SXSW 2016: A Brief List of Some of the Narrative Features We’re Excited About

This week we're headed to the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, where we'll once again run around like lunatics, trying to figure out how to parse 139 features (52 of them from first-time filmmakers), 89 World Premieres, 13 North American Premieres and 8 U.S. Premieres. This is to say nothing of the TV lineup, which has grown in recent years, and includes some hottest properties this year from Cinemax, HBO, AMC and more.

Here's just a brief glance at some of what we're excited to see in the narrative feature category.

Captain America: Civil War Drops Awesome New Poster, Images

Anthony and Joe Russo’s highly anticipated followup to their best in class Captain America: The Winter Soldier is, as you of course know, Captain America: Civil War. The film bows on May 6, and it promises to be an even more bruising superhero-v-superhero battle than Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which pits “only”

10 Cloverfield Lane Drops Two New IMAX TV Spots

In one week, on March 11, the enigmatic 10 Cloverfield Lane will be roaring into theaters, which is exactly when (and not a moment before) we'll finally figure out what Dan Trachtenberg's film is all about. Today, Paramount Pictures (via IMAX) has released two new 10 Cloverfield Lane  IMAX TV spots. What we do know is it's not a proper sequel to Cloverfield, 

We've already written about the wild subliminal messages 

Jennifer Lawrence Narrates Gorgeous A Beautiful Planet Doc

A Beautiful Planethas a bunch of things going for it; a stunning portrait of our marvel of a planet, an extremely potent visualization of the effect humans are having on Earth, and the narration by one of the most beloved actresses on the globe, Jennifer Lawrence .Walt Disney Studios and IMAX released the trailer for their new nature documentary, and it's a stunner. 

A Beautiful Planetbenefits greatly from the fact it was created in cooperation with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA),

Patriots Day Starring Mark Wahlberg Gets Prime Awards Season Release

Director Peter Berg's Patriots' Day, starring Mark Wahlberg and J.K. Simmons, centered on the horrific 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, has been slated for a December 21 release, a slot reserved for prestige films, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The joint CBS films and Lionsgate project looks at the events leading up to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and the aftermath, with a specific focus on the Boston and Watertown Police Departments.

Watch the First Official Ghostbusters Trailer

The first official trailer for Ghostbusters is here, and it takes only 40 seconds for Kristen Wiig's Erin Gilbert to be covered in ectoplasm. A brief set up introduces who our Ghostbusters are; Erin Gilbert (Wiig) is the brainiac ("Erin, no one's better at quantum physics than you!); Kate McKinnon is Jilian Holtzman, the brilliant engineer, Melissa McCarthy is Abby Yates, the team leader, and Leslie Jones is Patty Tolan, the one who knows New York City inside and out.

Ian McShane Joins Adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods

If you're not a fantasy fan, and are fairly ignorant of Neil Gaiman's skill set or prolific career, you might be excused for scoffing at being handed his novel "American Gods," a nearly 500 page book that follows an ex-con named Shadow who joins some huckster named Mr. Wednesday (these names!) on a road trip across America, only the huckster is actually an old, diminishing god looking to team up with the other old gods in America, all brought over by immigrants who came to the U.S.,

Tina Fey Embraces the Absurd in Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Clip

Journalist Kim Barker's book "The Taliban Shuffle" might not sound, on first blush, to be the kind of story that would be adapted into a film starring Tina Fey. Barker was a reporter for ProPublica and the South Asia bureau chief for The Chicago Tribune from 2004 to 2009, and her book covers her experiences in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Yet Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, the aptly titled (if you don't get the joke of the title,

Zoe Saldana is Nina in New Trailer

Last year, Netflix released What Happened, Miss Simone?, a critically acclaimed, Oscar-nominated documentary that utilized rare archival footage, never-before-heard recordings and her most beloved work to tell the story of one of the 20th century's most potent singers, Nina Simone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moOQXZxriKY

Simone is such an iconic figure that news that a biopic was also being produced was hardly surprising, so when writer/director Cynthia Mort (The Brave Rone, TV's 

Idris Elba & Matthew McConaughey Join Stephen King’s The Dark Tower

Stephen King fans, rejoice; The Dark Tower adaptation is happening, and its' two leads are Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey. Entertainment Weekly broke the news that a film adaptation of King's epic The Dark Tower series is nearing its' production start date, after years of near misses and development hell. To give you a sense of how long this project has been gestating, consider Ron Howard was going to direct and Clint Eastwood was one of King's top choices to star.

