From Alien: Romulus to The Crow: The 10 best movies to watch in August

Daughters is a highly acclaimed documentary about a “Date with Dad” program in a Washington DC prison, where inmates are given a rare opportunity to bond with their children at a semi-formal “Daddy-Daughter Dance.” This brief reunion is as moving and touching as you’d expect, but it then has a poignantly different impact on the four girls at the film’s center. “It’s hard to imagine a more incisive critique of our inhumane prison system than this generous, deeply resonant, tear-jerking work from Angela Patton and Natalie Ray.” Tommy Lafley of Harper’s Bazaar says:“Their vérité-style documentaries will make you cry, but more importantly, their clear-sighted films, which follow their subjects over years, unflinchingly show that the purpose of a sound legal system is to restore prisoners’ hearts, not to harden them irreparably by denying them human needs like the embrace of a loved one.”

Coming to Netflix on August 14th

Written and directed by Rich Peppiatt, this raunchy, raucous comedy-drama tells the mostly true story of Kneecap, a rebellious hip-hop trio from west Belfast who rap in Irish. Edited in the gimmick-packed, hyperactive style of Trainspotting, the film charts Liam Óg Ó Hannaí, Naois Ó Caíllérin and JJ Ó Dohartaigh’s rise from drug dealer to punk underground star to unlikely politician, dodging paramilitary and police detectives along the way. Michael Fassbender makes a cameo as one of the band members’ father, but the most surprising thing about this casting is that the three are all playing themselves, and they do it with such skill that you’d think they were seasoned actors. “Burning with an unbridled energy that almost outgrows the screen, Kneecap is a raucous, drug-fueled triumph in the name of freedom that bridges political substance with crowd-pleasing entertainment.” Variety’s Carlos Aguilar says:.

Released on August 2 in the US, August 9 in Ireland and August 23 in the UK

Zoe Kravitz’s directorial debut stars her fiancé Channing Tatum as a tech billionaire, with Naomi Ackie and Alia Shawkat as two unsuspecting women he invites to his private island. At first, they revel in the lavish surroundings, but then their memories start to fade and people start disappearing. While Blink Twice sounds like a dark satire about wealthy hedonists in peril on an exclusive island (see also Glass Onion, Triangle of Sadness, The Menu, Infinity Pool), Kravitz has said she was inspired by The Shining, Rosemary’s Baby, Pulp Fiction and Boogie Nights. “The concept of the island was me thinking of things like the Garden of Eden and the Serpent, looking for a way to isolate people.” she told Entertainment Weekly.“And of course, other things happened on the island that everyone knows about, [the film is] About that, but it’s going to be something else. It’s pretty trippy.”

General release from August 23rd

Based on a gothic comic book series by James Oberle, The Crow was infamous even before its 1994 release, when star Brandon Lee was fatally wounded by a prop gun during production. Still, the superhero film has gone on to spawn three sequels, a spin-off TV series, and now a reboot directed by Rupert Sanders (Snow White, Ghost in the Shell). Bill Skarsgård, who played Pennywise in the IT series, stars as a rock musician who is killed by a crime lord while out with his girlfriend (FKA Twigs). He then returns from the dead to avenge the murder. “Audiences will see Skarsgård’s Eric and Twigs’ Shelly fall in love before meeting their tragic end.” Madison Vain told Esquire magazine:“Only then does his quest begin, a struggle with doubt, a desperate struggle with life’s big questions: Why are we here? What happens when we die? What would I sacrifice to save those I love?”

General release from August 23rd

Michael Morpurgo is best known for his novel War Horse, which was adapted into a hit play and a film directed by Steven Spielberg. Another of his novels, Kensuke’s Kingdom, was adapted into a hand-drawn animation scripted by Frank Cottrell-Boyce. (Morpurgo is a former BAFTA winner, now Cottrell-Boyce.) It tells the story of an 11-year-old boy (voiced by Aaron McGregor) who is sailing with his parents (Cillian Murphy and Sally Hawkins) when he is thrown overboard in a storm and washed up on a deserted island. The only other inhabitant is Kensuke (Watanabe Ken), an elderly Japanese man who protects a group of orangutans from hunters. Kensuke’s Kingdom is ideal for those “looking for an animated film that tackles heavy themes and ideas, rather than just providing empty noise and thrills.” Wendy Eide wrote in Screen Daily:“It’s a fantastic piece of work, and its message about working together across cultures to protect the natural world is more important than ever.”

