New Movie Releases — August 2014

The end of summer is upon us, but it's going out with a bang. August brings us the long-awaited 'Guardians of the Galaxy,' as well as plenty of action-packed flicks and a few scares, too. Read on for our guide to the new movie releases hitting the big screen in August 2014.

August 1

'Guardians of the Galaxy' -- Directed by James Gunn. Starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, and Bradley Cooper. In the far reaches of space, an American pilot named Peter Quill finds himself the object of a manhunt after stealing an orb coveted by the villainous Ronan.

'Get On Up' -- Directed by Tate Taylor. Starring Chadwick Boseman, David Andrew Nash, and Nelsan Ellis. A chronicle of James Brown's rise from extreme poverty to become one of the most influential musicians in history.

'4 Minute Mile' (Limited) -- Directed by Charles-Olivier Michaud. Starring Analeigh Tipton, Cam Gigandet, and Kim Basinger. A former track coach decides to train a student with natural athletic talent. Tragedy strikes right before the biggest race of his life, forcing him to confront everything that has been holding him back.

'Behaving Badly' (Limited) -- Directed by Tim Garrick. Starring Selena Gomez, Nat Wolff, and Mary-Louise Parker. Teenager Rick Stevens has a crush on Nina Pennington, they form a friendship and embark on a rock n' roll journey together while Nina deals with her overbearing boyfriend, Kevin.

'Cabin Fever: Patient Zero' (Limited) -- Directed by Kaare Andrews. Starring Sean Astin, Currie Graham, and Ryan Donowho. When a group of friends enjoying a bachelor cruise in the Caribbean stumble upon a research facility on a remote island, a deadly virus is unleashed. The group must find a way to survive before the flesh eating virus consumes them all.

'Calvary' (Limited) -- Directed by John Michael McDonagh. Starring Brendan Gleeson, Chris O'Dowd, and Kelly Reilly. After he is threatened during a confession, a good-natured priest must battle the dark forces closing in around him.

'Child of God' (Limited) -- Directed by James Franco. Starring James Franco, Jim Parrack, and Tim Blake Nelson. A dispossessed, violent man's life is a disastrous attempt to exist outside the social order. Successively deprived of parents and homes and with few other ties, Ballard descends to the level of a cave dweller as he falls deeper into crime and degradation.

'Finding Fela!' (Limited) -- Directed by Alex Gibney. A look at the life and music of Nigerian singer Fela Kuti.

'Rich Hill' (Limited) -- Directed by Andrew Droz Palermo and Tracy Droz Tragos. Rich Hill intimately chronicles the turbulent lives of three boys living in an impoverished Midwestern town and the fragile family bonds that sustain them.

August 8

'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' -- Directed by Jonathan Liebesman. Starring Megan Fox, Will Arnett, and William Fichtner. Four mutant warriors fight to save their city from an evil kingpin.

'Into the Storm' -- Directed by Steven Quale. Starring Richard Armitage, Sarah Wayne Callies, and Jeremy Sumpter. A group of high school students document the events and aftermath of a devastating tornado.

'Step Up All In' -- Directed by Trish Sie. Starring Alyson Stoner, Briana Evigan, and Ryan Guzman. All-stars from the previous Step Up installments come together in glittering Las Vegas, battling for a victory that could define their dreams and their careers.

'The Hundred-Foot Journey' -- Directed by Lasse Hallström. Starring Helen Mirren, Rohan Chand, and Charlotte Le Bon. A story centered on an Indian family who moves to France and opens an eatery across the street from a Michelin-starred French restaurant run by Madame Mallory.

'Deepsea Challenge 3D' -- Directed by John Bruno, Ray Quint, and Andrew Knight. A 3D documentary chronicling filmmaker James Cameron's diving expeditions in his Deepsea Challenger submarine.

'About Alex' (Limited) -- Directed by Jesse Zwick. Starring Aubrey Plaza, Maggie Grace, and Max Minghella. Seven college friends reunite over a three-day weekend after one of them attempts suicide.

