Meg 2, Gran Turismo, Netflix’s Heart of Stone among August’s must-see movies

As well as Whanau Marama: New Zealand International Film Festival still rolling out across the country and despite the actors and writers’ strike having paralysed Hollywood production, there are plenty of new movies heading to a screen near you this month.

For those who fancy a trip to the cinema, options include 1960s-set Irish dramedy The Miracle Club (August 3), controversial actioner Sound of Freedom (August 24), award-winning Kiwi freediving documentary Pacific Mother (August 24), Liam Neeson’s latest crime drama (August 24’s Retribution), the Disneyland ride-inspired Haunted Mansion (August 31), a documentary on Nigerian-born New Zealand UFC world champion Israel Adesanya (August 24’s Stylebender), supernatural horror Dracula: Voyage of the Demeter (August 10), adult talking animal comedy Strays (August 17), French Film Festival returnee A Good Friend (August 24), Indian drama The Last Film Show (August 17) and Australian thriller Mercy Road (August 24).

Elsewhere, Netflix’s line-up includes cycling documentary Mark Cavendish: Never Enough (August 2), Japanese comedic action-fantasy Zom 100 (August 3) and the Adam Sandler-starring coming-of-age comedy You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (August 25), while Prime Video has Gerard Butler headliner Kandahar (August 18), Shudder possesses “female rage” horror Bad Things (August 18) and Disney+ boasts the return of Lil Rel Howery and John Cena in Vacation Friends 2 (August 25).

However, after looking through the schedules, Stuff to Watch has come up with this list of the 12 movies we believe are most worth checking out (and where you can watch them), as well as one so bad, it might have to be seen to be believed.

Asteroid City (August 10, Cinemas)

Wes Anderson’s latest whimsical confection is a 1950-set, sci-fi-infused dramedy about a Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention which is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events.

The truly impressive ensemble assembled Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Edward Norton, Bryan Cranston, Steve Carell, Willem Dafoe, Tilda Swinton and Margot Robbie.

“The purest distillation of what this director brings to cinema, it’s beautiful to look at, surreal, nostalgic and funny in a weird, distanced way,” wrote San Francisco Chronicle’s Mick LaSalle.

Chevalier (August 3, Cinemas)

Kelvin Harrison Jr. (Elvis, The High Note) stars in this biopic of 18th Century French-Caribbean musician Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges.

The cast also includes Samara Weaving, Minnie Driver and New Zealand’s own Marton Csokas.

“History almost erased Joseph Bologne; this film lets him live again,” wrote Seattle Times’ Moira MacDonald.

The Equalizer 3 (August 31, Cinemas)

Denzel Washington returns as retired U.S. Marine and former Defense Intelligence Agency officer Robert McCall for the third – and allegedly final – time. Moving to Southern Italy to escape his past, McCall’s plans for a quiet life are rudely disturbed when he discovers that his new friends are under the control of agents of the Sicilian Mafia.

Joining Washington for this latest instalment are his ex-Man on Fire co-star Dakota Fanning and Mare of Easttown’s David Denman.

The First Slam Dunk (August 24, Cinemas)

Writer-director Takehiko Inoue adapts his own Slam Dunk manga series. Not only has this tale of the Shohoku High School basketball team won the Japanese Academy Prize for the year’s best animation, it has also become the fifth highest-grossing anime of all-time.

“[It’s]able to throw a relentless series of new gambits, twists, and reversals at the screen that will keep even seasoned sports film fans on the edge of their seat,” wrote Slant Magazine’s Ross McIndoe.

Gran Turismo (August 10, Cinemas)

While based on the PlayStation video game series of the same name, director Neill Blomkamp’s (District 9, Chappie) sports movie has also been inspired by the true story of teenage gamer and aspiring race car driver Jann Mardenborough.

Midsommar’s Archie Madekwe is the young man seeking to go pro, while the supporting players include David Harbour, Orlando Bloom, Djimon Hounsou and former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell Horner.

