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.
Read MoreThis writer is an unabashed film music lover. I owned more film score CDs than ones of popular music back in the day and that ratio hasn’t changed with digital media. Hell, I wrote a long-form editorial three years ago proclaiming film music as an improvement of the Mozart Effect for babies and children which led to a playlist afterwards that I still use to this day. I am a mark for what Score: A Film Music Documentary was selling and many of the names and talents featured in the film are found on that personal playlist.
Read MoreWhere using a composite character gets dicey is when they are made the lead because their fictional presence can outweigh the history and accuracy around them. Too much can be skewed to suit a character that doesn’t exist. That is exactly what occurs in “Patriots Day,” Peter Berg’s third consecutive collaboration with Mark Wahlberg. The makings for a stocked and stacked ensemble drama are dismantled by the misplaced hero worship that becomes little more than a vanity project.
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