With awards season starting to get into full swing, let’s kick back with one more review rundown before the major releases really start to come out quicker than we can keep up. With some bigger-name movies and smaller indie projects, there’s a solid set of recent (recent enough, at least) movies to get your eyes on if you haven’t yet.
SPENCER
If a movie can be good just off the back of one incredible, Oscar-worthy performance, then Spencer is that movie. To be fair, there’s more to like than just Kristen Stewart’s career-best work as Princess Diana. But the movie wouldn’t work without it.
Spencer is a fictional account of Christmas in 1991 at Sandringham House. While Diana’s marriage to Prince Charles was at a very rocky point at this time, the events that the movie depicts a creative speculation of what might have happened over these three days.
Diana is a woman at her wit’s end, to put it lightly. She loves her two children more than anything, but is growing increasingly distant from her husband – affairs will do that. She constantly clashes with the rigidity of life as a royal. Diana feels trapped, particularly during her time at Sandringham, a house she says, “..has no future. The past and present are the same thing here.”
But Spencer isn’t your typical drama. It splices in some psychological aspects. With the royal family questioning the state of her mental health, Diana starts seeing visions of Anne Boleyn. The camera work feeds into this as well. The film uses constant close ups of Diana, bringing the audience in close, smacking us over the head with how trapped she feels in this life. Is it all a bit obvious? Sure, but no it’s no less effective.
Then there’s also the usual production standpoints you would expect from a movie like this. The set design is exquisite, the costume design is great, and the score is a perfect companion to the setting and tone of the movie.
But again, the main draw is Stewart. I don’t think I’ve seen a better acting job this year. She completely disappears into the character, bringing the uncomfortable realities of Diana’s life…well, to life, in an utterly convincing performance. She captures everything Diana is feeling and going through to perfection. I could see the overall story and the way it unfolds being a bit of a bore for some people. But Stewart is enough to make up for that and then some.
Score: 94/100
DUNE
It’s not often that I advocate for a movie *needing* to be seen in theaters. I always recommend and prefer it. It’s just a better experience. But with the cost, convenience of watching something at home, among other reasons, I usually don’t push back if someone doesn’t want to venture to the theater. But Dune is the exception that proves the rule (of course, if you’re still not comfortable heading back to the theater just yet, you do you). Dune is a movie that needs to be seen on the biggest, loudest screen you can find. It’s stupid how insane some of the shots are, and that’s only going to be amplified on the big screen.
As a personal example, I tried to convince my two roommates to see it in theaters instead of just watching on HBO Max. I even offered to pay for their tickets if they came out disappointed. Well, they didn’t listen and we watched on HBO. About halfway through, they said, “Yeah, we should have seen this in theaters.”
But Dune is more than just a collection of cool visuals. It’s a thrilling sci-fi action adventure, mixing in some political intrigue for good measure. It’s filled with great performances, highlighted by Rebecca Ferguson. Hans Zimmer contributes an as-you-would-expect pulse-pounding score. All in all, it’s not just an incredible cinematic experience, it’s one of the year’s best movies.
Score: 92/100
SMALL ENGINE REPAIR
These are the movies I love. The small, lightly marketed movies that not many people have seen. I can’t get too much into the plot specifics, because part of the draw is watching the plot unfold in front of you. It starts off as seemingly a straightforward drama about the ups and downs of life and friendship for three long-time friends. But when they gather together one evening, the true story slowly reveals itself over the course of the night. It’s a gripping, no frills movie. One that needs to be seen by a lot more people.
Score: 85/100
Copshop
What an absolute blast this movie is. Taking place over one night at a small-town police station, con artist Teddy Muretto (Frank Grillo) gets himself arrested, hoping his time in jail will protect him from hitman Bob Viddick (Gerard Butler). But when Viddick also manages to get himself placed in the same jail, a deadly cat and mouse game ensues, with rookie officer Valerie Young (Alexis Louder) caught in the middle.
Once you know the basic plot and see that it stars Butler and Grillo, what more do you really need to know about Copshop before watching? You can predict exactly what type of movie it’s going to be. And if that type of movie is your bag, this is a strong recommend.
Score: 82/100
THE FRENCH DISPATCH
Wes Anderson is maybe the most uniquely creative director working today. It should only take a matter of minutes for one of his movies to start before it becomes obvious it’s his film. The French Dispatch is no different; it’s basically Wes Anderson cranked up to 11. Depending how you feel about Anderson’s work, this could be very good or very bad.
Following the death of the editor the eponymous paper, the writers and staff put together one final edition, a memorial edition highlighting three of the best stories from the paper’s run. The movie is then split into different sections, showing each story. The end result is a movie where the sum of the parts is less than the parts.
Each individual section is good on its own. They’re fun, engaging, and of course are filled with Anderson’s signature flair. But there’s no real connection to anything. It makes it hard, if not impossible, to form any attachment to any of the characters. If that’s key for you to fully enjoy a movie, Dispatch could make for a tough watch. But if you just want to enjoy the experience for what it is, it should prove to be a fun time.
Score: 80/100
QUEENPINS
Kristen Bell and Kirby Howell-Baptiste running a coupon scam with Paul Walter Houser and Vince Vaughn as a loss prevention agent and post office investigator trying to take them down? Say less.
In a year sorely lacking in comedies, Queenpins offers plenty of laughs if you’re looking to fill that void. The four strong leads help overcome some of the larger flaws. How much you enjoy the chemistry of the two pairs will go a long way in how much you enjoy the movie.
Score: 77/100
HARD LUCK LOVE SONG
Similar to Queenpins, your opinions on Hard Luck Love will likely depend on how much you engage with the two leads. Jesse (Michael Dorman) is a struggling musician and part-time pool hustler. Carla (Sophia Bush) is an old girlfriend, who just so happens to be working as an escort in the same small town Jesse is in. They reconnect and old feelings start to emerge, as they fight both internally and with each other, over past choices and future possibilities.
Dorman and Bush (especially Bush) are great here, and they do most of the heavy lifting. There are some good supporting characters as well. There’s Dermot Mulroney as local thug Rollo and Eric Roberts as Skip, a sort of mentor/father figure for Carla. But the story, and therefore the movie, belongs to Jesse and Carla.
It’s a pretty simple, straightforward story, but there’s a deeper and more complex story waiting to be told. The movie tries to go there some times, but it often holds back, resulting in mostly surface level plot. My biggest issue, though, is the ending. I’m not quite sure it deserved or earned the ending it went with.
But hey, for a movie based on a song, it could have gone a lot worse.
Score: 68/100
