For fans of Wes Anderson's meticulously crafted comedies, The French Dispatch is easily the most exciting trailer of the year. His latest film concerns the writers of an American magazine published by Bill Murray in post-war France, specifically stories by Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand and Jeffrey Wright. All of the topics that frequently pop up in Anderson's work are here: art, food and revolutionary politics, to name a few. Just when you thought The Grand Budapest Hotel was the most Wes Anderson movie ever, wait until you get a load of this trailer.
The extremely stacked cast also includes returning players Saoirse Ronan, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Lea Seydoux and Owen Wilson, as well as newcomers Timothée Chalamet, Elisabeth Moss, Henry Winkler and Benicio Del Toro, plus many, many more.
The newly re-branded Searchlight Pictures will release the film on July 24.
About Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about.
I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague.
Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work.
In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo.
I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.
