Luca Guadgnino, director of the smash-hit film “Call Me By Your Name,” is known for his use of highly erotic romance, beautiful visuals and complex emotional quandaries and has once again hit it out of the park with his latest film, “Challengers.” The film follows three professional tennis players: Tashi Duncan (Zendaya) is an up-and-coming tennis star, with Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) and Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor), the two best friends fighting for her affection. They are all great players, but far from great people.

Another common element of Guadgnino’s films, which is again replicated in “Challengers,” is how there is never really a good person, someone to root for. These three players are just that: players, both on and off the field. As the story progresses, all three characters are shown as selfish in their own ways, simply fighting for whatever they want, even when it can become frustrating for the audience.

The three leads shine in this film, with Tashi, Art and Patrick given their own fully fleshed-out characters, always giving the viewers a fascinating character no matter who is on screen. But where the three really shine is in their interactions with one another. The three stars have several points where they interact as a group or just in pairs, and each time the scene is charged with raw, heavy eroticism, leaving the viewer unable to look away. Zendaya, especially, provides viewers with yet another powerful performance. As Tashi Duncan, she is such a tour-de-force that it is shocking to imagine her as anything other than a young tennis phenom.

And just like Guadgnino’s past films, the sex scenes are done quite beautifully, focusing more on the art of implicit action. Each scene is used as a move, a chance at manipulating another, and the actors are clearly putting their all into them. The passion behind these interactions is clear from the emotions and tension felt by all witnessing them happen. 

Guadgnino in fact goes above and beyond with this film by introducing a new structural element of a fragmented timeline, with the film jumping back and forth between the trio in their college days and then the present, 14 years later, once their paths have strayed quite far. Using this timeline allows the audience to become emotionally invested in the three characters at different times in their lives. 

The soundtrack was also a major plus for the film, with a score helmed by former Nine Inch Nails band members Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The pair previously worked on films such as “Gone Girl” and “The Social Network,” and their style is again present here, with the uses of intense musical crescendos and recognizable sound bites. The music greatly helped the already tense moments feel even more on edge and provided a catchy beat to the drama.

While the film surrounds tennis and the rising stars of the sport, people of any background of knowledge are able to enjoy the competition. There are never too many terms or complex rules of the sport, making sure the audience can remain in the story. 

With “Challengers,” Guagnino had once again knocked it out of the park, taking young stars, giving them a tight script and good direction and creating a masterpiece of a film. After a film like “Challengers,” audiences are surely waiting in excitement for his next endeavor. 

Luca Guadgnino, director of the smash-hit film “Call Me By Your Name,” is known for his use of highly erotic romance, beautiful visuals and complex emotional quandaries and has once again hit it out of the park with his latest film, “Challengers.” The film follows three professional tennis players: Tashi Duncan (Zendaya) is an up-and-coming tennis star, with Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) and Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor), the two best friends fighting for her affection. They are all great players, but far from great people.

Another common element of Guadgnino’s films, which is again replicated in “Challengers,” is how there is never really a good person, someone to root for. These three players are just that: players, both on and off the field. As the story progresses, all three characters are shown as selfish in their own ways, simply fighting for whatever they want, even when it can become frustrating for the audience.

The three leads shine in this film, with Tashi, Art and Patrick given their own fully fleshed-out characters, always giving the viewers a fascinating character no matter who is on screen. But where the three really shine is in their interactions with one another. The three stars have several points where they interact as a group or just in pairs, and each time the scene is charged with raw, heavy eroticism, leaving the viewer unable to look away. Zendaya, especially, provides viewers with yet another powerful performance. As Tashi Duncan, she is such a tour-de-force that it is shocking to imagine her as anything other than a young tennis phenom.

And just like Guadgnino’s past films, the sex scenes are done quite beautifully, focusing more on the art of implicit action. Each scene is used as a move, a chance at manipulating another, and the actors are clearly putting their all into them. The passion behind these interactions is clear from the emotions and tension felt by all witnessing them happen. 

Guadgnino in fact goes above and beyond with this film by introducing a new structural element of a fragmented timeline, with the film jumping back and forth between the trio in their college days and then the present, 14 years later, once their paths have strayed quite far. Using this timeline allows the audience to become emotionally invested in the three characters at different times in their lives. 

