"The Invite" is a Delight

"The Invite" is one of the vanishing breed of relationship comedies for adults, a mature dramedy about four people in an apartment spending an eventful evening together.  As you might expect, it's based on a play - the Spanish "The People Upstairs" - which has now been filmed half a dozen times in nearly as many languages.  The American version is written by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones.  Olivia Wilde directs and also stars in one of the major roles, doing a fine job at both.

Angela (Wilde) and Joe (Seth Rogen) play an unhappily married couple in San Francisco.    Joe comes home one day from work to discover that Angela has invited over the couple who live upstairs, Piña (Penelope Cruz) and Hawk (Edward Norton).  Joe wants to cancel, but Angela is very invested in the get-together, sparking a fight.  This is interrupted when Piña and Hawk arrive, but tensions are high throughout the evening as the four characters make introductions, get to know one another, and it turns out that there's another invitation on the table.

If you've seen any of the trailers or advertising for the film, you know that "The Invite" broaches the topic of partner swapping and discusses other titillating sexual acts, though nothing explicit is ever shown onscreen.  Piña and Hawk turn out to be very sexually open and adventurous, and offer some new possibilities to Joe and Angela that might help get them out of the rut that their lives have fallen into.   However, this in turn throws some of the issues with their marriage into sharper relief.  "The Invite" is built on performances, where the conversations are the set pieces, and the reaction shots are as funny as any of the dialogue.  Olivia Wilde and Seth Rogen are both unusually committed here, very well matched as scene partners, and I would have happily watched them argue and verbally spar with each other for an additional hour or two.  

As much as I enjoyed "The Invite," it took me a while to warm up to it.  Part of it is due to the subject matter and part of it is due to the kind of film this is.  "The Invite" is very good at being a very talky, small-scale feature that I would have expected to be made by an independent director with a cast full of theater stalwarts.  I went into the movie mistakenly expecting something bigger and broader, and spent a considerable amount of time waiting for fireworks that weren't there.  "The Invite" is actually quite grounded and intimate, with some sentimental edges.  Also, as much as I liked Wilde and Rogen, I found Cruz and Norton pretty uninteresting - more like caricatures of what sexually adventurous people are supposed to be rather than the real thing.  Their performances are engaging and convincing when they need to be, but the characters are very slight.  There's a theory floating around that Piña and Hawk are not real at all and Joe and Angela just got drunk and imagined them, which I could see.

Though the comedic energy is high and the ending is hopeful, this can't negate the fact that "The Invite" is about the end of a relationship.  There's a bittersweet undercurrent running through the whole movie that really hit me when I realized it was there.  Part of the reason why the laughs are so big and hit so hard is that there's a lot of pain and frustration behind them.  I've never seen Seth Rogen in a role this serious before - and the more serious he is, the funnier he is.  As for Olivia Wilde, frankly, she has never had a screen role this good.  It's unfortunate that she apparently had to direct the movie herself to land it.  I don't think of these two as dramatic actors, and it was a nice surprise to discover that they are, in fact, capable of sincere drama when they feel so inclined.

And I don't think it would hurt if they were so inclined more often.  I'd really like to see more films like "The Invite," and Rogen and Wilde stretching their acting muscles more regularly too.

  

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The First Five of "Stuart Fails to Save the Universe"

I was a casual viewer of "The Big Bang Theory" for years, but never got invested enough to catch up on any of the episodes I missed or check out any of the earlier spinoff shows.  However, "Stuart Fails to Save the Universe" was such a weird prospect that I had to give this thing a look.  After all, I was paying for the HBO Max subscription anyway.

So, the guy who owned the comic book store in "The Big Bang Theory," Stuart (Kevin Sussman), is positioned as the star, joined by his assistant manager and ex-girlfriend Denise (Lauren Lapkus), and two CalTech academics, Bert Kibbler (Brian Posehn) and Barry Kripke (John Ross Bowie).  All four end up on a universe-hopping adventure together, thanks to a device that Sheldon and Leonard from "The Big Bang Theory" purportedly created.  A push of a button allows them to bounce from universe to universe, which is very handy in the first episode, since our heroes start out in an apocalyptic version of Pasadena and need a way out.

