Let's go over some things first locally! I'm only using an exclamation point because how up in arms I am about the LA Drafthouse not coming in until 2018, that's what Curbed LA is reporting with how long it's taking to build The Bloc, which will be housing the theater downtown. So keep expecting to go to The Regent and other places around town until they have a real home.
Related to the Drafthouse has been the announcement and formation of NEON, a new film distribution company. It already released Colossal, which I really enjoyed and seems to be the new A24 on the block. It sits with Drafthouse news because one of its creators is Tim League, the CEO of Drafthouse. News also just hit that Neon's releases will go to Hulu shortly after being in theaters, which is a big step to get what many would call indie films to a more main stream audience.
Their slate of films is already getting my attention including The Bad Batch, about cannibals and a one-armed, one-legged female protagonist. Another entry is, Ingrid Goes West starring Aubrey Plaza. The film seems to be a dark and humorous look into how much Ingrid lives through her social networks when she's really not friends with anyone.
Can't wait to see what else they'll pick up.
This portion of the post will be going over films I'm gushing to see get distributed or even get out.
Like Me, out of SXSW, seems to be in the same vein as Ingrid Goes West, just a bit more out there. We follow Kiya played by Addison Timlin after a bank robbery that she committed online goes viral. We follow her trying to find something like a human connection when she doesn't seem very human at all. Along the way we meet other misfits all through the strange look of Rob Mockler's directorial debut.
Someone made Streets of Rage real and renamed it Chuck Hank and the San Diego Twins. An original idea that looks like it mashed up the best beat-em up games of the 80's into a movie with enough violence to satiate any modern gamer. Looks like Turbo Kid, but made by Americans, so way up on the violence scale. Supposedly, headed to us this Summer, where and when, a mystery.
On the more up-beat side we have Dave Made a Maze, from Slamdance, it's about Dave played by Nick Thune who builds a cardboard labyrinth in his house and gets lost in it. It's up to his girlfriend and her friends to find Dave. This just looks crazy fun. A world of living cardboard? A whole cardboard dungeon to escape from? Can't wait to see what the director has come up with for the design of everything.
Kills On Wheels, this film needs to get pick up by Neon, from Hungary we have a wheelchair assassin whose trying to teach a new generation how to get things done. It reminds me of the Chinese exploitative offerings of disabled martial artists, but this is all about guns and looks competently made. For right now there is no US distribution.
