June means the start of summer, and the movies are the best place to nab some free AC and feel all the big feels. This month's new releases are bound to make you weep, shudder and smile. They include two adrenaline-fueled horror films, one Pixar animation, one rom-com and one black comedy detailing the aftermath of sexual assault.
'Dangerous Animals'
Picture this: A serial killer who claims his victims' lives by feeding them to sharks. That is the wacky concept behind this Australian survival horror starring Jai Courtney — giving a "hammy and outsized" performance, said Phil de Semlyen at Time Out. Courtney's character is a nut who abducts tourists and takes them on his boat to meet their demise. While movies like "Jaws" have done a lot of harm to the (largely) innocuous shark community, director Sean Byrne and screenwriter Nick Lepard "do a nice job of making their sharks scary without ever vilifying them, even making time to show off their grace and beauty as well as their gnashers." (June 6 in theaters)
'Materialists'
Director Celine Song first charmed audiences with her 2023 debut "Past Lives," a quiet musing on first loves and later-in-life reconnections. Her second film from A24, "Materialists," again deals with impossible romantic choices. Dakota Johnson stars as a successful New York City matchmaker with nine marriages under her professional belt. Despite her apparent expertise, she becomes confused by her own love life, torn between a flashy and seemingly perfect new love (Pedro Pascal) and an ex who is both imperfect and irresistible (Chris Evans). You know what they say: Those who can't marry, matchmake. (June 13 in theaters)
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'28 Years Later'
Director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland ("Ex Machina") changed the horror scene forever with the advent of speedy zombies in 2002's "28 Days Later." The film starred Cillian Murphy as a man who awoke from a coma in post-apocalyptic London; the city had been decimated by an aggression-inducing virus that made people into fast-and-furious zombies, considerably more frightening than the slow-moving kind. Boyle and Garland were not involved in 2007's sequel, "28 Weeks Later," but they have teamed again for the third installment, "28 Years Later," which occurs nearly three decades after the initial zombie outbreak. The trailer alone — featuring an ingenious reading of Rudyard Kipling's war poem "Boots" — is bound to send shivers down your spine. (June 20 in theaters)
'Elio'
Pixar's latest animation follows an 11-year-old boy who lives with his aunt following the sudden death of his parents. After a transformative museum visit, Elio becomes obsessed with outer space and hopes to be abducted by aliens in order to escape his loneliness. He gets his wish and lands in the Communiverse, an environment jam-packed with "leaders from across the universe that come together to exchange ideas," said CinemaBlend. "They are looking for more interesting minds when they come across Elio, but there's one funny miscommunication in play — they think he's the leader of Earth." (June 20 in theaters)
'Sorry, Baby'
You might recognize "Sorry, Baby" writer-director Eva Victor from her viral comedy videos on social media. But in her debut feature, Victor tackles a sobering subject and slots herself into the starring role to boot. This is "one of the best, most honest renderings of life after sexual assault that I've seen," said Adrian Horton at The Guardian. "It's the banality of enduring a sexual assault that Victor captures so well in her film; how the trauma lingers long in the body, even when you keep insisting to everyone (including yourself) that you're fine," said Hannah Strong at Little White Lies. (June 27 in theaters)
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