The Film Fix: Previewing June’s Top Films in Theaters, Streaming
By JONATHAN W. HICKMAN, Special to The Paper
Below are reviews and capsules of various films this month in theaters and/or streaming. Review rating … A “Fix” is recommended with a rating between 6 and 10. A “No Fix” is not recommended with a rating between 1 to 5.
In Theaters
The Boogeyman (June 2) – Fix Rating 5/10 – The generically named “The Boogeyman” has its moments early but, ultimately, devolves into a run-of-the-mill creeper.
The movie is overt and unengaging as a rumination on grief and recovery. The silliness of the underdeveloped narrative and characterizations undercut what jump scares exist.
When a recently widowed psychiatrist named Will Harper (Chris Messina) is visited in his home office by a strange man named Lester Billings (David Dasmalchian), he becomes concerned and calls the cops. Lester tells a story about the mysterious death of his three children. But as Will makes the 911 call, Lester goes upstairs and appears to hang himself in the closet of Will’s deceased wife’s art studio.
Will’s teen daughter Sadie (Sophie Thatcher) discovers the man’s lifeless body but not before hearing strange sounds coming from the closest. Did Lester kill himself, or was there something insidious in the closet that carried out a murder?
“The Boogeyman” is familiar and frustrating. An adaptation of a Stephen King short story by the same name, the film struggles to sustain interest over its one-hour and thirty-eight-minute running time. The film’s trailer has spoiled the best sequences, including a counseling session by Dr. Weller (LisaGay Hamilton) and a pulsating red light.
Performances are strong, especially by Thatcher and the young Vivien Lyra Blair, who plays Sadie’s younger sibling.
Instead of finding something original in the King source material involving a scary thing that inhabits the closets of children, the script, credited to three writers, never takes time to develop any convincing mythology for the beast. All we gather is that it hates the light, yet every character seems perfectly content to spend most of their time in the dark.
That universal darkness is a solid metaphor for everyone involved in this production.
Streaming Selects
PARAMOUNT+
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Season 2 starts on June 15) — Paramount Plus is the place for “Star Trek” in all its variations. “Strange New Worlds” is a prequel to the original series and follows Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), the breakout character reintroduced in the “Star Trek: Discovery” series. Season two continues the adventures of Spock (Ethan Peck), Nyota Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding), and others.
HBO MAX
The Idol (Season 1 starts on June 4) – The trailer proclaims this the sleaziest Hollywood story ever. And based on the reception at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, it appears to live up to that promise, with gratuitous sex scenes, prevalent drug use, and chronicling lots of bad behavior. The show tracks a pop star named Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) as she tries to recover from a nervous breakdown. Her recovery involves a relationship with a nightclub owner named Tedros (The Weeknd). Expect plenty of envelop-pushing with this one.
NETFLIX
Extraction 2 (June 16) – The pandemic hit “Extraction” helped to build Netflix’s action bona fides. The first film was a solid actioner, and the trailers tease even more non-stop bone-crunching thrills. That film had “Thor” star Chris Hemsworth playing a covert hostage extraction expert named Tyler Rake. He managed to save the life of the son of an imprisoned drug lord in India in the first outing. And it appeared that Rake died in the first installment. Of course, he survived to return in the sequel, nursing his wounds but ready for another mission.
APPLE TV+
The Crowded Room (series premiere June 9) – “Spider-man” star Tom Holland plays Danny Sullivan, a young man accused of a horrifying murder. But while it appears that Sullivan is the culprit, an investigator named Rya Goodwin (Amanda Seyfried) isn’t convinced. “The Crowded Room” is set in 1979, and three episodes are helmed by exciting director Brady Corbet (see “Vox Lux” and “The Childhood of a Leader”).
DISNEY+
Secret Invasion (series premiere June 21) – Samuel Jackson returns to the role of Nick Fury in this thriller about the shapeshifting Skrulls who have, you guessed it, engaged in a secret invasion. Joining him in his quest is Talos the Untamed (played by gifted actor Ben Mendelsohn). The cast is deep with Oscar-winner Olivia Colman playing a special agent, “Game of Thrones” star Emilia Clarke as Talos’ daughter G’iah, and the welcomed return of Cobie Smulders as former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill. This series looks gritty and is cast in the vein of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.”
AMAZON PRIME
Barnaby Jones 1973 (seasons 1 through 8) – Throwback time! No, this isn’t a reboot. Prime will carry all eight seasons of Buddy Ebsen as private eye Barnaby Jones. Some of you might remember the popular CBS series that ran until 1980. Watching this one could be fun, especially since Peacock reintroduced the episodic mystery format with the excellent “Poker Face.”
Theatrical Teasers
Strays (June 9) – Will Ferrell voices a dog named Reggie in this R-rated story of an abandoned canine who joins other strays to get back at his insensitive former owner. Jamie Fox is also part of the voice cast.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (June 9) – Are audiences ready for another outing of the transforming robots? 2018’s “Bumblebee” was a good “spin-off” and may have helped get this franchise back on track. Hopefully, this mechanical “beast wars” narrative will firmly put 2017’s “Transformers: The Last Knight” in the rearview.
The Blackening (June 14) – Director Tim Story (see “Barbershop” and “Ride Along”) tackles the horror-comedy genre with this high-concept mashup. In “The Blackening,” seven friends get trapped in a cabin with a killer, and blood-soaked, comic hilarity ensues.
The Flash (June 16) – After waiting for the controversy to die down surrounding criminal allegations involving star Ezra Miller, audiences will finally get this big-budgeted superhero epic featuring not only the Flash but a couple of Batmen as well. While DC’s “Shazam” sequel proved weak and forgettable, this film and “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” scheduled for December hope to compete with the flagging Marvel franchise.
Asteroid City (June 23) – Word is strong for director Wes Anderson’s follow-up to 2021’s uneven anthology film “The French Dispatch.” “Asteroid City” features many of Anderson’s regulars (like Jason Schwartzman) together with a few new faces, including Tom Hanks. The colorfully presented story has a Junior Stargazer convention disrupted by world-changing events. Could it be a visit from aliens?
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (June 30) – Stephen Spielberg handed over directing duties for this fifth Indiana Jones adventure to James Mangold (see “Ford v Ferrari”). A big splashy premiere at the Cannes Film Festival yielded largely positive reviews, with critics already praising it as superior to the much-maligned 2008 sequel “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.” In “Dial of Destiny,” our favorite archaeologist (played by a sometimes de-aged Harrison Ford) must recover an artifact that could change the course of history. Yeah, it looks like Nazis might be involved.
Jonathan W. Hickman is an entertainment attorney, filmmaker, college professor, and novelist. More about Jonathan can be found by visiting: filmproductionlaw.com. Folks can also follow him at dailyfilmfix.com.
