Challengers

Live action anime tennis and the best sports movie since Creed, Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers crackles with electricity and searing chemistry among its three leads. Even without its misleading marketing’s emphasis on sex — there’s barely any in the film — Challengers synthesizes eroticism and kineticism through the art of tennis, and into one of the best films of the year so far. Minor spoilers ahead…

It’s taking longer and more out of me to make these videos each year, but I don’t think I’ll ever stop. It’s my annual love letter to the movies. The over 60 films showcased represents the best last year had to offer: from genre blockbusters to tender stories of star-crossed love to unknowable horrors. Here is A Year in Film 2023. In 4K.

Welcome to my dispatch from this year’s SXSW. Like always, I won’t be writing full reviews of everything I see at the festival, but this year is filled with big headliners and gnarly midnighters: the latest Alex Garland, an indie horror director’s frightening sophomore feature, a new Doug Liman remake of a beloved cult classic, and Hunter Schafer’s debut in a leading role. Here are the capsule reviews for Civil War, Oddity, Road House, and Cuckoo.

My 2024 SXSW coverage continues with Michael Mohan’s nun-themed horror film: Immaculate. An attempt at “nunsploitation” that never quite reaches the requisite luridness of its subgenre, Sydney Sweeney’s scream queen turn only finds tepid scares and lukewarm thrills. Minor spoilers ahead…

My 2024 SXSW coverage begins here with one of the most anticipated films of the festival. As first-time action director and action star, Dev Patel has rocket fuel in his veins. Colliding formal, kinetic grit with adrenaline-fueled passion, Monkey Man is an action movie that delivers in spite of its dim spirituality and flat politics: a whirlwind of bloodletting, throat punches, and kicks to the teeth. Minor spoilers ahead…