Best international series and movies on Showmax in June, from Mare of Easttown to Younger S7 to Outpost to Dark Knight trilogy and more

MARE OF EASTTOWN |

HBO’s latest drama Mare of Easttown stars Oscar winner Kate Winslet (Mildred Pierce, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Titanic) as small-town detective Mare Sheehan, who must investigate a murder while trying to keep her life from falling apart.

Critics Choice nominee Julianne Nicholson (The Outsider, I, Tonya, August: Osage County), three-time Emmy winner Jean Smart (Watchmen, Fargo), Teen Choice nominee Evan Peters (American Horror Story, and X-Men’s Quicksilver) and Golden Globe nominee Guy Pearce (The Hurt Locker, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) co-star.

The seven-episode series holds a 92% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics consensus says Winslet is at her “career-best”, and an 8.6/10 score on IMDb, where it’s currently at #1 on the Most Popular TV list. The Guardian hailed the series as “a stunning, harrowing success… a murder mystery that kept us guessing right to the profoundly moving end.”

FRIENDS: THE REUNION | Stream now

Ladies and gentlemen, can we have an OMG? (And all the tissues!) It’s Friends: The Reunion, also known as “The One Where They Get Back Together.”

Join Jennifer Aniston (Rachel), Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe), Matt LeBlanc (Joey), Matthew Perry (Chandler), Courteney Cox (Monica), and David Schwimmer (Ross) for all the feels as they return to the iconic comedy’s original soundstage for a real-life unscripted celebration of the beloved show.

They’ll visit the original sets, do table reads from classic Friends scripts, re-enact some of the best moments from the show, and share behind-the-scenes footage as they look back at the legendary Friends years and the enduring pop culture phenomenon that’s still the ultimate go-to for those deep-binge long weekends.

Currently at #2 on IMDb’s Most Popular TV list, Friends: The Reunion is hosted by James Corden and features guests like Lady Gaga, David Beckham, Justin Bieber, BTS, Kit Harington, and Reese Witherspoon.

THE WALKING DEAD S10 | Binge episodes 1-6 now, with the final six episodes arriving 4 June

Based on Robert Kirkman’s hit comics, The Walking Dead is the definitive zombie show, having won 78 awards globally, including Emmys, People’s Choice and Critics Choice awards.

Among other awards, The Walking Dead was nominated as Best Horror Series at both the Critics Choice Super Awards and The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films in 2021. Season 10 has an 83% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus is, “A few changes in front of and behind the camera allow The Walking Dead to create space for compelling new stories and some seriously scary new adversaries.” The series remains a favourite on IMDb’s Most Popular TV list, where it’s currently at #15, with an 8.2/10 score.

Norman Reedus and Danai Gurira return in their People’s Choice-nominated roles as Daryl and Michonne, as does Melissa McBride in her Critics Choice-nominated role as Carol. Jeffrey Dean Morgan is also still alive as Negan, a role that won him MTV and Critics Choice awards, but the bigger threat this season is two-time Oscar nominee Samantha Morton (Harlots, In America, Minority Report) as Alpha, the leader of the Whisperers, who wear the skins of zombies, and live among them… Morton was nominated for a 2021 Critics Choice Super Award for Best Villain for the role.

YOUNGER S7 | Binge from 11 June 2021

For six seasons, Younger has kept fans guessing: will Liza (Sutton Foster in a Critics Choice-nominated performance) choose Charles (Peter Hermann) or Josh (Nico Tortorello)? Now, in Season 7, she’s going to have to decide once and for all, because, not only has Charles proposed, but it’s the final season… (Although, advance warning, the trailer suggests there’s a third option this season: surf legend Kai Manning).

From Sex and the City creator Darren Star, Younger is set in the publishing world of New York City. The cast includes Hilary Duff in a People’s Choice and Teen Choice-nominated role as Kelsey; Miriam Shor in a Critics Choice-nominated performance as Diana; and Screen Actors Guild award nominee Debi Mazar (Entourage) as Maggie.

Younger has a 99% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with The New York Times hailing it as “escapism at its fantastical best.”

BETTY S2 | New episodes every Monday from 14 June, same day as 1Magic

Based on Crystal Moselle’s critically acclaimed feature Skate Kitchen, HBO’s half-hour series Betty is back for a second season as it continues to follow a diverse group of young women navigating their lives through New York’s predominantly male-oriented skateboarding scene. The comedy stars Dede Lovelace, Moonbear, Nina Moran, Ajani Russell, and Rachelle Vinberg, who all reprise their roles from the original film.

Betty has a 97% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where Season 1 was the fourth best-reviewed young adult series of 2020. As the critics consensus there puts it, “Earnest, audacious, and effortlessly cool, Betty captures the spirit of skating and friendship with style.”

