August Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
Comes just before the fall.
August centers on two brothers fighting to keep their start-up company afloat on Wall Street during August 2001, a month before the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
| Josh Hartnett | Tom |
| Naomie Harris | Sarrah |
| Adam Scott | Joshua |
| Emmanuelle Chriqui | Morela |
| Andre Royo | Dylan |
| Robin Tunney | Melanie |
| Rip Torn | David |
| David Bowie | Ogilvie |
| Jeremy Bobb | Suit #3 |
| Ron Insana | Himself |
| Michael Ciesla | Conference Guest |
| Alan Cox | Barton |
| Sanjit De Silva | Suit #2 |
| Carmine DiBenedetto | Tyler |
| Austin Chick |
5.70 out of 10 (595 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Excellent Movie Deserves More Praise
posted on 02 Aug 2009Watched this movie online on Netflix last night. Strange, the movie was released theatrically July 11,2008 but is not only already on DVD but can be watched instantly on Netflix.So not only are movies straight to video but straight to instant viewing. Fine by me. Terrific movie. Critically panned though. Neither critics or fans understood the product this imploding .com company was selling or the fact that the product didn't matter. The plot in August is beset by ominious news stories preceeding "fall". I thought the movie was terrific. I got it. The scene with David Bowie was SUPERB. I can't tell you enough about his character and the "nose bleed" he gives the protagonist - which comes down to the whole point of the movie and what's important in life. Also important is... the people you crush when rise to the top, you'll see on the way down when you fall. Or however the expression goes. In other words, PLAY NICE.Analysis: Recommend
It's not just a story.
posted on 09 Jul 2009Good storytelling can either tell you what happens, tell you how it was, or both. Most moviegoers, the superficial ones, watch a movie for the "what happens." They want to meet a character that they like and see something good happen to them with a good in between. And so when they watch a movie they expect a story and they like it or dislike it without considering everything that the movie is trying to do. Don't make that mistake when watching August.August is a movie that tells a story, a "this is what happened to Tom and his company and his brother and his life", but that is not the REAL of this movie. This movie does a much better job of telling the movie watcher a "this is how it was" than a "this is what happens." So when you watch August, which i think you should, absorb the movie for the parts that elaborate on the environment, the time, place, and attitudes, surrounding August 2001, not just the story or the dialog or the sometimes lack thereof.It's a movie that tells the story of two brothers that started a dotcom that survived the tech bubble collapse and its story in reality does the job of representing the not so apparent futures of the people left in the dotcom world after its demise.What is even more enjoyable about the movie than its overall plot, which, like i said, isn't the real story, is Josh Hartnett's character, who not only represents the image of the dotcom-er CEO circa 1999 but also speaks the truly empty rhetoric of the times that feed and fueled the tech bubble for so long. Just listening to his speech and realizing that he's talking about practically nothing but making it sound like he's preaching the new age gospel, the evangelical oratory of the e-generation, in part, produces the statement the movie is trying to make about the times.So don't watch this movie for the "story" or to "see what happens." Watch this movie with the understanding that its a movie that tries to capture a period in time: its character's and its subplots"/"devices" being either deeper (representing something/someone more generic), or being empty (just a way to kill time or build a character in a way that is unimportant to the "deeper meaning"). Enjoy the movie. Just be aware of what to look out for.
Well, if you like Josh...
posted on 05 Jul 2009This movie was what it was - a story about a less than honorable person being less than honorable. They show him being vile to people, including an old girlfriend who is doomed to find out he hasn't changed at all. In the end, he makes a decision about his life and his family.I didn't find anything at all hopeful about this movie. It was pure angst from the minute it began; the music weighing it down more than the script already did. This movie could only be interesting to someone in this type of business in New York. I fell asleep twice. I was hoping to see information about how 9-11 affected companies on the brink, but it never went there. The closest they got was the passing of Aaliyah.If you enjoy looking at Josh Hartnett's body, you'll be able to get through this film. If not, you may wish you had these two hours back. He was very good at playing the type of character he was asked to play, but the character itself was hideous. Just my opinion.
Not entertaining at all
posted on 15 Jun 2009I wish I had seen the comments on this movie before I wasted two hours. Thank goodness it only cost me $1 at Redbox. This time I want my buck back. It was dull, boring, and filled with vague reflections. I hope Josh lost all his acting money as producer of this bore of a movie. I waited and waited for something to happen...nada. I really didn't care what his company did...I would rather sit in a quiet room and listen to my neighbor's dog bark for two hours. I really wanted something interesting to happen and had high hopes for this movie. On other comments, I continue to see references to 9/11. I missed that completely in the movie. But that could have been when I fell asleep.This movie turned me against the Oreo cookie...now, that's powerful.