'After' (Limited) -- Directed by Pieter Gaspersz. Starring Kathleen Quinlan, John Doman, and Pablo Schreiber. A story centered around the Valentinos, a struggling family whose delicate balance is threatened by a carefully concealed secret that, if revealed, will change their lives forever.

'Keep on Keepin' On' (Limited) -- Directed by Alan Hicks. Australian drummer Alan Hicks and his surfing pal/cinematographer travel to the U.S. to document 89 year-old jazz legend Clark Terry and his relationship with a blind piano prodigy.

'What If' (New York and L.A.) -- Directed by Michael Dowse. Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Mackenzie Davis, and Zoe Kazan. Medical school dropout Wallace has been repeatedly burned by bad relationships. He meets Chantry, an animator who lives with her longtime boyfriend Ben, and they form an instant connection, striking up a close friendship. Still, there is no denying the chemistry between them, leading the pair to wonder, what if the love of your life is actually your best friend?

August 13

'Let's Be Cops' -- Directed by Luke Greenfield. Starring Jake Johnson, Damon Wayans Jr., and Nina Dobrev. Two struggling pals dress as police officers for a costume party and become neighborhood sensations. But when these newly-minted "heroes" get tangled in a real life web of mobsters and dirty detectives, they must put their fake badges on the line.

August 15

'The Expendables 3' -- Directed by Patrick Hughes. Starring Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, and Jet Li. Barney and his team, known as "The Expendables", come into conflict with ruthless arms dealer Conrad Stonebanks, the Expendables' co-founder, who is determined to destroy the team.

'The Giver' -- Directed by Phillip Noyce. Starring Brenton Thwaites, Jeff Bridges, and Meryl Streep. In a seemingly perfect community, without war, pain, suffering, differences or choice, a young boy is chosen to learn from an elderly man about the true pain and pleasure of the "real" world.

'Dinosaur 13' (Limited) -- Directed by Todd Douglas Miller. A documentary about the discovery of the largest Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil ever found.

'Frank' (Limited) -- Directed by Lenny Abrahamson. Starring Michael Fassbender, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Domhnall Gleeson. Jon, a young wanna-be musician, discovers he's bitten off more than he can chew when he joins an eccentric pop band led by the mysterious and enigmatic Frank.

'Life After Beth' (Limited) -- Directed by Jeff Baena. Starring Aubrey Plaza, Dane DeHaan, and Anna Kendrick. A young man's recently deceased girlfriend mysteriously returns from the dead, but he slowly realizes she is not the way he remembered her.

'Ragnarok' (Limited) -- Directed by Mikkel Brænne Sandemose. Starring Pål Sverre Hagen, Nicolai Cleve Broch, and Bjørn Sundquist. The ancient and modern worlds collide when archaeologist Sigurd Svenden finds the true meaning of the secret runes found in the Oseberg ship.

'Septic Man' (Limited) -- Directed by Jesse Thomas Cook. Starring Jason David Brown, Molly Dunsworth, and Robert Maillet. A sewage worker gets trapped inside a septic tank during a water contamination crisis and undergoes a hideous transformation. To escape, he must team up with a docile Giant and confront the murdering madman known as Lord Auch.

'The Trip to Italy' (Limited) -- Directed by Michael Winterbottom. Starring Rob Brydon, Steve Coogan, and Marta Barrio. Two men, six meals in six different places on a road trip around Italy. Liguria, Tuscany, Rome, Amalfi and ending in Capri.

August 22

'Sin City: A Dame to Kill For' -- Directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez. Starring Jessica Alba, Mickey Rourke, and Rosario Dawson. The town's most hard-boiled citizens cross paths with some of its more reviled inhabitants.

