August 2016 — What’s Opening This Month

August is usually when the summer movie season slows down, but this month we have some movies that are sure to win at the box office and even a couple that might turn up on some end of the year best lists.

August 5

“Suicide Squad” — think “The Avengers” crossed with “The Dirty Dozen.” This “bad guys have to be the good guys” movie from DC Comics stars Will Smith, Cara Delevingne, Jared Leto (as The Joker), and, as Harley Quinn, “Wolf of Wall Street’s” Margot Robbie, my pick for the break-out performance of the summer.

“Don’t Think Twice” Mike Birbiglia wrote, directed, and stars in one of the best movies of the year, the story of an improv troupe, and what happens to the team when one of them gets offered a job on television.

August 12

“Sausage Party” A very R-rated animated story about food in the grocery store that finds out the release of being purchased is not the happy ending they had thought.

“Peter’s Dragon” Robert Redford and Bryce Dallas Howard star in the remake of the Disney fantasy about a boy and his dragon.

“Florence Foster Jenkins” It takes a great actress to play a terrible singer.  Fortunately, we have Meryl Streep, who plays the real-life wealthy woman who loved to sing opera and Hugh Grant as the husband who protected her from finding out that she was awful at it.

“Hell or High Water” Two brothers, one an ex-con (Ben Foster), one who has never broken the law (Chris Pine), rob some banks in Texas.  Two Texas Rangers (Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham) go after them in this exceptionally smart, thoughtful crime story.

August 19

“Ben Hur” Jack Huston and Morgan Freeman star in this classic story of the Jewish prince who becomes a slave and wins a chariot race in the time of Jesus.

“Kubo and the Two Strings” An enchantingly beautiful stop-motion animation fantasy set in ancient Japan is a story in some ways about stories and how the stories we tell ourselves and those around us can transform our lives.  Voices include Rooney Mara, Charlize Theron, Ralph Fiennes, and Matthew McConaughey.  I’ve seen it.  The ending had me in tears — and then took my breath away.

“War Dogs” Miles Teller and Jonah Hill star in this fact-based black comedy about two guys in their 20’s with no experience who won a $300 million contract to supply weapons to the Pentagon.  It did not go well.

August 26

“Southside With You”  Barack Obama was working at a Chicago law firm the summer after his first year of law school.  Michelle Robinson was his supervisor.  This is the story of their first date.  Even if their names were Smith and Jones it would be one of the most romantic movies of the year; knowing what was ahead of them makes it even more meaningful.