“Betty looks like how being a teenager feels,” says Variety about Season 1, “…with such visceral verve that you can practically feel the wind whipping through your own hair through the screen.” They also praise the performances, saying, “Every actor is … so immediately comfortable in their roles and rhythms that the show often feels more like a documentary than a scripted show. But it is, and an especially well-plotted one given that it only has six episodes to give everyone a decently satisfying arc.”

INTO THE DARK S2 | Binge now

In this horror anthology from Oscar-nominated producer Jason Blum (Us, Get Out, The Purge), each episode is inspired by a holiday, from Halloween to Thanksgiving, Christmas to New Year’s Eve.

Look out for the likes of Critics Choice nominees Harvey Guillén (Guillermo in What We Do In The Shadows) and Carly Chaikin (Mr. Robot, Suburgatory), Teen Choice winner Josephine Langford (After), Teen Choice nominee Judy Greer (Ant-man, Jurassic World), and MTV Movie Awards nominee Dermot Mulroney (My Best Friend’s Wedding, August: Osage County).

Into The Dark was nominated for Best Series at the Fangoria Chainsaw Awards 2020 and won the 2020 Imagen Award for Best Primetime Program.

CHARMED S3 | Binge episodes 1-10 now, with episodes 11-14 arriving on 28 June.

This teen favourite reboot of the popular original series follows three sisters: Macy (Madeleine Mantock from Into the Badlands), Mel (Black Reel nominee Melonie Diaz from Fruitvale Station) and Maggie (Sarah Jeffery from Descendants). Following the death of their mother, they discover they are a powerful trio of good witches, known as the Charmed Ones.

Charmed was nominated for two 2019 Teen Choice Awards, for Choice TV Actress: Fantasy/Sci-Fi (Diaz) and Choice TV Show: Fantasy/Sci-Fi, as well as a 2019 Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Television Series. In addition, Charmed won a 2020 Leo Award for Best Production Design and child actor Isla Sunar scooped a 2020 Joey Award for Best Featured Actress in a TV Series (5-7 Years).

Movies

THE OUTPOST | Stream from 21 June

The Outpost is Rotten Tomatoes’ second-best-reviewed Action and Adventure film of 2020, with a 93% critics rating. As the critics consensus says, “Told with gripping realism, The Outpost is a thrilling technical feat and a worthy tribute to military heroes.”

As members of a small team of American soldiers outnumbered by the Taliban in Afghanistan, Teen Choice Award winners Orlando Bloom (The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean) and Clint Eastwood’s son, Scott Eastwood (Suicide Squad, Fast and Furious 8, Pacific Rim: Uprising) co-star with Caleb Landry Jones (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri).

The Outpost was nominated as Best Action Movie at the 2021 Critics Choice Super Awards, where Landry Jones was also nominated as Best Actor: Action.

RICHARD JEWELL | First on Showmax | Stream now

Named one of the American Film Institute’s Movies of the Year in 2020, Richard Jewell is the true story of the security guard who became a hero after finding the device at the 1996 Atlanta bombing, but then became the FBI’s number one suspect, vilified by press and public alike, his life ripped apart.

Paul Walter Hauser won the National Board of Review’s Breakthrough Performance Award as the title character, with Kathy Bates (American Horror Story) nominated for an Oscar and Golden Globe as his mother, and Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) winning Best Supporting Actor at the Faro Island Film Festival as his lawyer. Golden Globe winner Jon Hamm (Mad Men, Good Omens, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) and Teen Choice nominee Olivia Wilde (House M.D., TRON: Legacy) co-star.

Directed by four-time Oscar winner Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby, Unforgiven), Richard Jewell was hailed as “unforgettable” by The Observer.

THE HIGH NOTE | Stream from 17 June

2020 music drama The High Note sees a superstar singer and her overworked personal assistant presented with a choice that could alter the course of their respective careers.

The High Note stars Golden Globe winners Dakota Johnson (The Social Network, and the Fifty Shades movies) and Tracee Ellis Ross (Black-ish, Girlfriends), who was nominated for a 2020 People’s Choice Award and a Black Reel Award for her role as R&B singer and mega-star Grace Davis. BAFTA nominee Kelvin Harrison Jr. (Waves, The Trial of the Chicago 7), Critics Choice nominee Bill Pullman (The Sinner, Independence Day), rapper Ice Cube and Emmy-winning comedian Eddie Izzard co-star.

FilmWeek calls it, “an enchanting and escapist summer movie … with so much love of music in its soul.”

OUR TOWNS | First on Showmax | Stream now

Amidst the turbulence and division of recent years in America’s history, HBO’s documentary feature Our Towns finds a different story: the tale of eight towns across the US where the rise of civic and economic reinvention is transforming communities.

