With the last heat of summer leaving, the shockwave of the summer releases is finally being felt in a final blowout. While action junkies will be getting their fix on almost every week of August, a good variety has returned to cinemas with not just a movie for everyone, but also movies with similar premises or the same genre. There is going to be fierce competition going on in the cinemas, so here's our list of movies not to miss this August!
The "Fast and Furious" franchise has gone on long enough to have their own spin-off franchise. Centred on Dwayne Johnson's Agent Hobbs and Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw, who will be going head-to-head against Idris Elba as a rogue MI6 operative with technology that turns him into a superhuman. If there's any more reason to enjoy the high-octane, high-stakes and highly unbelievable plot that the crew always find themselves in, at least we want to enjoy it with a prolific cast, helmed by "Atomic Blonde" director David Leitch to ramp up the expectations. General Release Date: 1 August
What doesn't normally get released during the blockbuster season is a straight-up comedy. Written by and starring Mindy Kaling as a writer in the writers' room of a failing talk show host played by Emma Thompson, "Late Night" may just get the last laugh of the season. Since its premiere at this year's Sundance, this one has girl-power written all over it, not just from Kaling's writing and Thompson's performance, but also directed by Nisha Ganatra in a smart and funny social commentary. General Release Date: 1 August
"The Angry Birds Movie 2" may be slinging back to cinemas, but we feel the heat of anticipation for this animation. After an explosive reception for their first feature length of the BoBoiBoy franchise that made it the highest grossing Malaysian animation, the animated television series is now looking ready to be its own full-fledged feature animation franchise. Now equipped with better graphics, a more serious story, and a villain that looks to absorb all of BoBoiBoy's elemental powers, director Nizam Razak's sequel could once again be the torch bearer of animation, not just to Malaysia but other parts of Southeast Asia where BoBoiBoy 2 would also be screening at. General Release Date: 8 August
We saw a group of housewives took over the jobs of their husbands as robbers in "Widows" this year, but we will see another group of wives scare the pants out of the Irish mob in "The Kitchen". Adapted from a Vertigo series of comics from DC, Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish and Elisabeth Moss are three housewives from 1978 whose mobster husbands have been arrested by the FBI. Seeking vengeance and not leaving themselves vulnerable, the three ladies shows how business is done in Hell's Kitchen. This will be the directorial debut of Andrea Berloff who had impressed New Line Cinema for her edgy and subversive perspective on the material. Rounding up the cast are Domhnall Gleeson, Common, Brian d'Arcy James and James Badge Dale. General Release Date: 8 August
Jungle and kids' adventure are sure making a comeback thanks to the rebooted "Jumanji" series, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that even a children's TV show for toddlers would be making its feature appearance. Based on the Nickelodean television series, Dora in "The Lost City of Gold" stars a teenage Dora who tries to fit back into civilization after growing up exploring the jungle. When her parents are kidnapped for their knowledge of a lost city of gold, Dora and her new high school friends and her trusty companion Boots, are off to the jungle to save them. There is little that can be said about having James Bobin directing this wild attempt in making Dora a marketable movie character, but nothing we've seen so far has raised any red flags or cause for alarm, even with Danny Trejo voicing a pet monkey. General Release Date: 8 August
After taking a crack at the Western genre in his last two films, Quentin Tarantino moves on to make his version during one of his biggest influence to his filmmaking, the golden age of Hollywood. Assembling a cast that you could not say no to which reunites Tarantino with Leonardo DiCaprio as an actor and Brad Pitt as his stunt double, Tarantino takes us through Hollywood meeting eccentric and real characters played by Margot Robbie, Dakota Fanning, Kurt Russell, Timothy Olyphant, Al Pacino, Emile Hirsch, Bruce Dern, Zoe Bell and the last appearance of the late Luke Perry. Much like "Inglorious Basterds", this is part homage and part alternate history to the waning years of the Hollywood Golden Age with Tarantino's flair in what could be his penultimate film. General Release Date: 9 August
If you are looking for a fast and furious actioner that doesn't take itself as seriously, maybe this Urber-inspired action comedy would drive up your alley. Starring Dave Bautisa who only does 'good movies' as a detective trying to take a down a drug syndicate, partnering with Kumail Nanjiani as his Uber driver, we don't think the action by director Michael Dowse would be downer, if not as over the top as the other action vehicle. General Release Date: 15 August
Indian movies will be making their monthly onslaught at our cinemas as usual, but one that we think that deserves special attention for anyone who normally don't watch Bollywood movies is this movie about India's mission to Mars. Released in conjunction with India's National Day, "Mission Mangal" could be the rare triumphant celebration of India's rather successful space programme. Directed by Jagan Shakti, the mission will be led by Akshay Kumar as a scientist who heads the team in launching the probe to Mars. General Release Date: 15 August
The action doesn't stop as another franchise still show signs of going strong. After protecting the president from two terrorist attacks, secret service agent Mike Banning finally meets his match from his own agency and the FBI after he is framed for attempting an assassination on the president in a drone attack. Gerard Butler reprises as his all-American action hero who not only will be evading his best men on the field, but will be finding help from the person he least expected to, his father played by veteran Nick Nolte. Director Ric Roman Waugh will be calling the shots on the death threats against the president, but he is no stranger to making hard hitting and adrenaline-fueled action pieces as the director of Snitch and Shot Caller. General Release Date: 22 August
A month of action would not be complete if there wasn't one coming from my our own backyard. While there will be a healthy number of local productions coming this month in a while, the spotlight and anticipation has been building for Malaysia's first fully mixed martial arts showdown. There are reasons for "Sangkar" to be another a showstopper. Directed by Kabir Bhatia and starring buffed up Zul Ariffin and Remy Ishak, we are fully expecting many local MMA fighters to at least make cameo appearances and maybe even deliver a knockout at the box office to elevate the local MMA scene. General Release Date: 29 August