Review: “Challengers”

“Tennis is a relationship.” Tennis prodigy Tashi Duncan (Zendaya) utters these words as she’s stretched out by the beach, late into the evening following a party at the junior’s segment of the U.S. Open. She’s addressing Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor) and Art Donaldson (Mike Faist), a pair of old school friends competing as a doubles […]

Review: “The People’s Joker”

If I regret one thing about my experience covering the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, it’s returning my ticket for the Midnight Madness world premiere of Vera Drew’s The People’s Joker. My reasons for doing so have nothing to do with the film itself; as a lifelong Batman fan and a bonafide hater of Todd […]

Review: “Civil War”

I can’t help but admire Alex Garland for the feature of his fourth film, Civil War, that bugs me the most. Set in a near but indeterminate future, the British writer and director turns his gaze on America, examining a horrific yet (post-January 6, 2021) not implausible consequence of partisan politics driving civilians to the […]

Review: “Monkey Man”

That Dev Patel’s Monkey Man— not only the actor’s directorial debut, but his brainchild, having also conceived the story, co-written the screenplay, and produced it in addition to starring in it— would be compared to the John Wick series was inevitable, even if all they share in common is their centering on a lone man […]

Review: “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire”

Any new Godzilla movie always has my expectations working somewhat against it. My younger brother watched and rewatched Roland Emmerich’s 1998 Godzilla so many times after it was released— almost daily— I’m surprised he didn’t ruin the VHS tape. But he also went back and watched several of Toho Co.’s original films (albeit the horribly […]