What To Stream In August
Netflix
The Fast and the Furious – August 1st
Fifteen years, seven movies, and a whole lot of suspension of disbelief later, The Fast and the Furious franchise is still one of the best adrenaline rush-filled escapism you can get through film. There’s an eighth movie due out next year and at least two more sequels to follow, but Netflix is taking you back to where it all began. Agent Brian O’Conner, played by the late Paul Walker, goes undercover as a street racer to find the crew that's been hijacking electronic equipment from trucks on the road.
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift – August 1st
Tokyo Drift is probably the one sequel in The Fast and the Furious franchise that feels really out of place, since neither Vin Diesel nor Paul Walker had starring roles and Japan is the only setting. Nevertheless, it’s worth watching for racing and driving sequences far above most street racing movies. The story itself is pretty good, too: After totaling his car in a race, troubled teen Sean is sent to live with his father in Tokyo as an alternative to jail time. He soon gets back into racing and bumps heads with a driver with ties to the Yakuza gang.
APEX: The Story of the Hypercar – August 1st
Speaking of cars, Netflix has added the documentary of every car lover’s dreams: a look at the creation of hypercars, exotic high-performing automobiles that are considered the best of the best and are, naturally, expensive as hell. Writer Mike Spinelli and directors JF Musial and Joshua Vietze take viewers behind the scenes at the most prestigious carmakers in the world, including Porshe, Bugatti, Ferrari, and Koenigsegg, and what goes into making their most exclusive models.
The Get Down - August 12th After reimagining The Great Gatsby in beautiful, exaggerated glory, Baz Luhrmann turns his attentions to TV and another historical time period, the 1970’s and the dawn of hip hop in it’s gritty birthplace of the Boogie Down Bronx. From social issues to the burgeoning rap art form, Luhrmann’s distinctive style and an impressive soundtrack packed with hip hop’s godfathers is sure to set up The Get Down to be Netflix’s next smash hit.
No Country For Old Men – August 11th
The Coen brothers’ future classic will be available for streaming. The 2007 film, which took home awards across the board that year, is a modern-day western about a hunter who happens upon the aftermath of a drug deal gone bad, and walks away with a couple million in a briefcase. Unbeknownst to him, though, the briefcase contains a tracker and there’s a hit man on his trail.
Also available on Amazon
Amazon
Cloverfield – August 1st
The J.J. Abrams-produced “found footage” film arrives on Amazon this month. Cloverfield follows a group of friends on a Friday night in New York City at a farewell party for one of them, before he heads abroad. Then, what feels like an earthquake turns out to be a monster attacking the city. Complete chaos erupts as people try to get out, while the National Guard fights the creature. Part monster flick, part sci fi, this prequel to this years 10 Cloverfield Lane is a damn good time.
Also available on Hulu
The Matrix Trilogy - August 1st Now you can watch the Wachowskis’ celebrated trilogy about a future where humans, controlled by machines, live in a simulated reality called The Matrix, all in one sitting. The movies are known for their groundbreaking (at the time) visual effects and original storytelling, and the first film is considered one of the greatest science fiction movies of all time.
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation – August 12th
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation is the fifth installment of the Tom Cruise-led spy action series and this time, Ethan Hunt faces off against the Syndicate, a shadowy group of assassins that no one believes actually exists. With the help of a ragtag team, he sets out to prove the Syndicate’s existence and take it down. Sure, he’ll probably doing his weird running thing too.
Also available on Hulu
Hulu
The Usual Suspects – August 1st
This classic crime film is about the interrogation of a survivor of a massacre on a docked ship, a man with cerebral palsy nicknamed Verbal. Told through a series of flashbacks, Verbal explains to the cops the sequence of events that led him to be on the ship, and about a crime boss named Keyser Söze, who Verbal and his associates were doing a job for. Not only is it jam packed with an exceptional cast, an outstanding story, and many twist and turns, it boasts one of the best twist endings in movie history.
The Foot Fist Way - August 1st
Now a legend from his appearances in many comedies, before Danny McBride was Kenny Fucking Powers he was an overzealous tae kwon do teacher in his first movie, the low-budget but now cult classic, The Foot Fist Way. In addition to being insanely funny and totally ridiculous, this comedy was the underground film that set McBride onto the Hollywood fast track when he filmed it as a school project with his best friend when they were in film school.
The Robocop trilogy – August 1st
Like a lot of other great 80’s and 90’s movies and TV shows, RoboCop became a reboot no one asked for in 2014. Hulu has added all three movies about the cop-turned-cyborg law enforcer trying to keep a futuristic Detroit safe from criminals and the originals stand the test of time for their unintentionally funny blend of violence and 80's cheese.
Homeland, seasons 1-4 – August 8th
Hulu is bringing four seasons of Showtime’s much praised series Homeland to streaming for those subscribers who have added the premium network to their package. Homeland follows the rescue of al-Qaeda prisoner of war Nicholas Brody, held captive for eight years, and CIA agent Carrie Mathison, who seeks to find out whether he was “turned” during the time and is now a sleeper terrorist.