I've watched five episodes so far, and the show is not very good.  Creator Chuck Lorre and his longtime collaborator Bill Prady are joined by Zak Penn, who has written an awful lot of superhero movies.  They've taken a collection of minor characters from "The Big Bang Theory" - who I barely remember and haven't seen onscreen since 2019 - and promoted them to series leads.  Meanwhile, the main cast of "The Big Bang Theory" occasionally drop in for cameos.  And this doesn't really work.  Kevin Sussman is a character actor in his fifties, playing an unremarkable schlub who isn't very amusing or sympathetic.  Brian Posehn is born to play sidekicks, so he and a cartoonishly evil, lisping John Ross Bowie muddle through okay.  I don't feel I've seen enough of Lauren Lapkus yet to say much, though I've liked her previously on "Comedy Bang! Bang!" and other shows.

The big selling point of "Stuart Fails to Save the Universe" is that Chuck Lorre decided to give genre-bending storytelling and meta-humor a try, abandoning his usual realm of sitcom couches for a show that features an entirely new universe with totally different rules each week.  We jump from the apocalypse, to a world run by robots, to a world where magic is real, to a world where Stuart is in a mental hospital, to a world inhabited by pre-civilization collectivist tribes.  Also, being on HBO Max means fewer content restrictions and a bigger budget for all the CGI in the show.  The result is similar to watching a live action "Rick and Morty."  Alas, it soon becomes apparent that  Chuck Lorre is no Dan Harmon.  

The pacing is frantic and the dangers are grandiose, but the humor in "Stuart Fails" amounts to the same old Chuck-Lorre-sitcom one-liners, middlebrow manchild shtick, and caricature based humor.  Stuart isn't really friends with the other two guys, so there are no existing group or family dynamics to play off of the way that "Rick and Morty" does.  Stuart still holding a torch for Diane is the only sign of any sort of real emotional connection anywhere.  So far, there are also no compelling stakes to the story aside from finding a "normal" universe somewhere that the group can call home.  Though, as the title indicates, Stuart and his travelling companions usually leave each universe worse off than they found it, the show never really gets very dark or satirical.  Frankly, the characters are too simple-minded for that.

So far the most clever bits are usually in the opening sequence, which prominently features snarky signs and messages that change in every episode.  All the episodes also have spoiler titles, such as the pilot being called "Spoiler: Gary Dies."  And a character named Gary does in fact die.  There's not much cleverness that makes it into the actual episodes, which are keen on using all the tropes and tactics of smarter, geekier shows, but don't put them to particularly good use.  Since Lorre and his collaborators are new to this kind of material, I expect that they'll improve over time.  The show has already been renewed for at least another season.

I, however, don't think I'll be sticking around much longer for "Stuart Fails."  "President Curtis" is a similar show that premiered around the same time, and is already much more promising - but that's another post.

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The New Devices of "Toy Story 5"

It's been thirty years since the original "Toy Story," and it's interesting to see how the franchise has evolved over time.  It's become more and more clear that the toys, especially our most prominent major characters like Woody, Buzz, and Jessie, are really stand-ins for parents.  Their relationships with the children that they safeguard have become more and more explicitly parental over the last few movies.  And what are parents worried about these days?  Electronic devices.  It was one of the neatest tricks of advertising that I saw this year, putting the new tablet character Lilypad (Greta Lee) right in the middle of the poster, representing a massive existential threat to the "Toy Story" gang, and instantly grabbing the attention of every concerned parent who has had to wrestle with the screentime question.

Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) is now eight years old, as imaginative as ever, but having trouble making friends because it seems like every other kid is spending so much time online.  Her well-meaning parents buy her a kids' tablet, Lilypad, to the consternation of her toys.  Jessie in particular is worried that the "devices" make kids grow up too fast.  Initial encounters with Lilypad do not go well, and Jessie and Bullseye mistakenly end up far from home, in the custody of another girl, Blaze (Mykal-Michelle Harris).  Meanwhile, Sheriff Woody and Bo are called in as reinforcements, and there's a whole subplot involving a lost army of the newest generation of Buzz Lightyear toys, which come with some interesting new hi-tech features.  Conan O'Brien, Shelby Rabara, and Craig Robinson voice new characters, and nearly everyone from the older "Toy Story" films reprises their roles in some capacity.