Heart of Stone (August 11, Netflix)

Billed as a potential Mission: Impossible-style franchise for former Wonder Woman Gal Gadot, this sees her essaying international intelligence agent Rachel Stone.

Tasked by peacekeeping organisation Charter with protecting a mysterious MacGuffin known as “The Heart”, it’s going to take all her skills to keep it from falling into enemy hands.

Jamie Dornan, Sophie Okonedo, Alia Bhatt and Matthias Schweighöfer also have key roles, while filming took place in Italy, London, Reykjavik and Lisbon.

Jules (August 17, Cinemas)

Ben Kingsley headlines this drama which focuses on Milton Robinson, a western Pennsylvanian man whose quiet life of routine is upended when a UFO and its extra-terrestrial passenger crash land in his backyard.

“This slight but engaging, even quirky little film, is a crowd-pleaser that presents Kingsley with a role that fits like a glove, and one we haven’t seen him often do,” wrote Deadline’s Pete Hammond.

Meg 2: The Trench (August 3, Cinemas)

Jason Statham’s Jonas Taylor and his team’s latest exploratory dive into the deepest depths of the ocean spirals into chaos when a malevolent mining operation threatens their mission. However, the environmental plunderers are the least of their concerns, when they find themselves also up against multiple colossal creatures long thought extinct.

Based on Steve Alten’s 1999 novel The Trench and directed by Ben Wheatley (Sightseers, Rebecca), the actioner also features Jing Wu, Sienna Guillory and Cliff Curtis.

The Monkey King (Netflix, August 18)

Elements of the epic 16th Century Chinese tale Journey to the West get the action-packed animation treatment in this adventure that focuses on “Monkey’s” battles with demons, dragons, gods and – his greatest adversary of all – his own ego.

Everything Everywhere All At Once’s Stephanie Hsu, Jurassic Park’s BD Wong, Warrior’s Hoon Lee and Crazy Rich Asians’ Jimmy O. Yang are among those lending their vocal talents.

Past Lives (August 31, Cinemas)

Winner of the Berlin Film Festival’s Golden Bear, after being well-received a month earlier at Sundance, South Korean-Canadian writer-director Celine Song’s feature debut is the tale of Nora and Hae Sung.

Virtually inseparable as children, they are wrested apart when her family emigrates from South Korea to Toronto. Twelve years later, the now New York-based Nora (Greta Lee) is looking up her old schoolmates when she discovers a Facebook post from Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) searching for her whereabouts.

Red, White and Royal Blue (August 11, Prime Video)

This is a much-anticipated film adaptation of Casey McQuiston’s 2019 LGBT romance novel about the budding relationship between the son of a U.S. President and a British Prince. The Kissing Booth sequels’ Taylor Zakhar Perez is Alex Claremont-Diaz, while The Changeover’s Nicholas Galitzine plays Prince Henry.

Among those along for the ride are Stephen Fry, Uma Thurman, Ellie Bamber and Rachel Hilson.

Scrapper (August 31, Cinemas)

Likely to be seen as this coming awards season’s Nowhere Special or Aftersun, this emotional father-daughter tale picked up a World Grand Jury Prize at January’s Sundance Film Festival.

Writer-director Charlotte Regan’s gentle drama is the story of 12-year-old Georgie (Lola Campbell), whose enforced preternatural independence is threatened by the arrival of her estranged father (Triangle of Sadness’ Harris Dickinson).

The One to Avoid

God Is a Bullet (August 23, Neon and other rentals)

Veteran director Nick Cassavetes’ (The Notebook, My Sister’s Keeper, The Other Woman) new crime horror sees former Game of Thrones’ star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s Detective Bob Hightower attempt to infiltrate an evil cult in order to save his kidnapped daughter and avenge the murder of his wife.

Maika Monroe, January Jones and Jamie Foxx also feature.

“The misogyny of the movie’s risibly sadistic villains is only one distasteful thread in this sleazy saga of rescue and revenge,” wrote The New York Times’ Jeannette Catsoulis.