Mostly Screen Time: June 2026
What I watched so you can watch it too.
This month: Too many movies to recommend, summering in Widow’s Bay, and the final dinner service at The Bear.
⭐️ Starred items mean… what are you waiting for?!
⭐️ ⚓️ Widow’s Bay (AppleTV) - Just a show about a man trying to make everyone happy and getting a little stressed about people not listening to him— relatability on television is stronger than ever! This show has become an excellent Trojan Horse into horror by coating it in plenty of subtle comedy, not to mention high praise for production design and, despite the horrors that persist, a good tourism ad for the New England coast! Autumn trip anyone?
⭐️ 🥩 The Bear S5 (Hulu) - Sorry that this show’s main narrative is awards category fraud, because this season reminded me how much I love it. After seasons (three and four) with diminishing returns, this is the way to go out on top: 8 episodes that mostly take place on the same day, from a disastrous morning all the way through a chaotic dinner service. There are few shows working at the level of sound editing and choreography/blocking like The Bear, and in the last scene of the fourth episode, when they prepare to go into battle per se, I sat up on my couch and grinned. I applaud the silly bit in the penultimate episode to sit overflow guests inside the kitchen, and just have them address repeated cultural takes about this show, like that everyone says “Yes Chef” now, and that “none of this is funny” (see aforementioned category fraud) and that “people have theories” that Sydney and Carmy are a couple. There were two moments that felt out of character for me and tacked on weirdly, both about couples, as this has never been a show about romantic relationships.
⭐️ 👰🏻♀️ Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen (Netflix) - While I never think it’s valid to suggest a show with the caveat that it “doesn’t get good until episode X”, this limited series is going to make a hypocrite out of me. For this limited horror series set at a remote destination wedding, I needed a little explanation of the lore, the “curse” that’s plaguing the family at the center of the story, to be invested in its mechanics. And we get that, but not until the fourth episode. Once that info dropped, I finished the rest of the series in an afternoon. I also loved the way this series played with the location and use of the title card.
Las Culturistas Culture Awards 2026 (Peacock) - Certain moments sang (the hosts performing the Pokémon theme song, the hosts performing with Mandy Moore), certain moments felt even more canned as a Bravo-commercial, but in the end, I still feel like this is just a little extension of my favorite little podcast that could, despite the co-hosts being famous and successful and interviewing every A-Lister out there.
💰 Pop Culture Jeopardy! S2 (Netflix) - Sometimes I cry out “how do people watch a daily show?” (about Love Island or something) and then I keep up with a pop culture quiz show for three weeks. Moving to Netflix this season from Prime Video, all changes feel like downgrades— reducing the team size, eliminating extra clue types, and THAT NEW SHOW INTRO barf. Adding animation is cool but then it turns out to be cheap primetime Seth McFarlane style and, lest you forget: the S1 intro was VERY COOL! It’s still fun to play long, get most of the questions right, and wonder what the real story is between these team members.
🍂 The Four Seasons (Netflix)- yeah I’d watch more of this. Tina Fey and Colman Domingo and friends are having fun in big sweaters.
🕷️ The Boroughs (Netflix) - lol this was already canceled and so I shan’t recommend it even though I enjoyed greatly! Interesting concept adapting a monsters-in-this-town but with elderly people; flipping the Stranger Things concept of “who would believe a group of kids” because we famously write off senior citizens!!! All of the actors are charming!
⭐️ 🍷 The Invite - You will put some respect on Olivia Wilde’s name!!!!! This movie was so engaging and tense and funny and claustrophobic and I just have to imagine the blocking necessary for every shot to work just so. An entire movie that takes place in a large apartment (hello set decoration!) and in nearly real time, I need to know who to talk to to make sure this stays in the adapted screenplay conversation (one of five adaptations from a Spanish-language 2020 movie… perhaps I need to get my subtitles on and watch those).
⭐️ ☁️ Toy Story 5 - Everyone with heart and emotion cried in the same moment, right? In addition, Woody and Buzz and Jessie’s chief characteristics are earnestness and loyalty so I choose to believe when they callback to an old line (“falling with style” in this case) it is sincere and built on years of friendship and they haven’t privately run that bit into the ground between them and that’s when I cry. Toy Story overall can do no wrong, despite some logic leaps that felt too far even given the suspension of disbelief and the premise of… uh… toys are coming to life. I’m always in awe of the art direction; the colors of Woody and Buzz compliment each other so well, especially as animation has advanced.
⭐️ 🎹 Tuner - a heist movie but also a romantic drama about a piano tuner— just another entry to think about when the general public says there are no new original movies.1
⭐️ 👨🏼❤️👨🏻 Leviticus - hey it’s not very nice to send your child to any type of conversion therapy okay? This movie took a very difficult concept and landed the metaphor in a real horror plot in a way that shocked and jump-scared me!
⭐️ 🌉 Voicemails for Isabelle - Can you believe, in 2026, I am recommending a Netflix romantic comedy? A romantic comedy that starts on the premise of a character’s death. Comedy to whom, Ryan?? Zoey Deutch is such a charismatic lead, and Nick Robinson getting more chances to be a charming (straight) lead after (gay) Love, Simon… I’m sat. Netflix said “60% of budget to music, here let me get Robyn and Taylor Swift on the phone.” Color me surprised that it’s not based on a book.
👩🏽✈️ Office Romance - Listen: this should have been better but I’m not MAD about it— I giggled and I earnestly like how charismatic J.Lo is as an actress and Brett Goldstein is good and Betty Gilpin is good! What I’m mad about is that these big budget movies will barely make a spalsh because rom coms don’t get to go to theaters anymore, even starring Jennifer Lopez. Netflix what is the strategy here?
🗡️ Masters of the Universe - Disclaimer that a) I have no childhood attachment to He-Man and also b) see above re: not a fan of Nicholas Galitzine… This movie is the most green screened movie to ever green screen— no sets or environments or non-human characters felt believable in the slightest, so I was just kinda over it halfway through the runtime. Where people praise Jared Leto as Skeletor, I can’t even give him any credit because the voice is so modulated and the body is all CG… any voice actor could have done this? (I give the writing credit for the line “I am a villain” when Skeletor’s motives are questioned; no complication needed!) Many huge fights and not one drop of blood— PG-13 action movie DOWN! The boldness of a movie that flopped inserting a mid-credits teaser like… baby there will be no sequel. Allison Brie had fun.
💄Stop! That! Train! - Funnier than any acting challenge on the television program RuPaul’s Drag Race!! Everyone was having fun and perhaps the persoan choice to wane my viewing of the Drag Race franchise made this more exciting, instead of just more oversaturation of RuPaul.
👽 Disclosure Day - Listen, Steven Spielberg had fun. Emily Blunt’s character is supposed to be 38 in this, despite other logic breaks. In the end, it was a tonal mismatch for me, contrasting between the generic alien design and the seriousness of the world-ending stakes.
🔪 Scary Movie - what the HELL was this? I’ve spiraled wondering if the original (and first sequel) in this franchise were ever funny or I was just 14 when I saw them? Polling of my peers confirms that they were actually funny! Instead this movie is stuck in jokes that would have felt dated 5 years ago, about pronouns and Karen and trans people… is this the conservative movie of the summer?
sorry I’ve recommended almost every movie I saw this month. Except for the bad ones!