What to watch? ~ 2014 movies: August

Summer movies season for 2014 is ending soon. What movies that would be released in August interest me the most? Let's check them out!


1. Guardians of the Galaxy

Despite having a big marketing campaign, I found out that some of my friends and family members didn't know that this movie is related to the other Marvel Studios movies like Iron Man, Thor and Marvel's The Avengers. Marvel is a big brand commercially now when it comes to movies and for people to not know the association of this movie to the Marvel brand could endanger its box-office performance. But I would not worry too much, I still think the movie will be a big blockbuster movie this year. We would have to wait and see how it would perform. Starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Karen Gillan, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Glenn Close and Djimon Hounsou, Guardians of the Galaxy had been released in cinemas on August 1, 2014.


2. Into the Storm

It's been awhile since we last had a disaster movie. If I remember correctly, the last big disaster movie to hit cinemas was 2012, the end-of-the-world film by Roland Emmerich. This film doesn't have that $200 million budget like 2012 though, the budget for this film is estimated at only $50 million, so I'm wondering how will it perform at the box-office? I kind of like what I've seen so far from the trailers, but people could just view this film as an upgraded version of Twister, the 1996 film, and giving it a pass. But we are getting a lot of extreme weathers around the world these days, so perhaps what's been shown in this movie is not that far-fetched, and that possibility itself would get people interested to see it. But then again, when was the last time moviegoers take this type of film seriously? And so I wonder again...can it succeed? Starring Richard Armitage, Sarah Wayne Callies and Matt Walsh, Into the Storm would be released in cinemas on August 8, 2014.


3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

I'm one of those guys who grew up to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, so even though the trailers didn't scream anything new or amazing about this movie, I would probably still watch it in the cinema, for nostalgic sake I guess. I like Megan Fox too despite the backlash she received for her acting (I found her to be quite good in 2009 film, Jennifer's Body actually). But can this film revive the franchise? The last movie I remember about these four turtles is the animated 2007 movie by Imagi Animation Studios, TMNT, which was not really commercially successful worldwide. It made money but it was just a small movie which most people could possibly not even remember it. So I guess this franchise would need to rely heavily on the success of this new film. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would show off their ninja skills in cinemas starting August 8, 2014.


4. The Giver

This film is based from the 1993 novel of the same name by Lois Lowry. I believe the book is popular and recognized in the US, right? If it is, then the film would certainly receive a lot of attention upon its release there. But sadly I cannot say the same for my country; I don't think the book is well-known here and the film's presence also is not that prevalent. I hope it will still be released here as I find the premise to be quite interesting and I'm looking forward to watch the film at the cinema. The film starred Brenton Thwaites, Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, Odeya Rush, Alexander Skarsgard and Katie Holmes, and expected to be released in theaters on August 15, 2014.


5. As Above, So Below

When I first saw the trailer for this film, I thought it would be a movie with strange creatures like The Descent. Not that it would be a bad thing, it's just that I thought that would be expected for such a movie like this, a movie about characters who are trapped in an unknown place or territory. But when the trailer shows some supernatural influences that play with the minds of the characters in this film, I'm totally sold to watch it. This is more like a ghost type of movie after all, not strange, disfigured humanoid creatures, and that got me curious about the plot. Directed by John Erick Dowdle, the guy who directed Quarantine and the 2010 movie Devil (or was it co-directed with his brother Drew Dowdle? I'm not sure on this but I love both movies), As Above, So Below will be released in cinemas on August 29, 2014.


Quite a few movies that caught my interest there for August, but I'm not sure if I would watch all of them in the cinema. What about you? Did any of these movies caught your interest as well?