The Fall Guy, Bikeriders and More

Oscar winner “Godzilla Minues One” made its Netflix debut to great fanfare earlier this year, but now the black-and-white version of the action drama, officially titled “Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color,” arrives on the streamer. The film was named an official Variety Critic’s Pick last year: “With an emotionally engaging storyline and plenty of city-stomping, heat-ray-breathing action, the first live-action Godzilla from Japan since ‘Shin Godzilla’ marks a high point in the long-running series… Set in a devastated post-war Japan, Takashi Yamazaki’s reboot gets back to basics in grand style, with engrossing human drama alongside spectacular mass destruction.”

Zack Snyder’s two “Rebel Moon” movies were largely panned by critics when they debuted on Netflix, but that’s not stopping the R-rated director’s cut from arriving on the streamer this month. The “sexier, bloodier” versions of his epic space opera have new titles (“Rebel Moon — Chapter One: Chalice of Blood” and “Chapter Two: Curse of Forgiveness”) and a lot more NSFW content.

“The director’s cut is close to an hour of extra content, so I think it’s a legitimate extended universe version,” Snyder says of the new versions. “You really get to see a lot. It’s just more painted-in all the way. The director’s [cut] is a settle-in deep dive, which I have notoriously done throughout my career. I don’t know how I got into this director’s cut thing, but what I will say about it is that, for me, the director’s cuts have always been something I had to fight for in the past and nobody wanted it. It was this bastard child that I was always trying to put together because they felt like there was a deeper version. And with Netflix, we shot scenes just for the director’s cut. So in that way, it’s really a revelation because it gives that second kick at the can for big fans.”

High school sweethearts become super spies in the action comedy “The Union,” starring Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry. Directed by Julian Farino and written by Joe Barton and David Guggenheim, the film stars Wahlberg as a New Jersey construction worker who finds himself thrust into the world of spies and secret agents when his ex-flame (Berry) comes back in his life. The supporting cast includes Mike Colter, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jessica De Gouw, Alice Lee and Jackie Earle Haley.

Lee Daniels is back in the director’s chair for Netflix’s “The Deliverance,” a new horror-thriller that follows a family living in Indiana who are plagued by supernatural and demonic occurrences that lead them and their community to believe their house is a portal to hell. The film stars Andra Day, Glenn Close, Caleb McLaughlin, Mo’Nique and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. “The Deliverance” marks the second collaboration between Daniels and Day, with their first being the 2021 drama “The United States vs. Billie Holiday.” Day went on to be nominated for best performance by an actress in a leading role at the 2021 Academy Awards for her portrayal of the iconic jazz singer. Daniels helmed the film and co-wrote the screenplay with David Coggeshall and Elijah Bynum.

Families will surely be flocking to Netflix this month to stream the new animated original “Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie,” which will be a must-see for all “SpongeBob SquarePants” fans. The film’s official synopsis reads: “When Bikini Bottom and all its denizens are suddenly scooped out of the ocean, Sandy Cheeks and SpongeBob SquarePants journey to Texas to save the town from a villainous plot.” The voice cast includes Carolyn Lawrence, Tom Kenny, Wanda Sykes, Clancy Brown, Bill Fagerbakke, Mr. Lawrence, Rodger Bumpass, Johnny Knoxville, Craig Robinson, Grey DeLisle, Ilia Isorelýs Paulino and Matty Cardarople.

Netflix picked up the acclaimed documentary “Daughters” out of the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Directed by Natalie Rae and Angela Patton, the film centers on a program that allows young girls to participate in a special dance with their incarcerated fathers. The movie won the Audience Award in Documentary Competition at Sundance. In a rave review for Variety, critic Lisa Kennedy praised “Daughters,” writing that the film adds “depth and dimension to stories of incarceration.” Kennedy added: “The film is rife with visually lyrical moments that connect viewers with the young ones’ sorrows, fears, insights and hopes. In the hands of the directors, cinematographer Michael Cambio Fernandez and editors Troy Lewis and Adelina Bichis, the documentary exercises the kind of compassionate attention that leaves room for the girls to be girls.”

Filmmakers Spenser Cohen and Anna Halberg deliver their own spin on “Final Destination” in Sony’s horror movie “Tarot,” which earned nearly $50 million dollars at the worldwide box office this summer. The movie centers on a group of college students who begin to gruesomely die one by one after they use a seemingly haunted deck of Tarot credits. Harriet Slater, Adain Bradley, Avantika, Wolfgang Novogratz, Humberly González, Larsen Thompson, Olwen Fouéré and Jacob Batalon star.

Apple TV+’s “The Instigators” follows Rory (Matt Damon), a down-on-his-luck-dad who begrudgingly teams up with ex-con Cobby (Casey Affleck) to steal funds from a crooked politician. But when everything goes wrong, the duo must evade capture not only from the police but also from corrupt bureaucrats and underground crime lords. While on the lam, they manage to convince Rory’s therapist (Hong Chau) to help with their getaway. The crime comedy, directed by Doug Liman, also stars Jack Harlow, Alfred Molina, Ron Perlman, Ving Rhames, Paul Walter Hauser, Michael Stulbarg and Don DiPetta.

