“Project Power”
Cast: Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dominique Fishback, Machine Gun Kelly
Synopsis: An ex-soldier, a teen and a cop collide in New Orleans as they hunt for the source behind a dangerous new pill that grants users temporary superpowers.
What You Need to Know: Netflix has been rather successful of late with their output ranging from “The Old Guard” to “Da 5 Bloods” and then something like “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.” The upcoming “Project Power” looks to lean more into the vein of “The Old Guard” with a larger than life concept and big star power attached with Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Directed by the duo who are responsible for “Catfish” (but also the better than it had any right to be “Nerve”), Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, the film looks to play with superhero themes while also trying to ground it in the real world – a trend that can have varying results. Here’s hoping that it will be another solid and entertaining entry into the original action films put out by Netflix lately.
Release Date: August 14
“The Bay of Silence”
Cast: Claes Bang, Olga Kurylenko, Brian Cox
Synopsis: Husband Will initially presumes his wife Rosalind is innocent of any wrongdoing, but when her troublesome past is discovered, he wonders if it could shed light on what happened to cause their son’s death.
What You Need to Know: Directed by Paula van der Oest (“Zus & Zo”) and written by Caroline Goodall (“The White Princess”), there’s an air of melodrama to “The Bay of Silence.” Claes Bang and Olga Kurylenko star as the married couple who are seeking a fresh start in a stunning location – a telltale sign that things are unlikely to go as planned. Beautiful people in crumbling marriages set against beautiful locations is an easy stir of drama, and with “The Bay of Silence” it seems that both filmmaker and writer are looking for more thriller elements. It isn’t strictly horror, but it definitely is looking to put you on edge.
Release Date: August 14
“Sputnik”
Cast: Oksana Akinshina, Pyotr Fyodorov, Fedor Bondarchuk
Synopsis: Due to her controversial methods, young doctor Tatiana Yurievna is on the precipice of losing her medical license. Her career may not be over, though. After she’s recruited by the military, Tatiana is brought to a secure science research facility to assess a very special case, that of Konstantin Sergeyevich, a cosmonaut who survived a mysterious space accident and has returned to Earth with a unique condition: there’s something living inside of him that only shows itself late at night.
What You Need to Know: There’s something about science fiction films about aliens that will always appeal to a certain viewer. With IFC Midnight’s latest film “Sputnik,” the genre is further explored with director Egor Abramenko at the helm as his debut feature film. A suitably creepy look at the monsters that we’re both saddled with and the ones that are brought upon by human selfishness – that in this case manifest themselves into real, horrifying creatures – “Sputnik” looks to expand on a tried and true science fiction trope while hopefully eliciting the right amount of thrills from the audience.
Release Date: August 14
“Tesla”
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Eve Hewson, Kyle MacLachlan, Lucy Walters
Synopsis: Brilliant, brooding inventor Nikola Tesla fights an uphill battle to bring his revolutionary electrical system to fruition. Increasingly displeased by the greed of fellow inventor Thomas Edison, Tesla forges his own virtuous but arduous path toward creating the innovative alternate-current motor.
What You Need to Know: Not to tread too readily in hyperbole, but Ethan Hawke has one of those careers that guarantees us watching just about any film he’s in. Regardless of the film’s quality, Hawke always manages to leave an impression. In “Tesla,” directed by Michael Almereyda (“Marjorie Prime,” “Experimenter”), Hawke plays visionary inventor Nikola Tesla in his race to bring his revolutionary electrical system to life. Our critic who saw it at Sundance found the final product middling despite some positive aspects and wrote, “The supporting cast, fine craft, and the appealingly idiosyncratic approach to history, legacy, and storytelling summon as much energy as they can and fling it Tesla’s way, but whatever he’s made of in Almereyda’s film, it’s a perfect insulator and generates no sparks.”
Release Date: August 21
