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Movies to watch in August: Dystopia! Dinos! Delights!
‘The Purge’ for sex, suburban dinosaurs and lovelorn Alaskans lead this month’s movie options
As wildfires and record-breaking heat ravage the planet, movie theaters offer the promise of a blessedly dark, air-conditioned escape from reality. And with audiences flocking back to the theaters in numbers not seen since 2019, they have plenty to choose from this month.
“One Night Only” is set in an alternate reality New York where unmarried people can only get it on one night a year. Cue the meet-cute between Allie (Monica Barbaro) and Owen (Callum Turner), both of whom had expected to be spending the night with others.
Despite the dystopian premise, director Will Gluck (“Easy A”) keeps the proceedings firmly in rom-com territory, letting the chemistry between Barbaro (“A Complete Unknown”) and Turner (“Masters of the Air”) crackle. The film features “all the raunchy trimmings of a traditional sex comedy but veers towards more heartfelt territory,” said Shania Russell at Entertainment Weekly. (in theaters Aug. 7)
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What if your neighborhood became “Jurassic Park”? That’s the delightfully goofy premise director David Robert Mitchell (“It Follows”) leans into. The Platts look on with astonishment when their idyllic 1970s neighborhood appears to be transported way back in time.
Greg (Ewan McGregor) and Denise (Anne Hathaway) must work with their neighbors to save their kids, Audrey (Maisy Stella) and Brian (Christian Convery), and themselves, fending off dinosaurs and trying to figure out what the heck happened. A “throwback in the best way,” Mitchell’s Spielbergian film delivers a “truly unique premise in a fashion that's warmly recognizable,” said Bill Bria at SlashFilm. (in theaters Aug. 14)
‘The Wrong Girls’
The Wrong Girls - Official Trailer - In Theaters August 14 - YouTube
In director Dylan Meyer’s “The Wrong Girls,” Kristen Stewart (“Twilight”) and Alia Shawkat (“Search Party”) star as Frankie and Molly, respectively, a “Broad City”-esque pair of screw-up potheads who are late on their rent. When they take a new designer drug, it gives them the ability to communicate telepathically, including with a cat named Dio, voiced by Seth Rogan. It “looks like classic stoner stuff,” said Travis Hopson at Punch Drunk Critics, including “psychedelic mind trips, talking animals, goofy villains and enough bong hits to make Cheech & Chong jealous.” (in theaters Aug. 14)
Horror is all the rage with Gen Z, and movies featuring characters trapped in liminal spaces, like “Backrooms,” are also having a moment. Akira Jackson (“Against the Spread”) is Day, one of four college friends who head out for food and find themselves trapped on an endless road.
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As they ponder their bizarre fate, they rationalize, philosophize and work through longstanding issues. A “hangout horror movie rife with existential anxieties,” this “brilliant” film serves as a “stark reflection of what it feels like to peek beneath the surface of one’s being,” said Siddhant Adlakha at Variety. (in theaters Aug. 21)
‘The Dog Stars’
The Dog Stars | Official Trailer | In Theaters August 28 - YouTube
Director Ridley Scott tackles Peter Heller’s best-selling post-apocalyptic novel, set years after a virus wipes out most of humanity. Hig (Jacob Elordi) is a pilot holed up in a Colorado airport hangar with his dog, Jasper, and an ex-Marine named Bangley (Josh Brolin).
Hig spends his days tooling around in an old Cessna, looking for supplies, survivors or signs of life, trying to stay ahead of scavengers known as Reapers, when he is drawn outside the perimeter and finds Cima (Margaret Qualley). Heller’s elegiac novel is an “ideal fit” for Scott and his “blockbuster sensibilities and stories of underdog heroes,” said Ben Travis at Empire. (in theaters Aug. 28)
‘The Sun Never Sets’
THE SUN NEVER SETS: Trailer | Dakota Fanning, Jake Johnson | Independent Film Company - YouTube
Mumblecore auteur Joe Swanberg (“Easy”) returns with this Alaska-set romantic drama. Twenty-something Wendy (Dakota Fanning) is dating Jack (Jake Johnson), an older father of two who loves her but isn’t interested in having any more kids.
Jack encourages her to take a summer to reflect, when she unexpectedly reconnects with her ex, Chuck (Cory Michael Smith). Swanberg has painted a “masterful portrait of humanity’s inability to figure out what we actually want,” said Christian Zilko at IndieWire. (in theaters Aug. 28)
David Faris is a professor of political science at Roosevelt University and the author of "It's Time to Fight Dirty: How Democrats Can Build a Lasting Majority in American Politics." He's a frequent contributor to Newsweek and Slate, and his work has appeared in The Washington Post, The New Republic and The Nation, among others.
