June 2016 Watchlist

Article by Gabe Zia
May is over, so we're officially one month into the Summer blockbuster season, and moving onto June. Overall, June is looking pretty great, with two out of my top 5 most anticipated this year coming out this month, and a bunch of other interesting sounding films.

June 3rd

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

This Is Spinal Tap is one of my favorite comedies of all-time, for those of you who don't know what it is, it's basically a mock-umentary that served as this whole satire for 80s rock and 80s rock culture. And Never Stop Never Stopping looks to be the modern day equivalent of Spinal Tap, it looks like it will be to the pop/hip-hop genre that is in right now what Spinal Tap was to 80s rock. So yeah, I'm all in.

June 10th

Warcraft: Must-See of June 2016

I love Duncan Jones as a director, and I've always wanted to see a good video game movie. If Batman v Superman proved anything, it's that there's nothing I hate more than a movie and a director disrespecting the fanbase. Warcraft looks like it's doing the polar opposite, and it looks like it's marketed directly and entirely for the fanbase, or people who are familiar with the source material. And if my hatred towards Batman v Superman is a clear indicator of anything, it's that I will always take a movie that is geared towards fans too much for casual viewers to get into it than a movie geared towards pandering to a general audience so much that it ignores the fans.

June 17th

Central Intelligence

The Rock and Kevin Hart are hilarious people, and while the trailers haven't sold me entirely, I am kind of sold on the prospect of the fact that this movie has some seriously talented comedians behind it. Is it a must-see? No, but I'm considering it.

June 24th

Independence Day: Resurgence

Another callback to Batman v Superman coming up, one of the many flaws with Batman v Superman was that it wasn't fun. Not that every movie needs to be fun, but a movie about Batman fighting Superman should absolutely be fun. Likewise, Independence Day 2 looks like so much fun, I'm eagerly awaiting this one.

Free State of Jones

Knowing both that this is based on a true story (unlike a lot of movies like this), and that we're actually getting a Nat Turner film later this year (Birth of a Nation), I am kind of willing to be optimistic that this won't be another film falling under the incredibly annoying White Savior tripe. Again, this isn't a film I'm really hyped for, but it's interesting enough to make the list

The Neon Demon

Nicholas Winding-Refn is a bit of a controversial director. Some people love his creativity, visual styles, metaphors, and violent filmmaking. Other hate him for being too pretentious, not giving Ryan Gosling any lines, preachiness, and boring storytelling. Me personally? I love him, even if he can be a bit pretentious. And The Neon Demon looks weird, it looks violent, but it looks fantastic. Not just in filmmaking quality, but by god just going based on the trailers this movie is visually stunning. This and Warcraft are must-sees this month.