What's New To Streaming In August 2024
Plus, podcast reviews of a few July releases
As we turn the calendar over to a new month that means it’s time to look at what’s new to streaming. See our recommendations for the latest to drop on Netflix, Hulu, Max, and Amazon Prime, and then check in on the Do You Like Apples podcast for a July movie review round-up!
Billy recommends…
Raising Arizona
You ever ask someone their favorite movies and most of their list you don’t vibe with, but one stands out among the rest? This was my grandma. At around 15 years old I asked her about her favorites and she rattled off some John Wayne movie that I didn’t care about, probably a baseball movie that I’ve seen, and this flick Raising Arizona. I maybe knew about The Big Lebowski, but I remembered the Coen name she mentioned from the title sequence of O Brother, Where Art Thou? At this time they were not “the Coen brothers” and had no reputation to me. But the poster looked enticing and Nicolas Cage has been relevant to every generation his whole life, so I was intrigued. As soon as I watched this movie it became a lifetime favorite.
Nicolas Cage as an attractive derelict named H.I. and Holly Hunter as the easily wooed Ed are the funniest couple ever out of film, equal in every way when they are on screen together. A script that gives them so much to chew on and run with. They run with it so well that the movie has one of the best chase sequences ever put to film. This is the Coen brothers second film and it is absurd what they are able to establish so early in their career.
A humor that creates cult status for almost all of their movies and a knack for picking out a large ensemble of actors that are synonymous with their name. Holly Hunter, John Goodman and Frances McDormand being the most iconic of the Arizona crew. Goodman and Frances bring incredibly memorable supporting laughs. But Cage and Hunter steal the show.
There are few performers like these two. Actors that take risks not with anything all that gratuitous, but choices that most other actors deciding to do the same would distract audiences and ruin the tone of the movie. Here we have precise erraticism stemming from one of the most absurd plots I’ve seen in a comedy. A convict marries a police officer and when they find out they can’t have kids they plan a heist to steal one of the Quintuplets from the local furniture mogul. An absurd world that feels completely natural from frame one.
Raising Arizona made me a better movie watcher. Helping me learn to sink into the environment of a movie and also understand more what movie greatness could look like. Plus, being able to link this movie to my Grandma is such a wonderful thing. It made my family seem so cool during a time when everything they did seem lame. I mean, if they like Raising Arizona then they must be pretty cool.
Streaming on Hulu
Drew recommends…
The Woman King
From Gladiator to Braveheart to The Last of the Mohicans, the historical action movie has always been about as masculine as it gets. So even a version of this genre as down-the-middle as The Woman King is significant because women are the ones leading the action. This 2022 historical drama is set in the West African kingdom of Dahomey during the 1820s where the Agojie, an all-female warrior regiment protects and liberates their people. General Nansica (Viola Davis) leads the fierce Agojie and trains the next generation to carry on their ways. As Portuguese slave traders arrive, Dahomey’s King Ghezo (John Boyega) and his 6,000-women warrior unit prepare for war.
While The Woman King’s plot beats are somewhat familiar, the story of a group of fearsome female warriors is undeniably fresh. Director Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball, The Old Guard) is an inspired choice to mount a major production like this, equally skilled at depicting the powerful fight scenes and the dramatic moments between characters. And with a cast of exciting young talent such as Lashana Lynch and John Boyega, there’s not really a dull moment here. But this is Viola Davis’ movie and everyone and everything revolves around her.
As with most historical movies from major Hollywood studios, there is a decent amount of inaccuracy and oversight when compared to real events. It’s best to watch a movie like The Woman King with a grain of salt and realize that entertainment is almost always the main goal in this case. However, when a star with as much gravitas and might as Davis gets to be front and center, it’s time to pay attention. Her ability to realistically play the sheer physicality of the part (in her mid-50s, no less!) and also sell the historical context is amazing. The Woman King is a triumphant accomplishment and a riveting depiction of a unique people, mostly due to the otherworldly talent of one Viola Davis.
Streaming on Netflix now and on Hulu August 13
New To Streaming In August 2024
Netflix
Fury
Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color
Jack Reacher
Room
Star Trek: Beyond
White Chicks
World War Z
First Man (August 16)
Pearl (August 16)
Logan Lucky (August 21)
Amazon Prime Video
21 Jump Street
Adventureland
American Graffiti
An Inconvenient Truth
Born On The Fourth Of July
Cinema Paradiso
Death Becomes Her
Eastern Promises
Face/Off
Fargo
Fatal Attraction
Ghost
Good Boys
Looper
Once Upon A Time In The West
Psycho
Pulp Fiction
Scarface
Sense And Sensibility
The Firm
Three Days of the Condor
Night Swim (August 13)
Drive-Away Dolls (August 22)
10 Cloverfield Lane (August 24)
Hulu
Casino
Drumline
Horrible Bosses
Kingdom of Heaven
Knocked Up
Maid in Manhattan
Night at the Museum
Punch-Drunk Love
Tron: Legacy
Zero Dark Thirty
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
La Chimera (August 14)
Smile (August 15)
Immaculate (August 16)
Max
Amelie
Beetlejuice
Grown Ups
Pretty Woman
Sherlock Holmes
Something’s Gotta Give
Taken
Two Lovers
DYLA Podcast
This week’s episode covered quite a bit of ground, as we first reacted to the latest Marvel news (Robert Downey Jr. and the Russos are back, Deadpool & Wolverine is on top of the world) before reviewing Love Lies Bleeding (which just made its streaming debut on Max) and three July releases (MaXXXine, Longlegs, and a spoiler discussion of Twisters).
Apple Podcasts:
Spotify: