2016 SXSW Preview: 13 Movies to Watch Out For
If Sundance is where low-budget indies shine, Cannes is where auteurs flock, and Toronto is where prestige movies premiere, then the SXSW Film Festival is the place to be for comedy.
Last year, the high-profile comedies Trainwreck, Spy, and Get Hard all debuted at the Austin fest — which kicks off this week on March 10. This year’s lineup is equally as laugh-filled, with Key and Peele’s Keanu and Seth Rogen’s Sausage Party both screening as works-in-progress, and Richard Linklater’s beer-soaked Everybody Wants Some and Pee-wee’s Big Holiday premiering.
Here are the 13 SXSW premieres that could make the biggest impressions, presented in alphabetical order. (Note that some buzzy titles, like the sci-fi thriller Midnight Special, coming-of-age comedy Morris from America, and the experimental actioner Hardcore Henry are not included here because they’ve played at previous festivals.)
And Punching the Clown
This sequel to the 2009 Slamdance winner Punching the Clown amps up the star power (Sarah Silverman, J.K. Simmons, Tig Notaro) as it once again follows hapless singer-comedian-troubadour extraordinaire Henry Phillips (as himself) while he navigates the seedy side of showbiz. This one’s for fans of Mike Birbiglia’s Sleepwalk With Me and anything Larry David has ever done.
The Bandit
Burt Reynolds will be in SX for this documentary about the making of his 1977 surprise hit Smokey and the Bandit. Expect the film’s emotional core to revolve around Reynolds’ relationship with his good friend, the late stuntman-turned-Bandit director Hal Needham.
Don’t Think Twice
Speaking of Sleepwalk With Me and Mike Birbiglia, the comic/writer/director/actor brings his sophomore effort to the festival. Don’t Think Twice is about six close-knit New York improv performers (Birbiglia, Keegan-Michael Key, Gillian Jacobs, Kate Micucci, Chris Gethard, Tami Sagher) whose relationships hit the skids when only two of them are plucked for the big-time.
Everybody Wants Some
Hometown hero Richard Linklater’s long-awaited ‘80s-set, “spiritual sequel” to Dazed and Confused follows a crew of college baseball players who are all right, all right, all right. The title could also describe how Austinites are feeling about premiere tickets.
Goodnight Brooklyn – The Story of Death By Audio
Williamsburg’s now-defunct music club/recording studio Death By Audio (which likely suffered Death By Gentrification) gets the documentary treatment via director (and DbA cofounder) Matthew Conboy. It will be especially interesting to see in what light the film paints Vice Media, whose purchase of the space likely forced the venue’s closure.
In a Valley of Violence
Renowned horror writer-director Ti West (The House of the Devil, The Innkeepers) switches gears with this 1890s-set Western about a drifter (Ethan Hawke) who turns up in a small New Mexico town with revenge on his mind. John Travolta, Karen Gillan, and Taissa Farmiga costar.
Keanu (Work in Progress)
Hilarious Key & Peele comedy duo Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele have spent the past five years cameo'ing in roughly one-third of all Hollywood releases. Now, they finally have a film to call their own, and it’s a catnapping comedy. Sounds purrrr-fect.
My Blind Brother
Former Parks and Recreation colleagues Adam Scott (Ben Wyatt) and Nick Kroll (The Douche) reteam for this indie comedy from writer-director Sophie Goodhart, whose short of the same name played at Cannes way back in 2003. They’re brothers whose lifelong rivalry comes to a fever pitch when they both fall for the same woman (Jenny Slate).
Pee-wee’s Big Holiday
You can’t keep a good Pee-wee down. With the help of producer Judd Apatow, Paul Reubens returns his iconic, loveable nerd to the big screen (before it streams on Netflix, anyway) for the first time since 1988’s Big Top Pee-wee. Alia Shawkat, David Arquette, and Joe Manganiello costar.
Sausage Party (Work in Progress)
Seth Rogen and longtime collaborator Evan Goldberg bring this animated Party to the party: It follows — we can’t possibly do better than the IMDb’s description here — “One sausage’s quest to discover the truth about his existence.” Rogen, Kristen Wiig, James Franco, Salma Hayek, Edward Norton, and pretty much anyone who’s ever been in a Judd Apatow movie lend voices as various grocery items. (Nick Kroll let it slip during a Yahoo in-studio last year that he’ll once again play a douche… an actual douche.)
Secrets of 'The Force Awakens’: A Cinematic Journey
SX will tap into the galaxy’s insatiable thirst for any or all things Star Wars-related by premiering this documentary that deep-dives into the making of the highest-grossing movie of all time. If the thought of missing this in Texas has you cursing Supreme Leader Snoke, don’t worry: It will be a special feature on the Blu-ray/DVD, which goes on sale April 5.
The Trust
If you thought Nice Guys Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe will make the most surprising crime-solving tandem of 2016, you haven’t gotten a hold of The Trust yet. Nicolas Cage and Elijah Wood play bad cop-bad cop as two knucklehead officers who plan an ill-fated heist.
War on Everyone
Speaking of corrupt cops, Alexander Skarsgård and Michael Peña also give the law a bad name in this comedy from Cavalry director John Michael McDonagh. They play New Mexico policemen who attempt to blackmail every criminal they encounter. Theo James (The Divergent Series) and Tessa Thompson (Dear White People, Creed) round out the intriguing cast.
