In light of the bankable stars thread, I guess we'll find out if Zendaya is a draw.

People are going bananas over this because of Zendaya.

She’s talented, but I sure don’t get the big deal about her.

This doesn’t look very good.

Damn, I thought it was gonna be a movie version of this:

https://deadline.com/2023/07/zendaya...te-1235444723/

Not surprised. This is not the kind of movie you can just haphazardly release without Zendaya supporting it. But, the 7 month delay is going to cost MGM a lot.

Out this week. Reviews are very positive: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/challengers_2023

There are some early access Dolby screenings tonight.

She seems to have a good eye for picking projects - not surprised it's reviewed well.

Feels weird seeing this in the theater by myself though I'll definitely wait for streaming.

Not gonna lie, when I saw the poster for this when I went to see GxK:TNE, I immediately thought of Challengers of the Unknown, going from excitement to instant disappointment.

If I wasn't working tomorrow morning, I would've tried to catch tonight's showing. I'm busy the entire week, so it will have to wait.

I often go to movies by myself. No shame in it. I thought that stigma had long since passed.

Just saw this at an early access showing. Not too many people; theater was maybe 1/4 or 1/3 full in the "non-front two rows" section of the IMAX theater. The Civil War early access a couple weeks back was almost completely full for comparison.
It's a fine movie. not great but it held my interest.

I don't mind going to a movie without a companion, which I think is probably more normal now post moviepass. Not sure if this is what he meant but it does feel weird if I'm the only one in the entire theater though.

Skin and bones Zendaya as a tennis player/coach.

I go to movies by myself all the time - this one seems a little steamier than I’d see at 3PM on a Tuesday.

Josh O' Connor likes to do these steamy sexually charged movies and he was in Mothering Sunday and Odessa Young the female star was naked for most of the movie.

I’m on a work trip and dropped by a local Cinemark after finishing up tonight to catch this.

I thought this was great. It’s funny, sexy and twisted and has a little dark elements as well. The soundtrack is amazing. It really amplifies the tennis action. And Luca Guadagnino did some really crazy first person POV shots and there were some really unique camera angles.

Zendaya is a little too skinny for my taste, but she gave a good performance and I thought she had a little femme fatale element to her.

It might be a little too long. Runs 130 plus minutes. But this movie might be a tough sell to really casual moviegoers. It’s kind of a dark and twisted love story along with sports drama.

One of the best films so far this year.

I have yet to see Zendaya in anything, so I know her mostly from dozens of red carpet photos and whatever I've read about her in the entertainment press. (She must have a great publicity team.) I've always found her fascinating. She knows how to pick and wear fashions and adopt different looks for different occasions and manage to look beautiful each time. She's one of the few celebrities today with old-school glamor. (And the single name helps.)

The New York Times' Kyle Buchanan did a group interview with the director and three stars of CHALLENGERS and I have to admit I was very impressed. Zendaya comes off as smart and self-aware. And she displayed abundant curiosity during the shoot, asking the director numerous questions about filmmaking. (Guadagnino made me happy by citing Billy Wilder as an influence.) It's not the kind of thing I'd go out of my way to see--very few movies made outside Japan send me to theaters anymore--but I would like to see this someday.

Here's the article link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/25/m...smid=url-share

I gave this one a B. I liked some of the stylistic choices, and I liked the acting. The playfulness with the timeline. But there were frustrating elements too. Some of the tension seemed forced to me. A lot of the slow-motion dramatic moments on the court, with the pulsing music (particularly the last 10 minutes), seemed drawn out in the extreme, and I just wasn't feeling it.



Geez, looks like this will be on PVOD next Friday