Want to know what’s coming to a cinema near you this August? Look no further…
THURSDAY 2 AUGUST
Ant-Man and the Wasp (Peyton Reed)
We first met Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man in the wake of Avengers: Age of Ultron. Now, once again following an all-in big bash, Marvel’s smallest hero returns with the aid of an upgraded Evangeline Lilly.
FRIDAY 3 AUGUST
Sicilian Ghost Story (Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza)
When 13-year-old Giuseppe vanishes, his loving classmate refuses to let him stay missing. Based on the real Mafia kidnapping of Giuseppe Di Matteo in 1993.
Big Bad Fox and Other Tales (Benjamin Renner and Patrick Imbert)
French animated anthology comedy, based on the comic books of director Benjamin Renner.
Cleo from 5 to 7 (Agnès Varda)
A re-release for the 1962 French film about a young singer (Corinne Marchand) facing her own mortality. Renowned for its existentialist currents, the film also features a cameo from legendary director Jean-Luc Godard. To celebrate the Academy honouree’s 90th Birthday, this is one of seven re-releases from Varda’s oeuvre this week.
Damascus Cover (Daniel Berk)
Berk’s spy thriller gives audiences John Hurt in his last on-screen role. A big award winner at the Boston Film Festival, Damascus Cover stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers as an undercover agent in 1989 Syria.
El mar la mar (Joshua Bonnet and J. P. Sniadecki)
Striking documentary about life on the US-Mexican border. Taking its name from a Rafael Alberti poem, the film has been described as anthropological, horrific and topical.
Hearts Beat Loud (Brett Haley)
Nick Offerman, Kiersey Clemons and Ted Danson star in this comedy-drama about a Brooklyn record store owner who tries to convince his daughter to start a band with him after a song they recorded goes viral. One of 2018’s most prolific actors, Toni Collette, also features.
Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar (Dibakar Banerjee)
The title of this Hindi romantic thriller translates as: Sandeep and Pinky have absconded.
Teen Titans Go! To the Cinema (Peter Ride Michail and Aaron Horvath)
On trailers alone, the debut feature for the animated TV series Teen Titans Go! will be a fans-only affair. Nicolas Cage voices Superman, Jimmy Kimmel does Batman, whilst James Condon dons an accent for Balloon Man.
The Apparition (Xavier Giannoli)
Cannes’ best actor Vincent Lindon plays a reporter investigating the case of a French woman who claims to have seen the VIrgin Mary.
The Escape (Dominic Savage)
Their Finest’s Gemma Arterton leads the cast of Dominic Savage’s British drama about a woman who travels to Paris to escape her dying marriage.
FRIDAY 10 AUGUST
Dog Days (Ken Marino)
Just in case your appetite for dog-coms wasn’t satisfied by Show Dogs and Patrick, here’s another. With the synopsis: Dogs and humans lives are brought together in Los Angeles, Dog Days sounds rather familiar…
Heathers (Michael Lehmann)
A re-release for Lehmann’s popular high-school drama. Winona Ryder plays one of three teenage girls all called Heather.
I Can Only Imagine (Erwin Brothers)
The Erwin Brothers’ faith-based films include Moms’ Night Out and October Baby but I Can Only Imagine is already their most successful to date.
Leaning into the Wind: Andy Goldsworthy (Thomas Riedelsheimer)
Thomas Riedelsheimer follows-up 2001 documentary Rivers and Tides with another exploration of the work of landscape sculptor Andy Goldsworthy.
Pope Francis: A Man of his Word (Wim Wenders)
Pope Francis is considered much more liberal than his predecessors. Wenders follows his global travelling in this decidedly uncontroversial documentary.
Sgt. Stubby: An Unlikely Hero (Richard Lanni)
A dog of ‘uncertain breed’, Stubby was found wandering on the grounds of Yale University in July 1915 by members of the 102nd Infantry. Smuggled over to France, the so-called Sergeant went on to save his regiment’s life. An unlikely hero indeed.
The Darkest Minds (Jennifer Yuh Nelson)
After a plague kills nearly all of America’s children, the ones left acquire special abilities. Sci-fi superhero feature with Amandla Stenberg and Game of Thrones’ Gwendoline Christie.
