THE INVITE (2026)

 

Directed By: Olivia Wilde

Written By: Rashida Jones & Will McCormack

Based on the Motion Picture “SENTIMENTAL” By: Cesc Gay

Cinematography: Adam Newport-Berra

Editor: Anthony Boys and Yorgos Mavropsaridis 

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

Joe and Angela’s marriage is on thin ice. When they invite their enigmatic upstairs neighbors for a dinner party, the night spirals into unexpected places.

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This movie reminded me of something rather embarrassing. I have never been to a dinner party.

I’ve always wanted to be invited to one. Maybe one day, if I ever have a place of my own, I’ll throw one myself. Until then, all I really know about dinner parties comes from movies, television, and books. If they’re anything like this one… sign me up. Hopefully just with slightly less emotional damage.

This feels like a genuine comeback for Olivia Wilde as a director. It reminds you just how talented she is when she’s focused less on genre and spectacle, and more on people. Relationships, insecurities, attraction, jealousy, longing, you know those messy little emotions that make us human.

The film is a loving throwback to the intimate relationship dramas that flourished from the 1960s through the 1980s. You can immediately feel the DNA of WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOLFE and BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE. It’s refreshing to see a movie made for adults that lets conversations become the action.

The smartest thing the film does is invite you into the story without revealing its hand. Whether you know the premise or go in completely blind, you’re pulled in by the seductive setup and the chemistry between the characters. As the evening unfolds, what begins as playful curiosity slowly transforms into something heavier, more emotionally revealing, and surprisingly tense. Yet the film always keeps a sense of humor tucked away in its back pocket.

Every actor is working at the top of their game, and each performance is an essential ingredient in what makes the film work.

Olivia Wilde is especially impressive, both behind and in front of the camera. She plays the anxious, seemingly ordinary half of a married couple stuck in a comfortable rut with Seth Rogen. It’s fascinating watching the dynamic evolve. To each other they’ve become familiar, almost invisible. But through someone else’s eyes, they suddenly become attractive again. The film cleverly explores how desire and perception change depending on who’s looking.

The entire movie feels like a beautifully staged play. I honestly assumed it was an original screenplay because it feels so confident and distinct. Finding out it’s actually adapted from a foreign film that’s already been remade several times was surprising. Even so, this version feels completely fresh and confidently stands on its own.

It’s bold without trying too hard. Provocative without becoming cynical. Underneath all the awkwardness, emotional chaos, and uncomfortable conversations is an oddly wholesome innocence about people simply wanting to reconnect with themselves, their partners, and the lives they’ve built.

At times the film almost plays like an emotional thriller. There isn’t a killer hiding in the house, just vulnerability, desire, regret, and the fear of saying the quiet part out loud. Somehow that’s even more suspenseful.

Even the soundtrack echoes the films that inspired it. It captures that sophisticated, simmering mood where something has been bubbling beneath the surface all evening, and you’re simply waiting for it to finally boil over.

The Invite is funny, sexy, awkward, revealing, and emotionally honest. It’s the kind of intelligent adult drama Hollywood used to make all the time and one I hope becomes fashionable again.

Grade: A 

FACKHAM HALL (2025)

Directed By: Jim O’Hanlon 

Written By: Steve Dawson, Andre Dawson, Tim Inman, Jimmy Carr and Patrick Carr

Based on an original idea By: Jimmy Carr and Patrick Carr

Cast: Ben Radcliffe, Damien Lewis, Katherine Waterson, Thomasin McKenzie, Tom Felton, Emma Laird, Adam Woodward, Lily Knight, Jimmy Carr 

A new porter forms an odd bond with the youngest daughter of a well-known UK family. As the Davenport family, headed by Lord and Lady Davenport, deals with the epic disaster of the wedding of their eldest daughter to her caddish cousin.

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At heart this film is a comedy. Well, I will admit I expected a fast paced witty British comedy of errors and manners what it actually ends up being is more a spoof-Ish wacky comedy along the lines of the naked gun mixed with throwback aristocratic. Period piece  romance dramas of the British variety like downtown Abbey.

Where throughout the film, it feels like there are mile a minute jokes being thrown all over to see what sticks, but maybe with its upper crust background of characters. It ends up being a bit surprising, and yet quite charming.

