MOVIE REVIEW: THE INVITE

 

A dinner party spirals into unexpected places when a couple invite their enigmatic neighbors over. Have they reignited the spark in their troubled marriage -- or lit the match that burns it all down?

Director: Olivia Wilde

Cast: Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde, Penélope Cruz, Edward Norton

Release Date: July 1, 2026

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Rated R for sexual material, language throughout, and drug use

Runtime: 1h 47m

Review:

Olivia Wilde’s The Invite is a real symphony of chaotic energy, powered by a razor-sharp script that offers up a steady stream of laughs along with some devastating emotionally devastating gut punches that make it feel like a modern day Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?  There’s a vibrant energy that comes through the screen from the opening scene that rarely lets up with Wilde making excellent use of musical cues to hammer home the rat-a-tat-tat vibe of the script and performances on display.  The self-contained setting and limited cast give the film a decidedly stage play look and feel, something that comes from the original 2020 Spanish film, The People Upstairs by Cesc Gay, which was an adaptation of the original stage play.  The self-contained nature of the setting works quite well for the emotional pressure cooker on display with each performer turning in stellar performances across the board.  Seth Rogen gets some of the script’s best lines as the depressed, failed musician stuck in an increasingly loveless marriage that’s turned more acidic than anything else.  His typical onscreen energy fits this character perfectly, especially once things start getting increasingly awkward.  He and Olivia Wilde have a lived in chemistry as they snipe at each other with a level of disdain that feels like it’s been bubbling up for years especially as more revelations come to a head.  Wilde gives her character a wonderfully neurotic sort of energy of someone in search of validation she hasn’t gotten from her husband in years.  Their interplay is a hilarious series of verbal volleys that barely mask their general dislike and embarrassment of who each of them have become as their relationship has disintegrated.  Edward Norton and Penélope Cruz serve as perfect foils to their damaged relationship as the free loving couple from upstairs.  Their relationship serving as an extreme counterpoint to Rogen and Wilde’s relationship failings.  As the night proceeds and the layers are peeled back, in a variety of ways, their confidence and self-assured persona reveal some cracks starting to fray their relationship as well.  Everything comes to ahead once they proposition the couple to partake in their open relationship only for it to fall apart in a hilariously, cringy moments before the tone shift to something with much more of an emotional punch.  The closing moments of The Invite do carry an air of melancholy over the wasted time and an inability to communicate on an honest level that can and will destroy a relationship ending on a similar note as the aforementioned Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.  

A

Cindy Prascik's Review of Don't Worry Darling

 

My dear reader(s), this week I was able to catch up with one of the year's most talked-about movies, Don't Worry Darling.

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers.

A woman begins to suspect her perfect community is not all it seems.

Don't Worry Darling is a passable thriller victimized by a disastrous publicity campaign. The story is nothing very new or surprising, but the movie maintains tension well enough and is blessed with an eminently watchable cast, led by the always stellar Florence Pugh. Of course, It's Harry Styles who drew me to the film (not usually the sort of thing that would interest me) and yet again I'll give him credit for being good enough that I wasn't thinking of him as Harry Styles (TM) while watching. (To qualify this achievement: I'm *always* thinking of Harry Styles.) The rest of the supporting cast - featuring Gemma Chan, Nick Kroll, Kiki Layne, and director Olivia Wilde - is solid, with special mention to Chris Pine, who plays sinister exceedingly well for such a benignly handsome dude. Don't Worry Darling keeps a nice place, is creepy throughout (though not always in the way it means to be), and features a terrific soundtrack filled with some great oldies. If the last act feels a bit contrived, for the most part it's still an enjoyable but forgettable thriller.

Don't Worry Darling clocks in at 123 minutes and is rated R for "sexuality, violent content, and language."

Don't Worry Darling is a decent thriller that undoubtedly would have fared better had it kept its drama onscreen. Of a possible nine Weasleys, Don't Worry Darling gets five.

Don't Worry Darling is now playing on the HBO family of channels, and streaming on HBO Max.

Until next time...

MOVIE REVIEW: DON'T WORRY DARLING

 

A 1950s housewife living with her husband in a utopian experimental community begins to worry that his glamorous company could be hiding disturbing secrets.

