Adam Sandler’s Hustle comes to Netflix.
Welcome to your guide to the hot and fresh titles new to streaming this weekend, June 3rd, 2022. Whether you’re looking for a full weekend binge or just a little inspiration for movie night, STW has you covered with our picks of the best new shows and films being released this weekend across all platforms.
1. The Northman (Peacock)
After a spring stint in movie theaters, visionary director Robert Eggers’ viking epic The Northman makes its momentous streaming debut, hitting Peacock on June 6th.
Eggers is known for exploring dark and bleak worlds in unexpected ways beginning with 2015’s elevated horror triumph The VVitch and following it up with the equally impressive albeit a bit inaccessible The Lighthouse in 2019.
This compellingly stylish epic follows a wronged viking prince on his quest for vengeance. It stars everybody’s favorite Scandinavians Alexander Skarsgård and Björk as well as Eggers’ ingenue Anya Taylor-Joy with Ethan Hawke and Nicole Kidman along for the ride.
2. The Boys, Season 3 (Prime Video)
The Boys are back, and it’s been awhile. Viewers were last in this chaotic world of corrupt superheroes back in 2020. Nearly two years later, all the core gang are back for another round, including Karl Urban as Billy the Butcher, Hughie (Jack Quaid), Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso), Frenchie (Tomer Kapon), and Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara).
This superhero satire has been known for its twists and turns since its premiere back in 2019, so it’ll be interesting to see what’s in store as the new episodes roll out. The first three episodes premiere on June 3rd with new eps hitting Prime every week.
3. Hustle (Netflix)
Though Adam Sandler didn’t get the Oscar he wanted for his lead performance in the Safdie brothers’ violent indie hit Uncut Gems (he did get the Independent Spirit award and at least deserved the nomination), the low-key hit did mark the beginning of something like a ReSandlersance.
The film not only made audiences stand up and take notice of the comedy legend again, but its success and the buzz around his performance seemed to reignite a fire within Sandler himself. This creative reinvigoration appears to have led Sandler away from the schlocky family-friendly broad comedies of yore and toward more serious material. Sandler’s performance in Uncut Gems also ignited a fire in Netflix who offered him a four-film deal, and Hustle is one of the projects to come out of that deal.
It centers around a washed up NBA scout who thinks he has one last shot after discovering the talents of a Spanish player on the streets of Madrid. The plot definitely leaves room for a bit of that old time Sandler schmaltz, but it also has plenty of space for some darker elements, elements that just might make for a character redemption arc that audiences and awards ceremonies respond to.
Find Hustle on Netflix on June 8th. Get your hustle on.
4. Physical, Season 2 (Apple TV+)
As Apple TV+ continues to build out its content library, the streamer’s motto seems to be quality over quantity. And the Rose Byrne vehicle Physical reflects those priorities. Season 1 premiered to critical adulation in 2021, and Season 2 looks poised to pull in the same raves.
The show follows Byrne as an early 80’s housewife in the idyllic setting of San Diego, California. But beautiful beaches or not, nothing is as perfect as it seems. Stifled by the subservience expected from a husband with lofty political aspirations, Byrne’s beleaguered housewife finds an outlet in exercise.
Taking its name from the Olivia Newton John hit of the era, Physical enters the world of aerobics in the early 80’s for a journey of self-discovery and a tale about taking power over one’s own narrative. The first episode of Season 2 premieres on June 3rd with new eps on Apple TV+ every week.
5. Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey (Netflix)
Though it seems like just about anybody and everybody who creates documentary and true crime content has covered the atrocities committed in the Warren Jeffs fundamentalist polygamist sect of the LDS church–Dateline has visited the town along with many podcasters and documentarians–the folks at Netflix simply have a way with true crime material that’s head and shoulders above the rest.
Perhaps the head honchos have a knack for recruiting the best documentary talent or maybe its just blind luck, but all of the streamer’s true crime content has been superior to its competitors going back at least to its Making a Murderer days and heading into Fyre Fest territory and beyond.
This iteration seems to focus more on Jeffs’ criminal cases which itself requires an understanding of how Jeffs came to power and managed to maintain his power within this offshoot of the Mormon community. His seat at the top of what was basically an underage sex trafficking scheme came in no small part because of the power one phrase had over the women of this world: “Keep sweet.”
For those unaware, “keep sweet” is the mantra that women and children in the Jeffs sect of the LDS were required to follow. While the phrase may appear innocuous on first glance, the implication of “keep sweet” was that if a man (father, husband, church elder) told you to do something, you did it without question or hesitance.
This obedience often included preteens agreeing to marry men in their 70’s. It’s a phrase that pops up time and again in these docs, and it’ll be interesting to see how Netflix explores the power the phrase had over women within the church as they delve into the Jeffs saga.
The limited series hits Netflix on June 8th.