It’s no news to anyone who watches TV—especially local crime coverage—that the beat has devolved into a cesspool of gore and “hot content.” Writer-director Dan Gilroy’s viciously funny film starts from that premise, twinning the sleazy nightly hunt for shocking footage with the career ambitions of a closet psycho (Jake Gyllenhaal, never better) who, naturally, rises to the top. Closer in spirit to the media-amplified perversity of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, Nightcrawler feels like a major portrait of a sick, insatiable appetite.
As we write this, June hasn’t unleashed its full, sweltering fury—but you know it’s coming, right? Nothing will be better than escaping the heat and thumbing up a title or two on Netflix. This month brings some sterling selections, including last year’s Nightcrawler (a new Taxi Driver in our midst) and the extraordinary social drama Two Days, One Night. Here are five picks that’ll make it worth your while to sit out the sunshine, plus the complete list of everything else debuting this month.