Director: Olivia Wilde

Cast: Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Olivia Wilde, Gemma Chan, KiKi Layne, Nick Kroll, Chris Pine

Release Date: September 23, 2022

Genre: Mystery, Thriller

Rated R for sexuality, violent content and language

Runtime: 2h 2m

Review:

Olivia Wilde's Don't Worry Darling, which has been mired in offscreen drama before its release, is glossy, intriguing in parts, but ultimately little more than a rehash of well-worn tropes.  Wilde, for her part, delivers well-constructed shots which take advantage of the gorgeous sets and wardrobing on display intercut with some cinematic tricks to give it all an unsettling feel.  Unfortunately, there is a lack of subtly right from the start which kills the majority of tension from the central mystery.  That's not to say there aren't twist and turns throughout its overlong runtime but it never takes the material into new thematic territory.  The film's saving grace is Florence Pugh who carries the film with a committed and engaging turn as a wife who feels the walls of reality closing in on her, sometimes literally.  Pugh's authenticity shines through here making you care about her character even though the endgame is fairly obvious.  She's always the most interesting person onscreen especially the script doesn't bother to give any of the supporting characters much depth if any.  Harry Styles, Olivia Wilde, Gemma Chan, KiKi Layne, Nick Kroll and Chris Pine are saddled with one note characters since the film seems content with them serving as nothing more than high end eye candy.  Populating a film with this much talent only to let it go to waste is a huge miss for the film since it could have added far more nuance to its story especially in its increasingly nonsensical final act.  Don't Worry Darling may feel fresh to people unfamiliar with its cinematic forebears like The Stepford Wives, The Truman Show, Pleasantville or Dark City but if you are then it's nothing more than a hollow rehash.  

C+

MOVIE REVIEW RUSH

Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl star as legendary Formula One drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda respectively in this biographical drama set during the 1970s, at the peak of their heated rivalry. Both on the track and off, Hunt (Hemsworth) and Lauda (Bruhl) couldn't have been more different. Yet as much as Englishman Hunt's showy public persona clashed with Lauda's reputation for tightly-controlled perfectionism, both men remained bound together by one undeniable fact -- they were both among the best drivers ever to grace the racetrack. Olivia Wilde and Alexandra Maria Lara co-star in a film directed by Academy Award-winner Ron Howard, and penned by Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon, Hereafter). ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Director: Ron Howard

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Brühl, Olivia Wilde.

Release Date: Sep 20, 2013

Rated R for sexual content, nudity, language, some disturbing images and brief drug use

Runtime: 2 hr. 3 min.

Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama

Review:

People that know me know I love my sports. I’m a fan of pretty much any and every sport but I’ve never been a fan of sports movies because they all have the same trajectory and beats. That being said it takes alot for a sports movie to capture my attention the way Rush did. Ron Howard’s love of the subject matter is readily apparent from the get go. He directs the racing sequences with a white knuckled ferocity that delivers the most visceral experience I’ve ever had in a movie about racing. His film does dip in some of the non racing sequences mainly because the script lacks subtly, beating themes into your head instead of letting them flow organically. Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl both impress in their roles as Hunt and Lauda. Hemsworth’s natural on screen charisma is perfect for the role. Hemsworth is believable and likeable even though the character is a bit of a jerk. Brühl is given the meatier part of Lauda and he’s easily the most interesting thing onscreen, outside of Hemsworth’s unnaturally chiseled body. Brühl performance is measured but on point, don’t be surprised if his name comes up during awards season. Sadly the characters don’t feel tactile, mostly because of the script. They are types more than they are real life people and while it’s not a sin it would have been nice to get inside the heads of both characters a bit more. Something the wonderful documentary Senna did so well. Still, Rush is a quality “prestige” film which may get some nods come awards season.

A-

Cindy Prascik’s Review of The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

Dearest Blog, last night the Prascik women decided it would be a good idea to rent The Incredible Burt Wonderstone via Xfinity On Demand. The Prascik women's judgment skills may require adjusting.

Spoiler level here will be mild.

Burt Wonderstone (Steve Carrell) and his partner Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi)--once the biggest magic show in Vegas--see their glory fade as more cutting edge acts like Steve Gray (Jim Carrey) vie for the public's attention.

