Coco and Thelma and Me: Outdoor Movies Make August in the City a Joy

NEW YORK — The dog days of summer aren’t over: There’s still time to grab a blanket and a snack — and, in some cases, even a dog — to catch an outdoor movie.

New York’s open-air options always include indie and foreign films alongside enduring favorites and recent hits. (The city is not, however, innovative enough to avoid weather patterns — so always check for rain-related schedule changes.) I’ve picked a handful of titles that you can catch this month, many playing at excellent (and even thematically appropriate) sites. Most screenings are free, but go to the websites for admission and showtime information.

— ‘The Jackie Robinson Story’

Here’s your chance to see Jackie Robinson starring as Jackie Robinson in a park that bears his name. This 1950 biopic, directed by Alfred E. Green, had the relatively novel approach of casting the trailblazing Brooklyn Dodger — the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball — as himself. Reviewing the movie for The New York Times upon release, Bosley Crowther wrote that Robinson “displays a calm assurance and composure that might be envied by many a Hollywood star.”

— ‘Coco’

“Coco” is one of this summer’s most frequent outdoor offerings, which means that parks, beaches and rooftops full of moviegoers in at least four boroughs will leave humming “Remember Me.” Pixar’s efforts to set a story in Mexico against the background of Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), with an eye toward authenticity, were largely cheered by audiences in November. Given the evident care and vibrant palette it lavishes on creating the Land of the Dead, “Coco” really should be screening at Green-Wood Cemetery. (Rooftop Films showed some titles there this summer.)

— ‘The Spirit of the Beehive’

Every summer, the recently reopened Film Forum brings the same distinguished foreign-language programming it’s known for downtown over to Socrates Sculpture Park on the Queens side of the East River. Victor Erice’s “The Spirit of the Beehive” (1973) — the story of a 6-year-old girl’s dawning awareness of the world around her at the end of the Spanish Civil War — is perfectly suited to a mild summer evening. (She is captivated by, among other things, the 1931 “Frankenstein.”) The series finishes up with “Tampopo,” “Kedi” and “The Passionate Thief.”

— ‘Isle of Dogs’

Wes Anderson brings his full visual and comic imagination to bear in his second animated feature (after “Fantastic Mr. Fox”) — a tale of a futuristic Japan in which all the dogs (some voiced by Bryan Cranston, Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson and Liev Schreiber) have been exiled to an island, ostensibly because they are carriers of a contagious flu. Although the film started a debate about cultural appropriation, it pays tribute to Japanese masters like Akira Kurosawa and will almost certainly prove deeply affecting for those who have canines in their lives. An adoption unit from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals will be present before the Aug. 9 screening. Those dogs’ barks, unlike the ones in the movie, won’t be rendered into dialogue, alas.

— ‘Our New President’

When you hear the words “outdoor movie,” who doesn’t think “found-footage documentary presenting the 2016 election and the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency as it was portrayed by the state-consolidated Russian news media”? Such news clips, along with videos made by Russians apparently influenced by the coverage, make up this provocative collage film from Maxim Pozdorovkin, which meditates on the creation and influence of propaganda. The documentary is part of the Rooftop Films series, which favors recent independent fare. “Thunder Road,” acclaimed at this year’s South by Southwest film festival, will screen at the same location two days later.

— ‘Ghostbusters’

If you cross the stream, er, New York Harbor to Governors Island, the skyline view could give you a great look at the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man if Gozer suddenly decides to return to New York in that form. Still, without a proton pack, you’re probably safer just watching “Ghostbusters.” This showing is part of a series, “Escape in New York,” that’s a collaboration of the island trust and the Film Society of Lincoln Center and that focuses on movies filmed in the city.

— ‘Malcolm X’

Screening on the opening day of Spike Lee’s new feature, “BlacKkKlansman,” Lee’s 1992 biography of Malcolm X holds up brilliantly, honoring its subject (played by Denzel Washington in one of his most defining turns) with its considerable narrative detail, its political fire and its devotion to probing Malcolm’s ideas. Three hours can be long for an outdoor screening, but the film never flags and the Harlem location is perfect. The following Friday, “Selma,” Ava DuVernay’s 2014 biopic of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., shows at the same location.

— ‘Autumn Sonata’

No, it’s not autumn yet. But we’re in the middle of Ingmar Bergman’s centennial, which means it’s as good a time as any to watch the Swedish titan’s 1978 chamber piece outdoors, even without Scandinavian scenery. The great Ingrid Bergman (not to be confused with the great Ingmar) stars as a prideful pianist whose semi-estranged daughter (Liv Ullmann) invites her for a visit after a death. Two days later you can also catch Bergman in what is almost certainly her most famous role when “Casablanca” screens on Astoria Park Lawn in Queens on Aug. 13.

— ‘Thelma & Louise’

The two square blocks of Bryant Park may seem like small quarters for a movie about two friends who hit the open road, but Ridley Scott’s feminist outlaw picture — greeted as a landmark in 1991 — is worth revisiting amid the current debates about women’s representation in cinema. Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon give career-high performances; Callie Khouri’s screenplay won an Oscar.

— ‘Wall-E’

The city missed a beat by not programming this in Staten Island’s Freshkills Park, formerly a landfill, which, had it not been reclaimed, might well have been where poor Wall-E spent the dystopian future collecting trash. Pixar’s 2008 triumph is still a dazzling blend of silent comedy, gentle environmental messaging and subversive satire, with the robots Wall-E and Eve’s zero-gravity, fire extinguisher-propelled pas de deux a glorious highlight.

— ‘This Is Spinal Tap’

You thought we would stop this list at 10? Eleven is one louder. And the crowd in northern Williamsburg will be primed for what is still the Christopher Guest gang’s finest hour.