The franchise is definitely feeling its age.  "Toy Story 5," directed by Andrew Stanton, has a lot of jokes about Woody being old and out of shape, a lot of freak-outs about technology, and a lot of nostalgic callbacks to earlier films, especially "Toy Story 2."  The voices of several of the actors, like Tom Hanks and Joan Cusack, have noticeably changed, and the performances have changed with them.  Moreover, it feels like the movie was marketed more towards adults than children, though there are plenty of elements in the film that kids will enjoy watching.  PIXAR finally gives into toilet humor in the best way, introducing a toilet training toy named Smarty Pants (O'Brien) to deliver several very silly and mild scatological jokes.  While the animation is as eye-catching and detailed as ever, and all the actors and artists clearly remain very committed to delivering quality entertainment, there's a safeness and overly familiar quality to the film that left me comforted, but largely unmoved.  There are no big set pieces, no feats of animation spectacle, or any innovations in animation or storytelling that we haven't seen before.  They also feel a little slower, a little gentler, and more tentative.

The treatment of the devices, for instance, turns out to be very even-handed.  Maybe a little too even-handed.  Though initially viewed as threats, Lilypad and a few other tech-enabled toys are eventually revealed to be just as concerned about the well-being of their owners as the toys are.  The negative aspects of too much screentime, and the dangers of online interactions are highlighted, but it's the human beings who are at fault, not the technology.  With an eight year-old at the center of all this, the examples of online bullying and irresponsible behavior are understandably very mild.  However, I still raised eyebrows at the amount of bad screen habits we see in the movie that escaped comment.  It feels like a missed opportunity for PIXAR to more definitely take a stand for toys and offline play over screens.

It's been seven years since "Toy Story 4," so I'm not as worried about the franchise being overexposed as I once was.  This is one of the rare cases where I believe that new installments don't get made unless someone has a really good idea for one.  However, "Toy Story 5" feels so remote from those first three films now, and the filmmakers seem reluctant to handle the characters too roughly anymore.  Maybe this is just a rare misstep that will be righted eventually, but I think it's more likely that "Toy Story" has inevitably plateaued, and may be on the decline. 

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"House of the Dragon," Year Three

Spoilers for seasons one and two, and the first two episodes of season three ahead.

So, this is the season where "House of the Dragon" made some fundamental mistakes.  The most obvious one is not its fault.  HBO has cut down on episode orders, so the second season that premiered in 2024 had to end before its planned finale, the Battle of the Gullet.  This exciting naval battle ends up opening the third season instead, delivering lots of action and thrills that nothing else in the season matches up to.  An eight episode season would seem to be a perfectly fine length for "House of the Dragon," but there are a lot of characters who still don't have much to do between the violent clashes, and the showrunners seem determined to drag out the series for as long as its source material will allow, so the pace has slowed to a crawl.    

Most of the season is spent exploring the new status quo, with Rhaenyra having finally ascended the throne at King's Landing, but finding governance extremely difficult in the unsteady circumstances.  Up until now, Rhaenyra has been the most sympathetic of the main protagonists.  However, as the show moves into its later seasons, she's clearly not supposed to remain so.  The audience really should also be rooting for some of the other characters left on the board too, like Aegon II and Aemond, who are still on the run, or the scheming Ormund Hightower (James Norton), who has custody of Viserys's youngest son Daeron Targaryen (Benjamin Ainsworth), and is set up as a major foe of Rhaenyra's this season.  Though attempts are made to get us more invested in all of them, it doesn't work.  A few cool moments doesn't make up for Aegon being a brat for most of the year, and Aemond has gone from fun psycho to angst-ridden brooder.  Ormund is entertaining while he lasts, but reeks of cannon fodder and desperation.  Alicent and Helaena, put under house arrest, are still around, but too passive and ineffectual to really be players this season.  

I was still invested in Rhaenyra's reign and her relationship with Daemon, but watching her flounder as a monarch really tested my patience.  Rhaenyra's been interesting so far because she's a strong character blinded by tragic flaws, far too self-obsessed and conceited to believe she could be in the wrong.  Once she's installed in King's Landing, all these new anxieties and self-doubts kick in, rendering her weaker and more unlikeable with each episode.  And it's absolutely maddening to watch this play out.  I don't like that the show seems to so often be making Rhaenyra a victim of bad circumstances instead of letting her decisively make the mistakes that will lead to her ultimate fate.  It might be an issue with Emma D'Arcy's performance, but the writing is not doing her any favors.

