Here Are All the Movies Opening Today, August 8th. What Will You See?

Here are the films opening theatrically in the U.S. the week of Friday, August 8th. (Synopses provided by distributor unless listed otherwise.)

About Alex
Director: Jesse Zwick
Cast: Aubrey Plaza, Max Greenfield, Max Minghella, Jason Ritter, Nate Parker, Maggie Grace, Jane Levy
Synopsis: “A circle of twenty-something friends reunite for a weekend away to console a suicidal member of their group. Yet, despite their best efforts to enjoy themselves, a tinderbox of old jealousies, unrequited love, and widening political differences leads to an explosion of drama that, coupled with the flammable combination of drugs, wine, and risotto, cannot be contained.” [Tribeca Film Festival]
Criticwire Grade Average: B (4 reviews)
Theatrical Release: Various (including New York, Los Angeles, Orlando, Scottsdale, Seattle and Toronto)

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After
Director: Pieter Gaspersz 
Cast: Kathleen Quinlan, John Doman, Pablo Schreiber, Sabrina Gennarino, Adam Scarimbolo, Diane Neal, Darrin Dewitt Henson, Bruno Gunn, Mandy Gonzalez, Joseph Ferrante, Tracey Howe
Synopsis: “A haunting and powerful psychological drama set in the winter of 2002 in chilly upstate New York, AFTER tells the story of a middle class family struggling with the financial consequences of a failing family business and a series of intergenerational conflicts and rivalries. But, what truly threatens to upset their delicate balance–and shatter the emotionally fragile family matriarch– is an intricately buried secret that, if revealed, could alter their lives irrevocably.”
Theatrical Release: New York, Atlanta, Dallas and Houston (opens in Los Angeles, Phoenix and Tampa on August 15th)

Deepsea Challenge 3D
Director: John Bruno, Andrew Wight and Raymond Quint
Synopsis: “Described as being a film about determination, danger and the ocean’s greatest depths, James Cameron’s ‘Deepsea Challenge 3D’ tells the story of Cameron’s journey to fulfill his boyhood dream of becoming an explorer. The movie offers a unique insight into Cameron’s world as he makes that dream reality – and makes history – by becoming the first person to travel solo to the deepest point on the planet.”
Theatrical Release: Wide

The Dog
Director: Allison Berg & Frank Keraudren
Synopsis: “Coming of age in the 1960s, John Wojtowicz’ libido was unrestrained even by the libertine standards of the era, with multiple wives and lovers, both women and men. In August 1972, he attempted to rob a Brooklyn bank to finance his lover’s sex-reassignment surgery, resulting in a fourteen-hour hostage situation that was broadcast live on television. Three years later, John was portrayed by Al Pacino as ‘Sonny,’ and his crime immortalized in one of the most iconic New York movies of all time, Dog Day Afternoon. The film had a profound influence on Wojtowicz (who pronounced his name ‘Woto-wits’), and when he emerged from a six-year prison sentence, he was known by his self-imposed nickname: ‘The Dog.’ Drawing upon extraordinary archival footage, the film shuffles between the 1970s and the 2000s. Touching upon the sexual revolution of the 1970s, we gain a first-hand perspective on New York’s historical gay liberation movement in which Wojtowicz played an active role. In later footage, he remains a subversive force, backed by the unconditional love and headstrong wit of his mother Terry. The hows and whys of the bank robbery are recounted in gripping detail by Wojtowicz and various eyewitnesses, and don’t necessarily always align with one another.”
Criticwire Grade Average: B+ (8 reviews)
Theatrical Release: New York and Los Angeles (expands to various cities nationwide throughout August and September)

Fifi Howls from Happiness
Director: Mitra Farahani
Synopsis: “An act of recovery, and an entrancing documentary construction that appears to weave its own form as it proceeds, according to the inspirations and demands of its jubilant, egotistical and irascible subject. That subject is the Iranian painter and sculptor Bahman Mohasses, who was a celebrated and iconoclastic figure in the pre-revolutionary 60s and 70s, known for his art as well as his merciless public pronouncements. Mohasses remained in Iran after the revolution, but he frequently traveled in secret to Italy, which he finally made his home in 2006. Throughout the years, many of his works were destroyed by the new government, and many more by Mohasses himself. Filmmaker Mitra Farhani tracked down Mohasses in a Roman hotel and filmed him during the last six months of his life. The poetic self-portrait that they made together is a joyous celebration of freedom—to create, to destroy, to indulge, to pontificate and make withering judgments, to live without regret.” [Film Society of Lincoln Center]
Theatrical Release: New York (opens in Los Angeles on August 15th)

The Hundred-Foot Journey
Director: Lasse Hallström
Cast: Helen Mirren, Manish Dayal, Om Puri, Charlotte Lebon, Amit Shah, Rohan Chand, Juhi Chawla, Farzana Dua Elahe, Dillon Mitra, Jean Kinsell
Synopsis: “A story centered around an Indian family who moves to France and opens a restaurant across the street from a Michelin-starred French restaurant.”
Criticwire Grade Average: B- (4 reviews)
Theatrical Release: Wide

Into the Storm
Director: Steven Quale
Cast: Richard Armitage, Jeremy Sumpter, Nathan Kress, Matt Walsh, Kyle Davis