Summer Movie Preview: August 2015

August is a Very Special Month around here, in that it contains the day of my birth. That means taking time to celebrate, and taking time to celebrate often means dinner and a movie. So what will theaters be unspooling in their never-ending quest for our hard-earned dollars? Let's check it out!

The Main Attraction: Ummmm.... I've gone over the list of the month's releases multiple times, and can only reach the conclusion that the main attraction this August will be:

Maybe I'll pick up some of the movies I missed in the other summer months, but it's more likely that I'll make an effort to put a dent in my imposing Netflix queue. There is just nothing being released in August that really grabs my attention, which may be a first for summer blockbuster seasons. There are a few films that may be worth checking out at some point (see below), but there aren't any headliners.

Looks Promising: I liked Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, but cannot claim to be a Guy Ritchie fan, overall. That said, I did really enjoy the stylized trailer for The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (August 14). I've only seen a few episodes of the television show, so I certainly won't be angry if the movie strikes a different tone. The cast seems well-chosen, so as long as this movie isn't quite as hyper-kinetic as Ritchie's other ones, I can see myself checking this out.

Possible Rental: Meryl Streep is always good, even if the movie she's inhabiting isn't. The trailer for Ricki and the Flash (August 7), which stars her as an aging rocker who is attempting to atone for being a negligent mother, didn't fill me with giddy anticipation, but I definitely am not writing it off just yet. There's also Z for Zachariah (release TBD), which features Margot Robbie as a woman living on a post-apocalyptic farm, and must contend with the arrival of two strange men (Chiwetel Ejiofor and Chris Pine), both of whom are contenders for the chance to get the population going again. I know literally nothing about it except what I just wrote, but the premise is intriguing.

We'll See: I'm not saying Fantastic Four (August 7) will be as terrible as, well, every other Fantastic Four movie has been, but it sure hasn't given me any indication that it's going to improve, either. I'm more than happy to wait for the next X-Men movie instead, but if this somehow gets an overwhelming amount of positive buzz, I suppose I'll allow myself to be persuaded into seeing it. There's also the comedic crime heist movie Masterminds (August 7), which stars Zach Galifinakis and Kristen Wiig as hapless bank robbers. It looks pretty middle-of-the-road, but I'll admit to being curious about what director Jared Hess' post-Napoleon Dynamite movies are like.