The soundtrack was also a major plus for the film, with a score helmed by former Nine Inch Nails band members Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The pair previously worked on films such as “Gone Girl” and “The Social Network,” and their style is again present here, with the uses of intense musical crescendos and recognizable sound bites. The music greatly helped the already tense moments feel even more on edge and provided a catchy beat to the drama.

While the film surrounds tennis and the rising stars of the sport, people of any background of knowledge are able to enjoy the competition. There are never too many terms or complex rules of the sport, making sure the audience can remain in the story. 

With “Challengers,” Guagnino had once again knocked it out of the park, taking young stars, giving them a tight script and good direction and creating a masterpiece of a film. After a film like “Challengers,” audiences are surely waiting in excitement for his next endeavor. 

Luca Guadgnino, director of the smash-hit film “Call Me By Your Name,” is known for his use of highly erotic romance, beautiful visuals and complex emotional quandaries and has once again hit it out of the park with his latest film, “Challengers.” The film follows three professional tennis players: Tashi Duncan (Zendaya) is an up-and-coming tennis star, with Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) and Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor), the two best friends fighting for her affection. They are all great players, but far from great people.

Another common element of Guadgnino’s films, which is again replicated in “Challengers,” is how there is never really a good person, someone to root for. These three players are just that: players, both on and off the field. As the story progresses, all three characters are shown as selfish in their own ways, simply fighting for whatever they want, even when it can become frustrating for the audience.

The three leads shine in this film, with Tashi, Art and Patrick given their own fully fleshed-out characters, always giving the viewers a fascinating character no matter who is on screen. But where the three really shine is in their interactions with one another. The three stars have several points where they interact as a group or just in pairs, and each time the scene is charged with raw, heavy eroticism, leaving the viewer unable to look away. Zendaya, especially, provides viewers with yet another powerful performance. As Tashi Duncan, she is such a tour-de-force that it is shocking to imagine her as anything other than a young tennis phenom.

And just like Guadgnino’s past films, the sex scenes are done quite beautifully, focusing more on the art of implicit action. Each scene is used as a move, a chance at manipulating another, and the actors are clearly putting their all into them. The passion behind these interactions is clear from the emotions and tension felt by all witnessing them happen. 

Guadgnino in fact goes above and beyond with this film by introducing a new structural element of a fragmented timeline, with the film jumping back and forth between the trio in their college days and then the present, 14 years later, once their paths have strayed quite far. Using this timeline allows the audience to become emotionally invested in the three characters at different times in their lives. 

The soundtrack was also a major plus for the film, with a score helmed by former Nine Inch Nails band members Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The pair previously worked on films such as “Gone Girl” and “The Social Network,” and their style is again present here, with the uses of intense musical crescendos and recognizable sound bites. The music greatly helped the already tense moments feel even more on edge and provided a catchy beat to the drama.

While the film surrounds tennis and the rising stars of the sport, people of any background of knowledge are able to enjoy the competition. There are never too many terms or complex rules of the sport, making sure the audience can remain in the story. 

With “Challengers,” Guagnino had once again knocked it out of the park, taking young stars, giving them a tight script and good direction and creating a masterpiece of a film. After a film like “Challengers,” audiences are surely waiting in excitement for his next endeavor. 

Luca Guadgnino, director of the smash-hit film “Call Me By Your Name,” is known for his use of highly erotic romance, beautiful visuals and complex emotional quandaries and has once again hit it out of the park with his latest film, “Challengers.” The film follows three professional tennis players: Tashi Duncan (Zendaya) is an up-and-coming tennis star, with Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) and Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor), the two best friends fighting for her affection. They are all great players, but far from great people.

Another common element of Guadgnino’s films, which is again replicated in “Challengers,” is how there is never really a good person, someone to root for. These three players are just that: players, both on and off the field. As the story progresses, all three characters are shown as selfish in their own ways, simply fighting for whatever they want, even when it can become frustrating for the audience.

The three leads shine in this film, with Tashi, Art and Patrick given their own fully fleshed-out characters, always giving the viewers a fascinating character no matter who is on screen. But where the three really shine is in their interactions with one another. The three stars have several points where they interact as a group or just in pairs, and each time the scene is charged with raw, heavy eroticism, leaving the viewer unable to look away. Zendaya, especially, provides viewers with yet another powerful performance. As Tashi Duncan, she is such a tour-de-force that it is shocking to imagine her as anything other than a young tennis phenom.

