Between the disappointing remakes and sequels, this summer was a slew of unfulfilled promises. Admittedly, we did have some blockbuster high points with superhero sweepers Deadpool and Captain America: Civil War (credit where credit is due).
But this list is the ones that might have slipped through the cracks – a reminder that you don’t have to have a cult following in order to make a great film. Here are some worthy summer releases you may have missed.
Love and Friendship (2016)
This scandalous little movie was constructed from letters Jane Austen wrote regarding the saucy widow, Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale). As with every good Austen novel, the plot turns on marriage – an advantageous marriage for herself and an advantageous marriage for her daughter, Frederica (Morfydd Clark).
Beckinsale charms as this quick-witted and glamorous leech of a lady, always towing the line between being venerable and despicable. The costumes are also to die for.
Bad Moms (2016)
The creators of The Hangover struck gold with this little gem. Amy (Mila Kunis) – overworked and under-appreciated – throws her cheating husband out and quits the PTA after the gluten-free, fresh-laundry, working-parent pressure cracks her. Due to her rebellion, she teams up with the wild Carla (Kathryn Hahn) and the repressed Kiki (Kristen Bell) against their PTA arch-nemesis Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate).
I’ll admit I didn’t have high expectations for this film, but after a grocery store sequence that left tears rolling down my face from laughter, I was sold. Hahn is unstoppable as Carla. The credits include the cast interviewing their own real-life moms and it’s a humbling ending to a silly couple of hours.
Captain Fantastic (2016)
Viggo Mortensen (Lord of the Rings) is Ben Cash, a father raising his six kids off the grid in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest. They celebrate Noam Chomsky Day, train like Olympic athletes in survival, study philosophy and literature and end each day making music around their fire pit. When their mentally ill mother dies, they leave their isolated utopia and make a cross-country trek to attend her funeral.
It’s a phenomenal testament to understanding, compromise and tolerance, held together by an almost mythical camaraderie in the cast. The performances from each of the children, not to mention Mortensen, are astounding.
Florence Foster Jenkins (2016)
A laughable character, Meryl Streep brings sincere depth and context to the famously horrible turn-of-the-century singer, Florence Foster Jenkins. Thanks to the loyalty and devotion of her much younger Shakespearian co-habitant, St. Clair Bayfield (Hugh Grant) and her accompanist, Cosmé McMoon – yep, that’s his real name – she ended up living her dream by performing at Carnegie Hall.
Streep’s balance of singing just barely badly enough is most impressive. But the real props here go to McMoon, played by The Big Bang Theory’s Simon Helburg, in a performance that stands shoulder to shoulder with Streep.
Hell or High Water (2016)
Chris Pine (Star Trek Beyond) and Ben Foster (Lone Survivor) are Toby and Tanner Howard, two west Texas brothers robbing banks to save their family ranch. Their well-thought out plan is to rob Texas Midlands Banks – the same bank using a reverse mortgage to seize the family home – and pay them back with that money. Their endgame is to set Toby’s sons up well using oil has just been discovered under their land, all the while being hunted by Texas rangers played by Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski) and Gil Birmingham (Twilight).
Pine and Foster are well-matched and however gruff externally, have an undeniable tenderness as on-screen brothers. Cinematographer Giles Nuttgens has made oil-country West Texas looks like an American gem.