The Domestics (Mike P. Nelson)
Those who need grounding after the joie de vive of Mamma Mia could do with checking out this post-apocalyptic horror. It’s a feature debut from a former sound artist.
The Heiresses (Marcelo Martinessi)
Paraguayan drama from documentary director Marcelo Martinessi. Ana Brun and Margarita Irún play two women whose financial hardship leads them to self off their inheritances.
The Meg (Jon Turteltaub)
A new film for all those who found Jaws just too small to be interesting. Jason Statham stars in this deliriously daft looking American-Chinese co-production. Based on the novel by Steve Allen.
The Negotiator (Brad Anderson)
Titled ‘Beirut’ when it was first screened, The Negotiator sees Jon Hamm star as an ex-US diplomat brought out of retirement to negotiate the release of a kidnapped CIA agent in 1982 Lebanon.
Under the Tree (Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson)
When Baldwin and Inga’s next door neighbours complain that a tree in their backyard casts a shadow over their sundeck, a spat quickly spirals. Icelandic comedy-drama.
Unfriended: Dark Webb (Stephen Susco)
Levan Gabriadze’s Unfriended was a big success for Blumhouse in 2014. Four years later, Stephen Susco hopes to win as many ‘likes’ with this standalone sequel.
WEDNESDAY 15 AUGUST
Gold (Reema Kagti)
Historical sports drama set in the ‘golden era’ of Indian hockey, when the country won their first ever hockey medal after Independence.
FRIDAY 17 AUGUST
Christopher Robin (Marc Foster)
Hello again Christopher Robin. The latest Disney live-action update might share locations with last year’s Goodbye Christopher Robin but tells the tale of the fictional boy rather than real. With Winnie-the-Pooh and Tigger too.
Distant Constellation (Shevaun Mizrahi)
Curious documentary about pranksters, artists and aged casanovas confronting the nature of time in a Turkish retirement home.
God’s Not Dead 3 (Michael Mason)
Perhaps destined never to be released, this is the third attempt at a UK launch for Michael Mason’s threequel this year.
Mildred Pierce (Michael Cutiz)
Kate Winslet played the titular protagonist of James M. Cain’s 1941 novel in HBO’s 2011 miniseries but never quite matched Joan Crawford’s definitive iteration from 1945. Catch it again with this re-release.
The Equaliser 2 (Antoine Fuqua)
Denzel Washington returns to the role of ex-CIA black ops operative Robert McCall, only to come out of retirement…again.
The Eyes of Orson Welles (Mark Cousins)
Film critic Mark Cousins is best-known for his terrific 2011 documentary: The Story of Film. His latest film is a – less ambitious – love letter to Citizen Kane star Orson Welles.
The Festival (Iain Morris)
It’s an Inbetweeners reunion! Series and film star Joe Thomas teams up with its creators, Iain Morris and Damon Beesley, for a comedy about a group of students who celebrate graduation at a music festival.
The Guardians (Xavier Beauvois)
French war drama about women left behind to work a family farm. From Of Gods and Men writer Marie-Julie Maille.
The Women (George Cukor)
Joan Crawford fans are spoilt this month as this 1939 comedy-drama also gets a re-release. Continuing the tradition of the play its based on, the entire cast – more than 130 speaking roles – were women.
WEDNESDAY 22 AUGUST
Load Wedding (Nabeel Qureshi)
Fahad Mustafa and Mehwish Hayat play the lead roles in this Pakistani romantic comedy. Nabeel Qureshi and Fizza Ali Meerza’s past success means expectations are high.
The Spy Who Dumped Me (Susanna Fogel)
Audrey (Mila Kunis) and Morgan (Kate McKinnon) are best friends. When Audrey’s ex unexpectedly re-enters her life, who better then than to join her in a major international conspiracy than Morgan? Test screenings have been ‘phenomenal’ allegedly.
FRIDAY 24 AUGUST
A Northern Soul (Sean McAllister)
Filmmaker Sean McAllister returns to Hull and follows local resident Steve Arnott, a struggling warehouse worker who harbours a creative dream.
