Movie fundi Spling dishes on all the new films worth watching in August.

Guardians of the Galaxy 

1 August

If being dubbed “Space Avengers” has only made you more excited at the prospect of seeing this ragtag team do their thing, you’ve probably been counting the hours until Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy crash lands at cinemas. Judging from the buzz, this intergalactic superhero adventure is destined for infinity and beyond.

Classic 60s and 70s mix tape music, killer superhero visuals and plucky A-Team style heroics is what’s under the hood in James Gunn’s blockbuster follow-up to Super. Right now, it’s probably the closest thing we have to seeing a Tarantino superhero film, and box office success seems inevitable.

Hercules 

8 August

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is quickly becoming the next-gen Schwarzenegger with his natural charisma and hulking physique. The nearly-iconic Hollywood action hero was the top-grossing actor in 2013 and is continuing his “work hard, play harder” philosophy into the realm of Greek mythology with Hercules this month.

Hercules arises from the ashes of 300: Rise of an Empire and Immortals to erase any traces of that clunker, The Legend of Hercules. Brett Ratner’s film is based on the graphic novel, Hercules: The Thracian Wars and seems to be a blend of Conan and The Scorpion King, in yet another epic Greek action adventure.

Expendables 3 

15 August

What do Wesley Snipes, Antonio Banderas, Mel Gibson, Kelsey Grammer and Harrison Ford have in common? A year or two ago, you probably would have guessed something like ‘tax fraud’. Right now, it’s Expendables 3. Stallone isn’t ready to play dead, evidenced by the biggest retirement franchise since Grumpy Old Men.

Expendables 3 is a nostalgic action men of the 80s and 90s collective, which promises, and delivers, on senseless violence, macho action and tongue-in-cheek humour. It’s probably not going to live up to Rocky or Rambo for guts ‘n glory, but it’s a lot of fun as a “skiet, skop en donner” revival.

Sin City II: A Dame to Kill for 

22 August

Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez are back after nine years with the prequel and sequel, A Dame to Kill for, the follow-up to Sin City. While Eva Green’s banned movie poster has clouded the publicity around the crime thriller’s release, ironically, there’s more than meets the eye.

The film is set to release in 3D, bringing Miller’s in-your-face graphic novel within touching distance. Then to whet your appetite even further, most of Sin City’s original cast are reprising their roles with newcomers in Eva Green, Josh Brolin, Ray Liotta, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Christopher Lloyd and even Lady Gaga.

Lucy 

29 August

We’re staring down the barrel of a sci-fi actioner cocked by Scarlett Johansson and loaded by Luc Besson. While Besson is renowned for The Professional, The Fifth Element, The Big Blue and La Femme Nikita, he slipped out of the director’s chair and into a ‘backseat’ role in the 2000s. 

While his last few films haven’t quite hit bull’s eye, we’re all hoping that Lucy is going to with its pulpy blend of Hannah, The Matrix and Limitless, with Johansson starring as, yet again, a femme fatale with ever expanding mind capabilities. 

MOVIE NEWS

Everybody loves J.R.R. Tolkien…

Shortly after it was announced that a biopic was in development for the late Lord of the Rings author, another smaller film is gearing up. Tolkien & Lewis will focus on J.R.R. Tolkien’s friendship and rivalry with C.S. Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia. The two were colleagues at Oxford University, fellow war veterans and had many religious debates. Strangely enough, it’s set to be directed by Con Air’s Simon West and release in Easter 2015.

The Ring is scaring up another sequel

Naomi Watts, horses, VHS, death… The Ring seems like a distant memory or nightmare. Whether you chose to block it out intentionally or not, the franchise is about to push play on another sequel with Before the Fall’s F. Javier Gutierrez signed on to direct. Most people don’t have the capacity or muscle memory to play VHS these days, so we’re hoping they convert to DVD or find a more modern way of killing off their audience.