After debuting a documentary on the iconic actor Faye Dunaway last month, HBO and Max next turn their attention toward another radiant screen legend: Elizabeth Taylor. The official synopsis for “Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes” reads: “The film allows Elizabeth Taylor’s own voice to narrate her story, inviting audiences to rediscover not just a mega star of Hollywood’s Golden Age but a complex woman who navigated lifelong fame, personal identity, and public scrutiny on a global stage from early childhood. Through newly recovered interviews with Taylor and unprecedented access to the movie star’s personal archive, the film reveals the complex inner life and vulnerability of the Hollywood legend while also challenging audiences to recontextualize her achievements and her legacy.”

Ti West and Mia Goth capped off their beloved “X” trilogy this summer with the release of “Maxxxine,” which has earned nearly $20 million and counting at the worldwide box office. For many horror fans, the trilogy’s crown jewel remains “Pearl.” The second installment arrives on Netflix this month and should only turn more people into Mia Goth fans. Set in 1918, the film centers on a young woman desperate to become a star in order to get out of her small town. When her plans don’t work out according to plan, she sets out on a path of bloody murder.

After making its streaming debut on Peacock in April, the animated family adventure “Migration” will arrive on Netflix this month. From the toon studio behind such widely appealing hits as “Minions” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” comes “Migration,” a family comedy about a group of mallards struggling to find their way south. The movie was a box office sleeper hit over the holidays. Written by “The White Lotus” creator Mike White, the film features the voices of Kumail Nanjiani, Elizabeth Banks, Keegan-Michael Key, Awkwafina and Carol Kane, among others.

Alice Rohrwacher’s enchanting “La Chimera” arrives on Hulu this month and is one of the must-see films new to streaming in August. “Challengers” and “The Crown” favorite Josh O’Connor leads the beguiling tale of a group of grave robbers in Italy who must evade authorities and navigate interpersonal drama if they want to pull off their biggest score yet. Variety critic Guy Lodge named “La Chimera” a Critic’s Pick and called it “a marvelously supple and sinuous film,” adding praise for O’Connor: “Raffish and boyish at the same time — or switching between either mode as a cover for the other — O’Connor’s deft, droll performance implies such possibilities without sentimentalizing them.”

Neon’s “Stress Positions” arrives on Hulu this month after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival at the start of the year. The official synopsis reads: “Terry Goon (John Early) is keeping strict quarantine in his ex-husband’s Brooklyn brownstone while caring for his nephew Bahlul, a 19-year-old model from Morocco, bedridden after an electric scooter accident. Unfortunately for Terry, everyone in his life wants to meet the model. The whole pack of them — including his reckless and outspoken best friend Karla (director/writer Theda Hammel) — descend on the dilapidated house, crowding the model, breaking Terry’s cherished rules, and putting his barely formed political convictions to the test.”

Executive produced by Steven Soderbergh and starring Stephen Dorff, the experimental film “Divinity” is set in an otherworldly human existence where the creation of a groundbreaking immortality serum named Divinity is wreaking havoc. Two mysterious brothers devise a plan to abduct the son of the serum’s creator with the help of a seductive woman named Nikita. The supporting cast includes Moises Arias, Jason Genao, Michael O’Hearn, Karrueche Tran and Emily Willis, Scott Bakula and Bella Thorne. From Variety’s review: “A Frankensteinian pursuit of immortal beauty goes awry in director Edddie Alcarzar’s eccentric, good-looking fantasy…You certainly can’t say Alcazar doesn’t have a unique sensibility of his own.”

The Zellner Brothers’ absurdist comedy “Sasquatch Sunset” transforms Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg into Big Foot beasts thanks to heavy makeup and a whole lot of hair. The official synopsis reads: “In the misty forests of North America, a family of Sasquatches — possibly the last of their enigmatic kind — embark on an absurdist, epic, hilarious and ultimately poignant journey over the course of one year. These shaggy and noble giants fight for survival as they find themselves on a collision course with the ever-changing world around them.”

“Riverdale” favorite KJ Apa leads Prime Video’s original action movie “One Fast Move.” The synopsis reads: “The film is an action-adventure thrill ride about a young man down on his luck who seeks out his estranged father to help him pursue his dream of becoming a professional motorcycle racer. With the help of his small town love interest and a motorcycle shop owner who moonlights as his mentor, he begins to break down the walls that his father’s absence had built up.” Edward James Olmos and Maia Reficco co-star.

The new comedy from “Bridesmaids” and “Spy” director Paul Feig, “Jackpot!” is set in 2030 and follows L.A. transplant and aspiring actor Katie (Awkwafina), who winds the lottery and discovers one giant catch: Other people can kill her before sundown to legally claim the multi-billion dollar jackpot. To survive, Katie teams up with an amateur lottery protection agent (John Cena), who has to get her to sundown in exchange for a piece of the prize. Simu Liu, Ayden Mayeri, Machine Gun Kelly, Donald Elise Watkins, Sam Asghari and Murray Hill round out the cast.

The Blumhouse horror movie “Night Swim” arrives on Prime Video this month at no extra cost to subscribers. The film is about a family that moves into a house with a swimming pool that’s haunted, and everything about the spirits that rule this pool — the ghost backstory, the greenish-brown sludge that oozes up from the drain, the toys that move of their own volition, the watery glimpses of ominous figures standing by the pool, who then vanish — recalls the “Amityville Horror” films.

Ethan Coen’s “Drive Away Dolls” arrives on Prime Video this month at no extra cost to subscribers after originally making its streaming debut on Peacock earlier this year. Set in 1999, the crime comedy stars Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan as best friends who accidentally stumble into a criminal scheme. Beanie Feldstein, Colman Domingo, Pedro Pascal, Bill Camp and Matt Damon round out the cast.