Alpha (Albert Hughes)
Set 20,000 years ago in Europe’s Upper Paleolithic period, Hughes film promises adventure as a young hunter (X-Men’s Kodi Smit-McPhee) befriends an injured wolf.
Bad Samaritan (Dean Devlin)
Dean Devlin follows Geostorm with a horror about a valet (Robert Sheehan) who burgles the houses of his employers. Things go awry when he discovers that one of his customers (David Tennant) happens to be a kidnapper and torturer. Oops.
BlacKKKlansman (Spike Lee)
American comedy-drama from the director of Do the Right Thing. It’s based on the autobiographical book by Ron Stallworth – the first African-American police officer in Colorado Springs – who infiltrated the ranks of the KKK in 1979.
Braguino (Clement Cogitore)
Dreamy documentary about the two families who are the sole inhabitants of the island village of Braguino, on the Siberian taiga.
Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi (Diana Penty and Sonakshi Sinha)
Bollywood comedy sequel to Mudassar Aziz’s Happy Bhag Jayegi. Diana Penty returns as the eponymous lead.
Luis and the Aliens (Wolfgang and Christoph Laurenstein)
An 11-year-old boy befriends three aliens after they crash their UFO into his house. German-Luxembourg-Danish animation.
One Note at a Time (Renne Edqarrds)
Documentary about New Orleans’ musicians struggling to survive in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Slender Man (Sylvain White)
Eric Knudsen created the Slender Man, a supernatural figure of terror, for a Photoshop competition in 2009. The character went viral – spreading through online short fiction (known as creepypasta) – and now has his own film. He’s a controversial baddie, however, following the 2014 Wisconsin stabbing he inspired.
The Children Act (Richard Eyre)
Emma Thompson plays a brilliant but tortured judge in this adaption of the Ian McEwan novel of the name name.
The King (Eugene Jarecki)
Not to be confused with David Michôd’s upcoming American-Australian epic, this documentary studies the tricky career of Elvis Presley.
MONDAY 27 AUGUST
The Happytime Murders (Brian Henson)
Melissa McCarthy’s second comedy of the year is rather more unconventional than Life of the Party. From the Chairman of the Jim Henson Company, this is a crime pastiche takes place in a world where humans and puppets co-exist.
THURSDAY 30 AUGUST
The Ballymurphy Precedent (Callum Macrae)
Documentary telling the story of the death of eleven innocent people killed by the British Army on a Catholic estate in Belfast in 1971, and the fight by their relatives and survivors to discover the truth.
FRIDAY 31 AUGUST
Action Point (Tim Kirkby)
Johnny Knoxville plays the eccentric owner of a low-rent, out-of-control amusement park in Tim Kirkby’s Cape Town produced comedy.
C’est La Vie | Le Sens de la Fête (Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano)
A hectic wedding party held in an 17th century French palace comes together with the help of the behind-the-scenes staff.
Cold War (Pawel Pawlikowski)
Pawlikoswski’s last film, Ida, became the first Polish film to ever win the Best Foreign Language prize at the Academy Awards in 2015. Cold War has already seen his success matched at Cannes.
Distant Voices, Still Lives (Terrence Davies)
Davies’ 1988 dichotomous film celebrates its thirtieth anniversary with a re-release.
Searching (Aneesh Chaganty)
No so far away from Steven Soderbergh’s recent Unsane, Searching has been shot from the point-of-view of smartphones and computer screens. It too is a psychological thriller. With John Cho and Debra Messing.
The Man from Mo ‘Wax (Matthew Jones)
A pulsating documentary charting the extraordinary life and career of underground DJ icon, music producer and global trip hop mogul, James Lavelle.
Upgrade (Leigh Whannell)
Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green), a stay-at-home mechanic in a near-future city, is cured of paralysis in an experiment that ‘upgrades’ his body. With new found abilities, Grey sets out to wreak revenge on the people who murdered his wife.
Yardie (Idris Elba)
The directorial debut for Luther-star Idris Elba is a crime drama based on the first novel by Jamaican Brit Victor Headley.
The Film Blog 
Yay for summer movies! Definitely will watch more movies this summer. Yardie sounds intriguing. I am very looking forward to Christopher Robin as well.
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I can’t wait to watch some of these movies!!!
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Neither can we!
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