This leaves me without many sympathetic characters left to follow through the story.  There are several secondary characters who still have my attention, though.  Baela had a great tragic turn this year, and was at the center of a major action set piece. Gwayne Hightower has weirdly emerged as one of the more heroic characters.   Ulf and Hugh are decent enough wild cards.  Alyn, Addam, and Rhaena feel like they're stuck on standby after the premiere, unfortunately, along with Lord Corlys.  I think the less said about Mysaria - a problematic figure from the start - the better.  

There is plenty of potential in this show going forward, but "House of the Dragon" has already fallen back on some of the worst habits of "Game of Thrones."  The third season was better than the second because it was more eventful, but it's still moving too slowly and getting repetitive.  Nowhere is this more apparent than with the Harrenhal subplots.  Daemon was stuck there for most of the second season, with Alys as his enabler, and once he left, Aemond showed up and went through almost the exact same experience.  

Maybe HBO could have gotten away with this if "House of the Dragon" was being released yearly, but my interest is already on the wane, and I don't see any end in sight.  As someone who wasn't too impressed with "Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," it might be time for me to take a break from this franchise for a while.

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My Favorite Andrzej Wajda Film

I don't think there's been a Polish filmmaker who has been as focused on Polish culture, politics, history, and national identity throughout his long career as Andrzej Wajda.  So though I was initially going to write this entry about "Danton," one of the great movies about the Reign of Terror, I feel it's far more appropriate to write about a Wajda film examining a period of Polish history through the lens of an investigation into the life of a fictional Polish hero.

"Man of Marble," like many other Wajda films, is about disillusionment and living in a corrupt system.  It follows a filmmaker named Agnieszka in the present day and her subject Mateusz Birkut in the past simultaneously, intercutting between their stories.  It emerges that Birkut was built up as a hero for propaganda purposes during Poland's Communist era, but once he actually undertook a heroic action in defense of a friend, he was brought to ruin by those in power.  "Man of Marble," made in the 1970s, was particularly notable for reflecting the social discontent of the Polish populace at the time of release, alluding to events that would be central to Poland's workers' movement of the 1980s.  "Man of Marble" would be followed by a sequel further exploring these themes, "Man of Iron."  Set five years later, it reveals the fates of several characters in "Man of Marble."  The political climate by that point was in such tumult that Wajda had to work outside of Poland for the next few years.

These two films are often discussed as a pair, but "Man of Marble" is more interesting for me for the way it engages with and is critical of Polish media.  The format of the film is similar to "Citizen Kane," with our heroine conducting interviews with people from Birkut's life, uncovering a little more about him with each encounter.  However, she is also working with researchers who unearth old films and newsreels about Birkut, many of them suppressed, censored, or never released at all.  The accounts of Birkut's life that they offer are usually deeply misleading.  Agnieszka even finds the director of the propaganda film that helped to lionize Birkut's image, who offers a more nuanced version of events.  However, there are also rare segments that contain fascinating glimpses of the truth.  Wajda created all of these archival materials himself in the style of the Communist  propaganda of the 1950s, highlighting their manipulative nature, and allowing him to contrast their narrative style with his own.

Wajda's frustrations as a filmmaker were also evident in the way he portrayed Agnieszka's struggles to make her film.  She has to fight for everything - funds, equipment, access to materials, approval of subject matter, and control of the project.  Agnieszka is played by Krystyna Janda in her debut role, this wonderfully modern, confident woman who struts through the opening sequence with determination and purpose.  I immediately sat up and took notice.  I appreciate that as much as the film is about Birkut, this forgotten hero figure who represents all the noble values of the Polish workers of his generation, it's also about Agnieszka, who resists the coverup and seems to embody all of Wajda's hopes for his country's future.  And it's her decision to keep going with her work, despite apparent defeat, that allows Wajda to end "Man of Marble" on a hopeful note.            

