Marty Supreme (2025)

 

Timothée Chalamet is an actor who has made a big splash in the last few years, appearing in art house films like "Call Me By Your Name" and blockbusters like "Dune" and "Wonka". I can't say he has always been an appealing character on screen because some of his roles have required him to be a bit of a heel, but I can say he plays the biggest jerk I have seen in several years in the new film "Marty Supreme". He is not an uninteresting character, but no one should ever trust him and don't expect to have a happy experience if you encounter him in your life. 

I have not seen and of the previous films made by the Safdie Brothers, but I recognize their style from the trailers and the reviews that I have read. Josh Safdie is on his own here, but I have no doubt that what I am seeing is emblematic of their style. It is frenetic, fast paced, and a combination of dread and humor. Believe it or not, this is not a film about drug dealers, jewel thieves or for the most part, other underworld characters. This is a film about ping pong, set in the early 1950s, with a sense of style that many will embrace but some may hold at arms length.

Count me in the later category. I did not dislike the film, but it is not really something for me. The lead character makes endless mistakes that other pay for, and he is indifferent to the consequences for the most part, even when the consequences effect him. Most of the time however he is a narcissist of  limited human emotions. You can admire his single minded pursuit of excellence in his chosen field, but you will probably be embarrassed by his behavior. Much like John McEnroe in 1980s tennis, his skills as an athlete are matched only by his arrogance.

The storytelling consists of personal disaster porn. Every choice Marty Mauser makes, professionally or personally, leads to some crisis that escalates out of hand and requires the next choice to try and address it. Of course, that choice then results in it's own complications. The film is two and a half hours long, and I don't think I could count the number of sudden shifts occur in the story. Bathtubs create havoc, gas stations explode, dogs get lost and found, and the people involved are rarely benevolent. Gwyneth Paltrow shows up as a former movie star who gets involved with Marty, and disaster strikes her as well. Marty's friends lose cars, money, and get physically attacked because of his recklessness. Oh, and there are some great table tennis matches along the way.

Chalamet is excellent in the film, and if you care about awards season, I suspect he may take some of the prises home with him this year. Of course you would not want to share in his characters exploits, because you'd spend all your time trying to escape the consequences of his pig headed arrogance. The final scene tries to redeem the character, but I did not believe it for a minute. Lots of people will love the film, I am glad I saw it, but it is not my vibe.

 

Song Sung Blue (2025)

 

For 45 years it has been my practice to see a movie on the Christmas holiday. There have been plenty of stinkers, a number of films that were excellent but not really appropriate for the season, and several films encapsulated exactly what I was looking for for the holiday. Hooray, we have one of those films to talk about this year. Song sung Blue is an audience-pleasing, old-fashioned, music filled heart Tugger but I think the vast majority of the public will be happy to embrace it.

This film is apparently based on a documentary feature, so it is for the most part a true story, although there certainly have been liberties taken in developing it as a drama. The premise seems a little outlandish, but the longer I live in this world the more I discover that there are subcultures to which I am not privy, which thrive and run deep. So I suppose it should not surprise me that music impersonators have a sizable audience and their own sets of rules. However even if you are not part of that audience, you can enjoy this film because you know the songs and they are presented with great sincerity.

Mike Sardina is a somewhat successful impersonator, who is dissatisfied with doing short bits of other singers, and dreams of finding an act that will allow him to interpret something meaningful at least to him. When he encounters Claire, another impersonator, and she suggests a performer that he might be inspired by, well it is the start of a romance and a new show for both of them. Mike always builds himself as” Lightning”, and he dubs Claire “

Thunder” and together they construct a Neil Diamond interpretation and tribute show.

