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Paramount Plus has its list of new shows and movies coming to the streamer this August, and it’s a typically eclectic collection that ranges from A time to kill Unpleasant Zodiacthrough Hotel for dogs.
If you’re looking for guaranteed quality from this wide selection, it’s never a bad idea to look for movies with a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 90 or higher: such films are the best of their kind, whether they’re comedies, dramas, or blockbusters.
Here are three films that you absolutely need to put on your to-watch list in the coming weeks. You can expect to see them in our roundup of the best Paramount Plus movies , but if you’re looking for something with a shorter runtime, check out our picks for the best Paramount Plus series.
Airplane! (1980)
- RT score: 97%
- Age Rating: PG
- Length: 88 minutes
- Director: Jim Abrahams, David and Jerry Zucker
- Arrival at: 1 August
I honestly don’t think I’ve seen another movie as many times as I have Aeroplane!and while every comedy loses its luster after the first ten thousand viewings, there are still scenes that make me laugh just as much as the first time.
Today it is as much of a museum piece as the serious disaster films it was so often criticized for. And by today’s standards, the pace is also rather slow. Yet it still has endless jokes, especially visual ones. There are so many that you will never see them all on your first flight.
City of God (2003)
- RT score: 91%
- Age Rating: R
- Length: 131 minutes
- Director: Fernando Meirelles
- Arrival at: 1 August
The story is set in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro between the late 1960s and early 1980s. City of God tells the story of two men: the aspiring photographer Rocket and the ambitious drug dealer José “Zé” Pequeno.
Loosely based on real events, it has received critical acclaim and four Oscar nominations. But it can be an uncomfortable viewing experience: if Variety The film “delivers a gripping, visceral experience of the vicious cycle of violence that drags children into lives of crime, cruelty and murder as the only way out.” rich was one of many reviewers who called it a masterpiece.
The original film will be available on Paramount Plus from August 1, a few weeks before the HBO TV adaptation of the Brazilian epic debuts on Max on August 28, as part of ‘Everything New on Max’ next month.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
- RT score: 97%
- Age Rating: M
- Length: 80 minutes
- Director: Don Siegal
- Arrival at: 1 August
This is the 1956 original, not the 1976 remake with an unforgettable performance by the late Donald Sutherland, but despite its age the original remains a truly terrifying piece of sci-fi. Based on the book The body snatchers by Jack Finney, it tells the story of a small California town that is completely transformed by mysterious seeds that have come to Earth from somewhere in outer space. The seeds do not grow plants, but people, perfect replicas of the people they can imitate in every way except their ability to feel emotions.
While the novel had a fairly optimistic ending, the film does not. Depending on who you ask, the film is an allegory for the Cold War threat of communism, the terror of McCarthyism, the inhumanity of capitalism, fragile masculinity, or just plain old time on the social network formerly known as Twitter.
