Must See August Movies

by Helen Earnshaw | 1 August 2015

There is just one more month of summer cinema to go... and boy have we already been treated to some wonderful movies. I am glad to say that we even more on the horizon over the next few weeks.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

August is going to be another great movie month as we have an eclectic mix of films heading our way from superhero film, to comedy, teen romance, and drama - it really does look like there is going to be something for everyone.

We take a look at some of the movies that we cannot wait to see and the films that you cannot miss!!!! Which films are you looking forward to checking out?

- Fantastic Four - 6th August

No summer is complete without a superhero movie or two and the Fantastic Four is one not to miss this August as the franchise is brought back to the big screen.

It was back in 2007 when we last saw these characters on the big screen - in the form of Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer - but now there are new faces on both the cast list as well as in the director's chair.

Fantastic Four marks the return of Josh Trank to the director's chair since he made his debut with Chronicle back in 2012 - it goes without saying that this is his biggest directing challenge to date.

Trank has assembled a young and exciting cast as Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, and Michael B. Jordan are on board and take over the roles of Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Ben Grimm, and Johnny Storm.

Toby Kebbell, Tim Blake Nelson, and Reg E. Cathey complete the impressive line-up as Victor Domashev, Harvey Elder, and Dr Franklin Storm.

The Fantastic Four is a contemporary re-imagining of Marvel's original and longest-running superhero team, centres on four young outsiders who teleport to an alternate and dangerous universe, which alters their physical form in shocking ways. Their lives irrevocably upended, the team must learn to harness their daunting new abilities and work together to save Earth from a former friend turned enemy.

Fantastic Four has been the superhero movie that has been going under the radar a little this summer but could mark the start of an exciting new franchise.

- Pixels - 12th August

A summer blockbuster that I have been looking forward to for some time is Pixels, which sees the earth invaded some of the most iconic computer game characters.

Pixels marks the return of Chris Columbus to the director's chair for the first time since Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief back in 2010, and I cannot wait to see what he delivers with this action/comedy/sci-fi.

Adam Sandler is set to take on the central role of Sam Brenner and lead an all-star ensemble cast; which includes Michelle Monaghan, Peter Dinklage, Ashley Benson, Sean Bean, Kevin James, Josh Gad, and Brian Cox.

As kids in the 1980s, Sam Brenner (Sandler), Will Cooper (James), Ludlow Lamonsoff (Gad), and Eddie 'The Fire Blaster' Plant (Dinklage) saved the world thousands of times - at 25 cents a game in the video arcades. Now, they're going to have to do it for real.

In Pixels, when intergalactic aliens discover video feeds of classic arcade games and misinterpret them as a declaration of war, they attack the Earth, using the video games as the models for their assaults -- and now-U.S. President Cooper must call on his old-school arcade friends to save the world from being destroyed by PAC-MAN, Donkey Kong, Galaga, Centipede, and Space Invaders. Joining them is Lt. Col. Violet Van Patten (Monaghan), a specialist supplying the arcaders with unique weapons to fight the aliens.

Pixels really is promising to be a great mix of action and comedy and it is one of the August movies that I personally cannot wait to see. I have my fingers tightly crossed that it is going to be as fun as film as the trailer hints it will be.

- The Man From U.N.C.L.E.- 14th August

We haven't seen Guy Ritchie in the director's chair since Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows back in 2011 and now he is set to return with another crime caper in the form of The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is based on the hit sixties television series of the same name and sees an agent from the CIA and KGB team up to bring down the bad guy.

Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer take over the roles of Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin as the duo team up for the first time - should this be a success, we could seem them back for a future sequel.

Cavill and Hammer are two of the most exciting actors around and they are joined on the cast list by Alicia Vikander, Hugh Grant, Jared Harris, and Elizabeth Debicki.

Set against the backdrop of the early 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. centres on CIA agent Solo and KGB agent Kuryakin. Forced to put aside longstanding hostilities, the two team up on a joint mission to stop a mysterious international criminal organization, which is bent on destabilizing the fragile balance of power through the proliferation of nuclear weapons and technology.

