The SLMan Culture List: June
THE SPORTS FILM: Hustle, Netflix
After discovering a once-in-a-lifetime player with a rocky past in Spain, a down-on-his-luck basketball scout (Adam Sandler) takes it upon himself to bring the phenomenon to the States without his team's approval. Against the odds, they have one final shot to prove the potential superstar has what it takes to make it in the NBA. The film also stars Queen Latifah, Ben Foster and Robert Duvall – and is a must-try for anyone who’s recently enjoyed HBO’s Winning Time deep dive into the 80s Lakers.
Out 8th June
Visit Netflix.com
THE BLOCKBUSTER: Jurassic World: Dominion
Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are joined by Jurassic Park OGs Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill in Jurassic World Dominion, a bold new adventure that spans the globe. From Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow, the latest instalment takes place four years after Isla Nublar has been destroyed. Dinosaurs now live – and hunt – alongside humans all over the world. This fragile balance will reshape the future and determine, once and for all, whether human beings will remain the apex predators on a planet they now share with history’s most fearsome creatures.
Out 10th June
Visit Odeon.com
THE TRAVELOGUE: Imagine a City by Mark Vanhoenacker
Growing up in a small town, Mark Vanhoenacker spun the illuminated globe in his bedroom and dreamt of elsewhere – of distant, real cities, and a perfect metropolis that existed only in his imagination. These places were sources of endless fascination and escape. Now, as a commercial airline pilot, Mark has spent nearly two decades crossing the skies of our planet, touching down in the cities he imagined as a child. He experiences these metropolises in short layover visits that repeat month after month and year after year, giving him a unique perspective on the places that form our urban world. Interweaving travelogue with memoir, Mark celebrates the cities he has come to know and love through the lens of the hometown his heart has never left.
Out now
Visit Waterstones.com
THE CRIME DOC: Mr Good: Cop or Crook, Netflix
This true-crime series traces the incredible criminal case against Norwegian policeman Eirik Jensen. The series asks the question that's been gripping the nation since his arrest in 2013: is Jensen the best policeman in Norwegian history or the biggest drug trafficker Scandinavia has ever seen? With unique access to both Jensen and witness Gjermund Cappelen, Mr Good features charismatic, colourful characters and tells the unbelievable story from the pair’s first encounter in the 90s to their potential downfall in a courtroom in 2020. Viewers will be wondering until the end – who is telling the truth?
Out 3rd June
Visit Netflix.com
THE HEAD-SCRATCHER: The Lazarus Project, Sky Atlantic
New Sky Original drama The Lazarus Project promises to be a gripping eight-part action thriller from acclaimed writer Joe Barton (Giri/Haji). When George (Paapa Essiedu, Gangs of London) wakes up one day and finds himself reliving a day from months ago, he thinks he’s lost his mind. Worst of all, he seems to be the only one who’s noticed what’s happened. Until he meets Archie (Anjli Mohindra, Vigil) who recruits him for the Lazarus Project – a secret organisation that has harnessed the ability to turn back time whenever the world is under threat of extinction. Then a freak accident harms someone close to George. Lazarus won’t let him turn back time to undo it – unless there is that threat of global extinction. Now George must choose to stay loyal or go rogue.
Out 16th June
Visit NowTV.com
THE MUSIC MUST-WATCH: Pistol, Disney+
Based on founding Sex Pistols member Steve Jones's memoir Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol, Danny Boyle’s new series is the story of a band of spotty, noisy, working-class kids with "no future" who shook the boring, corrupt Establishment to its core, threatened to bring down the government, and changed music and culture forever. The furious, raging storm at the centre of this revolution are the Sex Pistols themselves. Jones's hilarious, emotional and at times heartbreaking journey guides viewers through a kaleidoscopic telling of three of the most chaotic years in the history of music.