Regular reader(s) will know I seldom pay to see a comedy at the cinema. Reasons include, but are not limited to, the fact that most comedies aren't so grand I need to see them on the big screen, and that so few comedies are actually funny outside the bits that make the trailers. The Incredible Burt Wonderstone gives me no reason to reconsider my stance on seeing comedies at the cinema.

For a so-so movie, Burt Wonderstone boasts a well known and mostly well thought-of cast. I, personally, don't much care for Steve Carell. Occasionally he's funny, but mostly he just annoys me. Wonderstone falls firmly on the annoying side of things, due to the fact that his character is pretty much a total dick. Steve Buscemi does as well as possible, given the material, but I cringe at his even being a part of this, ditto the decorated Alan Arkin and James Gandolfini. Though past his prime, Jim Carrey usually makes me laugh, but this character is so awful that he's uncomfortable to watch. The stunning Olivia Wilde is a welcome addition, even in a flat role that does nothing for her or the movie.

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone puts all its comedy eggs in the obnoxiousness basket. Done right, that can be great (think Jack Black in Tropic Thunder), but here it's just...well...obnoxious. The movie does have its laughs, and some of them are good ones, but I spent far less time laughing than I did feeling sorry for the actors involved, and wondering what on Earth James Gandolfini's and Alan Arkin's agents ever thought this script brought to the table for them.

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone runs 100 minutes and is rated PG13 for "sexual content, dangerous stunts, a drug-related incident, and language." Trust me when I tell you, dear reader(s), it is far from incredible.

Of a possible nine Weasleys, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone gets three.

Until next time...


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Me after about 20 minutes of this movie...

MOVIE REVIEW: COWBOYS AND ALIENS

IN THEATERS

COWBOYS AND ALIENS



Based on the graphic novel by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, Cowboys & Aliens starts in 1800s Arizona, where the local cowboys, headed by gunslinger Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig), and the indigenous Apache tribe have been feuding fiercely for quite a while. Their skirmish is interrupted, however, by the appearance of a spaceship, commanded by an alien creature that's bent on enslaving the human race. It's time for a six-gun shoot-out between these cattle rustlers and space invaders, and there might even be a temporary peace between the cowboys and Indians as they both take aim at these extraterrestrial uninvited guests. Jon Favreau directs from a script by Star Trek scribes Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, with help from Lost's Damon Lindelof. Olivia Wilde, Harrison Ford, and Sam Rockwell fill out the headlining cast. ~ Cammila Albertson, Rovi

Director: Jon Favreau

Cast: Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, Harrison Ford, Sam Rockwell, Paul Dano

Release Date: Jul 29, 2011

Rated PG-13 for Intense sequences of western and sci-fi action and violence, some partial nudity and a brief crude reference

Runtime: 1 hr. 58 min.

Genres: Action/Adventure, Suspense/Thriller

Review:

Cowboys and Aliens is the type of film that should just reek of fun. A galloping mash up of genres that keeps you excited and thrilled throughout. Instead, Jon Favreau delivers a dour film that rarely thrills and occasionally falls into motionless boredom. As a film, it’s mostly inert moving forward only because it must. The characters are all variations of classic film characters and there’s not much of a twist brought to them here. There’s nothing interesting about any of the characters or particularly deep. This would be entirely forgivable if the spectacle of it all was rousing and exciting. The cast assembled is an impressive collection stars and stellar character actors. Daniel Craig is a sight in his full cowboy get up but he’s not asked to do much but pose and occasionally say something. Harrison Ford seems barely interested in the film or role. His lines are delivered like he’s in a hurry to get off the set. Olivia Wilde isn’t asked to do much but look out of place and then really be out of place in the latter half of the film. Sam Rockwell, Paul Dano, Adam Beach, Keith Carradine, Walton Goggins and David O’Hara would all make a hell of a film in their own right but here’s they’re mostly wasted in pointless bit parts that could have been filled by mannequins. With the assembled talent behind and in front of the camera you’d expect a somewhat passable film by default. Sadly this overlong comic adaptation is devoid of any fun or originality.

