Welcome to Culture Hound, InsideHook’s deep dive into the month’s most important cultural happenings, pop and otherwise (note: you can find our monthly book guide a little later this week).
MOVIES
Trap
in theaters Aug. 2
M. Night Shyamalan’s latest thriller is centered around a serial killer (Josh Harnett) who brings his unsuspecting teenage daughter to a concert, only to find out the entire event is actually a trap set by the cops attempting to catch him. Will he evade them, make it out unscathed and kill again? You’ll have to watch to find out, but given that it’s a Shyamalan movie, we can expect a major twist.
Cuckoo
in theaters Aug. 9
Could this be Neon’s next big horror release after the success of Longlegs? It stars Euphoria‘s Hunter Schafer as a 17-year-old American who moves to the German Alps to live with her father and becomes acquainted with the villainous Mr. König (Dan Stevens).
The Instigators
on Apple TV+ Aug. 9
Matt Damon and Casey Affleck together in a Boston-based heist movie that also features Hong Chau, Paul Walter Hauser, Michael Stuhlbarg, Toby Jones, Ving Rhames, Alfred Molina and Ron Perlman? How do you like them apples?
Borderlands
in theaters Aug. 9
Eli Roth’s highly anticipated video game adaptation features a star-studded cast that includes Cate Blanchett, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and more.
Blink Twice
in theaters Aug. 23
Zoë Kravitz may have ditched her much racier original title, Pussy Island, for her directorial debut, but that doesn’t make it any less compelling. Kravitz’s real-life fiance Channing Tatum plays a debaucherous tech billionaire who hosts a cocktail waitress (Naomi Ackie) on his private island. Christian Slater, Simon Rex, Adria Arjona, Haley Joel Osment, Kyle MacLachlan and Geena Davis also star.
TV/STREAMING
Mr. Throwback
Aug. 8, Peacock
He may be in Paris playing with Team USA in the Olympics at the moment, but Steph Curry will pivot to acting when this Peacock comedy debuts next week. (He plays himself, so it’s not too much of a stretch.) Adam Pally plays a memorabilia salesman who reunites with Curry, his former sixth grade teammate.
Hard Knocks: Training Camp With the Chicago Bears
Aug. 9, HBO Max
Only time will tell if the Chicago Bears can improve upon their 7-10 record from last season, but this documentary series will peel back the curtain as they prepare for the 2024 season at training camp.
Bad Monkey
Aug. 14, Apple TV+
Based on the novel of the same name, Bad Monkey features Vince Vaughn as a fast-talking detective-turned-health-inspector who finds himself investigating a possible homicide when a severed arm turns up in South Florida. Michelle Monaghan, Jodie Turner-Smith and Rob Delaney also star.
Chimp Crazy
Aug. 18, HBO Max
This four-part docuseries is being described as “Tiger King but with chimpanzees.” That alone should be reason enough to check out this look at animal broker Tonia Haddix and her battle with the authorities and PETA over her beloved chimp Tonka.
Pachinko
Aug. 23, Apple TV+
This critically acclaimed series, which follows four generations of a Korean family from 1915 to 1989, returns for its second season to pick up where it left off.
Only Murders in the Building
Aug. 27, Hulu
Season four of Hulu’s popular murder mystery series moves out of the titular building, as our trio of protagonists venture out to Los Angeles where their true crime podcast is being adapted into a movie. (Eva Longoria, Eugene Levy and Zach Galifanakis play the Hollywood versions of Mabel, Charles and Oliver.) Naturally, while they’re there, they’ve got another homicide to investigate. Meryl Streep also returns as Loretta, Oliver’s love interest.
MUSIC
Jack White, No Name
Aug. 2
Jack White’s surprise album, which was covertly slipped into customer’s bags for free at Third Man Records, gets its official release this Friday.
Orville Peck, Stampede
Aug. 2
Our favorite masked cowboy returns with a duets album that features collaborations with Willie Nelson, Beck, Elton John, Margo Price, Mickey Guyton, Noah Cyrus and more.
Esperanza Spalding and Milton Nascimento, Milton + Esperanza
Aug. 9
The jazz bassist teams up with beloved Brazilian singer-songwriter Milton Nascimento for this collaborative album, which sees the pair tackling 16 tracks together — including five reimaginations of Nascimento’s songs and two covers (the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life” and Michael Jackson’s “Earth Song”). It also features guest appearances by Paul Simon, Dianne Reeves, Lianne La Havas, Maria Gadú, Tim Bernardes, Carolina Shorter and Shabaka Hutchings.
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Flight b741
Aug. 9
King Gizzard have been known to get deeply conceptual, but Flight b741 is arguably their most accessible record to date, a straightforward classic rock-inspired effort that the group proudly declares to have no concept.
Charly Bliss, Forever
Aug. 16
The Brooklyn power pop group returns with its third studio album, Forever — the band’s first record in five years.
Father John Misty, Josh Tillman Presents Fr. John Misty’s Greatish Hits: I Followed My Dreams and My Dreams Said to Crawl
Aug. 16
As you can probably tell from the title, Father John Misty’s latest is a greatest (err, great-ish) hits compilation. It does, however, feature one previously unreleased track, the excellent eight-minute disco epic “I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All.”
Bryce Dessner, Solos
Aug. 23
The National guitarist makes his Sony Classical debut with Solos, a collection of unaccompanied instrumental compositions he’s written over the years.
Illuminati Hotties, POWER
Aug. 23
Producer/engineer Sarah Tudzin recently earned a Grammy for her work on boygenius’s The Record, but now she’s back with another record from her own Illuminati Hotties project. This latest effort should be heavier; it’s inspired by the death of her mother.
Fontaines DC, Romance
Aug. 23
Could this be the least overtly Irish Fontaines DC album yet? According to guitarist Conor Deegan, “We’ve always had this sense of idealism and romance. Each album gets further away from observing that through the lens of Ireland, as directly as Dogrel. The second album is about that detachment, and the third is about Irishness dislocated in the diaspora. Now we look to where and what else there is to be romantic about.”
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Woodland
Aug. 23
Welch and Rawlings return with their first collaborative album since 2020’s All the Good Times. Woodland takes its name from the duo’s Woodland Sound Studios in Nashville. As they say in a press release, “The past four years were spent almost entirely within its walls, bringing it back to life after the 2020 tornado and making this record.”
Sabrina Carpenter, Short ‘n Sweet
Aug. 23
Sick of hearing “Espresso” everywhere? We’ll finally have a chance to move past that monster single (as well as the excellent “Please Please Please”) and hear the rest of Sabrina Carpenter’s highly anticipated record when it drops Aug. 23.
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Wild God
Aug. 30
“I hope the album has the effect on listeners that it’s had on me,” Nick Cave says in a press release about his new album with the Bad Seeds. “It bursts out of the speaker, and I get swept up with it. It’s a complicated record, but it’s also deeply and joyously infectious. There is never a master plan when we make a record. The records rather reflect back the emotional state of the writers and musicians who played them. Listening to this, I don’t know, it seems we’re happy.”
Jónsi, First Light
Aug. 30
The Sigur Rós singer has partnered with music and wellness platform Myndstream for his latest effort, which was originally conceived as a video game score.
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