What to Watch in August 2024

Back once again, it's your monthly round-up of all the best big screen adventures and televisual treats coming your way in August...

FILM

Kensuke’s Kingdom (August 2)

Hand-drawn animations have become something of a rarity these days, but it isn’t just the Japanese masters at Studio Ghibli keeping the art alive, as this charming new adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s beloved novel shows. Adapted for the screen by Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Kensuke’s Kingdom tells the story of a boy who sneaks his dog onto an ill-fated sailing trip with his parents, only to find himself and his pet washed up on the shore of a remote island, where he encounters an elderly Japanese WWII veteran who has made the island his own private fiefdom.

Aaron MacGregor and Ken Watanabe lead the voice cast, which also includes Cillian Murphy and Sally Hawkins as the boy’s parents and Raffey Cassidy as his elder sister. Kirk Hendry co-directs his first feature-length film alongside fellow directorial debutant Neil Boyle, whose CV includes animation work on films such as Space Jam and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? With a moving story told in stunning visual fashion, Kensuke’s Kingdom is joy to behold for viewers of any age.

Trap (August 9)

The setup for this new psychological thriller feels uncomfortably real in the wake of high-profile terror incidents at pop concerts, but with Sixth Sense director M. Night Shyamalan calling the shots, you can bet that nothing here is quite what it seems. When a young woman arrives at a concert arena with her dad on a dream trip to see her favourite singer, she is alarmed by a heavy police presence in and around the venue. The revelation that they are there to catch a notorious serial killer dubbed ‘The Butcher’ only heightens the tension, but what if the threat is much closer to home than she could have imagined?

Josh Hartnett stars alongside Ariel Donoghue, Hayley Mills, Alison Pill and Kid Cudi in this taut and twisting thriller that will have you squirming in your seats from the outset.

The Crow (August 23)

The original 1994 version of The Crow is a film that lives in infamy not because of its contents, but because of its troubled production. Plagued by a series of improbable on-set accidents – the most serious of which took the life of its leading man, Brandon Lee – the film has often been described as ‘cursed’, but that hasn’t dissuaded director Rupert Sanders from tackling a reboot.

Bill Skarsgård takes on the lead role in this new version which, much like its predecessor, is at its core a moody and often violent take on a superhero movie. Skarsgård plays Eric, a man who is offered a chance at resurrection after he and his partner Shelly are brutally murdered. Choosing to sacrifice his soul in return, Eric is brought back to life with superhuman abilities and one thing on his mind: revenge. FKA Twigs, Danny Huston, Laura Birn and Jordan Bolger round out the cast in this atmospheric remake, which lands in cinemas on August 23.

Blink Twice (August 23)

Channing Tatum and Naomi Ackie lead the line in this mysterious, twisting tale of decadence from none other than Zoë Kravitz, who makes her directorial debut here. Ackie plays a bartender named Frida who, along with her friend, finds herself whisked into the world of the super-rich when the pair are invited to join Tatum’s tech billionaire Slater King at a party on his private island. On arriving, however, Frida is unable to shake the feeling that something is off about this little gathering, and when her friend disappears, her paranoia begins to escalate into terror.

The film’s impressive cast also includes Christian Slater, Kyle MacLachlan, Geena Davis and Haley Joel Osmont, who somehow manages the feat of looking exactly like he did as the child star of Sixth Sense while sporting a full beard. Gripping and terrifying in equal measure with as-yet-unidentified horrors lurking around every corner, Blink Twice is well worth a look… if your fingernails can stand the punishment.

AFRA1D (August 30)

If you’re the kind of person who finds the idea of Ring doorbells and Alexa spying on your every move frightening, you might want to sit this one out. While there’s no shortage of summer screams on offer at the cinema this month, this sci-fi horror from director Chris Weitz pitches technology itself as the insidious enemy. When a family is chosen to test a new smart home AI, things start out well enough, but when their digital assistant starts to become self-aware, the AI begins making executive decisions on the family’s behalf – with murderous results.

John Cho, Katherine Waterston. Havana Rose Liu and Keith Carradine all star in this unsettling tale, which is due to debut in cinemas at the very end of the month.

TV

Vienna Blood - Season 4 (BBC Two / iPlayer, August 4)

Although fans of Vienna Blood had begun to fear that the show’s third series might be its last, the period procedural starring Matthew Beard and Jurgen Maurer as detective duo Oskar and Max makes its triumphant return this month, but this time things are a little different; rather than episodes focusing on a different case each week, the show’s fourth outing instead follows the same case throughout – one triggered by the murders of an arms dealer and a high-profile public official that threatens to bring down the entire Austro-Hungarian empire.

Due to land on BBC Two and iPlayer on August 4, series 4 might well be the show’s best yet.

The Umbrella Academy - Season 4 (Netflix, August 8)

Also returning for its fourth – and indeed, final – series this month is The Umbrella Academy, which finds the super-powered siblings facing the aftermath of the showdown at Hotel Oblivion. With their timeline reset and the siblings scattered to the winds, they must now contend with the loss of their superpowers too.

Tom Hopper, Robert Sheehan, Elliot Page, Aidan Gallagher and the rest of the gang all return for the finale of this weird and wonderful show, which arrives for its last run on Netflix on August 8.

Only Murders in the Building - Season 4 (Disney+, August 27)

Martin Short, Selena Gomez and Steve Martin are back for another adventure as they find themselves headed to Hollywood, where their hit true-crime podcast is set to be made into a film starring Eva Longoria, Eugene Levy and Zach Galifinakis.

In the meantime, though, the trio set out to find out the truth about the death of Sazz Pataki, whose grisly death – and attempts to scrawl a message in her own blood – provided the closing scene of the previous season. Due to arrive on Disney+ on August 27, the new season may also offer clues as to whether Sazz or one of the trio themselves was the intended target. No doubt we’ll find out when the show returns on August 27.

The Rings of Power - Season 2 (Prime Video, August 29)

Lord of the Rings fans, rejoice! Back for its second outing, spin-off series The Rings of Power returns this month and, after introducing viewers to the Second Age of Middle Earth in its first run, will explore how the Dark Lord Sauron deceives the people into forging the rings that will ultimately allow him to control them.

Also expected to be revealed this season is the true identity of The Stranger, with much speculation over whether this could be Gandalf or another wizard entirely. All will soon be revealed though as the whole cast return for the show’s second run at the end of August.

Kaos (Netflix, August 29)

Not too much has been revealed about the plot of this new mythological dark comedy from Charlie Covell, the man behind The End of the F***ing World, but the fact that it stars Jeff Goldblum as a paranoid and vengeful version of the god Zeus was enough to pique our interest.

What begins as a mere wrinkle on his forehead, which Zeus takes as a bad omen, soon spirals into a strange tale about him, his subjects, and three humans who all have a mysterious connection. Also starring the likes of David Thewlis, Billie Piper, Leila Farzad and Eddie Izzard, Kaos looks an intriguing if somewhat mysterious prospect.