There's a lot of fun to be had as the two of them struggle to get things right, and convince hesitant Casino owners, restaurant venues, and other entertainment outlets to give them the chance to show the world what Neil Diamond means. Hugh Jackman is Mike, and his performance is highlighted by and strengthened through the songs that he lends his voice to. We all know that Hugh Jackman can sing, he's been a Broadway musical performer, and he has sung in cinematic musicals a couple of times, including an Academy Award nomination for “Les Miserables”. I think it might be a bigger surprise to discover that Kate Hudson, who plays Claire, has just as effective a  voice as Jackman. In many ways her story is the more compelling one as part of this endeavor. Frankly Kate Hudson steals the movie.

Naysayers may simply think that this is a karaoke Musical, and not worthy of much attention. I however am not snobby about being entertained, and if someone can sing well and present the songs in an entertaining way, I'm going to be satisfied. When you add on to that a very nice romance story, and a couple of tragic story arcs, you get a film that might be a little melodramatic, but that doesn't make it worthless. Maybe it is just another Underdog Story, but it's about underdogs in a different culture, and one that happens to be very interesting.

That the movie is bittersweet is not a drawback but rather a reflection of the old fashioned nature of Storytelling, which director Craig Brewer seems to be adept at. This is a movie that is made for adults, and it has some slightly mature moments, but it is not bawdy in a way teens would be inappropriate to include in the audience. This may not be a four quadrant Breakout but there are a couple of quadrants that will embrace this movie with open arms, and I happen to be in one of them.

You are also likely to be singing along with several of the songs, because after all the Neil Diamond catalog is pretty well known. Even those songs that are going to be less familiar will be appealing because of the way they are presented by the stars of this movie. It is not an Earth shaking cinematic accomplishment, it just does what we used to want from the movies, emotional satisfaction and entertainment. This is probably going to go on my list of the better films of 2025.

Avatar Fire and Ash (2025)

 

Let me Begin by stating that I have nothing but admiration for James Cameron and his technical accomplishments with the Avatar films. From the very first film back in 2009 up through this most recent film, Cameron has been pushing the outside of the envelope reaching for greater and greater cinematic experiences to make movie going worthwhile. As far as I'm concerned an Avatar movie deserves to be on the biggest screen that you can find with the best sound system available and ideally in 3D. That's because the Craftsman Behind These films are at the Apex of their talent.

I have to admit however that the Avatar films don't hold my interest as far as storytelling is concerned. They are interesting enough while I'm watching them, and create enough suspense to engage me for the three  hours or so, that they take up. On the other hand I have never felt the need to rewatch the films in any setting other than a theater. Unlike a film series like the Lord of the Rings, these stories do not feel essential. They are entertainments rather than universals. As a consequence I don't find myself invested in waiting for the next movie to come out. It took more than a dozen years for the first sequel to show up, and I was fine with that. It's only taken about 4 years for this second sequel to show, and to be honest I wasn't even sure I was interested in seeing it. I'm glad I did because I enjoyed the spectacle, I just can't seem to warm up to any of the characters or care much about what happens to the cultures being presented here. I'm not sure if that is a storytelling fault or simply result of the genre that is being developed, although I am strongly anticipating the third film Dune franchise.

Fire and Ash, continues the story of the navi and the metamorphized Jake Sully. I mostly don't remember how it is that this human became a navi, and the fact that antagonist characters do the same thing is also somehow outside my frame of reference. And once again I don't really care. The film is mostly a series of chases and battles fought in the lustly designed environments that have been created on the planet of Pandora. The jungles and oceans of that world are visually stimulating and filled with creatures and Flora that are spectacular to behold especially in 3D. Is one of my friends jokes the planet deserves to be in 3D because the characters are barely 2D.

Like the previous versions of the film series, fire and Ash feels like it comes to a stopping point, and then adds another 40 minutes. You are going to get your money's worth no matter how unnecessary it is for the films to be as long as they are. Because of the plot line repeats itself so often in the same movie there's not a lot of suspense about the story only about how the incidents that occur in the story are going to be resolved. From my point of view that's not a great way to stay engaged with characters or long-term story arc,

One thing that I am grateful for in this new addition is the presence of antagonists who are not merely human exploiters but are instead, Renegade Navi who don't really subscribe to the same Planet mysticism as the residents we've already met. I'm not quite sure why they can reject the authority of the planet, because they have the same ethernet port hanging off of them that our Heroes do. There is a little bit of mumbo jumbo about how this tribe was abandoned by the great mother, but we don't really know what took place, and why the fault should have been laid in the center of the planet. They do however have some cool new designs including a headdress that probably is a form of cultural appropriation that Cameron and manages to get  away with. 

