August movie preview: Meryl rocks 'Ricki'
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.
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.
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.
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