Andrzej Wajda isn't well known outside of his native Poland, despite being very highly regarded.  His work was a regular presence at the major European film festivals for decades, and four of his features nabbed Oscar nominations, most recently in 2007.  Many of his contemporaries like Roman Polanski and Krzysztof Kieslowski, however, are far more popular.  I suspect that this is because the degree of difficulty that comes with watching Wajda's films is higher - they are more culturally specific, more political, more ideological, and often very lengthy.  I confess that I watched "Ashes and Diamonds" and "Kanal" a few decades ago and didn't finish the trilogy until this year.

Finally, I should acknowledge that 35mm.online featured Wajda in 2026 for his centennial, and put several of his films online for free over the summer.  Without them, this entry would not be possible.   

What I've Seen - Andrzej Wajda

A Generation (1955)

Kanał (1957)

Ashes and Diamonds (1958)

Innocent Sorcerers (1960)

Everything For Sale (1969)

The Wedding (1972)

The Promised Land (1975)

Man of Marble (1977)

The Maids of Wilko (1979)

Man of Iron (1981)

Danton (1983)

Katyn (2007)

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"Frieren" and Friends

A common anime trope is the cute, girlish character who is actually decades or centuries older than she appears.  These are often pretty flat characters built for easy laughs or guilt-free titillation, and rarely examined in much depth.  So imagine my surprise when I came across "Frieren: Beyond Journey's End."  The title character, Frieren (Atsumi Tanezaki), is a long-lived elven mage who inhabits a swords-and-sorcery universe.  The series begins where most fantasy stories end, in the aftermath of Frieren and her adventuring party having defeated a mighty Demon King, beginning a new era of peace.  They all go their separate ways, but Frieren comes back to visit a few decades later, and is shocked to find her companions at or near the end of their lives, while time has barely passed for her.  Contemplating her relationships to humankind and the passage of time, Frieren sets out on a new journey with an apprentice mage Fern (Kana Ichinose), and a young warrior, Stark (Chiaki Kobayashi).

From what I'd heard about the series, I'd assumed that "Frieren" was a slower-paced slice of life show, where the adventures are fairly low stakes and the tone is kept very light.  This is sometimes true, as Frieren and her friends spend the introductory episodes slowly retracing the steps of the original adventuring party, doing small missions for local villagers, bonding over shared experiences, and collecting bits of new magic as they go.  And its all very pleasant and charming.  However, "Frieren" also fits the mold of a more traditional fantasy adventure series, having Frieren fight surviving allies of the Demon King for a string of episodes, or putting them in other dire situations that tend to end in spectacular fight scenes and the use of showy magic spells.  To allow them to travel through a more dangerous region, Frieren and Fern decide to take a mage certification exam that pits them against a slew of other powerful magic users, which takes up about a third of the show's first season.  However, there are still slower episodes between these arcs.  "Frieren" is able to take its time building up its characters and its lovely fantasy world, explaining the different types of magic and gradually digging into past events.

And the chief reason to watch the show is the character of Frieren, this detached, aloof being of immense power who has come to realize that she does value her connections to others, and wants to find ways to deepen them.  Though largely unspoken, her chief reason for going on this journey is to learn how to be more present for the people she values, and trying to reckon with her past and her regrets.  Himmel the Hero (Nobuhiko Okamoto), her warrior friend from the original party, dies in the first episode but his memory is a constant presence, and flashbacks to Frieren's time with him are common.  I like that the series will show Frieren struggling over small, day-to-day concerns, like choosing a birthday present, or spend a whole episode on a minor spat between Fern and Stark, because these dilemmas can be as confounding for the group as trying to slay the monster of the week.  The characters are pretty typical animal creations - Frieren is a lazy slob in private, of course, and Fern is the fussy rule-enforcer type - but they really grow on you.

The production values of the anime are very high, with animation by Madhouse Inc.  The appealing character designs work in both comedic and melodramatic contexts, and look great in motion.  I especially like their habit of using wordless montages to skip ahead in time, which will often use more character animation than all the scenes around them.  The limited animation of the anime style is utilized very well, with good editing and shot design making the stillness look more natural.  And the scenes that do feature lots of action look spectacular.  

"Frieren" is based on an ongoing manga, and a third season is in production for release sometime next year.  I'm a little wary of getting attached to another long series with no end in sight, but "Frieren" is good enough that I'll be happy to catch up with her again in the future.  

