Normally around this time of the month, I compile a list of all the movies I’m eager to sink my teeth into. And, normally, that list contains quite a few promising features: movies that, because of the talent involved, the stories being adapted or the early word of mouth, are a safe bet for a fun night out on the town.
Although August is usually a bit of a cinematic dumping ground — riddled with would-be blockbusters that simply couldn’t compete with the major studio releases of the summer and wanna-be award winners that can’t quite stand out in the last months of the year — it seems to be an especially barren patch for moviegoers in 2017. The Summer’s slate of movies was weak enough for studios to test their luck against particularly lackluster competition and the awards season isn’t looking that much better.
Thanks to its unique position in the theatrical calendar, some of the best movies of recent years have opted for a nice, soft release date, free from much in the way of competition. After all, Guardians of the Galaxy set the record for best August opening weekend back in 2014. Powerful dramas like Straight Outta Compton stole the early awards spotlight from more conventional films released around that same time. Some of the funniest movies of the last decade have often found a place this time of the year, including Superbad, Pineapple Express and last year’s Sausage Party.
But this year? Nothing. The Dark Tower is evidently a bust, Annabelle Creation looks like nothing special and nothing big is coming out until It in October. Even Detroit, Katheryn Bigelow’s gripping drama about the Detroit race riots, released last month, and is only expanding into a wide release this weekend.
In fact, the only movie releasing this month that looks like it’s going to be any good at all is Logan Lucky. I don’t blame you if you haven’t heard of it: most people haven’t. Although it supports a large, accomplished cast and a proven director, it looks like it’s the kind of movie that depends on word of mouth to get people to see it.
Logan Lucky is by all accounts the Fall’s answer to Baby Driver: a star-powered heist-comedy about a robbery set during a major NASCAR race. Its bombastic cast consists of Channing Tatum, Seth MacFarlane, Katie Holmes, Hillary Swank and Daniel Craig. It even has Kylo Ren and the Winter Soldier thrown into the mix (Adam Driver and Sebastian Stan).
The film is directed by Steven Soderbergh has worked in this exact vein of film — with many of these same actors — before. The award-winning director is probably best known for Ocean’s Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen, where a large cast of A-list actors pull off a impossible impressive heist (sound familiar?). He’s also the man behind the ensemble thriller Contagion, the acclaimed Sex, Lies and Videotape and the Magic Mike.
The movie looks amazing, but it’s only one movie to fill up an otherwise barren month at the multiplex. Go see Detroit now that it has been made widely available. Go see Logan Lucky when it finally makes the leap to the big screen. This month, they’re pretty much your only options.
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