My Review
posted on 07 Mar 2009Dot com entrepreneur Tom (Josh Hartnett) has it all: attractive girlfriend Sarrah (Naomie Harris), his brother Josh (Adam Scott) and a very lucrative web business.All of it, however, begins to slowly unravel, and Tom does everything he can to stay above it, but his charm and charisma can only get him so far. Soon he's on the receiving end of failure - his girlfriend left him, and his business is crumbling around him.This riches to rags story would've been better if it...well...had a cohesive storyline. His business starts evaporating without really an explanation, and all the dull dialogue and weak performances only heightened the overall dull aspect of this film.
Common...
posted on 03 Mar 2009I just got done with watching this movie and I have to admit it was really pointless. 1/3 of the movie is just business lingo, the other 2/3 is just plain contemplation of Josh Hartnett's slightly above average acting...Big holes in the script. We don't know anything about the characters backgrounds, it feels like Tom is acting like an ass just for the sake of it. Very cliché character: the cocky guy who has tons of money, pisses off everybody and then realizes that there is more in life than dough. We all saw it coming right at the first party scene... Am I the only one who would have liked to know what kind of product their company made? Why is the company sinking? Sept. 11 was mentioned in other reviews, I could not find any link whatsoever...Let's face it, the whole plot was not movie material and even thought it was pretty well shot and the score is interesting I don't think any business or stocks neophytes have any reason to see it since there is absolutely no character exploration.ONE LAST THING: What was the point of putting David Bowie in the trailer, on the DVD's back picture and even write his name on the cover when he actually gets less screen time than 90% of the cast? (even the semi-goth employee gets more screen time...)
Good... in its own way.
posted on 12 Jan 2009I wasn't expecting much when I went in for this movie, but boy was I surprised! Josh Hartnett's character, Tom, is one of the slickest most confident man on screen and he totally charmed me. The story is about Hartnett's character and his brother's dot com company and how they tried to keep the company afloat in the August before September 11th. Some of the dialogue was very well written. I liked Naomi Harris's character, although I think the character was underdeveloped. His brother played by Adam Scott gave a very good performance also. All in all, I think this is an enjoyable drama which ended very well but with many unresolved story-lines...
Surprisingly good movie and performances
posted on 04 Jan 2009This is the surprise of the year so far for me.This excellent little film tells a story of two brothers and their struggling company in a timeline that just precedes 9/11. Several people on IMDb have commented that they don't see why the movie needed to be "cheapened with a 9/11 theme" or some such nonsense. Let's be clear: this movie is not about 9/11 but this was historically a crucial point for the dot-com bubble.The movie does actually a wonderful job highlighting these events, without spelling them out in some awkward exposition. The story focuses mostly on one of the brothers: The Charismatic Tom (played by Josh Hartnett), who mostly handles the business aspects. Director Austin Chick does a good job immersing us in his life, his lifestyle, his struggles and his ambiguities. His uneasy rapports with his brother Joshua, co-founder of the company "Landshark", who is the quiet "tech guy" behind the operation. With his parents. His former girlfriend. Various other persons in his life and business dealing. It's an absolutely fascinating portrait. What really helps is Hartnett's performance. Now, I'm sorry to say I never was a fan of this fairly popular actor and he had failed to impress me until now... but this has changed. Hartnett is in fact the main strength of this movie, makes the story come alive and shines among a very, very solid cast around him. Tom's role as a confident, brash young guy who must keep appearance and keep his company afloat while he knows it's going down (along with his personal life) required a good acting palette.It is a strength of the movie that it manages to push both the story of Tom and present an interesting portrait of this time period where economically, things were crashing. What we have here is a movie that could very well have been boring to death due to its topic (finances are a fairly abstract thing, and usually not terribly interesting unless they're your own) but instead becomes fascinating. In many ways, it is reminiscent of Wall Street. Various speeches that Tom delivers and his bout of negotiations lead to several strong moments.This is a great movie. Where pretty much every scene is worthwhile and supports the overall themes that are pushed. Director Chick seems to have a purpose with every element presented and even the elements not present. Consider: we never get to know what Landshark does. At all. Which might seem weird yet is terribly fitting since along with other shooting star companies of the time, it was all a smoke screen anyway.Great movie, probably a must buy for those who have an interest in the dot-com bubble.
