Photo: STX Entertainment
We think you’ve had enough superhero sequels and Keanu Reeves spectaculars for one summer. Now you can relax and enjoy a few quiet underdog movies. If you’re looking to go to the cineplex and don’t need Marvel flying up your ass, we’ve got a nice marathon of dark horses to keep you busy through August. There’s at least one for every week from here on out. Doesn’t that sting, Ant-Man?
Leave No Trace (June 29)
Ben Foster and Thomasin McKenzie play a father-daughter duo who live off the land in a darker Captain Fantastic kind of way. The only difference is the authorities get involved in their strange little life.
Sorry to Bother You (July 6)
It’s a material life in a dystopian world, where money and success tempt young Cassius (Lakeith Stanfield). Meanwhile, Armie Hammer is a coke-loving CEO. Rapper Boots Riley wrote his own directorial debut.
Shock and Awe (July 13)
It’s one of those freakishly impressive acting ensembles, featuring the likes Rob Reiner, Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Jessica Biel and James Marsden. However, you probably haven’t heard much about it until just now. It’s a political drama featuring a group of journalists investigating the Bush regime amidst its infiltration of Iraq in 2003. It’s like Spotlight fornicated with Argo, except Tommy Lee Jones is making 15-year-old jokes.
Eighth Grade is also set to premiere on the same day.
Hot Summer Nights (July 27)
Elijah Bynum also wrote this directorial debut of his with Timothée Chalamet at the helm after his successful role in Lady Bird. Similarly, it’s a coming-of-age film set in Cape Cod, where kids can get into all kinds of trouble.
How does 2018 hold up to the greats? RANKED! The Best Years For Summer Movies
Like Father (August 3)
This plot is amazing: A girl gets stood up at the alter during her wedding — which her estranged father shows up to unannounced. Then, they get so drunk together that she brings him onto her honeymoon cruise (gross). From there, they rekindle their relationship stranded at sea to the sounds of Rod Stewart.
Although a charming Christopher Robin, Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg’s latest Boston baby Mile 22, and the return of Kevin Spacey in Billionaire Boys Club are all set to debut on the same day, something about this Kristin Bell-Kelsey Grammer flick (with a side of hickory smoked Seth Rogen) just seems too good.
BlacKkKlansman (August 10)
Spike Lee is dropping his latest joint, but it’s not the buddy cop classic you were imagining. John David Washington stars as Ron Stallworth, a 1970s African-American cop — the first on his police force — who infiltrates the KKK with the help of Adam Driver and his weird yet recognizable mustache. Produced by the team of Get Out, this will make you as concerned about the black guy as that movie did.
The Happytime Murders (August 17)
It can only be described as the muppets on coke. Or, perhaps, the most inventively hilarious buddy cop movie of all time. Featuring the return of Melissa McCarthy along with her partner, a blue-faced and depraved Kermit-like muppet, the movie follows the seedy underbelly of L.A. It also features a lot of what some might call a nightmare of puppets putting powder up their noses.
Papillon (August 24)
Usually we have our reserves about a remake of a movie like Papillon. However, Rami Malek and Charlie Hunnam look fiercely dedicated. It looks like Shawshank got shanked in the shower, and we like it!
