James DArcy. Eat your heart out, Dunkirk!
The Handmaids Tale, Season 3 (Hulu, June 5th)
Yes, watching this show has only gotten more difficult as our draconian reality inches closer to matching it. But the creators behind this extended take on Margaret Atwoods novel have some more tricks up their sleeves, apparently. Last season ended with June (Elisabeth Moss) resolving to stay in Gilead instead of fleeing and take up the fight against the repressive regime. Shell now face the brutal consequences of that noble sacrifice, as the enemys ranks grow with the arrival of Commander Winslow (series newcomer Christopher Meloni). Come for the dystopia; stay for how Moss is genuinely making the most out of this heroine role.
I Am Mother (Netflix, June 7th)
Yet another sci-fi thriller from Netflix, and this ones got a doozy of a premise: A teenage girl (Clara Rugaard) has been raised from birth by an automaton (voice of Rose Byrne) designed to facilitate the Earths repopulation after the atmosphere turns hostile. Then the shocking appearance of a wounded woman (Hilary Swank) from the supposedly unlivable outside throws everything the girl thought she knew into question. Fans of Ex Machina or any battle of wits between human and machine you may want to mark your calendar.
Murder Mystery (Netflix, June 14th)
The latest Adam Sandler/Netflix joint takes the shape of an Agatha Christie page-turner, as a hangdog cop (Sandler) and his lovely wife (Jennifer Aniston) go on a tropical honeymoon with life-and-death stakes. Theyre invited for a weekend getaway on a yacht owned by a suspicious viscount (Luke Evans), where an elderly billionaire soon shows up with a knife in his chest. Between Nicks detective skills and Audreys love of potboiler paperbacks, they might be able to solve the crime with a little time left over for some sight-seeing.
Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese (Netflix, June 12th)
Martin Scorsese has immortalized Bob Dylan onscreen once before, charting his early going-electric years with 2005s No Direction Home. But this new film takes a slightly more novel approach, chronicling Dylans legendary 1975-76 concert tour with a mix of documentary footage with some more fanciful interludes. (Official promo materials describe the film as part fever dream.) The man himself agreed to a new interview for the film a rarity these days and the lineup of guest stars collects such heavy hitters as Joan Baez, T-Bone Burnett, Joni Mitchell, Ringo Starr and Patti Smith.
Tales of the City (Netflix, June 7th)
Welcome back to the Bay Area, Mary Ann Singleton! Laura Linney returns to her career-making role by settling back into her corner of San Francisco and reacquainting herself with citys the colorful cast of kooks, freaks, weirdos and misfits. Ellen Page joins the cast; Paul Gross and Olympia Dukakis are back and better than ever; and the coterie of hippies, drag queens and assorted oddballs are in full force. Finally, a nostalgia trip we can cosign on without any reservations.
Too Old to Die Young (Amazon, June 14th)
Danish provocateur Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive, The Neon Demon) has come to the small screen, and hes brought his love of lurid neon hues and severed limbs with him. This gutbucket noir drags cop-cum-hitman Martin (Miles Teller) through a hellacious Los Angeles filled with Russian mafia apparatchiks, Yakuza assassins, Mexican cartel enforcers, teen hoodlums and one seriously deranged off-the-books porno outfit. With his mentor in murder Viggo (John Hawkes) counseling him, Martin forges a twisted moralist outlook allowing him to be as brutal as a person can possibly be while still thinking of themselves as the good guy. Mayhem, naturally, ensues.