July movie reviews


THE INVITE

I strongly dislike Olivia Wilde as an actress, but she has proven a solid director. Booksmart is one of the best comedies of the last 20 years. I was even softer on Don't Worry Darling than most. The Invite is in between. A chamber piece, taking place almost entirely inside an apartment, it's the kind of comedy where some of the jokes hurt. 3/4 of the cast is great, with Seth Rogen on absolute fire, and Penelope Cruz giving her most captivating performance in years. And Edward Norton again shows a flair for awkward comedy. Too bad the 4th role is Wilde herself, who is totally out of her league. Not enough so to ruin the movie, but a better actress there makes this a classic. 

THE ODYSSEY

The Odyssey will probably make at least another million just in the time it takes to read this review.
Deserved.
Look, stupid internet controversies aside, there was never the slightest doubt that Christopher Nolan was going to hit it out of the park with this. He can handle the scale. He can manage a giant cast. The Odyssey is at times jaw dropping to look at, and I didn't even see it in IMAX. Nolan did the work to make as much of this stuff practically as possible, and it pays off. 
The film has one grand, memorable sequence after another. 
The insane cast is across the board terrific. Personal favorites among the ensemble: Anne Hathaway, Samantha Morton, and John Leguizamo.
It's not my favorite Nolan. It isn't a film without any flaws at all, but it's not hyperbole to label it a masterpiece, and it's probably a safe bet that it will be my #1 film of the year and will probably win another slew of awards. 

HER PRIVATE HELL

What a bunch of pretentious bullshit. Director Nicholas Winding Refn once did a cool movie called Drive, but 15 years later he's proven himself a one trick pony with no idea how to make an actual movie with an actual story. HPH is just flashing lights and noise. Sure, some of it does look cool, but it's an empty experience. At least there are a lot of closeups of the endlessly captivating Sophie Thatcher. 

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