August’s must-see movies

With the sun setting on Hollywood’s summer blockbuster season and the New Zealand International Film Festival wending its way around the country, August offers plenty of variety for cinemagoers.

Action fans have the return of Gerard Butler’s Secret Service Agent Mike Banning (August

22’s Angel Has Fallen), Mel Gibson-starrer Dragged Across Concrete and the female-led The Kitchen (both August 29). Kids have the animated adventure Here Comes the Grump (August 1) and more canine capers in A Dog’s Journey (August 15).

Drama-wise, there’s Emilio Estevez’s library-set tale of civil disobedience The Public (August 1) and Regina Hall and Haley Lu Richardson team up for Support the Girls (August 1), set on a single day in a ‘‘sports bar with curves’’.

Documentary fans are also well catered for, with investigations into global warming (August 22’s 2040), Tongan culture (August 29’s For My Father’s Kingdom) and an All Black legend (August 29’s Dan Carter: The Perfect 10).

Here are some of the others we are most-excited about.

In this Fast and Furious franchise spin-off, Dwayne Johnson’s lawman Luke Hobbs teams up with Jason Statham’s British bad boy Deckard Shaw to take on a genetically enhanced villain (Idris Elba) who has plans for global domination. Also stars Vanessa Kirby, Helen Mirren, Eddie Marsan, Cliff Curtis and John Tui. After documenting the triumphs and tragedies of the lives of Ayrton Senna and Amy Winehouse, Asif Kapadia now tackles one of football’s most polarising figures.

Constructed from more than 500 hours of unseen footage, the film attempts to shed new light on the Argentinian who lit up stadiums around the globe, but was never far from controversy.

Bryan Brown, Sam Neill, Richard E Grant and Greta Scacchi unite for this Australian dramedy about a group of old friends who come together for an unforgettable weekend. The male trio play three members of a 1970s ‘‘one-hit wonder’’ rock band. Directed by The Thorn Birds’ actress Rachel Ward. Billed as Quentin Tarantino’s penultimate movie, this 1969 Los Angeles-set tale focuses on a faded television actor and his stunt double as they strive to achieve success.

The starry cast includes

Brad Pitt, Leonardo Dicaprio,