A smart person will never bet against James Cameron when it comes to box office success. This movie appears to be doing as well as the previous sequel and although there has been some talk of pausing the planned 4th and fifth films, can't see that happening. I was a little surprised that the lamb community was not interested in a show on this particular film, which might have left me believing that there was going to be a serious drop off in interest. It certainly isn't the case with the General Cinema audience, so maybe it's just a function of the time of year.

As I've already said, the film is worth seeing if you are seeing it in a theater on a big screen with the purpose of enjoying a mass entertainment. If you're looking for anything else however there are plenty of superior options. As most of you who've read these posts before probably know,  I almost always want a movie to succeed, even those that let me down occasionally. Avatar fire and Ash is entertaining enough, but outside of the technical craft and look of the film, I think it's flatlined.

Little Women (2019) Revisit

 

A general rule of thumb is that remakes are never as good as the original film. That is certainly true of a great number of films, for instance as much as I love the 1978 and 2005 versions of King Kong, They don't really hold a candle to the original 1933 film. Of course there is always the exception which proves the rule. "Little Women" seems to be that consistent exception. Although Katherine Hepburn may have been the perfect Jo, the two most recent versions of the film from 1994 and from 2019, film makers have found ways to make this story better and better told than the earliest editions.

In fact I'm of the opinion that the most recent version from Greta Gerwig in 2019 is the best version of Little Women. Saoirse Ronan is Practically Perfect as Jo, and Florence Pugh as Amy is just as good. This version of the film  pays particular attention to the relationship between Amy and Jo, and the characters are much more vivid and real as a result. Like real sisters, these two fight, make up, fight some more and still love each other deeply. The few moments of regret that Jo feels late in the film for rejecting Laurie,  are made all the deeper by our knowledge that Amy has replaced her affections.

Jo's time in New York is one of the things that distinguishes this version from earlier editions. The gritty City in the middle of the 19th century is brought to life by great production design, and by the attitudes of the men around her as Jo tries to launch a career as a writer. The future love interest for Jo, is not so much a dashing foreigner as he is an honest critic and solid companion. Her initial rejection of him comes from a vanity that she herself would be mortified to discover exists. The reconciliation that occurs is more believable because of the way that Gerwig has time shifted the story around. She is emphasizing emotional points rather than chronological points. The only criticism I have is that it is sometimes dependent on out observation of Jo's hair, to be able to place the sequence of events in an order that works. 

This film was featured as part of the Paramount Holiday Movie Season, and although it is not strictly a Christmas film, it passes the smell test the same way that "Meet Me in St. Louis" does. There is a key Christmas segment and the family connections all seem to be reflective of the spirit of the holiday, regardless of the season. There is gift giving throughout the year, and warm memories are present in the nostalgia of the sun as well as the snow covered lands around the March house.

I suppose every generation deserves a chance to make a story their own.  Maybe years from now, another screenwriter/director will imagine a way to tell this story in a way that is meaningful to children just being born now or in the near future. The foundations have been laid by the original story, I'm just glad when the contractor knows when to make some design changes. 

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

We lost Val Kilmer this last year, and that is certainly a tragedy. He is best remembered by most as Iceman from the Top Gun films, and he was Doc Holliday in the best performance of his career in Tombstone. It is unfortunate that his role in “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” is sometimes overlooked . Gay Perry, the private detective, is one of the great sarcastic narrators in film noir. When you add Robert Downey Jr and his sardonic delivery to the narration, you have what should qualify as a classic.

