With Broadway shut down through the summer, we’re all lacking the cultural entertainment that we’re used to. Thankfully Disney+ is here to save the day as the Mouse House’s streaming channel premieres the film version of Hamilton on Friday, July 3 — just in time to celebrate the United States’ birthday.

The film is a live recording of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s iconic hip-hop musical and was edited together from three different performances at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York City in 2015. Miranda stars in the titular role of Treasury Secretary and Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, with the original cast including Leslie Odom Jr., Phillipa Soo and Ariana DeBose playing other key roles.

If you’ve not yet seen Hamilton either on Broadway or at the Pantages, then shame on you — but at least you don’t have to wait until October 2021, which was the planned release date for the film. It’s described as a “leap forward in the art of “live capture,” transporting the audience into the world of the Broadway show in a uniquely intimate way.” While we’re not quite sure what that means … everything Miranda touches turns to gold so we trust his judgement. Hamilton has already won 11 Tony Awards including Best Musical — is an Emmy next?

“Hamilton” is streaming exclusively on Disney +.

In his adaptation of the bestseller by Daniel Kehlmann, writer-director David Koepp (The Mummy) has made the world we live in that much scarier by manifesting our worst fear on screen — being trapped at home with no way out and no end in sight.

This daunting psychological thriller stars Kevin Bacon (City on a Hill) as Theo Conroy, a big-time screenwriter tasked to write a hit sequel to his Hollywood franchise. Amanda Seyfried (The Art of Racing in the Rain) tackles the role of his wife, a young starlet with enough ambition, secrets, and lies to make a mess of their marriage. In order to rebuild their rocky relationship, Theo and Susanna pack up their six-year-old daughter Ella, played by the adorable Avery Essex (Modern Family), for a relaxing getaway in the Welsh countryside. They arrive at a mansion with breathtaking views and deafening silence, the perfect ambience for Theo to bulldoze his writer’s block. But the family soon learns that the house is harboring its own secrets tucked inside shadows that move on their own, reflections that don’t, and threatening messages left behind by a malevolent force that won’t let them leave. Bacon and Seyfried are dynamic even in the smallest of moments, which only magnifies this haunted house tale into a primal experience of gut-wrenching terror.

“You Should Have Left” is currently on demand on all platforms.

As movie theaters re-open this month, director Derrick Borte (American Dreamer) is luring audiences back to the cinema with some massive star power. And the one headliner with a long history of slaying it at the box office is gladiator, chameleon, and Academy Award winner Russell Crowe (The Loudest Voice).

 Written by Carl Ellsworth (Red Dawn), Unhinged stars Crowe as someone we all despise yet someone we’ve all become at some point — a driver gone mad with road rage. It all starts when Rachel, a young mother with her son in the backseat, blares her horn at a pickup truck stopped at a green light. She swerves to get around it, but the truck follows her. The driver confesses to having a bad day and just wants an apology and a show of human decency. When Rachel flat out refuses, he sets out to teach her a lesson she won’t soon forget. And the events that follow quickly spiral into a diabolical roller coaster of stalking, assault, arson, and the abject retribution of a psychopath.

With a stellar cast that also stars Caren Pistorius (High Ground), Gabriel Bateman (Think Like A Dog), Anne Leighton (Stan the Man), Austin P. McKenzie (When We Rise), Michael Papajohn (Walkaway Joe), and Jimmi Simpson (Westworld), this action thriller has earned its spot on the big screen.

“Unhinged” hits actual theaters on July 10th

Family has always been such a hot topic for any drama narrative. Every family has some skeletons. The way it’s dealt with, on film, is up to the writer and/or director. Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda has dealt with family dramas in his films. His film, Shoplifters, about a family of thieves, won the prestigious Palm d’Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.

Koreeda returns to the genre with his latest The Truth. The film follows the mother-daughter relationship between Fabienne, a beloved French cinema actress, and her daughter Lumir, a screenwriter. Lumir (played by French actress Juliette Binoche) returns to Paris with her family, including her husband (Ethan Hawke), just as Fabienne has written a scandalous tell-all memoir. Secrets are revealed, confessions are made. Can this family make it? Treasured French cinema actress Catherine Deneuve — who’s worked with influential directors such as Luis Buñuel, Francois Truffaut, and Jacques Demy — stars as Fabienne, in what is perhaps a case of life imitating art.

Koreeda wrote the screenplay, the first film not in his native Japanese; similarly the film was the first of his to be shot out of Japan. The Truth made its world premiere at last year’s Venice Film Festival, and was expected to screen in theaters this spring. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was pulled and instead will be released on VOD.

“The Truth” is in theaters and on demand on July 3rd.