June is an insane month from a pop culture standpoint.
To paraphrase master songwriter Gwen Stefani, “This month is bananas; B-AN-AN-AS!”
Here’s a look at the entertainment options heading your way. Prepare yourself accordingly.
NBA and Stanley Cup Finals (starting June 3 and June 4 respectively)
Whether you’re into hoop or hockey or both, this week kicks off the final series of the season in both the NBA and NHL. On the hardwood, the Golden State Warriors and MVP Stephen Curry take on LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, while on the ice, the Chicago Blackhawks look for their third Stanley Cup win in six years against the upstart Tampa Bay Lightning, who are looking for the second Cup in franchise history.
First Triple Crown Winner Since ’78? (June 6)
Saturday afternoon at the Belmont Stakes, Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner American Pharaoh looks to become the first horse to capture the Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978. On Monday, the field was reduced to eight when Carpe Diem and The Truth or Else withdrew from this weekend’s mile-and-a-half race at Belmont Park.
An Abundance of Netflix Awesomeness (Various Dates)
Season 3 of Orange is the New Black drops on June 12 and as much as another binge session with Piper, Red, Pennsatucky and Crazy Eyes is in order, it’s not the only goodness arriving on Netflix this month. Gone Girl, Django Unchained, Foxcatcher and The Maze Runner all land on the streaming service, as does the new series from The Wachowski’s, Sense8.
This Month’s Music Options (Various Dates)
From Florence + The Machine and Neil Young to new albums from Muse and Breaking Benjamin, this month’s musical selections are all over the map. Perhaps the most interesting from a “let’s see what this does to the band” perspective is the debut solo effort from Nate Ruess of the band fun. Lead singers going solo doesn’t often end up shiny and happy, so we’ll see where this goes.
Melissa McCarthy and Some Boys from Queens (June 5)
The first Friday of the month offers two very different cinematic options: Melissa McCarthy’s “fish out of water” spy comedy, Spy, and the return of Vince, Drama, Turtle, E and Ari in Entourage. Both seems like they’ll be pretty straightforward, but they also have the potential to be pretty successful. Who will win the weekend box office? That’s the real question.
Jurassic World Opens (June 12)
One week after McCarthy and the Queens Kids land in theatres, Chris Pratt and a host of dinosaurs are set to devour them as Jurassic World finally arrives. Initially, another installment of this series seemed like a stretch, but then those trailers started coming out and the dinosaurs looked awesome and we were hooked. Plus, Chris Pratt.
A Different Shade of Grey (June 15)
You have to hand it to E.L. James – the British author is going to make sure she gets every last drop out of the 50 Shades of Grey well before walking away. James announced that a new take on her best-selling novel-turned-film will be released this month, retracing the events of the first book from Christian Grey’s perspective. Smart way to spin the story and stay relevent or a classic case of doing too much?
All Kinds of HBO Canada Goodness (Various Dates)
June not only brings the final two episodes from Season 5 of Game of Thrones (which has been awesome), but it also marks the return of True Detective, headlined this year by Colin Farrell, Vince Vaughan and Rachel McAdams, and the debut of two new shows that look promising – Ballers, starring Dwayne Johnson in a non-save-everyone role and The Brink, a political, media satire featuring Jack Black and Tim Robbins.
Kids and Hip Hop Kids (June 19)
Inside Out is the latest offering from Pixar and looks creative and fresh as it tells the story of a young girl’s move to San Francisco with her family through her emotions, voiced by the likes of Amy Poehler, Mindy Kaling and Bill Hader. On the same day, Rick Famuyiwa’s latest Dope also hits theatres. Starring relative newcomer Shameik Moore and Zoe Kravitz, it’s described as a coming of age dramedy for the post-hip hop generations, and it should be slick since Famuyiwa has done well in the area before with his previous efforts The Wood and Brown Sugar.
Ted 2 (June 26)
After a month loaded with options, it’s might be nice to close things out with something mindless and fun, so it’s perfect that Ted 2 drops on the final Friday of June. Picking up where the first Mark Wahlberg and his teddy bear film left off, the sequel sees Ted and Tami-Lynn wanting to have children and the stuffed animal having to prove he’s a person. As long as we get a remix of the Thunder Buddies song, we’ll be happy.
