The best movies new to streaming in June 2023, with great movies to watch on Netflix, Max, and more. Watch Terminator 2 and Magic Mike on Netflix this month.
Happy June, Polygon readers! It’s officially summer, which means we’re officially in the season of blockbusters.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny are among this month’s most anticipated releases, not to mention the plethora of other exciting releases just around the corner. If you’re not feeling up to venturing out into the summer heat, don’t worry — there’s a fresh selection of great movies to choose from on Netflix, Max (formerly HBO Max), Prime Video, and Hulu this month.
Our roundup of the best movies to hit streaming this June includes James Cameron’s classic 1991 follow-up Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike starring Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey, Gore Verbinski’s 2002 American remake of The Ring, and Creed starring Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone, among other options.
Let’s get to it!New on NetflixTerminator 2: Judgment Day
Year: 1991
Genre: Sci-fi action
Run time: 2h 17m
Director: James Cameron
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick
James Cameron’s not just the “king of the world,” he’s the undisputed king of movie sequels. Mind you, he’s only directed three sequels to date in his illustrious film career, but when one of those is a modern cinematic masterpiece (Avatar: The Way of Water) and the other casts an indomitable shadow over the landscape of sci-fi horror video games (Aliens), it’s fair to say he’s more than earned the title. Cameron’s greatest sequel, however, is the follow-up to his 1984 sci-fi action film The Terminator.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day is the platonic ideal of sci-fi tentpole sequels. At once deepening the audience’s existing knowledge of the prior film’s universe and stakes and throwing a few iconic surprises in the mix, Judgment Day ratchets up the action while building a strong emotional storyline around its trio of protagonists as they race to prevent a deadly threat from the future from completing its terrifying mission of human extinction. From its chase sequences and action set-pieces to its cutting-edge computer-animated special effects that still astound audiences to this day, Terminator 2: Judgment Day is the undisputed peak of the franchise and requisite viewing for any lover of action cinema, sci-fi or otherwise. —Toussaint Egan
Terminator 2: Judgment Day is streaming on Netflix.Magic Mike
Year: 2012
Genre: Comedy-drama
Run time: 1h 50m
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Cast: Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Matthew McConaughey
While many (understandably) prefer the road-trip pleasures of the sequel, Magic Mike XXL, I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for the original. Magic Mike is an excellent subversive rom-com, inverting many standard gender tropes in the genre, while also being a moving story about the gaps in the American Dream.
