‘28 Days’ (June 30)
Years before winning an Oscar for “The Blind Side,” Sandra Bullock revealed the first hints of her considerable range in this engaging serio-comic drama from the director Betty Thomas (“Private Parts”) and the screenwriter Susannah Grant (“Erin Brockovich”). Bullock stars as a fast-living New York writer whose functional alcoholism is becoming less functional; she checks into a rehabilitation facility only when ordered to do so to avoid jail time for a D.U.I. As Michael Keaton did in 1988’s “Clean and Sober,” Bullock allows the loose formula of the rehab narrative to stretch her acting chops without eschewing the charm and charisma that made her a movie star. It’s a scrappy, alive performance, and Steve Buscemi provides able support as the counselor who has seen it all before.
‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ (June 30)
With this 1984 exploration of terror, dreams and the American suburbs, Wes Craven created one of the finest horror pictures of the 1980s, and one of its most popular boogeymen, Fred Krueger (Robert Englund). Krueger, a long-dead child murderer, begins invading the dreams of teenagers, resulting in their grisly deaths. Heather Langenkamp is a charismatic protagonist, while Johnny Depp makes a memorable feature film debut as her beau. Several of the film’s numerous sequels (and its ill-advised 2010 remake) also leave Netflix this month; “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors” is probably the best of the bunch, though the second and fourth installments have their fans.
‘Annie’ (June 30)
John Huston’s adaptation of the long-running Broadway smash was not well received by critics (including ours) when it hit theaters in 1982. But kids who saw it at the time — and were, to be fair, the target audience — adored it, and have maintained that affection in the decades since. It’s not hard to see why; the star Aileen Quinn is a cheerful audience surrogate as the title character, a precocious and plucky Great Depression-era orphan, Albert Finney is suitably stiff-upper-lipped as the millionaire who adopts her, Ann Reinking is dazzling as his personal secretary, and Carol Burnett, Tim Curry and Bernadette Peters provide ample and earthy comic relief.
‘Fear’ (June 30)
“Surprise, surprise,” our critic wrote. “Mark Wahlberg, the pug-faced actor formerly known as Marky Mark, could be on the verge of full-fledged movie stardom.” It seemed a laughable notion — that the rapper and underwear model fancied himself a thespian, but Wahlberg proved himself the real deal with this 1996 erotic thriller, part of the era’s “[blank] from hell” (nanny, mistress, secretary, etc.) cycle. Wahlberg plays the boyfriend from hell, a smoldering bad boy who sets his sights on a 16-year-old good girl (an excellent Reese Witherspoon), much to the chagrin of her overprotective father (a pre- “CSI” William Petersen). The director James Foley, who made the marvelous “Glengarry Glen Ross” earlier in the decade, cheerfully embraces the conventions of the subgenre; “Fear” is trash, but it’s deftly made, deliciously entertaining trash.
‘Firestarter’ (June 30)
Little Drew Barrymore’s first film after the global sensation of “E.T.” was this sleek adaptation of a Stephen King book, directed with flashes of flair by Mark L. Lester (“Commando”). Barrymore stars as Charlie McGee, the daughter of a pair of test subjects in a government experiment involving mind-altering substances. As a result, her parents have telepathic abilities, and Charlie can control heat and fire with her mind — which makes her a target for the government, and a dangerous one at that. The loaded supporting cast includes Art Carney, Louise Fletcher, David Keith, Heather Locklear, George C. Scott and Martin Sheen.
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