5 Films you can't miss this August

This latest offering from acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar is a return to form after 2013’s disappointing I’m So Excited.

Adapted from three short stories by Alice Munro, it tells the story of the title character in the present day (Emma Suárez) and in flashback as an 18-year-old (Adriana Ugarte), detailing how she met and fell in love with her husband Xoan (Daniel Grao), and the mystery of why her daughter Antía (Priscilla Delgado) ran away without explanation.

Julieta never quite reaches the heights of Almodóvar’s best work, such as All About My Mother and Talk To Her, but he has a way with characters and narrative—staying just the right side of surreal—that’s quietly captivating.

Although the story is more of a ramble than a coherent whole, there are plenty of moments that stay with you.

After a number of rather dodgy big-screen outings, Ricky Gervais returns to his most popular comic creation, this time in the form of a road movie.

The Office had already hinted at David Brent’s musical ambitions, and now he’s hitting the road with his band Foregone Conclusion—with mixed results.

Gervais has said that this is “not an Office film”, and will explore more of Brent the person.

This slickly shot roller-coaster ride follows a group of teenagers, headed by 17-year-old Vee (Emma Roberts), as they are drawn into an online version of “truth or dare” that rapidly gets out of hand.

The appeal of this will depend a lot on your tolerance of the social media generation (there’s a great deal of staring and tapping at phones here), but the thriller aspects certainly get under your skin, even when the plot veers into implausibility.

This latest version of Arthur Ransome’s beloved children’s book follows the Walker family—John, Susan, Tatty and Roger—and their adventures in the Lake District under the concerned eye of their mother.

Although already adapted in 1974, this version combines a heritage look with enough modern-day charm to appeal to a new generation.

It often feels like every film released these days is based on characters from DC Comics, and this one follows the trend of recent Avengers films in throwing a number of supervillains into a single movie.

The “suicide squad” in question refers to a government agency that recruits these villains for secret black-ops missions. Will Smith, Jared Leto and Margot Robbie star.

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