Every month, a number of movies and TV series leave Netflix streaming, sometimes only temporarily, usually because licensing deals have expired. Several new titles arrive in their place. So what’s coming this month, and which of these new arrivals should you watch? Below, we’ve chosen the best new movies and TV shows coming to Netflix Instant streaming in June 2015. Plan your weekend marathons accordingly.
The Aviator
Arriving: June 1
There are plenty of reasons not to miss The Aviator. Martin Scorsese’s directing, as usual, is masterful. Leonardo DiCaprio gives a brilliant performance as the fascinating, tragic Howard Hughes. And oh, those lush, mid-century colors! But the real draw here is Cate Blanchett, fully embodying the fierce Katharine Hepburn—thick, haughty mid-Atlantic accent and all.—Aisha Harris, staff writer
Nightcrawler
Arriving: June 10
If you’re still among the misguided few who see Jake Gyllenhaal as a pouty manchild, Nightcrawler should set you straight. This warped Oscar-nominated thriller features the actor at his most gaunt and wild-eyed, playing an opportunistic drifter who goes to fairly extreme lengths to become a TV news cameraman—namely, by helping to make violence happen so that he’s one the scene to film it. The movie’s satirical allegory (which suggests that the media fuels the tragedies it reports on) doesn’t always work, but Gyllenhaal’s creepy-crawly performance is unforgettable.—Jeffrey Bloomer, assistant editor
Rosewater
Arriving: June 10
Jon Stewart’s debut as a writer-director is a smart adaptation of Maziar Bahari’s memoir, Then They Came for Me. Although the movie is lighter on history than the book on which it’s based, Rosewater does a great job of capturing the comical absurdities and the tragedies Bahari encountered while he was imprisoned, interrogated, and humiliated simply for doing his job as a journalist in Iran, the country in which he was born. It might be odd that neither Bahari nor his interrogator is portrayed by an Iranian actor, but Gael García Bernal’s performance as Bahari is as true to the book’s narration as Kim Bodnia’s portrayal of interrogation “specialist” Rosewater is chilling.—Laura Bradley, editorial assistant
Danger Mouse, Seasons 1-10
Arriving: June 15
Crumbs, DM! Seasons 1-10 of Danger Mouse feature the eyepatched, intrepid British rodent battling the evil Baron Greenback through the streets of London. This goofy Bond parody for children, which ran on ITV in the UK and Nickelodeon in the U.S. for much of the 1980s, was beloved for its circuitous plots and bargain-basement animation. (Almost every episode featured scenes in the dark, featuring only characters’ eyeballs, or at the featureless white North Pole.) A formative text for a certain generation of extremely silly people.—Dan Kois, culture editor
Lee Daniels’ The Butler
Arriving: June 16
You might be tempted to dismiss this movie as (failed) Oscar bait, but there are at least three key reasons to watch it. The first is that it’s a surprisingly provocative exploration of the dual roles of respectability politics and radicalism in the civil rights movement. (The titular character is the butler, but almost as much screen time is given to his son, a student activist who becomes a Black Panther.) The second is that it features a number of terrific performances, especially from Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, and David Oyelowo. (Though he’s best known for playing Martin Luther King in Selma, here Oyelowo plays the more militant son.) The third is that it also features a number of terrifically campy performances: Robin Williams as Dwight D. Eisenhower! Liev Schreiber as Lyndon B. Johnson! Alan Rickman as Ronald Reagan! John Cusack as Richard Nixon! If none of that is enough to tempt you, I don’t know what to tell you.—Forrest Wickman, senior editor
Beyond the Lights
Arriving: June 24
During the 2014 Movie Club, Dana Stevens asked a question that fans of Gina Prince-Bythewood, writer of Love and Basketball, had been wondering—why was it almost impossible to see her new movie, Beyond the Lights, in theaters? Despite getting mostly glowing reviews, the love story, which touches on race and show business while also featuring some lovely singing (think a more subtle version of Empire minus the actual empire), almost immediately disappeared from theaters. Now, finally, one of the most overlooked movies of 2014 is on Netflix, so take advantage of it! As Stevens wrote in her review, it “is as shamelessly soapy as movies come—but I challenge you not to slip on the soap bubbles and fall right in to this movie’s invigorating bath.”—Miriam Krule, assistant editor
What Happened, Miss Simone?
Arriving: June 26
Full disclosure: Outside of some of her most iconic songs and a few scattered elements of her enduring legacy as an artist, I knew very little about Nina Simone’s life before watching this documentary. Yet when I saw What Miss Happened, Miss Simone? at Sundance earlier this year, I was a teary-eyed mess by the film’s conclusion, and I suddenly felt as though I truly understood and practically knew her. Of course, no one documentary can really perform such feats, but I’d like to think that director Liz Garbus comes close, unspooling Simone’s world through rare interviews, diary entries, and of course, the music itself. It’s a haunting look at Simone as tortured artist and powerful genius, one that will likely make even her biggest fans see her work in a new light.—Aisha Harris, staff writer
Also arriving:
June 1
La Dictadura Perfecta
June 3
The Best of Me
Hector and the Search for Happiness
June 5
Sense8
June 8
Grace of Monaco
June 9
It’s Tough Being Loved by Jerks
June 10
Pretty Little Liars, Season 5
June 11
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Season 2
June 12
Orange is the New Black, Season 3
Champs
The Cobbler
June 13
Scandal, Season 4
June 15
Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer
Rodney Carrington: Laughter’s Good
Bindi’s Bootcamp, Season 1
June 17
Point and Shoot
June 19
Some Assembly Required
June 20
Cake
June 23
Advantageous
June 26
Dreamworks Dragons: Race to the Edge