D

MOVIE REVIEWS: TRON: LEGACY

IN THEATERS

TRON:LEGACY 3D



The Master Control Program is booted back up in this revamped Tron continuation that sees the return of original star Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, the brilliant computer programmer whose disappearance leads his son, Sam (Garrett Hedlund), to search for him in and out of the computer world. Original director and co-writer Steven Lisberger produces the new film, which is helmed by commercial director Joseph Kosinski. James Frain, Olivia Wilde, Beau Garrett, and Michael Sheen also star, with Bruce Boxleitner returning as Alan Bradley and Tron, the heroic protagonist of the original film. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Cast: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner, Michael Sheen.

Release Date: Dec 17, 2010

Rated: Sequences of sci-fi action violence and brief mild language

Runtime: 2 hr. 7 min.

Genres: Action/Adventure, Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Review:

Tron: Legacy is very much like a jaw breaker candy, a cinematic concoction of tightly pressed sugar that’s tasty but difficult to get through and when you’re done you have nothing. That not to say it’s a horrible movie as much as it’s purely a visual experience, similar to the 1982 original. The biggest asset to this film is ascetic, they are amazing to behold especially in 3D. The digital world is a fully realized wonder that’s going to give everyone endless gee whiz moments. The battles whether disk to disk, light cycle or light planes are all thrilling and thoroughly enjoyable. The problem with this film is the script which is thoroughly complex yet incredibly basic and features characters that are thoroughly uninteresting. Rookie director Joseph Kosinski has the visual flair to make the film watchable but his inexperience shine through with the wooden performances he coxed out of his cast. Flat dialogue runs amok throughout the film with Bridges being the only one who doesn’t look like he’s acting. Garrett Hedlund is so disinteresting as the lead her that you kind of wish he’d just stay off the screen. The aforementioned Bridges seems to be having fun or at least seems a little high as he channels The Dude as the elder Flynn. As his villainous doppelganger Clu, with the creepy de-aged digital face which is far from perfect, Bridges is mostly just asked to yell a lot and not much more. Olivia Wilde seems content to pose for the camera since her character is so thinly conceived. Michael Sheen, in a small but memorable role, goes all out in a full camp mode reminding me of a flamboyant Riddler from the 60’s Batman show. Tron: Legacy is a film that follows its predecessor’s footsteps being all flash and no substance.

C-

Cowboys & Aliens Trailer

Movie Reviews: YEAR ONE

Sunday, June 21, 2009
Movie Reviews: YEAR ONE
IN THEATERS

 

YEAR ONE

When a couple of lazy hunter-gatherers (Black and Cera) are banished from their primitive village, they set off on an epic journey through the ancient world.

Cast: Jack Black, Michael Cera, Oliver Platt, David Cross, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Vinnie Jones, Hank Azaria, Juno Temple, Olivia Wilde

Director: Harold Ramis

Opened June 19, 2009

Runtime: 1 hr. 40 min.

Rated PG-13 for brief strong language, crude and sexual content and comic violence

Genres: Prehistoric Fantasy, Comedy

Review:


Year One is an utterly disappointing hodgepodge of lowest common denominator humor which relies on Jack Blacks buffoonery way too much for its own good. The lack of ineptitude in handling what is an intriguing if somewhat familiar concept, Monty Python’s classic Life of Brian is far better, is surprising because of the pedigree of the people behind the camera and the script. Harold Ramis sloppy direction and even sloppier script, which he co wrote, makes this film a chore to trudge through as it lacks anything consistently funny. We are given fart, pee and shit jokes which might amuse some kids under 15 but not really anyone else. Jack Black is front and center here and his tired act is grating through most of the film as we watch him act like an overfed kid one a sugar high through out. The supporting cast is much stronger but sadly the filmmakers don’t give them too much screen time. Michael Cera does the best he can with the weak script and funnier than his counter part mainly because he understands the concepts of comic timing and subtlety. David Cross is good fun as Cain and his scene with Paul Rudd, as Abel, is an early highlight. The reliable Hank Azaria is fairly impressive as Abraham even if he’s only given a bad running joke to work with. The remaining supporting cast is mostly forgettable and they mostly just wander through their scenes aimlessly much like the plot. Story wise there isn’t much rhyme or reason to the proceeding and sometimes things just happen and abruptly end with no resolution. Year One might give you a few giggles here and there but never more than that. It’s a shame because handled correctly it could have been a fun ride through prehistory like the 80’s Caveman or the aforementioned Life of Brian, as it is you’d be best served renting either of those film if your looking for a laugh.

C-