10 Best Movies on Peacock Right Now (June 2026): ‘Lorne’ and More

Saturday Night Live has been on the air for 50 years and for most of that time, Lorne Michaels has been the comedy wizard behind its Rockefeller Center curtain. After decades of operating behind the scenes, the creator and producer of one of the most influential shows ever made finally gets his time in the limelight with Lorne, a new two-hour documentary from Academy Award winner Morgan Neville.

As you can expect, the doc contains interviews from many of the stars he helped launch, like Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph, Chris Rock and Andy Samberg, as well as guest hosts like John Mulaney and Conan O’ Brien. What emerges is a fascinating portrait of a man obsessed with creating the best sketch comedy show that has ever existed. I think he succeeded on that front.

Steven Spielberg’s alien invasion flick Disclosure Day invades theaters this summer, but it’s a subject he’s tackled before in the masterful Close Encounters of the Third Kind. After witnessing a UFO fly across the night sky, Indiana resident Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) becomes obsessed with finding out what these unexpected visitors want — and where they’ll end up. Alongside worried mother Jillian (Melinda Dillon), whose son is seemingly abducted by another UFO, Roy crosses the country to reach Devils Tower, where he thinks the aliens will eventually land. 

Released in the same year as Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind presents a relatively realistic vision of humankind’s first contact with alien life. Majestic and terrifying, the movie accurately conveys the sheer awe and strangeness of what that might be like and how it might feel for “regular” folk like Roy. The movie’s Oscar-nominated special effects still astound, as does the confident, nearly flawless direction by Spielberg, who was only 31 when the film came out in 1977.

All 17-year-old Elio (Timothée Chalamet) wants to do for the summer is read, play the piano, lay by the swimming pool and maybe make out with the local Italian girl who’s clearly into him. But Elio’s lazy summer gets a rude awakening when Oliver (Armie Hammer) arrives to help his professor father on a research project. Elio is at first resentful of the handsome stranger’s intrusion, but that soon gives way to romantic feelings that Oliver seems to reciprocate. Is this summer affair simply momentary lust between them, or do they share a connection that’s more intimate and permanent?

Nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Chalamet, Call Me by Your Name is already one of the great summer movies of all time. Its depiction of a sunny Italian countryside is gorgeous without resorting to Hallmark cliches, while its central romance is both swoonworthy and heartbreaking all at once. Director Luca Guadagnino makes erotic films for the mind — he suggests sex more than shows it, and here he paints an intoxicating portrait of a summertime romance that was fated to end right from the start. 

Based on the 2020 novel by Maggie O’Farrell (who also co-wrote the screenplay), Hamnet dramatises the life of William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and his wife, Agnes (Jessie Buckley), who are confronted with an unthinkable tragedy that ends up inspiring one of Shakespeare’s greatest works. In 16th-century England, Shakespeare and Agnes marry and have three children together, including Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe). But when Hamnet tragically dies at a young age, the grief melds with Shakespeare’s creation of Hamlet.

Hamnet is a deeply poignant historical drama that will have you clutching at tissues with brute force, and many people who caught it in theaters noted that there truly wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Buckley and Mescal are brilliant together, bringing raw emotion and intensity to their performances, but the real breakout is a terrific child performance from Jupe. Directed by Chloé Zhao, the film prioritizes atmosphere and feeling over spectacle, and what results is a haunting meditation on grief and art.

In 1988, alcoholic musician Mike Sardina (Hugh Jackman) and hairdresser Claire Stengl (Kate Hudson) haven’t found much prestige becoming stars in their own right, so they decide to team up and form a Neil Diamond tribute band called Lightning & Thunder. Based on a true story, Song Sung Blue follows the two formerly down-on-their-luck singers as they discover that it’s never too late to do what you love, and find who you love.

While based on the documentary of the same name, Song Sung Blue manages to carve out its own narrative path separate from the story of the documentary directed by Greg Kohs. Instead, Craig Gillespie‘s biopic is a charming and heartfelt fable that is carried by the emotional performances and palpable chemistry between Hudson and Jackman. Plus, what’s not to love about hearing classics like “Sweet Caroline?” In the end, Song Sung Blue shines as an irresistable crowdpleaser.

Wes Anderson is one of the most consistent directors of his generation — you know what to expect from each of his pictures, and they are all more or less pretty good. But he knocked it out of the park with Asteroid City, a loopy, Looney Tunes-inspired comedy that sneakily transforms into a moving meditation on art and the universal human need to tell stories. 