Presented by journalists James and Deborah Fallows based on their bestselling book Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America, this panoramic yet intimate view of small towns across the United States has an 88% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Washington Post saying, “As an exercise in sincerity, fellowship and earnest inquiry, it might be the most subversive movie in circulation right now.”

Our Towns is directed by Oscar nominees Steven Ascher and Jeanne Jordan (So Much So Fast, Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern).

THE DAY SPORTS STOOD STILL | First on Showmax | Stream now

The HBO documentary film The Day Sports Stood Still tells the story of the unprecedented sports shutdown in March of 2020 and the events that followed. Emmy-winning director Antoine Fuqua (What’s My Name: Muhammad Ali, Training Day) chronicles the abrupt stoppage due to Covid-19, how top athletes made their voices heard in the cultural and political reckoning on racial injustice in America, and the complex return to competition as the sports world tries to find its new normal. ‌

The documentary captures a broad swath of voices and experiences, exploring how the pandemic pressed pause on their careers, but also changed their lives in dramatic and surprising ways. The film features everyone from an NFL Super Bowl champion who volunteers in the ER, to a defending WNBA champ who decided to sit out the 2020 season to focus on protesting racial injustice. ‌

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE…

Also catch these modern classics this month:

THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY | Stream now

The all-star cast of Christopher Nolan’s unforgettable The Dark Knight trilogy – Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises – includes Oscar winners Christian Bale (The Fighter), Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain), Michael Caine (The Cider House Rules), Gary Oldman (Mank, Darkest Hour), Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables), and Morgan Freeman (Se7en). The trilogy racked up three Oscars, and is still regarded as among the best superhero franchises of all time. Also catch the DC blockbusters Man of Steel, starring Henry Cavill, and Green Lantern, starring Ryan Reynolds.

GRAVITY | 24 June

Led by Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, Gravity is one of the most successful sci-fi films of all time, with a worldwide gross of $723m in 2013 and seven Academy Awards, including Best Director for multi-Oscar winner Alfonso Cuarón (Roma, Children of Men).

A SHERLOCK HOLMES DOUBLE-FEATURE | 21 June
Robert Downey Jr. plays the ultimate eccentric genius detective, Sherlock, opposite Jude Law as Watson, in Guy Ritchie’s 2009 film, Sherlock Holmes, which was nominated for two Oscars and became the 8th-biggest movie of the year, grossing over $520m worldwide. Also catch the 2011 sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN | Stream now

Directed by Oscar winner Ang Lee (Life of Pi, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and adapted from the short story by Annie Proulx, the groundbreaking 2005 drama Brokeback Mountain won three Oscars and is still considered a cinematic milestone for LGBTQIA+ representation in the mainstream media. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger, who were both nominated for Oscars for their roles.

THE BLIND SIDE | Stream now

Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for her performance in sports drama The Blind Side, alongside Teen Choice nominee Quinton Aaron (Halfway), Oscar winner Kathy Bates (Richard Jewell, American Horror Story), Golden Globe nominee Lily Collins (Emily in Paris) and Grammy-winning country music icon Tim McGraw. Directed by BAFTA nominee John Lee Hancock (Saving Mr. Banks), this biographical story of a homeless boy who became an All-American football player grossed over $300m worldwide in 2009.

Also catch Bullock starring opposite Hugh Grant in the classic romcom Two Weeks Notice, which saw her nominated for the 2003 Teen Choice Awards for Choice Movie Actress and Choice Movie Hissy Fit.

WE’RE THE MILLERS | 17 June

A small-time drug dealer enlists a fake family in a bid to smuggle drugs across the US border in the blockbuster comedy, We’re the Millers, which grossed over $270m worldwide and won two MTV Movie Awards, as well as a Teen Choice Award for Emma Roberts, who co-stars with Jennifer Aniston (Friends, The Morning Show).

WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING | Stream now

Nominated for a People’s Choice Award for Favourite Comedy and for six Teen Choice Awards, What to Expect When You’re Expecting’s ensemble cast includes Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick (Love Life), Emmy winner Chris Rock (Fargo) and nominee Elizabeth Banks (The Hunger Games), and Golden Globe nominees Jennifer Lopez (Hustlers), Cameron Diaz (There’s Something About Mary), Matthew Morrison (Glee), and Dennis Quaid (Far From Heaven).

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE…

Also look out for two Oscar nominees – Blood Diamond, with Oscar winners Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly, and Eraser, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger – as well as the award-winning medical disaster thriller Outbreak, starring Oscar winners Dustin Hoffman (Tootsie, Rain Man), Morgan Freeman (Se7en) and Cuba Gooding Jr (Empire). For even more movies, go here. Browse everything coming to Showmax this June here.