And just like Guadgnino’s past films, the sex scenes are done quite beautifully, focusing more on the art of implicit action. Each scene is used as a move, a chance at manipulating another, and the actors are clearly putting their all into them. The passion behind these interactions is clear from the emotions and tension felt by all witnessing them happen. 

Guadgnino in fact goes above and beyond with this film by introducing a new structural element of a fragmented timeline, with the film jumping back and forth between the trio in their college days and then the present, 14 years later, once their paths have strayed quite far. Using this timeline allows the audience to become emotionally invested in the three characters at different times in their lives. 

The soundtrack was also a major plus for the film, with a score helmed by former Nine Inch Nails band members Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The pair previously worked on films such as “Gone Girl” and “The Social Network,” and their style is again present here, with the uses of intense musical crescendos and recognizable sound bites. The music greatly helped the already tense moments feel even more on edge and provided a catchy beat to the drama.

While the film surrounds tennis and the rising stars of the sport, people of any background of knowledge are able to enjoy the competition. There are never too many terms or complex rules of the sport, making sure the audience can remain in the story. 

With “Challengers,” Guagnino had once again knocked it out of the park, taking young stars, giving them a tight script and good direction and creating a masterpiece of a film. After a film like “Challengers,” audiences are surely waiting in excitement for his next endeavor. 

Luca Guadgnino, director of the smash-hit film “Call Me By Your Name,” is known for his use of highly erotic romance, beautiful visuals and complex emotional quandaries and has once again hit it out of the park with his latest film, “Challengers.” The film follows three professional tennis players: Tashi Duncan (Zendaya) is an up-and-coming tennis star, with Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) and Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor), the two best friends fighting for her affection. They are all great players, but far from great people.

Another common element of Guadgnino’s films, which is again replicated in “Challengers,” is how there is never really a good person, someone to root for. These three players are just that: players, both on and off the field. As the story progresses, all three characters are shown as selfish in their own ways, simply fighting for whatever they want, even when it can become frustrating for the audience.

The three leads shine in this film, with Tashi, Art and Patrick given their own fully fleshed-out characters, always giving the viewers a fascinating character no matter who is on screen. But where the three really shine is in their interactions with one another. The three stars have several points where they interact as a group or just in pairs, and each time the scene is charged with raw, heavy eroticism, leaving the viewer unable to look away. Zendaya, especially, provides viewers with yet another powerful performance. As Tashi Duncan, she is such a tour-de-force that it is shocking to imagine her as anything other than a young tennis phenom.

And just like Guadgnino’s past films, the sex scenes are done quite beautifully, focusing more on the art of implicit action. Each scene is used as a move, a chance at manipulating another, and the actors are clearly putting their all into them. The passion behind these interactions is clear from the emotions and tension felt by all witnessing them happen. 

Guadgnino in fact goes above and beyond with this film by introducing a new structural element of a fragmented timeline, with the film jumping back and forth between the trio in their college days and then the present, 14 years later, once their paths have strayed quite far. Using this timeline allows the audience to become emotionally invested in the three characters at different times in their lives. 

The soundtrack was also a major plus for the film, with a score helmed by former Nine Inch Nails band members Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The pair previously worked on films such as “Gone Girl” and “The Social Network,” and their style is again present here, with the uses of intense musical crescendos and recognizable sound bites. The music greatly helped the already tense moments feel even more on edge and provided a catchy beat to the drama.

While the film surrounds tennis and the rising stars of the sport, people of any background of knowledge are able to enjoy the competition. There are never too many terms or complex rules of the sport, making sure the audience can remain in the story. 

With “Challengers,” Guagnino had once again knocked it out of the park, taking young stars, giving them a tight script and good direction and creating a masterpiece of a film. After a film like “Challengers,” audiences are surely waiting in excitement for his next endeavor. 

Luca Guadgnino, director of the smash-hit film “Call Me By Your Name,” is known for his use of highly erotic romance, beautiful visuals and complex emotional quandaries and has once again hit it out of the park with his latest film, “Challengers.” The film follows three professional tennis players: Tashi Duncan (Zendaya) is an up-and-coming tennis star, with Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) and Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor), the two best friends fighting for her affection. They are all great players, but far from great people.

