All The Cool Stuff Coming To Netflix In June 2024

Unlike Hulu, Netflix’s June 2024 programming does not seem to prioritize LGBTQ+ content despite June being Pride Month.  Seeing Sean Baker’s “Tangerine” and a documentary history of queer stand-up comedians feels more like a sop rather than an answer to demands for more queer-friendly programming.  Queer folks can only go so far this month ogling the bicyclists racing in the Tour de France or the new crop of Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders.

That aside, this June’s Netflix sees some tasty premieres.  The new Richard Linklater movie stars Glen Powell as a university professor turned fake killer for hire.  The new Takashi Miike thriller pits a monstrous serial killer against a homicidal psychopathic lawyer.  “Sweet Tooth” debuts its final season.  And in the second half of this season of “Bridgerton,” the good ‘ship Polin’s about to hit spectacularly stormy waters.

So come on board, you might run into an unexpected new favorite show or two.

Now Available

30 For 30: Lance–Is this (up to 4 hours with commercials) portrait of disgraced bicyclist Lance Armstrong a fair and honest look at his life and career or an “effort to resurrect his reputation?”  On one hand, the film never touches on how Armstrong regularly crushed people who called him out as a fraud nor does it show how weasely Armstrong could be in hiding his doping.  On the other hand, it focuses primarily on Armstrong the person.  So YMMV.

30 For 30: Once Brothers–Vlade Divac was a Serb and Crazen Petrovic was a Croat.  Both men played on the Yugoslavian basketball team for four years and were eventually drafted into the NBA.  They were good friends…until the Serbo-Croatian war split them apart.  This touching documentary recounts the two former friends’ history, including the split and what happened next.

Lumberjack The Monster

The Lego Movie–When the superweapon known as Kragle (aka Krazy Glue) falls into the hands of the evil Lord Business (Will Ferrell), it’s prophesied that only The Special will find the “Piece of Resistance” that can stop the Kragle.  Eight years later, construction worker Emmet Brickowski (Chris Pratt) accidentally finds the Piece of Resistance and learns Lord Business plans to use the Kragle to freeze the Lego world.  Is Emmet The Special?  Will the Master Builders, whose creativity allows them to build anything without instruction manuals, help Emmet stop Lord Business and his minions?  Given that Phil Lord and Chrisopher Miller wrote and directed this film, the answers are bound to be entertaining.

Lumberjack The Monster—The newest film from horrormeister Takashi Miike (“Audition”) concerns the hunt for a serial killer.  The culprit is somebody who wears a monster mask seen in the picture book “Monster Woodcutter” and steals the unfortunate victims’ brains.  When ruthless lawyer Akira Ninomiya barely survives an attack by the Lumberjack killer, he swears revenge.  The lawyer’s edge may be that he’s secretly a psychopathic killer.

On The Basis Of Sex–Male privilege and sex discrimination had long stymied the career of young Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Felicity Jones).  She’s denied the opportunity to graduate from Harvard thanks to family pressures, and she can’t find work as a practicing lawyer.  The case of Charles M. Moritz gives Ginsburg and her husband Martin (Armie Hammer) the opportunity to crack open that sexist edifice.  Moritz was a single man denied the opportunity to deduct from his taxes the cost of hiring a nurse for his aging mother.  Ginsburg would use this sex discrimination case to make her mark on history.

Simon–Diego Vicentini’s drama focuses on the plight of a political refugee in Miami.  In Venezuela, Simon was a very proactive leader involved in democracy protests despite harsh repression by the military and police.  Having fled to the Florida city, he’s torn in several directions.  On one hand, he’s considering applying for asylum in the U.S.  On the other hand, Simon’s worried about losing his identity in America as well as the fate of his comrades left back home.  And then there’s his PTSD from exposure to the government’s dissension-crushing tactics.

Tangerine–Sean Baker’s groundbreaking dramedy was shot using just three 5S iPhones.  It’s Christmas Eve in Hollywood, and transgender sex worker Sin-Dee Rella has just been released from jail.  At a reunion with transgender sex worker friend Alexandra, Sin-dee gets the unwelcome news that her pimp Chester has been cheating on her by fooling around with another woman.  While Sin-Dee tries to track down both Chester and his squeeze. Alexandra’s prepping for a musical performance she’s giving that evening.  Meanwhile, Armenian cab driver Razmik is trying to sneak away from Christmas dinner with his family to attend Alexandra’s performance.  Things do not turn out as expected for anybody this Christmas Eve.

