August is what they call a “dump month” in the movie biz, a time when unpromising projects get off-loaded and written off. But it's not all bad, for a certain kind of moviegoer it can be like rummaging through a cut-out bin or remainder pile. (If you don't remember record and book stores, ask your mother.) If your tastes misalign with the popular flavors, you might find treasures.
For instance, some people have been eagerly awaiting Al Gore's follow-up to his 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth. They'll be happy to know that An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power opens this week. And no doubt someone is looking forward to The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature. And there are probably thousands wondering about how the creep doll in The Conjuring got that way. Some answers may be available in the prequel, Annabelle: Creation, which seems likely to win this weekend.
In other news, the screen version of The Glass Castle, a best-selling memoir by gossip columnist Jeannette Walls, also opens. Karen Martin looks back at the Coen Brother's Fargo, now available in special 20th anniversary packaging, and Philip Martin consider the nine-day Kaleidoscope Film Festival, which kicks off Friday evening. All in the Friday Style section of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.