The duo's only lead is the daughter of a vanished German scientist, who is the key to infiltrating the criminal organization, and they must race against time to find him and prevent a worldwide catastrophe.

- Paper Towns - 17th August

Last summer it was The Fault in Our Stars that was the teen drama not to miss... twelve months on, we have another John Green adaptation that is lighting up cinema screens.

Yes, Paper Towns is a the second of Green's books to be given a movie makeover as Jake Schreier returns to the director's chair for the first time since he made his directorial debut with Robot & Frank back at the beginning of 2013.

Cara Delevingne has slowly been making the transition from model to actress and Paper Towns is set to be the biggest role of her career as she takes on lead character Margo Roth Spiegelman in the film alongside Nat Wolff. It looks set to be one of the roles that will send her acting career soaring this year.

Delevigne and Wolff are joined on the cast list by Halston Sage, Cara Buono, Caitlin Carver, and Austin Abrams.

Paper Towns is a coming-of-age story centring on Quentin and his enigmatic neighbour Margo, who loved mysteries so much she became one. After taking him on an all-night adventure through their hometown, Margo suddenly disappears--leaving behind cryptic clues for Quentin to decipher.

The search leads Quentin and his quick-witted friends on an exhilarating adventure that is equal parts hilarious and moving. Ultimately, to track down Margo, Quentin must find a deeper understanding of true friendship--and true love.

We have seen a whole host of young adult novels adapted for the big screen over recent years and Paper Towns is set to be another that is not to be missed and will enjoy huge success.

- 45 Years - 28th August

Things are hotting up on the festival circuit and one movie that is making a lot of noise is 45 Years - which has already picked up awards as the Berlin International Film Festival and Edinburgh International Film Festival.

45 Years is based on the short story by David Constantine and has been adapted and directed by Andrew Haigh, which is his first feature since Weekend back in 2011.

45 Years follow the life of Kate Mercer (Charlotte Rampling) during the five days leading up to her forty-fifth wedding anniversary. Party plans are going well, until a letter arrives for her husband (Tom Courtenay) informing him that the body of his first love has been found frozen in the icy glaciers of the Swiss Alps. As their anniversary celebrations grow closer, they delve further into their past, leaving their future in question.

Rampling and Courtenay have already scooped the Silver Bear for Best Actress and Best Actor at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year - and both are being tipped to be in the Oscar race come the beginning of next year.

Rampling and Courtenay are two of this country's best actors and I cannot wait to see them share the screen and see the performances that just about everyone is raving about.

45 Years scooped the Michael Powell Award for Best British feature film at Edinburgh and is set to be a welcome break from all of the blockbusters that have been coming our way this summer.

- Hitman: Agent 47 - 28th August

It was back in 2007 when Hitman was brought to the big screen for the first - and what a god-awful movie it turned out to be.

This August we are going to see this popular character return in Hitman: Agent 47 as Aleksander Bach takes over the director's chair, while Michael Finch and Skip Woods have penned the screenplay.

This time around, Rupert Friend is in the central role of Agent 47 - he is probably known of his role as Peter Quinn in Homeland but this will be the biggest film and role of his career to date.

Friend is joined on the cast list by Zachary Quinto, Hannah Ware, Ciarán Hinds, Thomas Kretschmann, and Emilio Rivera.

Hitman: Agent 47 centres on an elite assassin (Friend) who was genetically engineered from conception to be the perfect killing machine, and is known only by the last two digits on the barcode tattooed on the back of his neck. He is the culmination of decades of research - and forty-six earlier Agent clones -- endowing him with unprecedented strength, speed, stamina and intelligence.

His latest target is a mega-corporation that plans to unlock the secret of Agent 47's past to create an army of killers whose powers surpass even his own. Teaming up with a young woman who may hold the secret to overcoming their powerful and clandestine enemies, 47 confronts stunning revelations about his own origins and squares off in an epic battle with his deadliest foe.

Hitman: Agent 47 is set to be an action packed and high-octane movie that really does look like it is going to be a whole lot fun.