A recent (and worthy) big winner at the Oscars is among the noteworthy titles leaving Netflix in the United States in August, along with a family favorite, an action epic and two franchises of the comic book and slapstick comedy variety.
‘The Woman King’ (Aug. 12)
Gina Prince-Bythewood has pulled off an unusual (and thrilling) career 180 in recent years, pivoting gracefully from her early, small-scale dramas (“Love & Basketball,” “The Secret Life of Bees” “Beyond the Lights”) to big action extravaganzas like “The Old Guard” and this, its 2022 follow-up. Viola Davis is fierce and unforgettable as Nanisca, the 19th-century general of an all-woman warrior army in the African kingdom of Dahomey, while John Boyega is terrific as the monarch (at least in name) who supports her. But the star-making performances come from Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch and Sheila Atim as warriors in Nanisca’s army — young performers who more than hold their own against their marquee leads. The screenplay, penned by Dana Stevens (with story assistance from the actor Maria Bello) is based on a true story.
‘Paddington’ (Aug. 13)
Nicole Kidman has played only a handful of outright villains in her long and prolific career, but when she does, she does so with gusto. In this 2014 adaptation by the director Paul King (“Wonka”) of the children’s book series, Kidman appears as an evil museum taxidermist who wants nothing more than to stuff the gentle cartoon bear of the title. It’s a delightfully wild performance, with just the right mixture of menace and camp — and there’s more to love besides, from the warmth of the family dynamic (led by Sally Hawkins and Hugh Bonneville, both charming) to the sweetness of the convincingly integrated animated Paddington (whimsically voiced by Ben Whishaw) to the winking tone, which will entertain children and parents alike.
‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ (Aug. 22)
Once upon a time, it seemed that the Academy Award for best picture would go only to sweeping period epics and turgid literary adaptations. But a few films in recent years have shaken up our conventional notion of “best picture winner,” including the winner of that Oscar for 2022. A madcap hybrid of action movie, slapstick comedy, family drama and brainy science fiction, this busy and brilliant effort from the music video makers turned film directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, a.k.a. the Daniels. Michelle Yeoh won the best actress prize for her role as a meek laundromat owner whose trip into the metaverse unlocks the hero within; Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis picked up supporting actor trophies for their rich and funny turns as her husband and a harried I.R.S. agent.
‘Marcel the Shell With Shoes On’ (Aug. 23)
What began as a simple stop-motion animation short on YouTube in 2010 became a viral sensation and then, in 2022, this charming feature film. In it, the director Dean Fleischer Camp reprises his role as the human interviewer of Marcel, an inch-long hermit crab shell, assisting him on a journey to find his family. Isabella Rossellini (pitch perfect) joins the cast as his grandmother. The screenplay, by Camp, Nick Pale and Jenny Slate (who voices Marcel), achieves bespoke whimsy without tipping into self-congratulatory twee, thanks in no small part to Slate’s energetic performance, which combines childlike wonder and no-nonsense practicality with a healthy dose of her comic timing.
‘Burn After Reading’ (Aug. 31)
Never ones for repeating themselves, the Coen Brothers followed up their Oscar-winning existentialist western “No Country For Old Men” with this wild, uproariously funny slapstick comedy. John Malkovich stars as Osborne Cox, a recently unemployed C.I.A. analyst, whose attempt to skewer his bosses with a tell-all backfires broadly, pulling in a philandering lawman (George Clooney), Cox’s fed-up wife (Tilda Swinton), and two utterly brainless gym employees (Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt). The Coens smoothly replicate the seemingly impossible blend of hyper-smart and dopey-dumb comedy that made “Raising Arizona” and “The Big Lebowski” so memorable and coax gloriously goofy performances out of their movie-star cast.
‘Liar Liar’ (Aug. 31)
The best of the high-concept comedies of the ’90s, this 1997 smash re-teamed Jim Carrey with Tom Shadyac, who directed Carrey’s breakthrough feature, “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective,” three years earlier. The gimmick is simple: Carrey is Fletcher Reede, a fast-talking divorce lawyer whose son grows so weary of his father’s constant lies that he wishes on his birthday candles that his dad must spend an entire day telling only the truth. It somehow works, not only causing Reede immediate professional problems (Jennifer Tilly is a scream as his cheerfully amoral client) but also shipwrecking even the simplest everyday interactions. The touchy-feely ending is a little much, but there are plenty of laughs, up to and including the especially funny end-credits outtakes.
‘Miami Vice’ (Aug. 31)
Michael Mann played a big part in defining ’80s cool (and redefining ’80s television) with the hit cop series “Miami Vice,” for which he was an executive producer and made many of the key decisions about its look and feel. He never wrote or directed any of its episodes, though he does both for this 2006 film adaptation, which is informed as much by his films (“Heat,” “Thief” and “Collateral,” especially) as by the original show. Critics complained about the hard-to-follow plot and murkily motivated characters, but that is all beside the point — it’s a film that’s all about vibes and style, parachuting viewers into its relentless action and daring them to keep up. Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx smolder as Miami cops Crockett and Tubbs; Gong Li adds considerable heat as Crockett’s romantic interest.
‘The Nutty Professor’ / ‘The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps’ (Aug. 31)
Stream ‘The Nutty Professor’ here and ‘The Nutty Professor II’ here.
The “Liar Liar” director, Tom Shadyac, also directed Eddie Murphy’s 1996 remake of the 1963 Jerry Lewis comedy classic “The Nutty Professor,” which proved a potent comeback vehicle for Murphy after a series of critical and commercial disappointments. In playing both the kindhearted Professor Sherman Klump and Buddy Love, his smooth-talking but obnoxious alter ego who emerges when Klump swallows an experimental weight-loss potion, Murphy was able to fill in more shades of his comic persona. He also showed his considerable versatility in playing five additional characters, including most of Sherman’s family. The family scenes, the comic highlights of the picture, were expanded for the 2000 sequel “The Klumps,” which can’t quite match the laughs or pathos of the original film but offers plenty of pleasures nonetheless.
‘Spider-Man’ / ‘Spider-Man 2’ / ‘Spider-Man 3’ (Aug. 31)
Stream ‘Spider-Man’ here, ‘Spider-Man 2’ here and ‘Spider-Man 3’ here.
The director Sam Raimi, known primarily in 2002 for his gory but witty “Evil Dead” films, helped set the style for the contemporary comic book movie with his adaptation that year of the adventures of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. The first film is firmly in origin-story territory, detailing how Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) was bit by a radioactive spider and turned into a stealth crime fighter; Kirsten Dunst makes her first appearance as the sunny girl-next-door Mary Jane, while James Franco broods as Peter’s moody best pal. “Spider-Man 2,” released two years later, is even better, with Raimi solidifying his approach and drawing more from his roots with the deliciously dark addition of the villain Doc Ock (Alfred Molina). “Spider-Man 3” (2007), though the weakest of the bunch, lets Raimi fully off the leash; he clearly had a breezy blast closing out his influential trilogy.
ALSO LEAVING: “The Accountant” (Aug. 26); “American Hustle,” “The Blind Side,” “The Edge of Seventeen,” “The Gift,” “Pineapple Express” (Aug. 31).
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