Probably hits the dot com implosion more accurately than any so far
posted on 02 Jan 2009August is a very finite and pointed film. It's a low-flying indie sleeper that has its points to make and it makes them quite effectively. Above all it really manages to nail a small moment in time, that of the dot-com implosion.I, along with many others I'm sure, was part of a dot com start-up similar in some respects to Landshark. It was very common in those days of over-hyped speculation to bet tons of VC generated start-up capital on IDEAS that looked promising, when in reality much needed to happen before they could be realized. This didn't hold true for all start-ups, but a fair majority.It's very easy to get caught up in the delusion that you're a "real" company when your stock is shooting up the charts and quite a glass of ice water to the face to realize all that speculated valuation can disappear overnight, which it did slowly over the course of late 2000 and 2001...it was never really there to begin with.August grabs that bursting bubble in a number of effective ways. As the film progresses, it becomes apparent that for all of Tom's boasting and bluster, he's nothing more than a hyped-up spin doctor. Watching this revelation sink his ego is entertaining if not more than a bit sad. Hartnett does an adequate job with the role.The most true-to-life scene for me was the mass of staffers flocking around F**kedCompany.com, which was a popular barometer for the sink-age rate of companies about to go belly-up, instead of lounging at their Ikea desks playing solitaire...they're not lazy, they just have nothing to do...no customers, no product.As a film, this is a tough one to sell to an audience who doesn't have first-hand experience in the story's premise. There is a lot of business/financial terminology/slang thrown around that to those not knowledgeable or interested in it will seem very boring.It does what Indies do best...present a slice of life, with no pat clichés or feel-good endings. And for that, I liked it.
Ultra Bunk! <--- Suck to the infinity power!
posted on 11 Dec 2008This movie was a total waist of time. The synopsis made the story sound good, but after the first 5 seconds of watching the movie, I knew this movie was going NO WHERE FAST. I've seen over a thousand movies and this one goes some where at the bottom with Aeon Flux & Glitter. EXAMPLE: 1. The Director must have run out of ideas to Shoot the Film, cause for a total of 25 minutes of the movie they show Josh Hartnett walking around or in bed doing nothing/saying nothing. 2. What the Heck is Land Shark, I'm in the IT field and the stuff still didn't make sense. 3. The purpose of the business of Land Shark is never revealed.I hope I save someone's life, because I lost about an hour and a half a mine.
Not Entertaining
posted on 11 Dec 2008May Contain Spoilers I love how the site tells me several times over if I put in a spoiler it will ban my account, because the entire movie can be seen by watching the trailer. There's no plot, there's no substance and I can't really tell what's going on half the time.I will however spoil the movie, because I don't think you should waste your time on it. He makes a nothing company seem like a big company, and you never find out what they do. It would have been OK not to know what they did but the way they ended the movie wasn't really an ending. In most of their taglines they have 9/11 in it, are we supposed to think he died or something after he got fired? This movie tries to capitalize on 9/11 like landshark capitalizes on nothing. I don't think it'll work, you're better off staring at a wall for 2 hours, the plot in this movie moves just as much as that wall during that 2 hours.I don't normally hate movies, I loved all those artsy movies people always say suck but this movie was probably the worst movie I've ever seen. If they could help explain to me why they didn't have more nudity, because that's the only thing this movie had going for it.
no
posted on 09 Dec 2008this film was so bad i had to go out of my way to come here and tell others not to waste their time.the lead actor is supposed to be a pretty boy but he's actually hard to look at and his acting so bad it's unbearable. his character is awkward and arrogant, but it doesn't work to the film's advantage at all, it just makes the part too hard to play.there is so much mood filler of the lead walking around looking dreary and serious, so many meaningless one dimensional, totally uninteresting little vignettes of pointless dialogue, so little in the way of real conflict or drama between the main characters, the film is absolutely pointless.
Very boring and waste of time
posted on 07 Dec 2008The best part about this movie was the music score. And that was average. The movie reminded me of a snapshot of anyone's life. Why would I want to watch that? It wasn't funny, it wasn't suspenseful, and it wasn't witty. The writing was bland. There was zero plot. One of the characters in the movie mentioned the company was running on fumes. I think the movie itself was running on fumes.The main character also smokes a lot. I've always found that directors who feel their characters need a "smoke prop" are using it to make up for the lack of something in the movie. In this case the movie lacked an actual plot.
This movie would be better were it 5 minutes long
posted on 05 Dec 2008I do understand the markets, I'm studying IT in business right now, and I happened to see this movie. Most of it was like watching paint dry. How the casting director scored Rip Torn and David Bowie is beyond me. The movie is much like a .com company - all hype and no substance. I can just see the guy pitching his scrip right now to the VC's - he probably used that same material when doing the same scene in the movie. This movie rely's heavily on the F-bomb to make its point about businesses - or the lack of sense in business. It could have used witty dialog instead... There are some diamonds in this rough though - when David Bowie tell's you he doesn't like the way you've been handling your personal life, you know you've hit rock bottom!