Another common element of Guadgnino’s films, which is again replicated in “Challengers,” is how there is never really a good person, someone to root for. These three players are just that: players, both on and off the field. As the story progresses, all three characters are shown as selfish in their own ways, simply fighting for whatever they want, even when it can become frustrating for the audience.

The three leads shine in this film, with Tashi, Art and Patrick given their own fully fleshed-out characters, always giving the viewers a fascinating character no matter who is on screen. But where the three really shine is in their interactions with one another. The three stars have several points where they interact as a group or just in pairs, and each time the scene is charged with raw, heavy eroticism, leaving the viewer unable to look away. Zendaya, especially, provides viewers with yet another powerful performance. As Tashi Duncan, she is such a tour-de-force that it is shocking to imagine her as anything other than a young tennis phenom.

And just like Guadgnino’s past films, the sex scenes are done quite beautifully, focusing more on the art of implicit action. Each scene is used as a move, a chance at manipulating another, and the actors are clearly putting their all into them. The passion behind these interactions is clear from the emotions and tension felt by all witnessing them happen. 

Guadgnino in fact goes above and beyond with this film by introducing a new structural element of a fragmented timeline, with the film jumping back and forth between the trio in their college days and then the present, 14 years later, once their paths have strayed quite far. Using this timeline allows the audience to become emotionally invested in the three characters at different times in their lives. 

The soundtrack was also a major plus for the film, with a score helmed by former Nine Inch Nails band members Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The pair previously worked on films such as “Gone Girl” and “The Social Network,” and their style is again present here, with the uses of intense musical crescendos and recognizable sound bites. The music greatly helped the already tense moments feel even more on edge and provided a catchy beat to the drama.

While the film surrounds tennis and the rising stars of the sport, people of any background of knowledge are able to enjoy the competition. There are never too many terms or complex rules of the sport, making sure the audience can remain in the story. 

With “Challengers,” Guagnino had once again knocked it out of the park, taking young stars, giving them a tight script and good direction and creating a masterpiece of a film. After a film like “Challengers,” audiences are surely waiting in excitement for his next endeavor. 

Cinema in 2024 has been off to a rocky start. “Argyle” and “The Beekeeper” were mindless action flicks with inane plots. “Madame Web” did not inspire confidence in the new age of superhero movies, and streaming films like “Ricky Stanicky” and “Lift” made people even more wary of spending their already limited time watching something new. “Dune: Part Two,” very thankfully, broke that trend. 

Frank Herbert’s genre-bending space opera “Dune” was a book once called “impossible to adapt,” according to Aaron Bady at Slate. David Fincher was unable to condense the story properly in 1984. George Harrison was held back by a TV budget in 2000. Denis Villeneuve, however, had the brilliant idea to split the book into two films. This meant that there would be a lot of time for the background information to be laid out and for the proper moments to shine. Shine they indeed have.

“Dune: Part One” had the important job of building up the story of both Paul Atreides, played by Timothee Chalamet, a young boy who is pushed into exile and the role of being a messiah, and the planet Arrakis, which harbors the coveted spice, melange, an item crucial for space travel throughout the cosmos. The richness and depth of the plot meant the first film had to slow down often enough to explain the mechanics of a world unlike our own such as space travel and inventive weaponry, along with the main protagonists of both films, House Atreides, and the antagonists, House Harkonnen. 

“Part Two” managed to trim all of the fat holding “Part One” down, throwing the viewer straight into an intense war of wills and faith. Paul works with the people of Arrakis, the Fremen, to gain back control of the planet in the hopes of exacting revenge on the Harkonnens for the murder of his father. At the same time, he tries to understand his strange visions and the different horrible paths they lead him down, all while grappling with his role as the prophesied leader of the Fremen people. We see Paul and his mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), use the people around them to take control and make the audience question whether or not they truly are the heroes of this story. 

“Dune: Part Two” is a film that every movie-goer can appreciate. Fans of Star Wars or Game of Thrones can enjoy the complex story that literally inspired these billion-dollar franchises and their own complex stories. Fans of romance and forbidden love can watch Dune for the story of Paul and Chani (Zendaya), where a would-be space messiah and one of his disciples fall in love. People who enjoy expansive action set pieces and tight fight choreography can be assured that “Part Two” uses some of the best visual effects to pull the audience into the tense battles between two drastically different opponents. And fans of a simply good-looking and sounding movie can experience Oscar-winning cinematography from Greig Fraser and a soundtrack from all-time music legend Hans Zimmer. 

