Top 5 Movies Not To Miss This August

by Helen Earnshaw | 1 August 2016

The 2016 summer of movies is almost over as we head into August... and there are some great movies on the horizon.

Suicide Squad

Which movies are you looking forward to the most? We take a look at some of the films that you cannot afford to miss over the next couple of weeks.

- Suicide Squad - released 5th August

When it comes to August movies, Suicide Squad looks on course to be the biggest and is a movie that we have been looking forward to at FemaleFirst for quite some time.

This is the first time that Suicide Squad has been brought to the big screen and it marks the return of David Ayer to the director's chair. It is his first feature film since the success of Fury back in 2014.

As well as being in the director's chair, Ayer has also adapted John Ostrander's comic book into a screenplay. I am looking forward to seeing what he delivers as he tackles the comic book genre for the first time.

The director has brought together a fantastic cast as we are going to see Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Cara Delevingne, Jared Leto, Jai Courtney, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaj are all on board.

It feels good to be bad... Assemble a team of the world's most dangerous, incarcerated Super Villains, provide them with the most powerful arsenal at the government's disposal, and send them off on a mission to defeat an enigmatic, insuperable entity. U.S. intelligence officer Amanda Waller has determined only a secretly convened group of disparate, despicable individuals with next to nothing to lose will do.

However, once they realize they weren't picked to succeed but chosen for their patent culpability when they inevitably fail, will the Suicide Squad resolve to die trying, or decide it's every man for himself?

Suicide Squad comes hot off the heels of the success of Batman v Superman earlier this year and is set to be another success of Warner Bros.

- Nerve - released 11th August

Emma Roberts is one of the most exciting young actresses around and she returns to the big screen this August with her new film Nerve.

Nerve is based on the 2012 novel of the same name by Jeanne Ryan and sees Roberts collaborate with filmmakers Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman for the first time.

Joost and Schulman are best known for their work on horror series Paranormal Activity and it is great to see them teaming up together to tackle the crime/thriller genre.

Roberts takes on the central role of Vee in the film and is joined on the cast list by Dave Franco, Juliette Lewis, Emily Meade, Miles Heizer, and Kimiko Glenn.

Nerve follows industrious high school senior, Vee Delmonico (Roberts), who has had it with living life on the sidelines. When pressured by friends to join the popular online game Nerve, Vee decides to sign up for just one dare in what seems like harmless fun.

But as she finds herself caught up in the thrill of the adrenaline-fueled competition, the game begins to take a sinister turn with increasingly dangerous acts, leading her into a high-stakes finale that will determine her entire future.

- Pete's Dragon - released 12th August

So many of us grew up watching the 1977 version of Pete's Dragon and now it is returning to the big screen. 2016 has already been a great year for Disney and Pete's Dragon is set to be another great project for the studio.

Pete Dragon is set to ma mix of live-action and special effects and sees David Lowery in the director's chair and on writing duties; he teamed up with Toby Halbrooks to pen the film's screenplay.

Pete's Dragon is the fourth feature film of Lowery career and is the biggest movie of his career to date.

Bryce Dallas Howard takes on the roles of forest ranger Grace Meacham and is joined on the cast list by Robert Redford, Wes Bentley, Karl Urban, and Oona Laurence. We are also going to see Oakes Fegley take on the central role of Pete - he is a young acting talent to keep an eye on over the next few years.

For years, old wood carver Mr. Meacham (Redford) has delighted local children with his tales of the fierce dragon that resides deep in the woods of the Pacific Northwest. To his daughter, Grace (Howard), who works as a forest ranger, these stories are little more than tall tales... until she meets Pete (Fegley).

Pete is a mysterious 10-year-old with no family and no home who claims to live in the woods with a giant, green dragon named Elliott. And from Pete's descriptions, Elliott seems remarkably similar to the dragon from Mr. Meacham's stories. With the help of Natalie (Laurence), an 11-year-old girl whose father Jack (Bentley) owns the local lumber mill, Grace sets out to determine where Pete came from, where he belongs, and the truth about this dragon.

It has already been a great summer for family movies and Pete's Dragon is a film that you cannot afford to miss.

- Swallows And Amazons - released 19th August

Speaking of family friendly films, Swallows and Amazons is going to be another film that you just have to see.

Swallows and Amazons is an adaptation of the much-loved novel of the same name Arthur Ransome and is set to be a wonderful summer adventure - I am really looking forward to seeing how this film plays on the big screen.

Philippa Lowthorpe is in the director's chair as she makes her big screen debut - she does have a lot of directing experience in television with the likes of Jamaica Inn and Call the Midwife already under her belt.

Andrew Scott, Rafe Spall, Kelly Macdonald, Harry Enfield and Jessica Hynes are the big experienced names on the cast list while Dane Hughes, and Orla Hill are some of the young stars to watch out for.

Swallows And Amazons follows four children dreaming of escape from the tedium of a summer holiday in the Lake District with their mother. When finally given permission to camp on their own on a remote island in the middle of a vast lake, they are overjoyed. But when they get there they discover they may not be alone...

As a desperate battle for ownership of the island ensues, the real dangers of an adult world on the brink of war encroach on their paradise in the form of a mysterious pair of Russian spies hot on the tail of the enigmatic Jim Turner. As the sleepy British summer is turned on its head, the children must learn skills of survival, responsibility, and the all-important value of friendship.

This is the second film adaptation of this classic children's book and should be a big hit at the box office.

- Julieta - released 26th August

Pedro Almodóvar is one of the most exciting filmmakers around and has brought us movies such as Volver and Broken Embraces in recent years. He is back in the director's chair this summer with his latest film Julieta.

As well as being in the director's chair, Almodóvar has also penned the screenplay for the film, which is based on a collection of short stories by Alice Munro. This is the first film for Almodóvar since I'm So Excited! back in 2013 - it is great to see him back.

Emma Suárez and Adriana Ugarte player the older and younger version of the title character and are joined on the cast list by Daniel Grao, Imma Cuesta, Michelle Jenner and Darío Grandinetti.

Julieta is a teacher of fifty-five. She writes a long letter to her daughter, Antía, trying to explain all the things she has kept secret from her over the last 30 years. When she has finished her confession, she doesn't know where to post the letter.

Her daughter abandoned her when she was eighteen and Julieta hasn't heard from her in the past twelve years. She has searched everywhere, but now realises that Antía has become a total stranger to her.

Julieta is about destiny, guilt complex and the unfathomable mystery that leads some people to abandon those they love, erasing them as if they meant nothing. It is also about the pain that this brutal desertion provokes in the victim.

Almodóvar has always had a knack of delivering great character driven movies and Julieta looks set to follow that tradition - I cannot wait to see what he delivers.