Tonight is date night. Wine and warm bread occupy the dinner table. Good vibes flow freely, but come to a screeching halt as a sinking revelation sets in: It is your turn to pick the evening’s entertainment. As the appetizers arrive, your indecision grabs hold of you. The clock is ticking, the dessert menu is out, a crucial choice must be made. Well, fret not: Here are two spectacular selections with cross-gender appeal to save the evening from imminent catastrophe.
The Invite
In 2019 actress Olivia Wilde made her directorial mark with the side-splitting buddy-comedy Booksmart. In 2022, she creatively stagnated with her stylish but underwhelming sophomore dystopian thriller Don’t Worry Darling. In 2026 she is back with a vengeance with her Sundance hit dramedy, The Invite. Wilde’s latest effort affirms she is a rare and exciting new voice with a deeply humanist, character-driven and introspective approach to storytelling.
Based on the Spanish film The People Upstairs, the film presents the hanging-on-by-a-thread married couple Angela (Wilde) and Joe (Seth Rogan). Angela is a neurotic stay-at-home wife who spends her time decorating, exploring new dinner recipes and purchasing expensive artwork. Joe is a disgruntled failed musician-turned-jazz-band-teacher who longs to rejuvenate his artistic career. On one fateful evening, Angela arranges an extravagant dinner party with her promiscuous, enigmatic neighbors, Pína (Penélope Cruz) and Hawk (Edward Norton). As their incongruous personalities clash, secrets, desires, vulnerabilities and uncomfortable truths are exposed in tense and hilarious ways. What begins as a playful, unpredictable evening quickly morphs into a profound exploration of self-realization (for both the guests and the hosts).
Skillful, fluid direction; a QUARTET of fantastic, layered performances; a sharp, perceptive and brilliantly comedic script. All of these elements combine in a soufflé of winning ingredients that result in one of the freshest, most thoughtful and uproariously entertaining “adult” films in ages. Through snappy, thoughtful dialogue, intentional art direction and rhythmic camera work, we carefully deconstruct the shared history and relationship dynamics of four vividly realized characters. As a result, we are encouraged to process our own traumas and insecurities in a cathartic, meaningful way. Wilde deserves all the accolades this film receives. It is easily one of the year’s best.
The Odyssey
We all remember being forced-fed ancient Greek poet Homer’s epic The Odyssey as essential reading in high school. The epic 24-part story that chronicles Odysseus, King of Ithaca, on his perilous, 10-year voyage back home in the bloody aftermath of the Trojan War. After combating mythical creatures, treacherous waters and the weight of his own stubborn ego, Odysseus must reconcile with the consequences of his war-time actions. It is a story that reverberates and endures throughout time, exploring the frailty of man and what it really means to be a hero.
Following the multi-Oscar-winning biopic Oppenheimer, director Christopher Nolan had the free range and financial resources to tell any story he wanted. And he chose to follow up his Best Picture winner with an adaptation of a well-known, oft-told literary work. What might have appeared to be an ambitious but fruitless effort proved to be a staggering, multi-million-dollar box office success. Only Nolan could take a narrative we thought we knew front to back and re-contextualize it to unearth timely and profound truths that critique our modern society.
Nolan refused to paint Odysseus (powerfully played by Matt Damon) as a one-dimensional, idyllic figure deserving of blind worship or praise. He intuitively understood that there are no real victors in violent wars, only survivors and collateral damage. Odysseus’ actions directly affect his wife, Queen Penelope (a brilliant Anne Hathaway), his son, Prince Telemachus (Tom Holland), and the brave men who serve under his self-serving leadership. Be it a giant cyclops, the powerful sorceress Circe (an exceptional Samantha Morton) or the power-hungry suitor Antinous (a menacing Robert Pattinson), Odysseus’ greatest obstacle comes from within—preserving his own humanity and the laws of the gods.
In many ways, this feels like a new generation’s Ben-Hur or Lawrence of Arabia. It is immersive, transporting, engrossing and emotionally stirring. The stacked, uniformly excellent A-list cast, breathtaking set pieces and thunderous score culminate in one of Nolan’s most accomplished works to date. The sheer magnitude of the experience is overwhelming at times, but it finds grace notes to underscore the humanity and lyricism at its core. Peace and serenity collide with brutality and rumination on the internal and external consequences of war. Astonishing.
This article appears in Best of OKC Winners.