Hit Man

June 4

Anti-Hero—Japanese criminal justice cases which go to trial boast a 99.9% conviction rate.  Meet the lawyer (Hiroki Hasegawa) willing to use morally questionable tactics to beat the system and get clients off the hook even if a reasonable person thinks his clients should be convicted.

June 5

How To Rob A Bank—In the 1990s, Seattle was struck by a string of successful bank robberies.  The chief perpetrator of these crimes was nicknamed The Hollywood Bandit thanks to his good looks, charm, and penchant for performing these robberies in full theatrical makeup.  The bandit, whose real name was Scott Scurlock, used to be a meth dealer until he got the idea of robbing banks in disguise after watching “Point Break.”  How long can “Hollywood” continue his thieving ways before the local cops and the FBI permanently shut him down?

June 6

Basma–Fatima Al-Banawi wrote, directed, and stars in this drama as Basma, a young woman who temporarily returns from studying abroad in the U.S. to her Saudi Arabian hometown of Jeddah.  But instead of the peaceful home life she expected, family relationships have become strained or broken.  This situation comes from Basma’s family concealing from her that her father now suffers from paranoid delusions.  What can Basma do to heal her family in the short time she has before she needs to return abroad?

Sweet Tooth Season 3–It’s the final season of Jim Mickle’s (“Hap And Leonard”) adaptation of Jeff Lemire’s tale of the wanderings of a half-human, half-deer boy named Gus.  He’s been searching for a home and a new beginning in a post-apocalyptic world created by the ravages of the pandemic known as The Sick.  Now Gus and the friends he’s acquired along the way take a risky trip to Alaska to find the first hybrid (half-human, half-animal beings like Gus) who might be able to answer the question of who came first: the hybrids or The Sick?  But they’ll have to hurry: Helen Zhang (Rosalind Chao) is on a campaign to exterminate all hybrids…even a certain half-human, half-deer boy who’s destined to end The Sick for good.

June 7

Hit Man–Your Don’t Miss film of the month is this new comedy/thriller/character study from Richard Linklater.  Gary Johnson (Glen Powell) is a mild-mannered New Orleans-based philosophy professor who sometimes helps the local cops with menial tasks.  But when circumstances force him to step up and pretend to be an undercover hitman, his improvising is so good that the NOPD makes Johnson’s posting permanent.  The philosophy professor flourishes in the job until he meets Madison (Adria Arjona), a wife who wants a hit man to off her abusive husband.  When Johnson decides to save Madison from herself and even falls in love with her, the film starts heading in surprising directions.

Doctor Climax

June 11

Tour De France: Unchained Season 2–It’s the return of this docuseries about the world’s longest bicycle race, which takes place in 21 stages from northern Spain to Paris.  This season takes viewers behind the scenes of the Tour de France 2023 aka the 110th edition of the race.  Between footage of dramatic falls and historic breakaways, you can expect interviews with such riders as Tadej Pogacar, Tom Pidcock, and Julian Alaphilippe.  And how will the series deal with questions of doping?

June 13

Bridgerton Season 3 Part 2–In the second half of the new season, will Polin fans regret getting what they wished for?  Other society families aren’t exactly jumping for joy at the news of Penelope and Colin’s engagement.  Penelope soon has to fight others to justify her engagement to Colin.  And Queen Charlotte’s still determined to find the identity of notorious gossip Lady Whistledown (Penelope’s nom de plume) and nail the scandalmonger’s hide to the nearest wall.  

Doctor Climax–In 1970s Thailand, skin doctor Doctor Nat dreams of becoming an adventure novelist.  Until that happens, though, he moonlights as newspaper sex-advice columnist Dr. Climax.  There, the doctor answers questions about masturbation, premature ejaculation, foreplay, and STDs among other sensitive sexual subjects.  Several of the show’s storylines are inspired by actual letters to that era’s newspaper columns.

Remembering Gene Wilder–He was an excitable accountant sucked into a play-producing scam.  He was Willy Wonka.  He was “Will & Grace”’s Mr. Stein.  Gene Wilder was all these comic characters and more.  Director Ron Frank’s documentary recounts the famed comedy actor’s life and career, which includes generous clips from Wilder’s many films as well as extensive conversations with writer/director/actor Mel Brooks.