'If I Stay' -- Directed by R.J. Cutler. Starring Chloe Moretz, Mireille Enos, and Liana Liberato. Life changes in an instant for young Mia Hall after a car accident puts her in a coma. During an out-of-body experience, she must decide whether to wake up and live a life far different than she had imagined.

'When the Game Stands Tall' -- Directed by Thomas Carter. Starring Jim Caviezel, Alexander Ludwig, and Michael Chiklis. The journey of legendary football coach Bob Ladouceur (Jim Caviezel), who took the De La Salle High School Spartans from obscurity to a 151-game winning streak that shattered all records for any American sport.

'The Liberator' (Limited) -- Directed by Alberto Arvelo. Starring Édgar Ramírez, Erich Wildpret, and María Valverde. Simon Bolivar fought over 100 battles against the Spanish Empire in South America. He rode over 70,000 miles on horseback. His military campaigns covered twice the territory of Alexander the Great. His army never conquered -- it liberated.

'The One I Love' (Limited) -- Directed by Charlie McDowell. Starring Mark Duplass, Elisabeth Moss, and Ted Danson. Struggling with a marriage on the brink of falling apart, a couple escapes for a weekend in pursuit of their better selves, only to discover an unusual dilemma that awaits them.

'The Possession of Michael King' (Limited) -- Directed by David Jung. Starring Shane Johnson, Ella Anderson, and Cara Pifko. Following the death of his wife, a faithless man documents himself as he allows demonologists and various occult practitioners to perform rituals on him in pursuit of disproving the existence of the supernatural once and for all.

'The Prince' (Limited) -- Directed by Brian A. Miller. Starring Bruce Willis, John Cusack, and Jessica Lowndes. A retired assassin is drawn back into the life he gave up when his daughter is kidnapped. To rescue her, he must confront his former rival.

'To Be Takei' (Limited) -- Directed by Jennifer M. Kroot. A star's trek for life, liberty, and love.

'Love Is Strange' (New York and L.A.) -- Directed by Ira Sachs. Starring Alfred Molina, John Lithgow, and Marisa Tomei. After Ben and George get married, George is fired from his teaching post, forcing them to stay with friends separately while they sell their place and look for cheaper housing -- a situation that weighs heavily on all involved.

August 27

'The November Man' -- Directed by Roger Donaldson. Starring Eliza Taylor, Olga Kurylenko, and Pierce Brosnan. An ex-CIA operative is brought back in on a very personal mission and finds himself pitted against his former pupil in a deadly game involving high level CIA officials and the Russian president-elect.

August 29

'As Above, So Below' -- Directed by John Erick Dowdle. Starring Ben Feldman, Edwin Hodge, and Perdita Weeks. A thriller centered on two archaeologists in search of a lost treasure in the catacombs below Paris.

'The Congress' (Limited) -- Directed by Ari Folman. Starring Robin Wright, Harvey Keitel, and Jon Hamm. An aging, out-of-work actress accepts one last job, though the consequences of her decision affect her in ways she didn't consider.

'The Last of Robin Hood' (Limited) -- Directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland. Starring Kevin Kline, Dakota Fanning, and Susan Sarandon. The last days in the life of legendary Hollywood actor Errol Flynn.

'Life of Crime' (Limited) -- Directed by Daniel Schechter. Starring Jennifer Aniston, Will Forte, and Isla Fisher. The wife of a wealthy man is kidnapped, but he doesn't want to pay her ransom.

'One Chance' (Limited) -- Directed by David Frankel. Starring James Corden, Alexandra Roach, and Julie Walters. The true story of Paul Potts, a shy, bullied shop assistant by day and an amateur opera singer by night who became a phenomenon after being chosen for -- and ultimately winning -- 'Britain's Got Talent.'

'Starred Up' (Limited) -- Directed by David Mackenzie. Starring Jack O'Connell, Rupert Friend, and Ben Mendelsohn. A troubled and explosively violent teenager is transferred to adult prison where he finally meets his match -- a man who also happens to be his father.