We have at least a month of summer left. And a whole new crop of great Netflix titles coming with it.
August sees an outstanding slate of movies coming to the streaming service. And the highlight for us is "Birdman," this year's Best Picture Oscar winner.
It stars Michael Keaton as Riggan Thomson, an actor famous for a "Batman"-like superhero role who is mounting a desperate comeback on Broadway.
Alejandro González Iñárritu won the Best Director Oscar for a picture that looks like it was all filmed in a single take. He extracts some outstanding performances from Emma Stone as Riggan's troubled daughter, Edward Norton as a talented, yet difficult actor, and Zach Galifianakis as the star's best friend.
Also coming out this month is "Locke," a film starring Tom Hardy as a man forced to come clean with his family about his infidelity on a two-hour drive from Birmingham to London. It's essentially a one-man show, with Hardy making three dozen phone calls over the course of the film.
And those are just two great titles that will have you clamouring for the cool of an air-conditioned living room.
Here are the titles coming to Netflix in August:
Movies
"Mission: Impossible III"
Just in time for the release of "Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation," Netflix streams "Mission: Impossible III," which has Tom Cruise's secret agent Ethan Hunt tracking down Owen Davian (the late Philip Seymour Hoffman), an international arms dealer. "Lost" creator J.J. Abrams was at the helm for this, one of the best in the "Mission: Impossible" film series.
"A Most Violent Year"
"Margin Call" director J.C. Chandor helmed this pic, about immigrant Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac) and his wife Anna (Jessica Chastain) trying to build a business in 1980s New York.
"Still Alice"
Julianne Moore won an Best Actress Oscar for her performance in this film, as a professor who experiences the early symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease. She does all she can to preserve the time she has left with her family.
"Prisoners"
Canadian director Denis Villeneuve's film is best left for a gloomy day. It tells the story of two young girls who go missing, a father (Hugh Jackman) who will do anything to find them, and a cop (Jake Gyllenhaal) whose investigation is complicated by the dad's pursuit.
TV Shows
"Narcos" (Aug. 28)
You might remember Pedro Pascal from "Game of Thrones." He played Oberyn Martell, the dashing fighter who had a fateful showdown with The Mountain. Now, he returns to screens as a DEA agent assigned to capture and kill cocaine magnate Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura).
"From Dusk Till Dawn: Season 2" (Aug. 26)
This television adaptation of Robert Rodriguez's 1996 horror film tells an expanded story about the film's characters, such as outlaw brothers Richie and Seth Gecko (Zane Holtz and D.J. Cotrona), and the queen vampire, Santanico Pandemonium (Eiza González).
Kids and Family
"Masha and the Bear"
This cartoon series based on Russian folklore tells of an energetic girl and her friendship with a former circus bear.
