{"id":556155,"date":"2026-06-27T00:42:03","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T00:42:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/556155\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T00:42:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T00:42:03","slug":"muhammad-ali-rumbles-in-the-jungle-plus-the-weeks-best-films","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/556155\/","title":{"rendered":"Muhammad Ali rumbles in the jungle, plus the week’s best films"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hello! I\u2019m Mark Olsen<\/a>. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.<\/p>\n

Two of my favorite movies of the year so far are opening in Los Angeles today and they both benefit from being seen with a proper audience. You will find yourself surprised by what you are laughing at, curious about what other people are laughing at and then feel the air in the room collectively shift as both films take unexpected turns toward more genuine emotional moments.<\/p>\n

The third feature directed by Olivia Wilde, \u201cThe Invite\u201d<\/a> is a biting look at modern relationships. Wilde stars as one half of a struggling couple, unhappily married to a character played by Seth Rogen. She invites over a couple from the apartment upstairs, played by Pen\u00e9lope Cruz and Edward Norton, and soon all sorts of feelings start flying around.<\/p>\n

I reviewed<\/a> for the paper, noting, \u201cIt feels daring for how it wants to actually examine the emotional costs of contemporary grown-up life, bringing wincing laughs of recognition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilde will be making appearances around L.A. over the weekend, including at the Vista, where the movie is playing in 35mm.<\/p>\n

Also opening this weekend is \u201cMaddie\u2019s Secret,\u201d<\/a> the debut feature as writer-director from comedian and actor John Early, who also stars as the title character, an aspiring L.A. food influencer battling bulimia. It is a truly astonishing performance, one that walks a difficult tightrope between sincerity and parody. Early will appear for Q&As around town this weekend.<\/p>\n

I spoke to Early<\/a> about the film when it played as part of the Los Angeles Festival of Movies about its unusual tone \u2014 somehow earnest, tender and very funny all at once. Joshua Rothkopf reviewed the film<\/a>, which he calls the indie arrival of the year, comparing it to movies by John Waters, Todd Haynes and Douglas Sirk. <\/p>\n

Jack meets the maestro \"A <\/p>\n

Jack Nicholson in the 1975 movie \u201cThe Passenger.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Sony Pictures Classics)<\/p>\n

One movie I feel obligated to note whenever it plays it Michelangelo Antonioni\u2019s \u201cThe Passenger.\u201d<\/b> Jack Nicholson stars as a disaffected journalist who assumes the identity of a dead man in an attempt to start over, only to find that his new life is even more complicated than his own. It is a powerful examination of middle-aged malaise that has Antonioni\u2019s trademark mystery but, thanks to Nicholson, also has a directness that makes it accessible to wider audiences.<\/p>\n

Nicholson made the film in between \u201cChinatown\u201d and \u201cOne Flew Over the Cuckoo\u2019s Nest,\u201d at the height of his fame in the 1970s, a time when going to Europe and Africa to shoot a movie with an esoteric art-house filmmaker was a huge risk. He would personally purchase the rights to the film in the early 1980s and essentially treated it like owning an art object, very rarely allowing it to be shown publicly. It reentered circulation in 2005 with a rerelease but still has a certain air of rarity around it. The film will be showing at the New Beverly<\/a> in 35mm on Saturday and Sunday.<\/p>\n

Nicholson sat for an extended interview<\/a> with The Times\u2019 Patrick Goldstein around that 2005 reissue of the film, calling the production \u201cthe most vivid filmmaking adventure I\u2019ve ever had.\u201d He described his relationship to Antonioni by saying, \u201cHe\u2019s been like a father figure to me. I worked with him because I wanted to be a film director and I thought I could learn from a master. He\u2019s one of the few people I know that I ever really listened to.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the Italian filmmaker died in 2007<\/a>, Nicholson got on the phone with us to say, \u201cI don\u2019t know how to put this: He\u2019s just a maestro, and everybody loved him. \u2026 He was a man of joy and impeccable taste. His whole life was dedicated to modestly being a brilliant artist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Truffaut\u2019s humanist warmth \"A <\/p>\n

Delphine Seyrig and Jean-Pierre L\u00e9aud in the movie \u201cStolen Kisses.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Janus Films)<\/p>\n

