Welcome to Culture Hound, InsideHook’s deep dive into the month’s most important cultural happenings, pop and otherwise.
Note, due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, release dates are highly tentative.
REMEMBER: Search Party
The TBS millennial murder-drama-comedy — which is really good! — moves over to HBO Max for Season Three and the already-announced Season Four (that’s also where you’ll find the first two seasons). This time out, it focuses on the aftermath of the missing person saga, with a murder trial set for Dory (Alia Shawkat) and Drew (John Reynolds). (6/25, HBO Max)
Other Returning TV shows: 13 Reasons Why (6/5, Netflix); Queer Eye (6/5, Netflix); The Bachelor (6/8, ABC); a revival of Perry Mason (6/21, HBO); The Twilight Zone (6/25, CBS All Access)
RENT: The King of Staten Island
The recently released Big Time Adolescence was a not-bad indie flick about a man-child (played by Pete Davidson) living life with no purpose in a rundown town. King, meanwhile, is … well, pretty much the same film, but based more on Davidson’s real life and directed by Judd Apatow. Starring Marisa Tomei, Bill Burr, Pamela Adlon and Steve Buscemi also star, this is yet another promising movie that’s gone straight to VOD due to COVID-19.
More new films coming to your TV screen: Becky (6/5, VOD); Shirley (6/5, VOD and Hulu); Showgirls documentary You Don’t Nomi (6/9, VOD); Artemis Fowl (6/12, Disney+); Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods (6/12, Netflix); Will Ferrell in Eurovision (6/26, Netflix); Jon Stewart’s Irressitable (6/26, VOD)
DISCOVER: Crossing Swords
It’s the team behind Robot Chicken basically doing Game of Thrones in a very R-rated yet animated manner. Nudity and violence follow. As the show’s king commands: “Execution is a sometimes treat, like ice cream and butt stuff.” Yeah, like that’s any dumber than GoT’s last season. (6/12, Hulu)
New TV series and specials: 30 For 30: Long Gone Summer (6/14, ESPN); Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn (6/19, HBO); Eric Andre: Legalize Everything (6/23, Netflix); Welcome to Chechnya (6/30, HBO)
BUY/RENT: Jaws
A 4K, UHD restoration of the killer shark classic (now also with updated Dolby Atmos sound).. The picture and sound are noticeably improved, but the film still works by proving that less is more when it comes to horror. An ideal memento of a flick that essentially invented the idea of the summer blockbuster 45 years ago. (6/2)
More Blu-ray releases: Watchmen: An HBO Limited Series (6/2); The Hunt (6/9); The Complete Lenzi/Baker Giallo Collection (6/30)
READ: Devolution by Max Brooks
The author of World War Z brings a similar narrative style to the story of a Washington state eco-community that’s suddenly cut off from the rest of the world by the eruption of Mt. St. Helens … and the appearance of a legendary beast (hint: the book’s subtitle is “A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre”). (6/16)
More new books: Humankind: A Hopeful History, The Vanishing Half (6/2)
PERUSE: Brother Robert: Growing Up with Robert Johnson
The personal life of the Delta Blues legend, as told by his step sister and noneagenarian Annye C. Anderson. And no, he didn’t sell his soul to the devil … but the subject of our next book choice might have.
And that would be … Marilyn Manson by Perou: 21 Years in Hell (6/9)
LISTEN: Neil Young
Homegrown is a long-lost treasure from Young’s most creative and memorable era. According to Consequence of Sound, the previously unreleased was recorded over six months in 1974. Musically, it’s considered “the unheard bridge between Harvest and Comes A Time” (so this would be more on Young’s country/folk-rock side). Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson and Emmylou Harris guest on the record. (6/19)
More new music: Run the Jewels, Hinds (6/5); Built to Spill, Norah Jones, The Sounds, Iggy Pop (6/12); Phoebe Bridgers, Bob Dylan, Lamb of God, Phantom Planet (6/19); Grey Daze, HAIM, CeeLo Green (6/26)
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