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My Top Ten Episodes of 2003-2004

Below, find my top ten episodes for the 2003-2004 television season below, in no particular order.  A few spoilers lie ahead, including for one of the more upsetting episodes of "The Sopranos."

Wonderfalls, "Wax Lion" - Let's start with the premiere episode of "Wonderfalls," the short-lived fantasy series from Bryan Fuller and Todd Holland, starring a wonderfully deadpan Caroline Dhavernas as a twenty-something in post-grad purgatory who starts hearing voices.  Only four episodes ever aired in the US - the back nine were Canadian exclusives - but I never forgot about this collection of characters and the weird, fanciful little universe that they inhabited.  

"Battlestar Galactica" - The miniseries that kicked off the reboot aired in 2003, and remains my favorite part of the whole saga.  The destruction of Caprica and the hurried escape mean plenty of action and incident, quickly setting expectations and showing us how this version of "Galactica" is different from the original.  The Cylons are more human, more intelligent, and more dangerous, while the depictions of space travel and warfare are far bleaker and more harrowing.   

Paranoia Agent, "Happy Family Planning" - Satoshi Kon's anthology series about a group of troubled people who end up participating in a mass delusion is one of the best things to have ever come out of anime.  The "Happy Family Planning" episode is one of the least connected to the main plot, following the adventures of three strangers, who have formed a suicide pact, as they seek to kill themselves together.  It is dark, surprising, and in the end strangely touching.  

Mythbusters, "Stinky Car" - The early episodes of "Mythbusters" were so much fun.  The show hadn't really settled on any particular formula yet, and the experiments could get really gnarly.  I don't know why anyone thought testing a myth about cleaning a car after bodies decomposed in it would be a good idea, but it made for some incredible - and disgusting television.  Seeing the aftermath of two pig carcasses on a Corvette was fascinating and really, really gross.

The Sopranos, "Long Term Parking" - Final spoiler warnings here.  We have to talk about Adriana.  I knew that her exit was coming long in advance, and Christopher was obviously going to betray her, but so much of the effectiveness of her death comes from the hit still feeling like it comes out of nowhere.  The sequence of events from Christopher losing his nerve at the gas station, to the call from Tony, to Adriana in the car with Silvio is so fast that you don't really have time to react.

The Wire, "All Prologue" - This is the one where they put Omar on the stand as a witness for the DA.  He proceeds to take over the court room, clap back against attempts to cross-examine him, and deliver a fantastic monologue about how he views the American legal system.  I still have no idea whether he lied on the stand or not.  However, the episode ends on a dark note with the death of D'Angelo, ending his tragic arc and our time with one of the show's best characters.  

Carnivale, "Babylon" - This is my favorite episode of the series, one that has little to do with the larger storylines, but profoundly impacts several characters.  It's simply a brief stopover at a creepy, seemingly abandoned town, where a tragedy occurs and the troupe ends up leaving something behind.  Like the best ghost stories, it's more melancholy and unnerving than actually frightening.  The funeral sequence and the chilling final scene have stayed with me ever since.  

Arrested Development, "Top Banana" - This was only the second episode of the show, but it was already firing on all cylinders.  The amount of quotable lines is nuts.  "There's always money in the banana stand."  "No touching."  Tobias trying to do Steve Martin.  GOB trying to mail a letter.  Patrice O'Neal as T-Bone.  Also, I have to give a shoutout to one of the best visual gags I've ever seen, the "DEAD DOVE DO NOT EAT" bag.  Really, Michael.  What did you expect?

Futurama, "Farnsworth Parabox" - I am such a nerd, and this episode is for the nerds.  The story involves parallel universe theory, which means everyone rapidly encountering all these different versions of themselves from gold Bender to hippie Professor Farnsworth to that one universe where everyone has giant bobble heads.  The interactions are priceless stuff - sometimes you can only truly know yourself when you actually have to spend time with yourself.  

Angel, "Not Fade Away" - The end of the Buffyverse is a mixed bag, but I do love that it goes out with all the surviving good guys about to go into battle against the monsters, intent on fighting their good fight all the way to the end.  It's an hour full of exits, big and small, leaving the door open for a sixth season that never came.  I'm glad in a way, because some of these goodbyes were too good not to stick.  That last scene with Wesley seeing Fred again in particular.  

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