We’re at the end of June, having reached the mid-point of the year. And it came with a flurry of new releases in theaters and on streaming. Below is my take on all the new movies from this last weekend in June. If you want to keep up with everything I’m watching, please follow me on Letterboxd @knighthawk7734.

A Family Affair (Netflix)
Starring: Zac Efron, Nicole Kidman, Joey King, and Kathy Bates
Synopsis: The latest from Netflix is a romantic comedy about an unlikely pairing. As we open, Chris Cole (Efron) is a big movie star. Zara Ford (King) is his put upon assistant. She took the job because she was promised a path to learn the business and move into producing. Two years later and nothing has changed for her, aside from her becoming more stressed by Chris and his never-ending string of needs. She lives at home with her mother, Brooke (Kidman), a writer who lost her own husband—Zara’s father—15 years earlier but still hasn’t moved on. After Chris and Zara have a falling out, leading to Zara quitting, Chris is lost. When he shows up on Zara’s doorstep to woo her back to her job, he encounters her mother instead. Despite an age gap and having Zara in the middle, sparks fly. But will Chris and Brooke find a way to make it work? If you’re thinking this kind of plot setup seems eerily familiar, that’s because we got a similar version with the Prime Video release The Idea of You, which dropped in May and featuring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine. Because of the similarity of idea and proximity of release, it invites comparison between the two. In this case, I didn’t care for this version as much. There are some amusing moments, and it has a decent cast. I enjoyed Bates in her role, and I liked some of King’s arc. But I didn’t buy into the romance between Efron and Kidman much. It comes together awkwardly, as does much of the story. This has some better comedic moments than the Prime Video version, but it’s overall less compelling. It’s fine, but hardly worth seeking out.
Rating: Rated PG-13 for sexual content, partial nudity and some strong language.

Fancy Dance (Apple TV+)
Starring: Lily Gladstone, Isabel Delroy-Olson, Shea Whigham, and Ryan Begay
Synopsis: The latest from Apple is a film from Erica Tremblay that focuses on a Native American story and stars Gladstone, who scored an Oscar nomination for Apple in 2023 for her work on Killers of the Flower Moon. This is a contemporary story focused on Jax (Gladstone) who is trying to eke out a living while staying with her sister and her niece, Roki (Delroy-Olson). With her sister missing, Jax has turned into Roki’s guardian while she strives to find her sister with the help of her half-brother JJ (Begay), a member of the tribal police. When Jax’s estranged father, Frank (Whigham), re-enters the picture, it threatens to drive a wedge between Roki and Jax. This is an engaging and heart-rending story, at times. Gladstone gives a good performance, as does Delroy-Olson. Whigham does a nice job in a supporting role, too. The film starts a bit slow and takes some time to find its feet, but I enjoyed the third act, particularly the haunting, memorable, and emotionally rich final sequence. Gladstone is a star and it’s worth seeing her in this new role.
Rating: Rated R for language, some drug content and sexual material.

Horizon: An American Saga, Chapter 1 (Theaters)
Starring: Kevin Costner, Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Luke Wilson, Michael Rooker, Abbey Lee, and Jena Malone
Synopsis: This sweeping epic tells the story of the expansion of the American West. Rather, it tells many individual stories, all set in about the same time and place. It takes place over the course of 15 years, beginning in 1859 just prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. In this first of four planned chapters, we meet a cavalcade of characters. That includes a widow (Miller), whose husband and son were killed in an Apache attack, an Army lieutenant (Worthington) dealing with the pitfalls of the west, and a gun hand (Costner) drawn into some drama that leads to him caring for a woman and a small baby. This is a big, sprawling epic. And as it’s the first of four planned films, there are a lot of introductions but few, if any, resolutions despite a three-hour run time. Still, I enjoyed the setting and the performances. Costner has a long, proud history with westerns, and he brings that love of the genre and attention to detail to this story. It feels epic and cinematic, drawing you into the stories and the world. I can’t wait to see where this goes as I think we’ll only full appreciate them all once the complete picture is painted.
Rating: Rated R for violence, some nudity and sexuality.

Kinds of Kindness (Theaters)
Starring: Jesse Plemons, Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Mamoudou Athie, Hong Chau, and Joe Alwyn
Synopsis: Yorgos Lanthimos has had a good run in the past year. His last film, Poor Things, won four Academy Awards, including Best Actress for Stone. Now, just a few months after the ceremony, director and star are back with another complex drama in Kinds of Kindness. This film is really three films in one—with three independent stories told within this production, each featuring the same cast in new roles. They are loosely connected, though an audience wouldn’t be blamed for struggling to see the connections. That being said, I won’t belabor this section with a big discussion of plot here. Instead, I will note this is wildly creative and unique. It’s also incredibly strange. The narratives are awkward and, at times, difficult to sit through. It feels overly long, too. Your interest in each of the three stories may vary as well. This is a big swing, and I appreciate the creativity and the craft. But the stories didn’t work for me, and this ended up being a big miss.
Rating: Rated R for strong/disturbing violent content, strong sexual content, full nudity and language.

Matthew Fox is a graduate of the Radio, Television and Film program at Biola University, and a giant nerd. He spends his free time watching movies, TV, and obsessing about football. He is a member of the FSWA. You can find him @knighthawk7734 on Twitter and as co-host of the Fantasy Football Roundtable Podcast.