The Odyssey won July, with Spider-Man in hot pursuit at the box office. So what does August have to offer for eager cinemagoers and anyone looking for a nice burst of free aircon? Plenty, as it happens. There’s mysteries to solve, including a new JJ Abrams-produced sci-fi that will keep Redditers busy until doomsday, and a horny new slasher movie from Jane Schoenbrun. Perhaps the biggest mystery of the lot will be why Warner Bros. tried so hard to kill the exceptionally fun Coyote Vs. Acme?
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Assembling Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing on the same call sheet guarantees some form of magic, even before you cast them as the reuniting witches from semi-beloved 1995 movie Practical Magic. Probably won’t scare anyone witless but Gen-Xers of a certain age and romantic disposition will be forming an orderly queue.
In cinemas Aug 7
‘How Anthony Bourdain discovered food (and girls)’ is an approximate logline for a shaggy seaside coming-of-age drama about the late restaurateur, foodie and all-round bon vivant’s culinary cherry popping. Played by his doppelganger, Dominic Sessa, breakout star of The Holdovers, he’s a sarky bad boy who falls under the reluctant tutelage of Antonio Banderas’s Brazilian chef. Directing is Matt Johnson, who just delivered the year’s best indie comedy in Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie.
In cinemas Aug 14
Giving major Super 8 and Lost, David Robert Mitchell’s mystery box sci-fi is the summer’s great ‘WTF?’ movie. There’s dinosaurs in the trailer and a suburban setting that’s very Spielberg-by-way-of-JJ Abrams (who produces), but beyond that are only secrets for Ewan McGregor and Anne Hathaway to uncover. This survival thriller has another endurance story to follow: can The Devil Wears Prada 2 and The Odyssey star make it through another press tour?
In cinemas Aug 14
Warner Bros. tried to take an Acme mallet to this comedy but it escaped – presumably through a hastily painted tunnel – and finally sees the light of day. And thank the stars, because all the pointers are that it’s a giddy joy. Will Forte plays a hangdog lawyer who teams up with Wile E Coyote to sue Acme Corporation for faulty products. The spirit of Who Framed Roger Rabbit is strong in this one.
In cinemas Aug 21
Your local cinema will be getting a burst of charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent as RuPaul plays POTUS in this disaster comedy about a couple of stewardesses (Drag Race veterans Ginger Minj and Jujubee) trying to avert disaster aboard the Glamazonian Express. Look out for Missi Pyle as ‘Horny Divorcee’ and Sarah Michelle Gellar as ‘Famous Actress’. Rock of Ages and Disenchanted director Adam Shankman is man hoping not to f*ck it up.
In cinemas Aug 21
Since their 2021 debut We're All Going to the World's Fair, Jane Schoenbrun has been busy creating a whole new cinematic language: a neon-tinged cine-dreamscape filled with weirdness and wonder. Lusty and Lynchian, Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma should deliver on all the promise that came before. Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder star as a self-exiled scream queen and an indie filmmaker who dreams of rebooting an old slasher franchise but stumbles on deeper – and darker – secrets.
In cinemas Aug 21
This metafiction from Pedro Almodóvar finds the Spanish legend at his most self-scouring. He channels himself into the character of Raúl (Leonardo Sbaraglia), a Spanish auteur who is himself borrowing from the people in his own life to fuel his new screenplay. Bitter Christmas entwines both narratives with typical playfulness and an introspective edge.
In cinemas Aug 28
Jacob Elordi, Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley and Guy Pearce are survivors of a lethal flu pandemic in the thirtieth movie from the eternal Ridley Scott. A sci-fi action flick adapted from Peter Heller’s 2012 novel, it teams up Elordi’s civilian pilot and Brolin’s hardass ex-Marine for a cross-country odyssey where menace lurks in every wood and cornfield. You suspect that, even in this world, Ridley Scott would be out there making films.
In cinemas Aug 28
‘The sexy Purge’ is the best way to describe a romcom with a sci-fi premise and a horny streak a mile wide. Callum Turner and Top Gun: Maverick’s Monica Barbaro play a couple of single New Yorkers looking for love – or lust – on the one day of the year single people are allowed to have sex. Director Will Gluck was the man behind the excellent Easy A and the much less excellent Anyone But You. Which way will this one fall?
In cinemas Aug 28
Rounding off a hot and heavy end to the month is Gregg Araki’s (Mysterious Skin) BDSM comedy, which invites The Invite’s Olivia Wilde back into the bedroom for more sexy shenanigans. Wilde is a provocative artist and The Long Walk’s Cooper Hoffman is the guileless muse entering her torture garden. Charli XCX, in the latest in her run of acting roles, plays his girlfriend.
In cinemas Aug 28
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