Coming to theaters August 2 in the US and UK

Director M. Night Shyamalan pitched his latest thriller as “Silence of the Lambs at a Taylor Swift concert.” The idea is that doting father Cooper (Josh Hartnett) takes his daughter (Ariel Donahue) to a pop superstar concert, played by Shyamalan’s daughter, Saleka Shyamalan. As the show progresses, Cooper learns that the entire event is actually a sting operation, and the building is packed with cops hunting down a serial killer. “I want the movie industry to do more original storytelling,” he says. Shyamalan told Empire magazine:“I think the audience will love it. I know there is security in IP. [intellectual property]But it’s really important that we come to the cinema and see things we’ve never seen before, and I’ll keep fighting for that.”

Opens August 2 in the US and Canada, August 9 in the UK and Ireland

The Alien series has gotten bigger and more epic over the years, culminating in Ridley Scott’s final two films, Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017). But the latest film is a return to its roots, with all the dark corridors and live-action effects that characterized Scott’s 1979 original. Directed by Fede Alvarez, Alien: Romulus is set on a mostly deserted space station visited by a group of young colonists, played by Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla) and David Johnson (Rye Lane). “Indeed, this film is a survival horror film, just like the first one,” says Alan. Alvarez told Total Film.“Here’s how the film works: If you’ve never seen an Alien film, you’ll enjoy it a lot. You won’t feel like you’re missing out on anything. But if you’ve seen one or more, you’ll enjoy it immensely. It’s really a standalone story, but it’s full of references to all the films.”

General release from August 16th

Nathan Silver is one of the most prolific writers and directors working in American cinema today. Beginning with 2009’s The Blind, he’s made a string of 12 films, most of which portray Jewish family life. But his latest, a hilarious comedy, As Richard Brody wrote in The New Yorker:“reveals a source of startling new thinking and invention, both in his career and in American cinema at large.” It also has more star power than Silver’s previous work. Jason Schwartzman stars as Ben, a 40-year-old cantor who can sing, or do very little else, since his wife died the year before. At his lowest point, he befriends his elementary school music teacher, 70-year-old Carla, played by Carol Kane. “Silver highlights the nuanced vitality of his superb cast, with electrifying supporting roles and brilliant arias, but most of all, he revels in the screenplay’s scenes with Kane and Schwartzman together, whether alone or in a crowd. Their soulful duets seem to resonate from the heart,” says Brody.

Opens August 23 in the US, UK and Ireland

The Guardians of the Galaxy may be retired from policing the galaxy, but Borderlands introduces a new band of interstellar adventurers. Based on the video game series and directed by Eli Roth, this sci-fi action-comedy stars Cate Blanchett as Lilith, a mercenary who returns to her home planet of Pandora (probably not the same Pandora from James Cameron’s Avatar) to track down the missing daughter of the most powerful man in the universe (Edgar Ramirez). Other members of her motley band are played by Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Hart and Ariana Greenblatt, with Jack Black providing the voice of a robot named Claptrap. “It’s a banana.” Ross told ComingSoon:“I really wanted to keep the spirit of the movie within the spirit of the game… So, yeah, the movie is fun. It’s wild. It was a huge undertaking.”

General release from August 9th

At the start of Baltasar Kormákur’s heartwarming romantic melodrama, a retired Icelandic widower (Egil Ólafsson) is told by his doctor that he has the early signs of dementia. Determined to resolve loose ends while he still can, he embarks on a journey to find the long-lost love of his life. Meanwhile, flashbacks show how, 50 years earlier, a younger man (Palmi Kormákur, the director’s son) got a job at a Japanese restaurant in London and fell in love with the owner’s daughter (Kouki) just before he disappeared. Based on a novel by Ólafur Johan Ólafsson, Touch is set in 2020, at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has made travel and contact increasingly difficult. “A panoramic love story punctuated by time, mystery and the aftermath of war, this elegantly made film knows when to tone down the sentimentality and when to let it resonate.” David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter said:“The two stories, set half a century apart, are expertly balanced and sensitively performed by the four leading actors.”

It will be released in Germany on August 8th, Italy on August 29th, and in the UK and Ireland on August 30th.

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