Dull and Bland!
posted on 28 Sep 2008Perhaps its because i don't really know anything about the stock market and my ignorance in that area relates to how much i enjoyed the film, maybe if i knew anything about stocks i would have enjoyed the film as much as some of the other people who have commented...but i didn't. I am a fan of josh hartnett and thought the acting was good i just don't think he and the rest of the cast had anything to work with. Perhaps if there was more information about there struggling company as well as more general background info i would have spent less time staring blankly at the wall and more time staring at the film.i wouldn't recommend this film to someone like me who knows nothing about wall street but then again i wouldn't recommend this even if you worked on wall street, without more background i think this film has greatly reduced its target audience which could have been potentially every one to a small percentage.
dull & boring
posted on 28 Jun 2008genre is stated as 'drama'. am i wrong if expecting some "drama"? "thing" is stated as 'a movie'. am i wrong if expecting entertainment of some/any kind? should i NOT expect some kind of 'a story'? should i just sit there, watch some people wondering around, talking in brief-cut sentences about some business which is going bad, understand they want it to fly-high (wow), NOT having any interest, what so ever, if they are going to make it or not, because even after 20 agony minutes i haven't got a clue about their lives, desires, minds, personalities etc.? so i gave up. 20 minutes were just enough for me. maybe those guys who loved this thing, found something wonderful in the 21st minute and on. good for them. there are so many more movies out there, interesting from- or almost from - the beginning, and life is short so...
Excellent
posted on 27 May 2008When "reviewing a movie" keep your feelings out of it. I'm not your friend.Facts on "August": Product placement in this movie is so smart I bet it was written into the script purposely because it pushed the plot: When the lead male in this film is asking his brother (supporting) to come with him on a nearly impossible business venture; there is a "FedEx" truck in the background. The writer is obviously thinking. The actors are all full. Rip Torn as the fiery father (uh yea) and David Bowie even say's to someone in this movie "I don't like your style" and at another point David says to the same character "You fool people."Okay perhaps it best suits Men in their 20's. But that doesn't change the fact that smart and sweet people made this film come to life and that as the credits rolled a got a text from by little bro.Hartnett your the man at playing the man. I gotta find someone to pay me to be your little bro in a movie, so if I'm taller than you I'll just crouch."BET Black"
Josh Hartnett's Best Film To Date
posted on 27 Apr 2008Screened this at the Sundance 2008 Festival. This movie actually caught me by surprise, it was very hip and surprisingly Josh Hartnett really brought it. The movie has a modern "Wall Street" type vibe, the story follows Tom (Hartnett) who is a super confident .com entrepreneur who is in crisis mode during the downward spiral of the .com stock bust just before September 2001. Hartnet nails this role with high energy output and makes this a very watchable flick. Austin Chick the director is obviously very talented and throws just the right amount of style and cool music into the film to keep it slick and contemporary which should broaden its appeal past just the Gen-X group. The one downside is that the film gives the other characters so little room to make their presence felt, especially David Bowies character who gets only a few minutes of face time. Other then that the movie really has a nice pace and the ending worked very well when you consider all the superficial things that Americans thought they cared about until Sept 2001, and then realized there are somethings much more important then money and stature.Film should get some nice play on the indie circuit, though indie folks probably will be hard swayed to pay over for a Hartnett movie. I would reckon that Josh Hartnett will win over some who doubted him with this performance and maybe even get a little award type talk. I know its hard for me to believe either :)
Waste of time and money
posted on 30 Mar 2008OK, I have to agree with many people and say that this film was boring and waste of time. I obviously did not see a plot and the story line made no sense. The entire movie was about saving a company... who wants to watch a movie on that? Come on now.. Josh Harnett acted the part real good but the plot goes over my head. The best part and most interesting to me was his relations with Sarrah and when they just vanished her out of the movie there was really nothing else.. That was the only story line that this movie had not some stupid company going down in August a month before 9/11!! Who cares??? People watch movies to be entertained.. not lectured and that is what this movie gave me.. nothing made any sense besides his relationship with Sarrah..
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Boredom till the end
posted on 22 Aug 2009I cant believe I just saw this movie with a friend of mine.Its so horrible, I wonder how can anyone comment it as recommended? This moes IMDb score should not be more than 1. Complete waste of time.This is my first comment on IMDb, and m being forced to type these extra lines evn though its hard for me to find words to describe this movie. This movie is trash. This movie takes you nowhere. This movie lacks a story and plot.Bore.Bore.Bore.Bore.Bore.Bore.