MOVIE REVIEW: Challengers

Challengers roars forth to use the invasive scrutiny found in tennis as a mimicking reflection of personal hostilities and exposed intimacies. Keeping with that idea of body language, Guadagnino’s blistering athletic love triangle is a ballet of sweat and a battle of three beautifully furrowed brows set atop the lithe bodies of Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist. For two hours-plus mirroring the length of a full set tennis match, this film cuts years deep and rips off scabs to show you why those brows are furrowed and towards whom.

2024, 4 STARS, ADVANCE MOVIE REVIEW, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanApril 12, 2024Zendaya, Challengers, Mike Faist, Josh O'Connor, Luca Guadagnino, tennis, sports movies, Trent Reznor, Atticus RossComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Dune: Part Two

Even still, so much of the Dune: Part Two dialogue (a noted dislike of the director) that could be winning hearts and minds is delivered in hushed platitudes. It’s positively wild than one of the loudest movies possible utilizing the biggest film screens the industry delivers can move someone so little where it counts. The crazy part is, Villeneuve and Dune still aren’t done. What began and was sourced from one interminably written ordeal could quickly become an interminable cinematic one as well.

2023, 2024, 3 STARS, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanFebruary 27, 2024Dune, Dune Part Two, Denis V, Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Javier Bardem, Rebecca Ferguson, Stellan Skarsgard, Austin ButlerComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Spider-Man: Homecoming

Spider-Man: Homecoming counts as a clean slate for Peter Parker’s web-slinger. Now nestled into the established Marvel Cinematic Universe, Tom Holland is a true teenage Spider-Man, one that was never successfully conveyed by two previous franchises and their over-aged actors. Aiming to please and bursting with effervescent zest at every flip, swing, and turn, John Watts’ Spider-Man: Homecoming succeeds as a brand new jumping off point for a character that badly needed course correction.