Go Deep With New Finding Dory Trailer

Ellen DeGeneres and Albert Brooks return for the long-awaited sequel to Finding Nemo, which picks up six months after the first film. In Finding Dory, the titular clown fish (DeGeneres) is enjoying a quiet life, that is, until she joins Nemo on a class trip to see manta rays migrate back home, compelling the practically amnesiac Dory to find out where her original home was.

Dory's home turns out to be the California Marine Biology Institute,

Andy Samberg Unveils Secret Lonely Island Movie Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

Andy Samberg brought some big news to Jimmy Kimmel Live last night; his Lonely Island Crew (Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone) will be releasing their first feature length film on June 3. Produced by the omnipresent Judd Apatow, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping features Samberg as singer/rapper Conner4Real, facing a potential career catastrophe after his sophmore album tanks. This being an Apatow production, you know a who's who of comedy stars will be involved in roles big and small.

All Hail the Camera Operator in new Game of Thrones Season 6 Featurette

Game of Thrones stars Sean Savage, Ben Wilson, David Morgan, and David Worley are prominent figures in this new featurette HBO has just released. No, you've never heard of them, but these camera operators are crucial members of the GOT production team. You can think of the camera operator as a translator between what the director sees in his head and what you and I see on our screens.

Dwayne Johnson is NOT Vin Diesel in This new Ballers Trailer

While a lot of the buzz coming from HBO lately has gone to the great Vinyl, and Girls is enjoying another good season, Ballers has a lot going for it as it heads into its' second season. First, it's a got a great premise; retired NLF defensive end Spencer Strasmore (Dwayne Johnson) is now a financial manager for current players, dealing with a client roster of highly competitive,

X-Men: Apocalypse Drops Teaser on Instagram

X-Men: Apocalypse will hit theaters in three months, on Memorial Day, so we've got more teasers, trailers and clips coming our way. This little taste of why the film's got Apocalypse in its' title was dropped on Instagram, highlighting what looks like potentially the darkest X-Men film yet. 

Check it out here.

Here's the film's boilerplate, in case you haven't been keeping up with 

New Batman v Superman Clip Shows Epic Rooftop Battle

After the Oscars wrapped, Ben Affleck appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live and shared this new Dawn of Justice clip, which features the longest uninterrupted fight between the titular superheroes. The question has always been how in the world Batman was going to even stay competitive in a fight with Superman, and the answer was always going to be his gadgets. Without any of Superman's superhuman abilities, Batman relies on his wonderful toys (and an unlimited amount of money to keep making them).

Oscars 2016: Spotlight Surprises With Best Picture Win

A genuinely surprising Oscars wrapped with Tom McCarthy's Spotlight winning Best Picture over equally likely contenders The Revenant and The Big Short. Mad Max: Fury Road cleaned up the technical awards, which wasn't surprising, but Mark Rylance beating out Sylvester Stallone for Best Supporting Actor sure was. Despite five nominations, Star Wars: The Force Awakens didn't pick up a single award (but droids C-3PO,

The Most Anticipated Horror Films of 2016

The highly awaited Sundance hit The Witch finally premiered in theaters last weekend after months of being shrouded in mystery, and with its arrival begins a deluge of high-pedigree horror that will stalk and stumble its way onto screens throughout the rest of 2016. There are some highly awaited sequels (spiritual and otherwise), many offerings from burgeoning auteurs and a few bigger budget productions that could set the genre up for one of its most prestigious years yet.

The Comic Anarchy of Sacha Baron Cohen and The Brothers Grimsby

A few months ago, Sacha Baron Cohen’s long-retired Borat dropped by at Jimmy Kimmel Live, showing off his famous comic chops and eliciting ecstatic whoops from the studio audience. The occasion for the visit? Baron Cohen’s newest film, an action comedy called The Brothers Grimsby, which promises to introduce a new charming misfit to the unsuspecting public: Nobby. But before we talk about the film (and the lovable Nobby),

Know Your Oscar Nominees: Live Action, Animated & Documentary Short Films

We've covered a slew of the either often overlooked or misunderstood nominated categories for this year's Oscars. Earlier today we published our technical guide to visual effects, and in the past week or so we've looked at editing, costume design, and sound mixing and editing. Now we're going to shift our focus a bit and look at the short film category; live action, animated and documentary.