Ari Aster revisits the pandemic, Adam Sandler tees off again and Lamb Chop gets an origin story in July movies

Summer movies are off to an explosive start. July's new releases include a pandemic excavation from one of Hollywood's hottest horror directors, a sequel to a beloved Adam Sandler golf comedy, a documentary about a famous children's puppet and two sick romances — one involving a classic millennial situationship-gone-wrong and the other a forced intertwining of flesh.

'Eddington'

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The latest film from Ari Aster, the director behind vicious and bizarro flicks like "Midsommar" and "Hereditary," contends with a horror that hits closer to home: the Covid-19 pandemic. "Eddington" takes place in a fictional New Mexico town in May 2020, where Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) goes up against Mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal) after the two disagree on masking. "Remember all of that anxiety, confusion, division and mistrust that erupted when people were told to stay home from work or mask up at the grocery store? Aster shoves it all in a blender and hits puree," said Brian Tallerico at Roger Ebert. Five years on, Aster paints the early days of Covid as a "massive trauma that fundamentally broke something inside us as a nation," said Alison Willmore at Vulture. (July 18, in theaters)

'Shari & Lamb Chop'

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Most everyone knows Lamb Chop, the hand puppet with thick eyelashes, red mittens and no shortage of sass. Fewer people might know the woman who breathed life into that puppet, Shari Lewis. The pair made their TV debut together almost 70 years ago. A new documentary from Lisa D'Apolito ("Love, Gilda") spotlights Lewis' career as a dancer, singer and famed ventriloquist behind sock puppets Charlie Horse, Hush Puppy and Lamb Chop. "Before Fred Rogers and Jim Henson, there was Shari Lewis, a children's television pioneer whose whimsical characters and ebullient spirit have guided generations," said the movie's distributor Kino Lorber. (July 18, in select theaters)

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'Happy Gilmore 2'

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Nearly 30 years after the release of cult classic "Happy Gilmore," Adam Sandler is reprising his golfer role in a sequel for Netflix. Despite the enduring popularity of Sandler's comedies like "Billy Madison," this is his first to get a sequel. The actor, along with his company Happy Madison Productions, signed a massive production deal with Netflix back in 2014 that has since been expanded twice, leading to 12 feature films thus far. That means "Happy Gilmore 2" won't see a theatrical release, a decision some fans lament. "Many of Netflix's streaming-only movies are quickly forgotten," said Edward Douglas at Collider, and "Sandler's biggest hits, like 1998's 'The Waterboy' and 1999's 'Big Daddy,' were movies that built on their positive word-of-mouth from opening weekend." (July 25, Netflix)

'Oh, Hi!'

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While Sophie Brooks' sophomore feature begins like any typical rom-com, with a young couple on a bucolic getaway in upstate New York, it soon devolves into chaos. When Isaac (Logan Lerman) tells Iris (Molly Gordon) he isn't interested in a relationship, despite having wooed her for the past four months, she is distressed. Isaac's confession that he "loves emotional intimacy and sex but panics at the very idea of commitment," said Jourdain Searles at The Hollywood Reporter, is especially ill-timed because Isaac is still chained to the bed following the couple's foray into kinky sex. Iris decides to keep him tied up, hoping that she can convince her lover to get serious with the right sales pitch. "At its root, this is a surprisingly sensitive commentary on uniquely millennial romantic loneliness." (July 25, in theaters)

'Together'

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If you are squeamish, look away. If you delight in the body horror mastery of David Cronenberg or found "The Substance" a pleasantly alarming watch, you might enjoy the stylings of Michael Shanks' "Together," starring real-life couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie. They play Tim and Millie, a long-term, newly engaged pair who move from the city to the country and stumble on a devious supernatural force that wreaks havoc on their lives. (Most notably, their bodies start to stick together in gross ways.) "Together" is both a "squishy, fleshy, scream-worthy body horror movie" and a "love story," said Owen Gleiberman at Variety. (July 30, in theaters)