A new branch of Pinstack, North Texas' high-end combination of bowling, dining, and big games, has opened in a high-end town: Las Colinas, with oodles of bells and whistles, including an in-house restaurant.
With an actual street address of 2750 I-635, Irving, the venue spans 53,000 square feet and features 28 state-of-the-art bowling lanes with lane-side food and beverage service and a private VIP bowling area, so you don't have to bowl with everyone else, shudder.
Additional entertainment offerings include a two-level laser tag arena, rock-climbing wall, high-ropes course, and hundreds of the newest video games and simulator technology. Décor is modern, with attractive aesthetics and bold finishes, which is exactly how you like your finish to be: bold.
The restaurant serves chef-inspired cuisine with dishes such as braised beef short rib with Revolver Blood & Honey BBQ sauce and goat cheese mashed potatoes; and pizza with Italian sausage, black forest ham, and honey.
At the bar, cocktails such as the cosmopolitan and the grapefruit gimlet are both classic and on-trend. There are also keg wines and craft beer on tap. Weekly specials include a "bowl + bite night" on Mondays, and "wine down Wednesdays."
The Las Colinas location has a few unique features including a 2,000-square-foot temperature-controlled covered patio with oversized garage doors, plus games such as bocce ball, oversized chess, giant Connect Four, and giant Jenga.
This is the second branch of Pinstack. The first opened in Plano in 2015, and a third will open in Allen in fall 2017.
Ever since Spider-Man became part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the character’s stand-alone movies have been notable for maintaining their own vision despite having to service the larger MCU storyline. The emotionality of the series reached its high point in No Way Home by bringing back two former Spider-Mans - Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield - to assist Tom Holland in a multiversal storyline.
The heart displayed in that film is superseded by Spider-Man: Brand New Day, in which Peter Parker (Holland) is now alone in the world following the events of the previous film. For years, he has done his best to stay busy by stopping in-progress crimes and checking in with Detective Jean DeWolff (Liza Colón-Zayas), but the twin traumas of losing Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) and forcing girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) and best friend Ned (Jacob Batolon) to forget him still weigh heavily on him.
Almost simultaneously, Peter starts experiencing a change in his physiology and is challenged by a new threat who has a power he does not know how to defeat. As he struggles with both of those things, he asks for help from a variety of sources, including Professor Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), Frank Castle, aka The Punisher (Jon Bernthal), and - despite not knowing who he is - MJ and Ned, who are now roommates in New York following their college years at MIT.
Directed by Dustin Daniel Cretton and written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers (who have written each of the Holland Spider-Man films), the movie has a near-perfect blend of comic book spectacle and small-scale intimacy. Spider-Man’s ability to swing through New York’s urban landscape with ease provides plenty of opportunities for great action sequences, but the character’s focus on keeping the streets safe and finding a way back to his friends makes the story still feel manageable.
This is aided by the decision to not go overboard with the MCU connections. Bruce Banner/Hulk and a member of the New Avengers show up, but in relatively small roles. The Punisher makes the leap from TV to the movies, and the interaction between him and Spider-Man feels organic. So too does the super-secret villain, whose impact is felt well before they ever show up on screen thanks to a power that is as mysterious as it is effective.
While the action is abundant in the film, the filmmakers lean on emotion much more than most other comic book movies. Peter’s journey back to a semblance of a normal life is well-earned, with his reconnection with MJ and Ned slow-walked in an admirably subtle way. And in the final act, when CGI battles typically take over, the interior lives of Peter and other characters play as much a role in what happens as anything they do physically.
Holland, who tends to take criticism for non-Spider-Man roles, remains the ideal actor for the role. His open-heartedness makes him relatable, his athleticism makes him believable, and he crushes the heavier moments. He and Zendaya, who are now married in real life, work tremendously well together, and Batalon is a fun third wheel. Other standouts include Bernthal, Colón-Zayas, Trammell Tillman, and Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink.
From beginning to end, Spider-Man: Brand New Day now owns the title as best movie in the current Spider-Man universe. By maintaining connections to past movies, solidly incorporating new characters, and pointing to the future without making it the whole story, it demonstrates a model for how comic book movies should be done.
---
Spider-Man: Brand New Day opens in theaters on July 31.
