While its reputation has improved slightly in recent years, for a long time August was seen as one of the worst months for seeing a new release (though nothing can top the wasteland that is January). The peak of summer dwindled down with the most prominent releases coming in that space between Memorial Day and the 4th of July. By the time August rolled around schools were starting to go back into session and so you didn’t have the younger audience as a available to watch your popcorn flicks. There are some fantastic August releases though and I’ve made a list of some of my favorites here.
The Return of the Living Dead (16 August 1985)
Written & Directed by Dan O’Bannon
This is the best zombie movie in that it embraces the insanity of the concept. Far better than Day of the Dead, which came out the same summer, Return is the directorial debut of Alien screenwriter Dan O’Bannon. A medical supply warehouse becomes the flashpoint of a zombie outbreak in Louisville, Kentucky. What starts as one contained zombie leads to a bite which you might think would set off a chain reaction. You would be wrong because the actual outbreak comes when a zombie corpse is incinerated, and the chemicals come back down on a graveyard as rain. Things ratchet up in insanity the further along we go resulting in one of the best horror comedies I’ve ever seen, and this comes from someone who doesn’t typically enjoy that combination of genres. Also, the mortician is meant to be a former Nazi, right? The clues are all there.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (22 August 1986)
Written by L.M. Kit Carson
Directed by Tobe Hooper
Speaking of great horror-comedies, Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2, directed by the original’s Tobe Hooper, goes in a deeply satirical direction which I think was a genius move. Since the previous film’s events, Leatherface has joined up with another branch of his family. Meanwhile, a former US marshall named Lefty (Dennis Hopper), the uncle of the Hardesty kids from the first film, is out for revenge. Stretch, a radio DJ in Dallas, recorded the murder of two men by Leatherface that happened when the men called into her show. This draws the attention of the killers and results in a very unhinged series of events that culminate in a wild showdown. There’s also a chili cook-off essential to the plot, a Vietnam Vet/Hippy with a metal plate in his head, and a lot of love. I think this sequel should have ended the franchise, but they kept churning them out, one worse after the other.
Uncle Buck (16 August 1989)
Written & Directed by John Hughes
I typically associate Uncle Buck with the fall, but it was a mid-August release making it a summer movie. When Bob and Cindy Russell have to attend to her father, who has a heart attack, they call in Bob’s brother, Buck (John Candy). Cindy sees Buck as an unreliable & bad influence, and she isn’t entirely wrong, though she’s being very mean to a guy with the best intentions. Even Buck doubts watching over his nieces and nephew when he realizes how complicated their lives and personalities are. This movie falls in the category of Hughes’ adult comedies, rather than his more hyped high school ones, and it is an excellent performance from Candy. The actor does what he does best, which is delivering endearing pathos-laden humor, which meshes with Hughes’ filmmaking style so beautifully.
The Fugitive (6 August 1993)
Written by Jeb Stuart and David Twohy
Directed by Andrew Davis
In the 1990s, Hollywood churned out many film adaptations of shows the Boomers had grown up watching. Not all of them worked, but some (The Addams Family, The Brady Bunch) were excellent. The Fugitive was one of the good ones, helped with a tv series premise that easily adapted itself for film. Surgeon Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) is falsely accused, arrested, and convicted for the murder of his wife. But it wasn’t Kimble; it was that damn one-armed man. During his transport to prison, a riot breaks out onboard the bus, and our protagonist manages to escape into the wilds of the Great Lakes area. Pursued by U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones), Kimble must prove his innocence by discovering why anyone would want to kill his wife and frame him. The Fugitive is similar to Brian De Palma’s Mission: Impossible. It takes its source material seriously but isn’t afraid to take dramatic license and tell its own distinct story.
Cop Land (6 August 1997)
Written & Directed by James Mangold
Before director James Mangold made Wolverine movies or the most recent Indiana Jones entry, he made this very well-constructed crime drama about how awful the police are. Garrison, New Jersey, has become the home of dozens of NYPD officers, a group that has made themselves untouchable by Internal Affairs. Garrison is watched over by Sheriff Freddy Heflin (Sylvester Stallone), who was unable to join the force due to deafness in one ear he sustained while rescuing a drowning woman. While Heflin idolizes the New York cops, he starts to notice cracks that these men are involved in criminal activity. Because the sheriff has been subservient to them and sees them as further up in the hierarchy, he hesitates to act. The circumstances will force him to when it becomes imperative that these cops are held accountable for what they have done.
Perfect Blue (20 August 1999)
Written by Sadayuki Murai
Directed by Satoshi Kon
Perfect Blue was a film that completely blew me away when I had moderate expectations. It’s a perfect animated film that showcases how much the genre can be used to make quality movies for grown-ups. Mima has been a member of a pop group for most of her career but breaks away to pursue a dream of being an actress. A disturbed fan cannot handle this decision and begins stalking Mima because the woman is taking on roles that challenge the public perception of her as a “good girl.” The layers of fiction and reality quickly become muddled as the viewer is increasingly unsure if they are watching Mima in one of the television shows or films she’s booked or is just going about her everyday life. Perfect Blue will completely scramble your brains and is one of my favorite mindfuck films ever made, giving consistent nods to Hitchcock without feeling derivative.
American Splendor (15 August 2003)
Written & Directed by Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini
American Splendor is an incredible character study of the real-life comic book writer Harvey Pekar. Played by Paul Giamatti, Pekar is a curmudgeonly & acerbic figure, spending most of his time grumbling about daily life shit he finds annoying. Through documentary and narrative filmmaking, the directors lay out a biopic that examines where Pekar’s work came from. We see how crucial Cleveland, Ohio is as a setting for these comics, the reluctance of the man to embrace this career because he doesn’t quite understand indie comix at first, and even his tumultuous recurring appearances on Late Night with David Letterman in the 1980s. There are few biopics like this, and Giamatti is inspired casting, alongside Hope Davis as equally cranky wife Joyce. This was a college-era favorite for me and is still great to revisit every few years.
Ponyo (14 August 2009)
Written & Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
I wasn’t sure how I would feel about a Studio Ghibli movie aimed at the youngest demographic. Would it be too cutesy? However, I found Ponyo to be a fantastic film that I’ve been able to rewatch a couple times since my first viewing. In a play on Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid, we follow Brunhilde, a little fish girl who comes to the service world when curiosity gets the best of her. She befriends a little boy named Sosuke. They go on a series of adventures while in the background, Brunhilde’s father, Fujimoto, searches high and low for her, resulting in a massive storm that hits Sosuke’s small coastal village. Brunhilde is one of those characters that will probably annoy half the audience but be entirely beloved by the other half. I am from the latter half; I found her to be very cute & silly.
Good Time (11 August 2017)
Written by Ronald Bronstein & Josh Safdie
Directed by Benny Safdie & Josh Safdie
This was a lot of people’s introduction to the Safdie Brothers, while certainly not the duo’s first film. I didn’t know what to expect, only that I had heard tremendously good things. The hype was real. Connie (Robert Pattison) coerces his mentally challenged brother Nick (Benny Safdie) into helping him rob a bank. Connie gets away, but Nick is caught and sent to Rikers Island. Throughout a single night, Connie frantically tries to raise the bail money, sending him on a wild odyssey into the heart of New York City. With every second, the Safdies do not let their foot off the gas, delivering one of the most anxiety-inducing filmgoing experiences I have ever had. I loved it! The performances are very naturalistic, and the cinematography is highly improvisational. In many moments it looks like we are watching a documentary with the camera trying to capture action it doesn’t know will happen. If you watch only one film on this list, make it Good Time.
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