The Odyssey
Odds are good you were assigned to read The Odyssey in one literature class or another. It and its companion piece, The Iliad, are thought to have originated sometime in the 8th century B.C. and attributed to the poet Homer, although scholars have long debated its origin and authorship. Regardless, it’s one of the most significant narratives in literature, and writer-director Christopher Nolan has turned it into a massive movie, which runs nearly three hours and was shot in numerous countries on 70mm IMAX cameras. Nolan’s all-star cast is led by Matt Damon as Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, who sets off for the Trojan War, is waylaid by warlords and monsters, and begins his trek back home 20 years later.
Meanwhile, his wife, Penelope (Anne Hathaway), and son, Telemachus (Tom Holland), wait for him and attempt to protect the throne from various suitors, including Robert Pattinson’s devious Antinous. Nolan’s version of The Odyssey, which incorporates elements from The Iliad and other Greek myths, is basically a series of special effects set-pieces, as Odysseus and his men encounter rival armies, typhoons, whirlpools, witches, sirens and one angry cyclops. It’s less a radical retelling of the text than a throwback to the sword-and-sandal epics that fell out of fashion long ago, and that perhaps only a director like Nolan could turn into a crowd-pleasing blockbuster in 2026.
The Invite
The 2020 Spanish film The People Upstairs was based on a stage play about two couples living in the same apartment building who, during an increasingly awkward dinner party, confront the stability of their relationships and (for one of the couples) their commitment to monogamy. That film has since been remade in at least 6 different countries, and now in the U.S. as The Invite, adapted by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones and directed by Olivia Wilde. Wilde herself plays one of the film’s four characters, a restless artist married to a disgruntled music teacher played by Seth Rogen. As the movie begins, she drops the news that their upstairs neighbors are coming over in a matter of minutes, much to Rogen’s chagrin. They’re played by Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton, and as awkward small talk turns to more open discussions of love and sex, the two couples seriously contemplate an arrangement that… well, let’s just say Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice went through this same situation in the late ’60s.