Fran Magazine: Sunday Dispatch

Six movies in six days

📝 Thanks for reading Fran Magazine, a blog by Fran Hoepfner (me). Sunday Dispatches used to be paywalled and now they are free because I finally got a full-time job. Your subscriptions are still welcome and encouraged for regular updates sent to your inbox (email, Substack, or both). Feel free to follow me on Instagram or Letterboxd. 📝

Six movies in six days

A lot of my weekend blogging energy went to this adventure from last night. I’m still halfway through Flashlight by Susan Choi. But for the first time since Sundance, I watched more than four movies in a week, which used to otherwise be the norm for me. In fact, I watched a movie every single day. Here are those six movies.

Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee (2005)

Went to see the 20th anniversary re-release at Regal Essex. This is the third time I’ve seen Brokeback Mountain — I saw once in college, maybe, pirated on my laptop when trying to fill in blindspots and figure out my sexuality simultaneously, and once a few years ago when Blank Check covered the films of Ang Lee (one of their best series). I’d never seen on the big screen. To me this is an undeniable classic, made even richer by my familiarity with Lonesome Dove and ability to spot what felt like little McMurtryisms throughout. I was seated next to a couple who seemed to be enjoying it on a purely ironic level — laughing at every other line, through the dramatic scenes. This type of behavior pisses me off, however it was only on this particular rewatch that it dawned on me that there are a lot of actually funny moments in this film. It is a deeply humanist work, concerned with petty dramas that play out of the grand tragedy of life. Ennis’s lopsided grin, Jack’s wild eyes. Anne Hathaway serving up until she needs to briefly, unflinchingly, walk away with the movie at the very end. I have a very distinct memory of where I was and what I was doing when I learned that Heath Ledger had died, and the older I get, the more painful that loss feels. Watching him — this young, this bright — it doesn’t get easier.

Dog Movie, Henry Hanson (2023)

Watched at Nitehawk, accompanied by two great shorts: Sydney & Kim by Hazel Katz and IYKYK by Bonita Rajpurohit. These were all a part of Nitehawk’s pride month programming — that night’s films all felt united with a certain kind of messiness. Well-behaved dolls rarely make history, etc. Dog Movie is like a long-winded GoFundMe come to life: a Mike Leigh-style comedy about a tenderqueer couple grappling with their friend who has been freeloading on their couch for half a year and their newly inherited elderly dog who happens to have the same name as the friend on the couch. I laughed and laughed — a movie propelled by people who behave as though they’ve never been wrong and it hasn’t crossed their minds to do so.

We saw this Tuesday night as election results poured in from the mayoral primary. We were always going to attend this screening — Phil knows Henry from a movie they both worked on — but it was especially nice to be somewhere where we couldn’t just be looking at our phones all night. Midway through the Q&A after Dog Movie, a girl in the row in front of us let out a gasp so sharp and so loud that it was immediately clear what had happened. Great moment.

Jurassic World Rebirth, Gareth Edwards (2025)

Watched at AMC Lincoln Square. I think I hate this franchise outside of the original, and I don’t even think I like the original all that much either. The “Darwin Awards” aspect of it strikes me as increasingly miserable and tedious, and I find the more recent films’ attempts at anti-capitalist arguments embarrassing and cynical. As for the dinosaurs, Brianna wrote much better on this subject than I could.

Lurker, Alex Russell (2025)

Watched at screening room. The two movies that everyone asked me about when I got back from Park City were Sorry, Baby (I haven’t said much about this one since seeing it a few months ago — I think it’s completely fine! Both promising and frustrating, and also welcome back Lucas Hedges) and Lurker. Russell’s debut — a kind of pop music-set Talented Mr. Ripley type thriller — posits what it might be like to briefly, strangely, root for the Dickie Greenleaf of it all. I really liked this film, maybe the best of the movies I saw this past week. It’s not without debut feature problems (lumbering third act), but it looks good, feels bad, and the fake pop music is kind of perfect. Both Archie Madekwe and Théodore Pellerin were excellent. Same goes for Havana Rose Liu, who Sydney said we saw out in public the other week. When I briefly peeped her in Park City, I thought, “that’s one of the most beautiful people I’ve seen in my whole life.”

Highest 2 Lowest, Spike Lee (2025)

Watched at screening room. More soon — but I love when A$AP Rocky is in a movie. Same goes for the hopefully still forthcoming Mary Bronstein flick out later in the year.

F1 The Movie, Joseph Kosinski (2025)

Brought it home at Regal Essex. RPX — the seats were shaking. The lack of punctuation in this title makes me go INSANE, but it all works in the movie’s favor. I was inclined to be pissed off at this one: Top Gun: Maverick was so annoying (though a movie that asks: “what if you flew straight up in the air … for war” is kind of a cool) and I find Brad Pitt’s late-stage persona deeply irritating. THAT SAID: I liked F1 The Movie. F1 The Movie is Fran Magazine-approved. It is sleek and dumb, rich with platitudes and games. I like that everyone is playing trope. I like that so much of the movie is looking at a screen with little dots. I like that F1 is basically a video game with Europeans. I like that people are mad that it’s misogynist because its three female characters are mom, beautiful scientist who flirts with Pitt’s “Sonny Hayes” (yup), and girl mechanic addicted to fucking up. That’s great to me. I was so locked into the rhythms of the film, amused by every single thing that Javier Bardem does. Jurassic World Rebirth has you saying boo I hate corporate and F1 The Movie has you saying okay I kind of love what corporate is giving. Damson Idris’s mom was in Happy-Go-Lucky; Topsy-Turvy’s Martin Savage is a haughty F1 adjudicator; one of the tech guys for the team is Alo from the third generation of Skins.

YES!!!!

Readers are maybe aware that I have not been crazy about any of the big blockbusters this year. Everything is too stupid or the wrong kind of stupid or incompetent. This is completely competent and the ideal sort of stupid. I kind of want to see it again — maybe in 4DX!

---

That’s all from me this week. It’s hot and I’m exhausted and I need to catch up on my Susan Choi. Have you guys seen any movies this week? Are you staying cool? Are you eating popsicles? I think I am gonna go make some coffee-flavored frozen yogurt.