This movie brings the viewer into its world from the very first scene, keeping audiences on their toes and excited to watch and see how this epic war culminates, even leaving some viewers so excited they gasped for air. Villeneuve has mastered his use of concurrent storylines to keep the story fast-paced while making sure the audience doesn’t get lost in the sauce. It is clear he is a director with a passion for his project, ensuring that every change from the source material serves a greater purpose, even if viewers don’t know what that purpose is yet.

Chalamet shows his range in this mature science fiction, but he is not carrying this movie alone. An incredible ensemble cast backs up the 28-year-old star, with stunning performances by Zendaya as a Fremen woman who must balance her distrust for prophecies and her love for Paul, and Rebecca Ferguson as Paul’s mother and key string-puller in their plot to defeat the Harkonnens. One of the best performances in this movie was Austin Butler as Feyd Rautha, a psychotic Harkonnen royal who is given the difficult task of defeating Paul and his Fremen army. Butler beautifully plays the madman who acts as the opposing voice of chaos to Paul’s initial voice of control. 

“Dune: Part Two is bigger, better, and more beautiful than its predecessors and previous adaptations in every single way. If you’re only going to watch a single movie this year, let it be Dune: Part Two, and hopefully, you will keep coming back for more.

The past decade was uncharted territory for both “Godzilla” and giant monster movie fans. Both American and Japanese creators have released Godzilla movies over the years, and while this may seem like a good thing, in reality, it has made the differences in the quality of the films more apparent. 

 The 2023 film “Godzilla: Minus One,” directed by Takashi Yamazaki, had the difficult task of animating a giant lizard with a measly budget of just $15 million. Not only did they render the monster to his full, terrifying capacity, but they also won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects at the 2023 Academy Awards, a feat never before achieved in over 70 years of Godzilla’s property destruction. However, the latest American Monsterverse endeavor is very far from winning any awards.  

In 2021, Godzilla and King Kong faced off against each other in “Godzilla Vs. Kong,” directed by Adam Wingard, with the pair ending the film as cautious allies, keeping to their parts of the Earth. The latest sequel, again helmed by Wingard, “Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire” picks up very soon after, but assumes that the audience does not remember the previous storylines, so the viewer is stuck watching constant exposition dumps, even with events that happened less than 30 minutes prior. 

What many American directors have been unable to understand about these monster films is that they are never really about the giant lizard or giant monkey trashing a city, instead, they are about the humans that have to deal with these conflicts and their consequences. Even within the Monsterverse franchise, the most popular one is “Kong: Skull Island” (2017), in which the human characters were developed and the monster-fighting was simply a backdrop for a more interesting story. In contrast, the latest venture in the franchise was unable to recapture that same magic. 

The human characters in this movie were not multifaceted or complex, even leaving some viewers unable to remember their names when the credits started rolling. Each character in this film follows common Hollywood sci-fi tropes: the genius scientist and single parent, the rebel pilot with a heart of gold, the skeptic extremist and there is even a young child who turns out to be the chosen one. Not a single one of them goes through even a semblance of a character arc, making them very difficult to connect to as an audience member. 

The one positive of the movie is its action. Viewers can leave the theater satisfied if all they need is some giant monsters beating each other up while causing billions in property damage. The only change from the previous films is that this property damage occurs in a new setting: The Hollow Earth, but all it does is replace skyscrapers with mountains and humans with different humans.

Kong and Godzilla are again given not much to work with in the villains department. “The New Empire” repeats the same boring trope we saw in “King of the Monsters” and “Godzilla Vs. Kong” of the villain being the hero with a twist. “The New Empire,” actually plays it up by having two of these same-but-different monsters. Quantity does not save them from being poor quality enemies in the end. 

“Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire” again fails to tell any meaningful story in the backdrop of basic kaiju violence. Instead of spending money on this boring, derivative CGI-polygon riddled fest, do yourself a favor and rent “Godzilla: Minus One.” You are sure to enjoy your time watching that a lot more.