As the sun is setting on summer movie season, there are still a few reasons to head to the theater or stream something, outside of just getting into the air conditioning.
Though August, on paper, looks pretty weak, there’s some early Oscar pop ups that might really burst onto the scene.
I knew this guy’s story was going to be made into a movie. Combining the underdog story with a study of America’s criminal justice system, this movie could potentially offer a fresh spin on the “quickly running out of ideas” sports genre.
Netflix’s counter in August is putting Patricia Arquette, Angela Bassett, and Felicity Huffman into a movie together about post motherhood moms and seeing what happens. This could be Netflix prepping for Huffman’s talking head about the college admissions scandal, but it could just also be a really fun dramedy with 3 talented actresses.
Who better for Seth Rogen to produce in an R Rated coming of age comedy than….pre teen Jacob Tremblay? We’ll see how honest this movie is about growing up at age 11, but Rogen usually knows what he’s doing.
This movie looks light it’s potentially a really tough sit. However, in the hands of The Babadook creator Jennifer Kent, there’s always a chance this thing is really special in spite of its pretty harsh material.
This movie looks like a bunch of horror vignettes strung together as part of a larger story. Picture the kids Goosebumps movies, but if they got an R Rating and were scary for all ages. Don’t believe me? Well, Guillermo Del Toro, master of scary storytelling, is heavily involved…
Sometimes it’s just fun to have Idris Elba call himself Black Superman. Or to have The Rock hold a helicopter in place with his bare hands. Or to have Jason Statham repeatedly slam a knocked out man into a door console only to have the door fail to open. Should be a crazy blast.
My personal expectations for this one are high, and early buzz is promising. A story about a high school paper that feels like a crime thriller with a really talented bench of underappreciated actors. Sign me up everytime!
For as much crap as we give Shia Laboeuf, the dude usually picks projects that are at least interesting or compelling for long stretches. This one appears the same way, pairing Laboeuf with Zack Gottsagen, a high functioning person with Down Syndrome in what feels like a Mark Twain tale. Everyone will be rooting for this movie, and it looks completely fun and crowd pleasing.
This film would be much lower on this list were it not for who is writing and directing it. My love for Richard Linklater is longreaching, and I’m hoping he can take what looks like a cutesy premise and find the truth underneath it.
Bend It Like Beckham’s magic is all over this movie about a Pakistani boy living in the UK who falls in love with Bruce Springsteen. Makes sense, seeing how it’s written/directed by the same talented Gurinder Chadha that wrote Beckham. This movie is gonna wear its heart on its sleeve, and have fun rocking out to The Boss and making the audience smile for 2 hours straight.
