June 2022’s Best Streaming Titles: Ms. Marvel, Alien, Doctor Who, Spiderhead

Mr. Fox has a fantastic life, with a loving wife, good friends, and a good job. But what he really wants to do is steal food and play pranks on the nasty farmers living near his home. Needless to say, hilarity and hijinks ensue. Fantastic Mr. Fox’s blending of stop motion animation with Wes Anderson’s trademark aesthetic and dry humor is a match made in heaven. And the star-studded voice cast — which includes George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, and Owen Wilson — is the icing on the cake.

The premise — actors from a classic sci-fi TV series are kidnapped by aliens who believe the show to be real — makes it sound like Galaxy Quest does nothing but poke fun at all things Star Trek. Which it does, and brilliantly so, but its jokes are coming from a place of love. As a result, it’s the best kind of parody, one that recognizes the inherent silliness of Star Trek while also capturing what makes Star Trek so great in the first place. By Grabthar’s hammer, indeed.

In this surprisingly existential comedy, Bill Murray plays an arrogant weatherman who finds himself reliving the same day over and over again in picturesque Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania — and forced to confront who he is as a person. This is one of the classic Bill Murray movies, and was even added to the National Film Registry in 2006.

In this delightful parody/homage to zombie movies, Simon Pegg plays a lovable loser who’s stuck in a dead-end job and having problems with his girlfriend. But when the zombie apocalypse begins, could this be what he needs to stand up and become a hero? Shaun of the Dead is a perfect blend of humor and horror, but as I wrote in my 2004 review, it has some surprisingly affecting character moments and even a wee bit of social commentary mixed in with the gore.

Jason Statham is Frank Martin, an elite getaway driver who operates according to a strict code. But when he breaks that code, he finds himself on the run with a beautiful woman (Shu Qi) and hunted by his former employers. Directed by Hong Kong action legend Corey Yuen, The Transporter is a slicker-than-slick and eminently enjoyable action movie that blends Hong Kong style martial arts with crazy auto stuntwork. The picturesque Mediterranean backdrop is a nice touch, too.

Phil Tippett, who has won Oscars for his special effects work on Jurassic Park and Return of the Jedi, spent 30 years creating this bizarre stop motion feature filled with grotesque-yet-arresting images. Although Mad God is a Shudder original, it’ll be available on Amazon Prime Video for a limited time only.

If you haven’t read the Ms. Marvel comics, then you’re missing out on one of the most delightful Marvel titles of the last decade. Kamala Khan loves superheroes, especially Captain Marvel, only for her dreams to suddenly come true. But is this teenager from New Jersey really ready to take on the mantle of a hero to save her community? And how will her newfound powers affect her relationship with her strict Muslim family?

The lovable, huggable healthcare robot from Big Hero 6 returns with his very own series. The six episodes finds Baymax venturing out into the streets of San Fransokyo, where he does his best to help its citizens with a myriad of issues — even if they don’t think they need his help.

Ang Lee’s martial arts epic was a huge success when it appeared in 2000, winning numerous awards (including four Oscars) and becoming the most successful foreign film in American box office history. With its dramatic storyline, sweeping cinematography, evocative score, and graceful combat, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon proved that martial arts films could be more than cheesy action comedies, and ushered in a wave of artsy martial arts films including Hero, House of Flying Daggers, and The Promise.

The venerable Time Lord and her companions race through time and space in order to battle yet another threat to the universe’s existence, all while confronting secrets from the Doctor’s past. Pretty standard stuff for the series, if you ask me. This season marks the third and final season of Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor.

After the crew of a deep space vessel discovers the wreckage of an alien spaceship, they soon find themselves being hunted by a vicious, cold-blooded creature. Directed by Ridley Scott, with designs inspired by H.R. Giger’s nightmarish artwork, Alien is a sci-fi/horror classic. The movie Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Ian Holm, and of course, Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, one of sci-fi cinema’s most iconic female characters.

One of the greatest action movies of all time, period. Bruce Willis stars as John McClane, a sardonic detective from New York who’s visiting his estranged wife in Los Angeles for a Christmas party at her office. And then, wouldn’t you know it, a bunch of terrorists break up the party and hold everyone hostage. It’s up to McClane to take on the terrorists — who are lead by Alan Rickman at his most suave — armed with little more than some one-liners. Suffice to say, the terrorists don’t stand a chance.

There are certain movies that, if I ever come across them playing on the TV, I will stop everything I’m doing and watch them. Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element is one such movie, with its sci-fi tale about a great evil that can only be stopped by a young woman. Packed to the gills with stunning visuals and set design, as well as an intriguing mythology all its own and a manic sense of energy, The Fifth Element is a blast to watch.

Napoleon Dynamite was one of those films that just seemed to capture the zeitgeist with its shambling, episodic tale of a high school misfit who loves ligers, tater tots, and tetherball, and knows some sweet dance moves. Even now, I still can’t quite explain how or why Napoleon Dynamite became such a cult hit but personally, I found it hilarious and strangely nostalgic.

When Major Alan “Dutch” Schaefer leads his elite military rescue team into the South American jungle, their mission quickly gets complicated when it becomes clear that something’s hunting them. Something that’s not from this world. Predator is one of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s classic ’80s film roles, and it still totally holds up thanks to some charismatic performances, Stan Winston’s awesome creature effects, and John McTiernan’s taut direction.

Léon (Jean Reno) is a lonely hitman whose simple life is suddenly complicated when a young girl named Mathilda (Natalie Portman, in her acting debut) seeks his protection after her family is killed by corrupt DEA agents. Reno and Portman are both excellent, but Gary Oldman steals the show as the unhinged agent Norman Stansfield. Directed with style to spare by Luc Besson, The Professional is an action thriller with heart. (Read my review.)

I’m a sucker for low-budget action movies in which a single man — or woman, in this case — finds their back against the wall, and must battle their way through insurmountable odds to save the world. Interceptor, starring Elsa Pataky as an Army captain who must defend her remote outpost from terrorists, looks to totally fill that bill. I’m expecting ridiculous stunts, improbable death-defying, and corny dialog.

Yu Ominae looks like your typical high school student, but he’s actually a Spriggan, an elite black ops soldier for the ARCAM Corporation. As a Spriggan, his job is to protect ancient and powerful relics from falling into the wrong hands — a job that takes him all over the world to face off against other shadowy organizations and their elite soldiers. This is actually the second animated adaptation of Hiroshi Takashige and Ryōji Minagawa’s sci-fi manga; the first was a feature film released back in 1998.

In the near future, inmates at a high-tech prison can reduce their sentences by participating in medical experiments. But when one of the inmates falls for another, he begins working against the experiments in order to save her. Based on the short story Escape from Spiderhead by George Saunders and starring Chris Hemsworth, Miles Teller, and Jurnee Smollett, Spiderhead is one of Netflix’s biggest movies for 2022. The film is directed by Joseph Kosinski, whose Top Gun: Maverick finally came out last month.