I think this is a film that will appeal to all audiences even those who might be unfamiliar with the films or shows like DOWNTON ABBEY. As at times, the film is all over the place, but manages to stick to the landing and staying with it storyline and plots, even if they don’t always make sense.

So it’s an interesting mix that keeps it lively and an experiment that may be more films should take when mixing genres as at least it doesn’t make it evident at first, and you slowly get into that groove in atmosphere of it. It’s not so obvious nor were too ingredients. Don’t mix in the right way so that it’s actually well thought out.

Unfortunately, after a while, it does start to run out of steam or you get so used to it. It’s hard to surprise you anymroe.

The film is wacky and can be a bit offensive, but manages to keep its charms about it as well as giving us a romance that we want to see basic successful. 

GRADE: B- 

ONE MORE SHOT (2025)

 

Directed By: Nicole Clifford

Written By: Alice Fulcher and Gregory Erdstein

Based on a Story by: Heather Wilson

Cinematography: Simon Ozolins

Editor: Julie-Anne De Ruvo

Cast: Emily Browning, Aisha Dee, Sean Keenan, Ashley Zuckerman, Pallavi Sharda, Hamish Michael, Anna McGahan, Contessa Treffone

New Year’s Eve 1999. Minnie discovers a bottle of Time Traveling Tequila. Each shot takes her back to the start of the night, giving her a bottle’s worth of shots to change the course of her millennium.

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This movie takes the familiar groundhog‘s Day formula and places it on a single nurse reuniting with college friends in 1999 when it’s about to become the year 2000 and thanks to a magical tequila which when she takes a shot of brings her back to the exact moment that she arrives at the party she tries to get it right each time to have a successful romantic reunion with her ex

The film follows the formula of each time things going drastically wrong and throughout the film learning it’s less about her and more about the relationships and people surrounding her. That makes for many times when you think the main character is finally going to learn their lesson and move on, but then still keeps making the same mistakes just in different ways that by the third act and there is a little surprise as we find out, she might not be the only one who is having or has had this experience

The cast is committed to the material. It’s just one wishes the material was a little bit richer as the film should somewhat being ensemble, but it seems to only remember this when it comes to the third act before that is pretty much a one-woman show for lead. Emily Browning, who I am a fan of and finally gets a chance to shine in lighter material than she is usually in

Going for the more traditional romantic comedy and then just general comedy that does have a few Macabre moments. That is much darker than the usual GROUNDHOG DAY plot devices.

It’s just that the film is never quite funny enough nor compelling enough so that it comes across as only OK even with its familiar material. it remains entertaining enough and what help salad is that there isn’t any big comedian in the film so you don’t have to watch their so-called stick it’s more just actors which makes it a little more believable no matter how silly they might get.

Though at times it feels like it’s Stretching to fit in some more comedy at times when the Main character makes truly baffling decisions. 

The film for all its cynical beginnings develops a heart throughout which then kind of cancels the first half though it might be the film and filmmaker trying to show not only the growth of characters, but also the growth of material and the film maturing. 

It seems set in the millennium just for the soundtracks sake which it doesn’t do much with and maybe to keep cellphones out of the equation and explain certain costume choices,but other then that could have stayed modern.

Let though it’s entertaining enough and a good time waster if you do want to check it out and it’s fine for what it is. The draw here is Emily Browning

Grade: C 

DUDE BRO PARTY MASSACRE III (2015)

 

Directed By: Tomm Jacobsen, Jon Salmon & Michael Rousselet 

Written By: Tomm Jacobsen, Jon Salmon, Michael Rousselet, Alec Owen, Ben Gigli, Brian Firenzi, Joey Scoma, Michael E. Peter, Mike James and Tim Cianco 

Cinematography: Jon Salmon

Editor: Brain Firenzi 

Cast: Alec Owen, Ben Gigli, Olivia Taylor Dudley, Erik Sandoval, Chelsea St. John, Skyler Rousselet,  Larry King, Greg Sestero, Andrew WK

In the wake of two back-to-back mass murders on Chico’s frat row, loner Brent Chirino must infiltrate the ranks of a popular fraternity to investigate his twin brother’s murder at the hands of the serial killer known as “Motherface.”

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This film is definitely for those who are looking for something a bit different and might be movie purists.

