Starring vehicles for Denzel Washington, Harrison Ford, Robin Williams and Liam Neeson are among the titles leaving Netflix in the United States in June, along with three binge-worthy recent series that may have slipped under your radar. (Dates reflect the first day titles are unavailable and are subject to change.)
‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ (June 1)
When Robin Williams and the director Chris Columbus joined forces to make a family comedy , they ended up, unsurprisingly, with a giant hit. Williams stars as Daniel, an out-of-work actor whose eternally childlike behavior causes an irreparable rift between him and his wife, Miranda (Sally Field). Faced with losing access to their kids, he hits on an ingenious solution: He disguises himself as the title character, a proper and caring British nanny, and finds that becoming someone else helps him to be a better parent. The character is custom-built for Williams’s gifts of comic improvisation and offhand sweetness, and Field proves an ace foil and scene partner.
‘Glory’ (June 1)
Denzel Washington won his first Academy Award for his ferocious, unforgettable turn as a formerly enslaved man serving in the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, one of the first Black fighting units of the Civil War. Morgan Freeman and Andre Braugher are similarly affecting as his fellow soldiers, their three characters symbolizing parallel segments of the 19th century Black experience in America. (Matthew Broderick does his best with the somewhat thankless role of their commanding officer.) The director Edward Zwick, then best known for talky comedy-dramas like “About Last Night” and TV’s “Thirtysomething,” mounts the bone-crunching battle scenes with impressive scope and grandeur.
‘Brockmire’ Seasons 1-4 (June 3)
Those who know Hank Azaria only from his versatile voice work on “The Simpsons” would be wise to check out his starring turn in this sharp-edged, sharp-tongued character study. He plays Jim Brockmire, a one-time superstar sportscaster who all but ended his career with a memorable on-air meltdown. Years later, this messy man attempts a comeback of sorts as the in-stadium announcer for a barely-there minor league Pennsylvania team owned by Jules (Amanda Peet); she, and the job she offers, just might offer some kind of salvation. Azaria is astonishing, wringing laughs and sympathy from the character (even when he is at his worst), and Peet is an engaging comic counterpoint.
‘Mean Girls’ (June 5)
Tina Fey’s beloved high school comedy, “Mean Girls,” was only 20 years old, and still awfully relevant, when it got the remake treatment in 2024 — albeit as a movie musical, based on the successful Broadway production. This newer take won’t make anyone forget about the original. But it offers up pleasures of its own: Angourie Rice’s convincing metamorphosis from doe-eyed innocent to vindictive queen bee; Reneé Rapp’s star-is-born turn as the uber-mean girl Regina George; the up-and-comer Avantika putting her own wily, screwball spin on the uproariously dim Karen; and Fey and Tim Meadows delightfully reprising (and updating) their original roles.
‘Dispatches From Elsewhere’ (June 5)
If you’re surprised to learn about a limited series created by and starring Jason Segel, and co-starring Sally Field, André Benjamin and Eve Lindley, don’t feel too bad: it debuted in March of 2020, when there were a few other things happening in the world. But it’s well worth catching up with. Segel was inspired by the Games of Nonchalance, a combination of art exhibition, scavenger hunt and social experiment that fascinated thousands of Bay Area residents from 2008 to 2011. He tells the story of four participants, and how their own existential crises lead them to participate, with the appropriate genre-hopping, tone-shifting, anything-goes spirit.
‘K-19: The Widowmaker’ (June 10)
The great submarine thrillers — “The Hunt for Red October,” “Das Boot,” “Crimson Tide” — are so great that it’s a little surprising there aren’t more of them. But this taut 2002 entry is also due for a bit more recognition. An underpraised entry in the muscular filmography of the director Kathryn Bigelow, it hints at the power of her later military tradecraft bruisers “The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty.” Beyond that, it is (to date, at least) the only onscreen pairing of two of our most reliable carriers of action gravitas: Harrison Ford, who stars as the captain of the titular Russian sub, and Liam Neeson, who provides fine friction as his first officer.
‘Remembering Gene Wilder’ (June 13)
Between his celebrated collaborations with Mel Brooks, his uproarious onscreen pairings with Richard Pryor and his iconic performance as Willy Wonka, Gene Wilder was one of the most beloved movie stars of the 1970s and 1980s. But he was also something of an enigma, fiercely protective of his private life (and private pain), which the director Ron Frank attempts to bring into focus with this 2023 biographical documentary. With insights and archival materials provided by the actor-director’s widow Karen Wilder, and delightful interviews with such friends and collaborators as Alan Alda, Mel Brooks, Dick Cavett and Carol Kane, “Remembering Gene Wilder” helps the viewer better understand and appreciate the unique sensibility of this gifted artist.
‘Aquarius’ Season 1-2 (June 16)
In this 2015-2016 series, David Duchovny again went looking for the truth, this time in the counterculture of late-1960s Los Angeles. He stars as the police detective Sam Hodiak, whose search for a missing teenager takes him deep into the city’s hippie underground — leading him eventually to Charles Manson (Gethin Anthony) and his “Family.” This NBC drama straddled the line between network procedural and prestige cable series, with some success; viewers fascinated by the Manson subplots of “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and “Mindhunter” will find much to chew on here.
‘Sex and the City’ Seasons 1-6 (June 30)
This fast-paced, sophisticated comedy-drama — developed by Darren Starr from Candace Bushnell’s column and book of the same title — was an early scripted series hit for HBO, still known at the time of its 1998 debut primarily for running theatrical movies and original specials. It was a perfect fit for the pay cable network, showcasing the kind of adult subject matter that couldn’t be explored on network television. But it wasn’t a hit only because of its candid approach to love and sex; its four protagonists were brought to such vivid life by Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon that they become avatars for the 21st century woman, both embodying feminine types and transcending them with wit and nuance.
Also leaving:
“Burlesque,” “Casino,” “Cold Pursuit,” “Fifty Shades of Grey,” “Fifty Shades Darker,” “Fifty Shades Freed,” “Independence Day,” “Jurassic World,” “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,” “The Lego Movie,” “Letters to Juliet,” “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates,” “Money Monster,” “Night at the Museum,” “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian,” “Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb,” “Ray,” “Same Time, Next Year,” “Trolls,” (June 1); “99 Homes,” “Chick Fight,” “Kim’s Convenience,” “Kneecap,” “The Perfect Mother,” “The Sunlit Night” (June 2); “Honest Thief,” “The Host” (June 3); “Babylon,”“Shiva Baby” (June 7); “It Ends With Us” (June 9); “TURN: Washington’s Spies” (Seasons 1-4) (June 10); ‘; “Two for the Money” (June 15); “The Iron Claw” (June 19).