Out now
Visit DisneyPlus.com
THE COFFEE TABLE BOOK: Surfer Magazine: 1960-2020
Founded in 1960 by surfer, artist and filmmaker John Severson, Surfer was the longest continuously published surf magazine, referred to as the bible of the sport. Firmly established as the sport’s leading voice, it served as a template for a small but growing number of surf magazines around the world. This anthology features the most timeless, inspirational and historically significant covers and interior pages from the magazine’s extensive archive and depicts the chronological progression of the sport, the gear, the style, and the world’s top surfers throughout the decades, from Mickey Dora to Kelly Slater and Laird Hamilton.
Out now
Visit WHSmith.co.uk
THE SCI-FI SERIES: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Disney+
Following the success of The Mandalorian, Star Wars fans are rightly excited about Disney’s newest reboot. Obi-Wan Kenobi begins a decade after the dramatic events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith in which Obi-Wan faced his greatest defeat – the downfall and corruption of his best friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, who turned to the dark side as evil Sith Lord Darth Vader. Featuring many of the same cast – from Ewan McGregor to relatively-unheard-of-since Hayden Christensen – while Moses Ingram, Joel Edgerton, Rupert Friend, O’Shea Jackson Jr., and Benny Safdie will join the cast.
Out now
Visit DisneyPlus.com
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER: Spiderhead, Netflix
This new film is based on a New Yorker short story by Booker prize winner George Saunders. In a state-of-the-art penitentiary run by brilliant visionary Steve Abnesti (Chris Hemsworth), inmates wear a surgically attached device that administers shots of mind-altering drugs in exchange for commuted sentences. There are no bars, no cells or orange jumpsuits. In Spiderhead, incarcerated volunteers are free to be themselves. At times, they’re a better version. Need to lighten up? There’s a drug for that. At a loss for words? There’s a drug for that too. But when two subjects, Jeff (Miles Teller) and Lizzy (Jurnee Smollett), form a connection, their path to redemption takes a twistier turn, as Abnesti’s experiments start to push the limits of free will.
Out 17th June
Visit Netflix.com
THE GRITTY WATCH: We Own This City, Sky Atlantic
From the team behind The Wire, We Own This City chronicles the rise and fall of the Baltimore Police Department's gun trace taskforce, and the corruption and moral collapse that befell an American city in which policies of drug prohibition and mass arrest were championed at the expense of actual police work. This six-parter stars Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead), Wunmi Mosaku (Lovecraft Country), Jamie Hector (The Wire) and Josh Charles (The Good Wife).
Out 7th June
Visit NowTV.com
ONE FOR THE KIDS (AND DADS): Lightyear
Details are under wraps for Disney’s newest Toy Story film, which hits cinemas this month. We do know this sci-fi action adventure is the definitive origin story of Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Chris Evans). It follows the legendary Space Ranger on an intergalactic adventure alongside a group of ambitious recruits (Keke Palmer, Dale Soules and Taika Waititi) and his robot companion Sox (Peter Sohn).
Out 17th June
Visit Odeon.com
THE BOOK FOR MUSIC FANS: Let’s Do It by Bob Stanley
A prequel to Bob Stanley's universally acclaimed Yeah Yeah Yeah, this is the first book to tell the definitive story of the birth of pop, from the invention of the 78rpm record at the end of the 19th century to the beginnings of rock and the modern pop age. Taking in superstars such as Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington and Frank Sinatra alongside the unheralded songwriters and arrangers behind some of the world’s most enduring songs, Stanley paints an aural portrait of pop music's formative years, uncovering the silver threads and golden needles that bind it together. Bringing the eclectic, evolving world of early pop to life – from ragtime, blues and jazz to Broadway, country, crooning and beyond – Let's Do It is essential reading for all music lovers.
Out now
Visit Waterstones.com
All products on this page have been selected by our editorial team, however we may make commission on some products.
DISCLAIMER: We endeavour to always credit the correct original source of every image we use. If you think a credit may be incorrect, please contact us at [email protected].