This film is based on a fake trailer that was posted on the website 5secondfilms.com and the feature film was produced by them as well. 

The history of this supposed cult movie is obviously made up as there has been no previous films of this franchise. This instead is an homage and original that pretends to be a sequel. Giving all the characters a supposed history together. 

The collaboration behind the scenes and in front of the camera. Just finding out the story of how it got made is as crazy as the film 

At heart it shows a passion for the films it is clearly inspired by and is a B-Movie satire and spoof of those VHS straight to home video movies of the 1980’s as well as those particularly made and filmed on VHS horror movies of that time period. Made on the cheap, usually ridiculous but have a lot of where as dream amateur productions come to life. As much as they could afford 

These are the type of films that would at on USA UP ALL NIGHT. All the time and somewhat censored. Though they have a sense of humor about themselves. They were earnest in what they were hoping to achieve.

The film is juvenile with a lot of off color humor, with ridiculous characters and plot lie s that I respect with being an exploitive slasher film. TBH tough has quite a few surprising cameos throughout. 

At least it stays inventive throughout with practical special effects taking center stage. 

The film feels like a comedy group making a spoof movie. Like KIDS IN THE HALL, BROKEN LIZARD, ASTRON-6. That is how the casts chemistry works so well. It’s silly yet fun especially if you are a fan of horror movies.

Though in the end the film is entertaining, fun, low brow humor, passionate and funny. While also being all over the place and full of cliches 

GRADE: B

HOW TO MAKE A KILLING (2026)

 

Written & Directed By: John Patton Ford 

Inspired By “KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS” Screenplay By: Robert Hammer and John Dighton 

Based On the Novel “ISRAEL RANK” By: Roy Horniman

Cinematography: Todd Ranhazl

Editor: Harrison Atkins 

Cast: Glen Powell, Jessica Henwick, Margaret Qualley, Bill Camp, Ed Harris, Topher Grace, Zach Woods, Phumi Tau, Stevel Marc

Disowned at birth by his obscenely wealthy family, a blue-collar stop at nothing to reclaim his inheritance, no matter how many relatives stand in his way.

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This  is a loose remake or more a modern retelling of the Alec Guinness film KIND HEARTS & CORONETS only set more realistically and taking out the gimmick of that film years ago. Where Alec Guinness played all the members of the family that was getting killed off.

It might have been an added incentive if this film had big stars making cameos as members of the family getting killed off, but only Topher Grace is recognizable as one of the kin in standing to inherit a fortune above out protagonist. 

So the film really adds nothing except instead of being an outright comedy. It’s dark and slick. It attempts to be a social satire. Though never quite feels sharp enough. In fact at times it feels oddly rushed.

The film is darkly comedic and isn’t as bad as one would think. Considering how little fanfare or promotion the film got. Which the studio seemed to have cold feet after Glen Powell started in THE RUNNING MAN reboot that bombed. I don’t even remember seeing a trailer for this film. Until I had to go out and find it online myself.

The film plays pretty standard items entertaining as you watch but barely sticks with you once done. This fits in with the disposable films of yesteryear that were good enough for a watch and are rewatchable but therebisnMt much to them except for entertainment.

This film seems like it’s going to be a crowd pelaser until the end where it stays with it’s cynicism.

Strangely enough Glen Powell, plays a likable killer. That feels like he has shades of Patrick Bateman possibilities but is never that much of a sociopath or psychopath and had his reasons for his actions. 

Margaret Qualley is a good femme fatale only because we barely know anything about her and comes across as a mystery but also a type. Though she wears chanel as her wardrobe in all her scenes. That gives you a hint to the heart of her character. Where her legs are all over.

Which is one of the films problems it’s 

Likable enough bit has no real depth. The characters are more types. So that it never draws you in. So as it stays on the surface that is what you get and how you feel by the end. 

The films screenplay was surprisingly on the 2014 BLACK LIST of scripts that those in the industry rank as the best unproduced they have read that year. 

Which drags the film down and makes it feel more and more basic as it goes along. Especially in the end where the irony want to take over. As this is a film that shouldngave high stakes. Yet it all feels very telegraphed. 

This feels like a film you would sneak Into after paying and watching another film or that you go to on a weekend, just because you want something to watch.

Grade: B-