A mid-summer’s independent film preview
Hey! Don’t forget the little guys!
Among all the big-budget blockbuster shoot-’em-ups of the summer season, there are still some independent films vying for your attention, and Wichita has some cool ones on the way.
Here is a look at what’s coming for the rest of the summer, all slated to open at Warren Theatres east (dates are subject to change):
▪ “Me, Earl and the Dying Girl” — I know, anything with “dying” in the title has got to be a downer, right? But this coming-of-age tale won this year’s Sundance Film Festival grand jury prize and audience award, so it has to be good. It’s about an awkward high school senior (Thomas Mann) whose mom forces him to spend time with a girl in his class (Olivia Cooke) who has just been diagnosed with cancer. (In theaters)
▪ “Amy” — This controversial documentary about late singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse, who died of alcohol poisoning in 2011, played at the Cannes Film Festival to raves, but not necessarily from Winehouse’s family. (July 10)
▪ “Mr. Holmes” — Ever spry Ian McKellan stars as a retired Sherlock Holmes, who looks back on his life and grapples with an unsolved case involving a beautiful woman. Laura Linney also stars. (July 17)
▪ “Testament of Youth” — This epic romance tells the story a British woman who recalls coming of age during tumultuous World War I. (Late July)
▪ “Infinitely Polar Bear” — A manic-depressive mess of a father (Mark Ruffalo) tries to win back his wife (Zoe Saldana) by attempting to take on full responsibility for their two unruly daughters. (Late July)
▪ “Irrational Man” — Emma Stone and Joaquin Phoenix star in writer/director Woody Allen’s latest, about a tormented philosophy professor who finds a will to live when he commits an existential act. (Early August)
▪ “Diary of a Teenage Girl” — Kristen Wiig and Alexander Skarsgard star in this drama about a teenage artist in 1970s San Francisco who enters into an affair with her mother’s boyfriend. (Late August)
▪ “Grandma” — Lily Tomlin is getting raves as a woman whose adult granddaughter shows up unexpectedly needing $600 before sundown. Together, they spend the day trying to get the cash, as their unannounced visits to old friends and flames end up rattling skeletons and digging up secrets. (Early September)
This story was originally published June 26, 2015 at 2:03 PM with the headline "A mid-summer’s independent film preview."