Summer movie guide, Part 2: Independent films coming to Wichita (+trailers)

I previewed 10 of this summer’s upcoming blockbusters last Sunday, but there will be smaller, independent art-house fare on the way, too (thank goodness).

My insider at the east Warren Theatre tells me the following films are slated to open there in the next couple of months (dates are tentative and subject to change). And because most of these films have already been reviewed at film festivals, I’ve also included each film’s score on the Rotten Tomatoes website (which takes a consensus of critics’ scores and gives them an average).

▪ “Maggie’s Plan” – This comedy played at the Berlin, Sundance and Toronto film festivals and stars Greta Gerwig as a woman whose plan to have a baby on her own is derailed when she falls in love with a married man (Ethan Hawke), which wrecks his marriage to an impossible woman (Julianne Moore). (Opening June 10)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 79 percent (out of 100)

▪ “The Neon Demon” – This was reportedly one of the most divisive films to have screened in competition at the Cannes film fest this year, and polarizing Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn (“Valhalla Rising,” “Only God Forgives,” “Drive” – and does anyone know how to pronounce his last name?) would have it no other way. He lends his deliberate pacing and stark visual style to this thriller starring Elle Fanning as an aspiring model who moves to Los Angeles and falls in with a beautiful but bad crowd. (June 24)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 45 percent

▪ “Swiss Army Man” – This played at Sundance and sounds like a bizarre, even more crass take on “Weekend at Bernie’s,” starring Paul Dano as a man stranded on a deserted island who befriends a dead but very flatulent corpse (Daniel Radcliffe) that can talk and helps him make it back to the mainland. (July 1)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 73 percent

▪ “Our Kind of Traitor” – A money launderer for Russian gangsters asks a vacationing couple (Ewan McGregor and Naomie Harris) to deliver incriminating evidence to an MI6 agent (Damian Lewis) in this adaptation of John le Carre’s novel. (July 1)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 80 percent

▪ “Captain Fantastic” – This played at the Sundance and Cannes film festivals and follows a father (Viggo Mortensen, getting raves for this performance) who has raised his six kids away from big cities deep within the forests of the Pacific Northwest but is forced to re-enter the civilized world. (July 15)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 71 percent

▪ “Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie” – The ladies from the hit BBC show – Edina (Jennifer Saunders) and Patsy (Joanna Lumley) – take their glamorous, boozy act to the big screen, where they cause a major incident at a fashion show and are forced to flee to the French Riviera. There are worse places to flee to. (July 22)

Rotten Tomatoes score: None yet

▪ “Cafe Society” – Woody Allen’s latest is set in the 1930s, when a young Bronx native (Jesse Eisenberg) moves to Hollywood and falls in love with the secretary of his powerful uncle, an agent to the stars. Steve Carell and Kristen Stewart also star. (Aug. 5)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 73 percent

▪ “Gleason” – This documentary played at Sundance and follows former New Orleans Saints defensive back Steve Gleason, who at the age of 34 was diagnosed with ALS and given a life expectancy of two to five years. Weeks later, he found out that his wife, Michel, was expecting their first child, so the video journal that began as a gift for his unborn son became this film. (Aug. 12)

Rotten Tomatoes score: None yet

This story was originally published June 3, 2016 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Summer movie guide, Part 2: Independent films coming to Wichita (+trailers)."