Here Are the Movies Actually Worth Watching in Cinemas This August

(SPOT.ph) While there is comfort to be found in the activity of hitting play on a movie that's loaded up on your computer at home, it also, unfortunately, comes with its fair share of drawbacks; notifications buzzing on your phone, light and noise from the world outside your room, and any of your family being able to walk in on you as you're sobbing through the third act of A Star is Born—that last one possibly taken from personal experience.

This is why we love the theatrical experience. Besides movie theater popcorn and the massive screen, the cinema allows the audience to escape together into emotional stories and worlds unknown. This month of August looks to be the cinema's most packed yet since making its comeback, with a musical, an action-adventure anime, disaster and survival movies, a Filipino comedy, and two horror films all debuting on the big screen this month.

Also read: 10 Exciting Titles Coming to Netflix This August

Here are the movies now showing in cinemas this August:

Katips: The Movie

Release date: August 3

An adaptation of the award-winning 2016 musical Katips: Ang Mga Bagong Katipunero, Katips: The Movie tells the story of student activists during the 1972 to 1981 period of Martial law in the Philippines and how their fight for freedom was met by resistance from an oppressive regime. With a love story also at the center of the adaptation, the film harkens back to epic historical dramas of the 20th century. The feature's story is inspired by real events that its writer, director, and lead actor Vince Tañada experienced during Martial law. 

After being awarded Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Musical Score, Best Cinematography, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Original Song at the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences Awards (FAMAS) over the weekend,  Katips looks like the perfect film to kick off a month of cinema-going.

Bullet Train

Release date: August 10

Pushed back a week from its original release date, Bullet Train finally drops during the second week of August. The film largely takes place on a bullet train zooming from Tokyo to Kyoto. On it are assassins sent to kill each other, portrayed by Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron-Taylor Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Bad Bunny, and Zazie Beetz. It's the latest action-comedy from Deadpool 2, Atomic Blonde, and Hobbes & Shaw director David Leitch, so you can undoubtedly expect this formidable cast to trade many quips and banter, as they engage in intricate gun fights aboard a high-speed train.

NOPE

Release date: August 17

"You're the only person in the world to get in on film." After writer/director Jordan Peele made his cinematic debut with the mind-bending and provocative horror-thillers Get Out and Us, there's no one we trust more from Hollywood to deliver on exciting and fresh blockbuster concepts. His latest film NOPE seems to be taking sci-fi head-on, as it centers on a group of ranch-dwellers (including Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, and Steven Yeun) who attempt to capture a video recording of a UFO. Social media initially believed the film's title to mean "Not Of Planet Earth," but Peele has debunked this, and said the word "nope" is how he hopes audiences will react when seeing the film in theaters. Even the horror fan in us shaking now.

The Invitation

Release date: August 24

Speaking of horror, we'll be getting a straight-up horror film immediately the week after with The Invitation. Starring Game of Thrones and Fast & Furious' Nathalie Emmanuel, The Invitation follows a young woman who's invited by her long-lost family to their manor estate deep within the English countryside. Being, well, a horror movie protagonist, she accepts their offer, and you can already foresee how that'll turn out. With cultists in masquerades, a huge mansion equipped with all sorts of bells and whistles, and a tease of the supernatural going on, the flick looks to be the playful horror attraction to just have fun with this month. 

Beast

Release date: August 24

It's been quite some time since we've been glued to the edge of our seats while watching an intense, man-versus-environment survival film in the cinemas. Thankfully, August is bringing that genre back to Philippine cinemas, with no other than Idris Elba going up against a ferocious, South African lion in Beast. From Everest director Baltasar Kormákur, the survival thriller also stars Sharlto Copley, Riley Keough, and the upcoming Percy Jackson series' Leah Jeffries—but really, we're in it just to see Elba fight off a lion with his bare hands.

Emergency Declaration

Release date: August 24

As most of us have yet to experience flying since the start of the pandemic, why not stress your fear of the skies to all new limits with this Korean disaster-action film that takes place in an airplane? In Emergency Declaration, a passenger jet bound for South Korea is forced to take extreme measures after a hostile, terror attack takes place aboard the carrier mid-flight. Parasite's Song Kang-ho and G.I. Joe's Storm Shadow Lee Byung-hun star in the film, a welcome reunion for all the fans of Park Chan-wook's 2000 thriller Joint Security Area out there. The film itself is directed by The King director Han Jae-rim.

Dragon Ball Super: SUPER HERO

Release date: August 31

Dragon Ball is back in cinemas, and the excitement of '90s kids is over 9000. A follow-up to the Dragon Ball Super series and Broly animated film, SUPER HERO follows Gohan and Piccolo as they defend the world against the Red Ribbon Army's "super," killer androids. Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama also penned the screenplay for the new feature! Without a doubt, the super-sized punches that are special to the Dragon Ball franchise are one way to kick off one's return to the cinema.

Easter Sunday

Release date: August 31

Closing out the month we have the Jo Koy special—er, we mean comedy feature film—Easter Sunday. Jo Koy stars as a struggling comedian (quite on the nose, but alright) and single father. He attends the Easter celebrations of his Filipino-American family in San Francisco, the haven for people of Filipino descent in the United States. The film is the first Filipino-centric movie from a global Hollywood studio. With Jo Koy in the lead, the movie looks witty and like it hits close to home enough, but if there's a mention of "Filipinx" at any point in the film, we're walking out.

Also read: 10 Movies Released This Year You Should Have Watched By Now

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