The movies you should see this month

The Fault in Our Stars

The month of June starts off with the fifth annual Festival des films de la relève, June 5–7. It focuses on Canadian film students and filmmakers who are just starting out, between the ages of 18–35.

In the mainstream, you can check out Jon Favreau’s comedy/food porn Chef, starring John Leguizamo, Scarlett Johansson, Dustin Hoffman and Robert Downey Jr., about a chef (Favreau) who starts a food truck business after he loses his restaurant (June 6). Doug Liman (Bourne trilogy) directs Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt in action/sci-fi Edge of Tomorrow, about an alien-fighting soldier who’s stuck in a Groundhog Day-esque loop of his final day of battle (June 6). Bring your tissues to The Fault in Our Stars, a drama/romance based on the John Green novel. Shailene Woodley stars as a young cancer patient who finds love at a support group meeting (June 6). Lowell Dean’s comedic horror flick WolfCop delivers what’s in the title: the story of an alcoholic cop/werewolf (June 6). Mike Myers makes his directorial debut with documentary Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon, about the famous Hollywood insider and music manager (June 6). John Curran’s (We Don’t Live Here Anymore) adventure/drama Tracks is based on a memoir by Robyn Davidson, wherein a young woman (Mia Wasikowska) treks 1,700 miles across the deserts of West Australia with four camels and a dog (June 6).

Action comedy 22 Jump Street, the sequel to 2012’s cinematic adaptation of Johnny Depp’s ’80s TV show 21 Jump Street, has Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill reprising their roles as undercover cops, this time at a local college (June 13). The highly successful animated film How to Train Your Dragon also gets a sequel, with Montrealer Jay Baruchel reprising the role of Hiccup (June 13). Andrew Levitas’s (The Art of Getting By) Lullaby stars Garrett Hedlund as an estranged son who has to make his way back to his family home as his long-ailing father (Richard Jenkins) will soon be taken off life support (June 13). Richard Ayoade’s (Submarine, The IT Crowd) highly anticipated The Double stars Jesse Eisenberg as a government agency clerk whose new co-worker is his exact physical double but also his opposite (June 13).

Fantasia festival fave Richie Mehta’s mystery/sci-fi I’ll Follow You Down stars Gillian Anderson and a full-grown Haley Joel Osment as the family members of a missing scientist using unconventional means to find him (June 20). Christopher Walken stars in Clint Eastwood’s adaptation of the hit Tony Award-winning musical Jersey Boys, based on the formation of the Four Seasons (June 20). An ex-soldier tries to track down the men who stole his only possession in The Rover, a film set a decade after global economic collapse, starring Robert Pattinson and Guy Pearce (June 20). Comedy Think Like a Man Too is a sequel to 2012’s Think Like a Man, based on the book by Steve Harvey (June 20).

They Came Together sounds like an average romcom, but stars Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler and is directed by David Wain, who helmed cult comedy Wet Hot American Summer (June 27). Mark Wahlberg cashes another cheque from Michael Bay’s new addition to the Transfomers franchise: Age of Extinction (June 27). Scott Derrickson’s (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) horror/thriller Deliver Us From Evil stars Eric Bana as a police officer investigating a series of crimes with an unconventional priest (July 2). In what could be interpreted as a farcical rethink of Thelma & Louise, Melissa McCarthy and Susan Sarandon co-star in Tammy, about a woman who loses everything and decides to leave town with her profane, hard-drinking grandmother (July 2). And in adventure/sci-fi Earth to Echo, a group of kids team up with an alien who needs their help—imagine a less cool E.T. (July 2).

At Cinéma du Parc, check out Palo Alto, based on James Franco’s short story collection, starring Franco and Emma Roberts, directed by Gia Coppola (Sofia’s niece!) (June 6). On June 10–11, Parc screens 1970s disco-horror Discopathe by Montreal director Renaud Gauthier. On June 12–14, there’s local comedy My Guys, starring Kendall Savage as the only lady in a predominantly gay male friend group who feels threatened by a new girl on the scene. Polish documentary We Are Here explores the impact of war, specifically on five people and their families trying to find their place as Jews in the new Poland—it opens June 13. And on June 20, you can check out Pawel Pawlikowski’s (My Summer of Love) drama Ida, about a young nun in 1960s Poland who discovers a dark family secret that dates back to Nazi occupation.

Here’s what’s up at the Phi Centre: Ramiro Belanger’s drama Clydecynic, about a young self-proclaimed master of hypnosis, on June 9; French documentary Danger Dave, about the final stage of professional skateboarder David Martelleur’s career, on June 11; Dutch thriller (and 2013 Palme d’Or nominee) Borgman, about a vagrant entering the lives of an arrogant wealthy couple and turning everything into a psychological nightmare, on June 21; and The Immigrant, starring Marion Cotillard as a newcomer to Manhattan who’s forced into prostitution, on July 3. ■