June 14

Abang Adik–In this multiple award-winning neo-realist Malaysian film, Abang and Adi are undocumented orphans and brothers trying to survive in Kuala Lumpur’s underbelly.  Being a deaf-mute does not deter Abang from going the dignified route to survive  By contrast, Adi impetuously peddles phony Malaysian IDs to other desperate undocumented people,  Your Sleeper Film of the month.   

30 For 30: June 17th, 1994

Tell Them You Love Me–This disturbing true-crime documentary concerns an unusual case of sexual predation.  Thanks to a series of seizures as a baby, Derrick Johnson was “diagnosed as mentally retarded and non-verbal with cerebral palsy.”  But his older brother John and his mother Daisy believed Derrick was struggling and failing to communicate with them.  Years later, when John encounters Professor Anna Stubblefield’s work on people with non-verbal disabilities, he thinks her methods might unlock his younger brother’s trapped potential.  What neither John nor Daisy expected was that Stubblefield would exploit her relationship to Derrick to sexually prey on him.   

June 17

30 For 30: June 17th, 1994–Brett Morgen (“The Kid Stays In The Picture”) uses cut-together broadcast clips and video footage to recount what should have been a momentous day in U.S. sports history.  It was the day the Knicks squared off against the Houston Rockets in the NBA Finals’ Game 5.  It was the day the New York Rangers hockey team won the Stanley Cup.  It was the day golfing legend Arnold Palmer competed in his final U.S. Open.  It was the day the 1994 World Cup kicked off in Chicago.  Yet what kept and captivated the attention of far too many Americans turned out to be breathless news coverage of O.J. Simpson in his Ford Bronco being chased by the LAPD through the streets of Los Angeles.

June 18

Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution–Page Hurwitz writes and directs this documentary history of queer stand-up comedy.  It’s both about the laughs and how such comedy promoted social change by challenging cultural norms and values.  Among the comedians interviewed for the film are Lily Tomlin, Hannah Gadsby, Tig Notaro, Margaret Cho, Bruce Vilanch, Joel Kim Booster, Mae Martin, and Suzanne Westenhoefer.

June 19

Black Barbie: A Documentary–Director Lagueria Davis came from a place of hating dolls.  But living with her aunt Beulah Mitchell, who was both a doll collector and somebody who worked for decades at Mattel (the company that created Barbie dolls), changed her mind.  This film looks at the American cultural history of race and dolls.  The significance of the Kenneth and Mamie Clark doll test that proved key to the outcome of Brown v. Board of Education does get discussed.  But also covered is the story of Mitchell’s and Kitty Black Perkins’ work in creating the first Black Barbie.  Could the Black Barbie actually have been a source of pride to generations of children?

June 20

America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders–This new docuseries from Greg Whiteley (“Last Chance U”) follows the 2023-24 Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders squad as they go from audition camps to training to do jump splits without hurting themselves to performing live in front of 90,000 fans during a game.

Black Barbie: A Documentary

June 21

Aftersun–Charlotte Wells’ acclaimed debut feature is a coming of age story that begins in the late 1990s, when 11-year-old Sophie goes on holiday to a Turkish resort with her young divorced father Calum.  While Sophie enjoys meeting people at the resort, Calum tries to hide his depression and internal turmoil.  Years later, can Sophie’s mini-DV footage of the holiday’s events or her memories help her understand her father better?

The Victim’s Game Season 2–It’s the return of this Taiwanese drama about Fang Yi-jen, a forensic detective with Asperger’s syndrome.  As this new season opens, Fang has left the police force and has settled down with reporter turned PR manager Hsu Hai-yin.  But his tranquility is destroyed when he becomes the prime suspect in a series of deaths connected to a murder case he worked on 15 years ago.  If Fang, Detective Chao Cheng-kuan, and forensic examiner Hsueh Hsin-ning can’t clear him, the former detective will lose his daughter Chiang. 

June 26

Worst Roommate Ever Season 2–It’s the new season of this docuseries about seemingly harmless roommates who become living nightmares after revealing malevolent intentions.  Creepy Scott, one such terrible roommate profiled this season, slammed doors late at night and scared his housemate’s cats.

June 27

Supacell Season 1–Rapman created and directed this new science fiction superhero series set in London.  What connects five apparently ordinary people in South London who have suddenly developed superpowers?  The only commonality seems to be they’re all Black.  But as these newly powered people try to achieve a proverbial work/life balance, one man’s trying to find them and bring them together to protect a loved one.  But can he do so without tipping off the powerful nasties who want to exploit these Black people with unusual abilities?