Richard Linklater\u2019s \u201cNouvelle Vague\u201d<\/a> last year didn\u2019t exactly start a renewed wave of interest in the French New Wave of the 1960s, but then again, those movies never really went away. They\u2019ve been inspirational to generations of film fans for more than 60 years now.<\/p>\n

But one French director who has perhaps fallen out of favor slightly is Fran\u00e7ois Truffaut. Long seen as one of the quintessential New Wave filmmakers, he has become taken for granted a little of late. Which is why it is exciting to see Brain Dead Studios showing his 1968 film \u201cStolen Kisses\u201d<\/b> in 35mm on Sunday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The third in the series of films Truffaut returned to throughout his career, including his 1959 breakthrough \u201cThe 400 Blows,\u201d the film again stars Jean-Pierre L\u00e9aud as Antoine Doinel, Truffaut\u2019s alter ego through the stages of his life. Discharged from the army, Antoine drifts through a series of jobs. His real concern is juggling his busy love life, making the film something of a male-centered rom-com while capturing Truffaut\u2019s warm, humanist worldview.<\/p>\n

Rohmer\u2019s caustic cynicism \"A <\/p>\n

Jean-Claude Brialy in the 1970 movie \u201cClaire\u2019s Knee.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Janus Films)<\/p>\n

Conversely, a filmmaker of the French New Wave who has seen his stock rise during the last few years is Eric Rohmer, championed by Noah Baumbach among others. His more caustic view of the world may resonate better with more cynical modern audiences.<\/p>\n

The American Cinematheque will begin showing Rohmer\u2019s cycle of \u201cSix Moral Tales\u201d<\/a> at the Los Feliz Theatre this weekend with a 35mm screening of \u201cMy Night at Maud\u2019s<\/b>\u201d<\/b> and continuing with other screenings through the end of July. Other films in the series include the sultry, summertime tale \u201cLa Collection<\/b>n<\/b>euse,\u201d<\/b> the ethical dilemma of \u201cClaire\u2019s Knee\u201d<\/b> and the tale of infidelity \u201cLove in the Afternoon.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

Writing about \u201cClaire\u2019s Knee\u201d in 1971, Charles Champlin noted, \u201cWhat redeems Rohmer\u2019s films from a defeating sameness is the quite extraordinary charm, believability and complexity of his characters and his meticulous attention to detail and his refusal to go for gross events at the expense of the subtle shadings of human relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n

Honestly, if a trip to France isn\u2019t happening for you this summer, this series makes for a not-bad substitute.<\/p>\n

Reconsidering \u201990s comedy \"Several <\/p>\n

An image from the 2025 documentary \u201cWe Are Pat.\u201d<\/p>\n

(The Film Collaborative)<\/p>\n

Fresh off its world premiere at the recent Tribeca Film Festival, Ro Haber\u2019s documentary \u201cWe Are Pat\u201d<\/b> will screen at Vidiots<\/a> on Sunday. Haber will be there along with comedians Julia Sweeney and Harper Steele and, for good measure, Alan Cumming.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe Are Pat\u201d examines the afterlife of Sweeney\u2019s character from \u201cSaturday Night Live,\u201d a confusingly genderless person who no one can ever quite figure out how to engage with. The way Pat has been picked up by a new generation of genderfluid comedians shows how influence and inspiration can come from the unlikeliest of places, and also how comedic ideas can transform over time.<\/p>\n

Ali in Africa \"Two <\/p>\n

Muhammad Ali fights George Foreman in the 1996 documentary \u201cWhen We Were Kings.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Gramercy Pictures)<\/p>\n

Released in 1996, \u201cWhen We Were Kings\u201d<\/b> depicts the 1974 boxing match in Zaire between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman known as \u201cThe Rumble in the Jungle.\u201d Director Leon Gast was unable to complete the film at the time, so the footage languished for years until he got an assist from filmmaker Taylor Hackford in shooting contemporary interviews with the likes of Norman Mailer, George Plimpton and Spike Lee. \u201cWhen We Were Kings\u201d would go on to win the Academy Award for documentary feature. It will be screening at Vidiots<\/a> on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The core of the movie is watching the thrilling, inspiring footage of Ali training and interacting with the locals. As Kenneth Turan wrote in his original review<\/a>, \u201cBecause a classic heavyweight championship fight, especially with these protagonists, epitomizes the drama inherent in sport, \u2018When We Were Kings\u2019 always compels our interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

New this week<\/p>\n