Peacock got more than 60 new movies for its catalog in the month of June, and understandably, you might be sitting there thinking, “I’m happy for you, but I’m not reading/scrolling through all that.” And that’s very valid.
Fortunately, it’s our job to do just that, so we did. Now, instead of searching through 60+ titles that are new to Peacock but maybe not new to you, you can scroll through a much smaller list. We went through and picked out the seven best films that got added to the streamer (subjectively, of course, but I’ve got an argument for each of them) for you to pick from.
Here are the seven best new movies on Peacock this month.
But I’m a Cheerleader
It’s still Pride month, and you can’t truly celebrate if you haven’t seen “But I’m a Cheerleader” before, right?
First released in 1999, you’re going to see a lot of famous faces, beginning promptly with Natasha Lyonne as the lead. She stars as Megan, a cheerleader who figures out she’s gay and is sent by her conservative parents to a conversion therapy camp (don’t worry, this movie is campy and fun, it’s not a true, traumatic depiction of those camps).
At the camp, Megan comes to embrace her sexuality, as do many of the other campers. Speaking of the other campers, remember that stacked cast I mentioned? It includes Melanie Lynskey, RuPaul, Clea DuVall, Dante Basco and more.
It’s sweet, it’s brightly colored, it’s just a good time. It also tends to bounce around streamers quite often, so don’t miss it now.
Spider-Man: Homecoming
No, you don’t need Disney+ to be able to find Marvel movies these days — at least, not all of them. “Spider-Man: Homecoming” is now on Peacock, and now would be a good time to revisit it, considering “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is on the horizon.
This is the first of Tom Holland‘s Spider-Man films, and takes place after his introduction in “Captain America: Civil War.” Here, Peter Parker is figuring out how to go back to being a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man when all he wants is to join the Avengers.
He’s developing his mentor/mentee relationship with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and very eager to please. The thing is, he’s still in high school, and still pretty inexperienced. He makes some pretty big mistakes along the way, and learns some hard lessons.
As Spider-Man films go, it’s a very good one, and it’s worth catching up on before seeing “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” next month.
Girls Trip
With summer getting fully underway, you might be preparing for a girls’ trip yourself, so why not pregame it with the movie?
Starring Tiffany Haddish, Regina Hall, Queen Latifah and Jada Pinkett Smith, “Girls Trip” is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to funny ladies. It centers on the quartet as they head to New Orleans for the Essence Music Festival, in an effort to reconnect as friends. They were inseparable in college, but have since drifted.
What follows is a whole lot of dramedy, complete with bad trips, very raunchy situations, and a very real depiction of female friendship. At the very least, this movie should put you in a good mood.
A sequel has been in the works for awhile now, but according to Hall, the script still isn’t quite right. So, we’ll just have to wait with the original for now.
The Holdovers
Admittedly, “The Holdovers” is definitely more of a Christmas movie, so watching it in the summer months could be hard. But not impossible! And, if you’ve never seen the film, certainly worth it.
It’s not a Christmas film in the sense that “Home Alone” or “Elf” are, where it’s out-and-out jolly and colorful. Rather, it takes place over the holiday, as a grumpy, strict teacher at a New England boarding school has to chaperone a handful of boys who have nowhere to go during break.
Directed by Alexander Payne, the movie was a breakout role for Dominic Sessa, and earned Da’Vine Joy Randolph an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. It’s an incredibly sweet story, as the three main characters bond and develop their own special friendship.
Wait until December if you’re as strict as Paul Giamatti’s character, but if you just need a good, comforting movie, watch it now.
Paddington
You’ll notice the theme of this list so far is feel-good films, and I can’t say “Paddington” will break that trend. In fact, if you walk away from watching this movie without a deep attachment to this little marmalade-loving bear, I do not trust you.
That’s not to say that “Paddington” doesn’t get dark at times. Hell, Nicole Kidman flat-out tries to murder and taxidermize him. That is not the magic we come to the cinema for. But the rest of this movie is. Perhaps the best and only word to describe “Paddington” is “sweet.” You cannot help but love this family and this bear.
There’s a reason there have been three of these movies — one of which is a flat-out call for prison reform, and a very good one at that — with a fourth on the way. This polite bear will not disappoint you.
Fruitvale Station
Alas, this list is not all feel-good films, but each entry is at least a good film. “Fruitvale Station” is definitely the darkest on here, and it’s also one of the true pieces of “cinema,” as they say.
“Fruitvale Station” is where Michael B. Jordan and Ryan Coogler’s long-running collaboration began. Coogler directs, while Jordan stars as a 22-year-old Oakland man who was shot and killed by a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer in 2009. The movie ended up being a massive spark for both of their careers, cementing Jordan as a leading man and Coogler as a director to pay attention to.
As the duo told TheWrap in December, Coogler clocked Jordan as a true movie star in their first meeting about the film. “I would look at myself in the bathroom mirror and try to build up the belief that I was gonna be successful, but I never knew how directors or writers or filmmakers thought about me. But when Ryan said it in that Starbucks, that was the first,” Jordan said.
Obviously, he was right. Given where the two men are today, it’s certainly worth going back to their start together.
Blended
Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore have long been rom-com royalty, so fans were thrilled to see them reunite in “Blended” back in 2014.
This time around, they star as single parents; Barrymore’s character has two boys, Sandler’s character has three girls. A blind date between them goes horribly, and yet, they end up hustling their way into the same trip to Africa, thanks to their best friends. As it turns out, the trip was for blended families, meaning they’re forced together for the entirety of it.
Of course, as is typical with this formula, they fall in love along the way, bonding with each other’s kids and realizing they might make a perfect family. It doesn’t break the mold, but who says these movies have to do that?
Is it not enough to simply watch Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler have a goofy little love story for the third time? (With the added bonus that their previous films all get very unsubtle Easter eggs in this one).
