AUGUST
THE DARK TOWER
WHEN: August 4
WHO: Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Taylor, Abbey Lee, Jackie Earle Haley
WHAT: After multiple attempts to adapt Stephen King’s revolutionary fantasy/Western/horror/sci-fi book series into movies (and TV shows), the epic tale finally comes to the big screen, with the insanely clever casting of Elba as gunslinger Roland and McConaughey as the malevolent Man in Black.
WHY: The Dark Tower series is arguably the greatest (and certainly the richest) story King has written. If the movie comes even close to doing it justice, it could rank amongst the best King adaptations.
DETROIT
WHEN: August 4
WHO: John Boyega, Will Poulter, Jason Mitchell, Anthony Mackie, John Krasinski
WHAT: Kathryn Bigelow, director of tense thrillers The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, turns her camera to the 1967 Detroit riot, fifty years later.
WHY: Bigelow’s last two movies earned Best Picture nominations (with the former winning the Oscar). That alone makes Detroit a film to pay attention to.
THE HITMAN’S BODYGUARD
WHEN: August 18
WHO: Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Gary Oldman, Salma Hayek, Richard E. Grant
WHAT: Almost every August, there’s a comedy that sneaks up and wins over the waning weeks of summer. This very R-rated comedy about a hotshot bodyguard (Reynolds) tasked with protecting a wanted hitman (Jackson) should be that movie.
WHY: Reynolds has a lot of comedic goodwill from last year’s Deadpool, and The Hitman’s Bodyguard should utilize him (not to mention Jackson and his “motherf—er”s) to his fullest potential.
TERMINATOR 2:
JUDGMENT DAY 3D
WHEN: August 25
WHO: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Edward Furlong, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, Joe Morton
WHAT: The seminal 1991 action/sci-fi masterpiece gets a theatrical re-release (to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the date artificially intelligent Skynet became self-aware), with digital conversion by the same artists responsible for Titanic 3D five years ago.
WHY: It’s the greatest sequel of all time, now in 3D. What more do you want?
