Actor/director Olivia Wilde and gay filmmaker Gregg Araki are each, in their own way, having quite a year. Wilde’s “The Invite,” which she directed and stars in alongside Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz, and Edward Norton, is a hit. Meanwhile, in August, Araki’s 2004 masterwork “Mysterious Skin,” a movie adaptation of the Scott Heim novel starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and actor-turned-director Brady Corbet, is being rereleased in theaters in a new 4K restoration.

Opening with a quote about marriage from Oscar Wilde and ending with a dedication to Diane Keaton, “The Invite” (A24) is the hilarious tearjerker we’ve been waiting for all year. An English-language adaptation of Cesc Gay’s 2020 movie “Sentimental” (based on Gay’s stage play), “The Invite” was directed by Olivia Wilde, who also plays one of the four lead characters, and features a screenplay co-written by Rashida Jones.

In 2020, Emmy and Tony Award-winning gay national treasure Sean Hayes took the unfortunate misstep of playing the titular character in “Lazy Susan,” a movie for which he co-wrote the screenplay. It’s painful to even think about the gifted Hayes playing that lead role in that dismal movie. 

Readers and writers of poetry know that characteristics of the literary genre include imagery and economy of language. To her credit, filmmaker Sasha Waters does a respectable job of incorporating both into her documentary “Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World” (Kino Lorber/American Masters), a celebration of the life of the titular lesbian poet who passed in 2019.

“Disclosure Day” (Universal) is the third installment in Steven Spielberg’s friendly alien trilogy, including 1977’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and 1982’s “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” (“War of the Worlds” doesn’t count because those aliens were meaner than Pete Hegseth). It’s also heavy on religious allegories, as well as a serious indictment of secretive government agencies. The latter is especially notable due to our current administration’s obsession with Area 51.

“Stop! That! Train!” (Bleecker Street/World of Wonder) is an ill-conceived homage to the 1980s Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker comedies, including “Airplane!”, “Top Secret!”, and “The Naked Gun,” with a hat tip to 1976’s disaster comedy “The Big Bus.” Fueled by tired sight gags and slapstick, as well as laugh-less and lifeless jokes, “Stop! That! Train!” should never have been allowed to leave the station.