At a young astronomers’ convention in the titular desert city, a UFO suddenly appears and takes a meteorite from a crater in the town’s center. This amazing extraterrestrial first contact makes national news, resulting in a cadre of assorted reporters, scientists and religious groups to visit the city to see if the UFO will return. In the middle of all this chaos, a recently widowed father, Woodrow (Jason Schwartzman), struggles to reconcile his still lingering grief with a blossoming romance with famous film actress Midge (Scarlett Johansson). 

That’s the basic plot of Asteroid City, but there’s so much more going on, like a framing device that makes everything you’re watching an elaborate play that’s also being filmed as a television documentary. Confused? Well, that’s only natural, but it’s also what makes Asteroid City so effective, moving — and strikingly different from the director’s previous works. With a cast that includes Tom Hanks, Tilda Swinton, Adrien Brody and Margot Robbie, the movie is packed with enough starpower to keep you engaged, even when you get a little lost in its surreal story.

After his parents take him to a screening of The Greatest Show on Earth, young Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel Labelle) falls in love with the art of motion pictures. Through his tumultuous, upper-middle-class upbringing, Sammy’s constant is his camera, as he hones his novice filmmaking talents while dealing with the pains of adolescence and family. His world is ultimately shattered upon the reveal of a devastating family secret.

Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical film doubles as both a revealing portrait of an artist as well as a love letter to cinema. Funny, intimate and featuring some fantastic cinematography, The Fabelmans was hailed by critics and received a number of Academy Award nominations, including best picture. The movie also stars Paul Dano, Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen.

It’s no spoiler to reveal that the hero of Spoiler Alert, real-life TV critic Michael Ausiello (Jim Parsons), experiences the death of someone close to him. That’s the whole point of the film, which chronicles Michael’s relationship with photographer Kit Cowan (Ben Aldridge) from their meet-cute first encounter to several years into their dedicated relationship. When Kit is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, Michael must take care of him while dealing with the inevitable: Kit’s death, which will leave him alone to pick up the pieces.

Spoiler Alert largely avoids the “beautiful person dying from cancer” cliches that Love Story started in 1970 and instead tells a deeply moving story about two people who love each other, even if their relationship isn’t perfect. Another standout aspect of the movie is Michael’s relationship with Kit’s parents, particularly his mother, Marilyn (Sally Field), who is stronger than he is when facing her son’s impending death. Spoiler Alert will make you cry, but whatever tears you shed, the movie earns them with its honesty and sincerity.

When journalist Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan) receives a tip about an explosive story about film producer Harvey Weinstein, she recruits fellow reporter Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan) to help gather enough evidence to publish an exposé. But getting anyone, from ex-assistants to movie stars like Gwyneth Paltrow and Ashley Judd, to put their reputations on the line proves to be a difficult task to overcome. With their deadline looming, and Weinstein himself lurking in the background threatening legal action, can Kantor and Twohey build a strong enough case to publish their story in The New York Times and inadvertently start a social movement?

Like All the President’s Men, She Said is a real-life thriller that involves intrepid reporters exposing the crimes of a very powerful person. She’s Said’s story is pretty the origin of the #MeToo movement, and it’s fascinating to see how it all came together. The movie avoids sensationalism to concentrate on the dedicated professionalism of two female reporters who never wavered, even when it looked like their story was dead. She Said is a suspenseful film with a bittersweet ending — Kantor and Twohey win some battles, but the day-to-day war these journalists engage in still rages on.

Maggie Sherwoode (Dakota Johnson) is a personal assistant to R&B music legend Grace Davis (Tracee Ellis Ross), but she dreams of becoming a music producer. She wants to remix some of Grace’s song to give her boss a much-needed hit, but doesn’t have the courage or luck to do so. But when she develops a romantic relationship with aspiring musician David Cliff (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), Maggie just might get the necessary motivation to make her dreams come true.

A rom-com set in the modern music industry, The High Note is enjoyably fun and breezy, with three charming leads that breathe new life into the slightly cliched plot. The supporting cast consists of people you’d never seen in a movie like this, from Ice Cube to Diplo and Dakota’s real-life mom, Melanie Griffith. The High Note is a pretty routine rom-com, but it’s executed well enough to warrant a watch.