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MOVIES
Ariana Grande

August movie preview: Meryl rocks 'Ricki'

Patrick Ryan
USA TODAY
Meryl Streep rocks out in 'Ricki and the Flash.'

The summer movie season ends on a high note, as music dramas Ricki and the Flash and Straight Outta Compton carry a tune into August, and pop princess Ariana Grande voices a character in the animated Underdogs.

The week-by-week highlights:

AUG. 7

Fantastic Four

Stars: Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Bell

Director: Josh Trank

Plot: A failed science experiment gives four young people superpowers, and they become a surrogate family while keeping a villain from rising to rule the world.

Masterminds

Stars: Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig, Owen Wilson

Director: Jared Hess

Plot: Based on a true story, a security guard leads the heist of $17 million from a North Carolina bank but ultimately bad decisions doom the robbers.

Ricki and the Flash

Stars: Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Mamie Gummer

Director: Jonathan Demme

Plot: In this comedic drama by Juno writer Diablo Cody, Streep plays a woman who gives up everything to chase her rock 'n' roll dreams, before making amends with her family.

Henry Cavill, left, as Napoleon Solo, and Armie Hammer, as Illya Kuryakin, in 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.'

AUG. 14

The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Stars: Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander

Director: Guy Ritchie

Plot: A film adaptation of the '60s espionage TV series, starring Hammer and Cavill as agents in this Cold War-era action comedy.

Straight Outta Compton

Stars: Paul Giamatti, Keith Stanfield, Corey Hawkins

Director: F. Gary Gray

Plot: A historical hip-hop drama tracking the rise of rap group N.W.A in mid-'80s Compton, Calif.

Underdogs

Stars: Voices of Ariana Grande, Matthew Morrison, Katie Holmes

Director: Juan José Campanella

Plot: Grande and others lend their voices to the foosball-centric Argentinian animated film, now being re-dubbed in English and released stateside.

Robert Sloan, center, in sequel 'Sinister 2.'

AUG. 21

Sinister 2

Stars: Shannyn Sossamon, James Ransone, Tate Ellington

Director: Ciarán Foy

Plot: A mother (Sossamon) and her 9-year-old twin sons move into a rural haunted house in this sequel to the 2012 horror hit.

Rupert Friend and Hannah Ware take action in 'Hitman: Agent 47.'

AUG. 28

Hitman: Agent 47

Stars: Zachary Quinto, Rupert Friend, Ciarán Hinds

Director: Aleksander Bach

Plot: Friend plays elusive assassin Agent 47 in this adaptation of the Hitman video-game series.

Contributing: Brian Truitt

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