So many movies, so little time. Every week brings a new crop of them, opening in multiplexes and arthouse theaters across the nation, and arriving in increasingly high volumes on streaming platforms like Netflix. How’s a voracious moviegoer to keep up? That’s where The A.V. Club comes in. The first week of every month, we’ll be previewing all the major movies coming to theaters (or laptops or gaming systems or Rokus) near you, helping narrow down these upcoming releases by making educated guesses on whether they’re worth your time and money.

Dark Phoenix
Theaters everywhere June 7

“The Dark Phoenix Saga” isn’t just the most celebrated arc in the half-century history of the X-Men—it’s also one of the undisputed classics of comic book storytelling, full stop. So maybe it’s not so surprising that Fox is taking another shot at bringing it to the screen, after 2006’s maligned The Last Stand. The plot once again revolves around telepathic Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), whose swelling, expanding powers transform her into the most dangerous mutant on the planet, forcing the rest of the X-Men—plus frequent frenemy Magneto (Michael Fassbender)—to confront the threat of world destruction she poses. Directed by Simon Kinberg, who wrote many of the franchise’s previous entries (including, um, The Last Stand), Dark Phoenix will presumably close out this chapter of the X-Men movie saga.
Will it be worth your time? Bumpy though it’s been, the X-Men series deserves a proper climax before Marvel-Disney ushers its cast of mutant characters into a different overstuffed universe. Sadly, Dark Phoenix isn’t it: As we wrote in our full review, it’s a curiously skimpy blockbuster, and even setting aside that the franchise has already tackled this storyline, the movie offers little that X-fans haven’t seen before. Also, major points off for wasting Jessica Chastain in a truly generic villain role. 

The Secret Life Of Pets 2 
Theaters everywhere June 7

Having neutered any potential PR disasters, Illumination is free to let its hit animated franchise off the leash, with Patton Oswalt stepping in for the fired Louis CK, and no lingering unpleasantness to distract from the adorable existential angst of cute puppies and kitties. As the neurotic terrier Max, Oswalt heads up another voice cast seemingly recorded in the Largo green room: Jenny Slate, Ellie Kemper, Hannibal Buress, Bobby Moynihan, Lake Bell, Dana Carvey, Eric Stonestreet, and Kevin Hart all return, alongside new additions Tiffany Haddish, Pete Holmes, and Nick Kroll. Most notably, Harrison Ford makes his animated debut as a grouchy, presumably press-averse sheepdog who helps Max overcome anxieties about his owner’s new baby, all while the rest of the menagerie get into myriad hijinks revolving around a sinister Russian circus.
Will it be worth your time? Like the original, Secret Life Of Pets 2 has a screwy, Looney Tunes sensibility to match the outsized personalities of its cast. However, it’s busy in a way that feels smaller and more scattered, barely trying to make its multiple unrelated subplots coalesce.

Late Night
Select theaters June 7

Mindy Kaling makes the leap to the big screen with a movie set behind the scenes of the small one. The Office alum and Mindy Project creator wrote and stars in this comedy about an inexperienced but eager joke-writer who lands a plum gig supplying zingers for a late-night show. But the job is much more grueling than she could have managed—in part because her male, Harvard-educated coworkers dismiss her as unqualified, but also because her showbiz hero, a veteran talk-show host played by Emma Thompson, turns out to be something of a nightmare boss. It’s a Devil Wears Prada for the fast-paced world of nightly television, directed by prolific sitcom helmer Nisha Ganatra.
Will it be worth your time? Thompson is terrific as the aging TV star, fighting to reinvent herself (and save her show) after years of coasting on her legacy. But as our official review notes, Late Night is otherwise muddled, striking an uneasy balance between withering industry insight and an easy uplift supplied by professed romantic-comedy enthusiast Kaling.

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