Shane Black is created two of the best Neo noir films of the century. “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” along with “The Nice Guys", is the perfect mix of mystery, thriller, and comedy. There's a seemingly convoluted plot that is the basis of the mystery in this film . If you get to the end of the movie and you are still confused, don't worry about it. The real joy in the film is just watching the characters be smart asses in the face of danger and their own stupidity.

The dialogue for this movie is pinnacle Shane Black. He should probably only write for action movies, and film noir. Although his version of the Predator does undermine his action credentials a little bit. Still,l this movie gives him enough excess status that he can burn a little bit of it on some failed outings.  Downey Jr plays Harry Lockhart, a loser and small-time crook who somehow gets caught up in the film business and is being mentored on how to be a private eye by Perry Von Schrieke, Kilmer's character. When real murders start to happen, Harry insists on trying to solve them and tries to muscle Gay Perry into helping him. The by play between the two of them consists of some of the wittiest back and forth you will see on the screen since the days of the screwball comedies of Preston Sturgis.

Well not a parody in the pure sense of the word, “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” certainly plays on the tropes of the traditional film noir. A detached detective, a femme fatale, and enough tough guy suspects to fill an arena for a fight to the death. We frequently get those fights as well. The deadpan delivery of the two stars, along with the outrageous plot points and coincidences, keep this film intriguing and lively.

One of the best illustrations of the biting and sarcastic dialogue comes when Perry in the fit of frustration asks Harry if he knows what he'll find when he looks up the word idiot in the dictionary. Harry gives a smart-ass answer which would have been the end of it in the lesser film, but Gay Perry puts a button on the joke and dialogue rises to a new level.

Michelle Monaghan is also quite good in the film as the not quite good girl that Harry has always been in love with. She is both funny and sexy simultaneously. She is also pretty resilient in spite of her flighty character traits. As usual it's not too hard to figure out the mystery, when a pretty substantial character actor is introduced early in the film, and then remains on the periphery during the exposition. Let's just say that you will know who the bad guy is the minute he appears on screen. Again that isn't really important, since the plot is mainly designed to put Harry and Perry in awkward situations and allow them to quip their way out.

It's a little hard to believe that this film is 20 years old, and they're only a couple of pieces of technology that give that away. Otherwise this movie remains as fresh as it was in 2005, and although I don't think it quite qualifies as a Christmas film, it does its best to try.

Die Hard (1988) Revisit

I don't understand why people continue to argue whether or not this is a Christmas film. The studios, movie theaters, and audiences, all make it a staple in Revival presentations during the holiday season. Die Hard is absolutely a Christmas movie.

There is plenty of content on this site which already reviews and comments upon the film. As usual a big screen presentation is one of the things that makes the annual viewing of this so special. The Paramount Theater here in Austin clearly recognizes that this is a Christmas movie because they scheduled it as part of their holiday programming. So when you put together our favorite action film with our favorite movie theater at our favorite time of year, do you really expect any negative commentary?

Let's just say that once again John McClane saves Christmas, gets his wife back, and makes Hans Gruber into a falling advent calendar that everyone should have on their Shelf at home. Ho ho ho, oh now I have a machine gun too.

Kille Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair (2025)

 When Kill Bill volume 1 and volume 2 came out in 2003 and 2004, we were pretty much Blown Away by the audacity Of The two movies. We knew that they were originally planned as one film but the practical circumstances dictated that they be divided into two parts. I have always felt that the cliffhanger at the end of Kill Bill volume 1 was a perfect way to keep us engaged and excited about the second film which was arriving just a few months later.

It was just last September that we saw both volume one and volume two on the big screen, hosted by Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino's pal and frequent collaborator. He did great introductions for both films, and reminded us that it was his band that did the music for the second film. This seemed perfectly appropriate since much of the movie takes place in Texas and Mexico. We had heard that Tarantino was going to release this new version of Kill Bill, but we decided that we would probably see it again despite having just experienced it at the Paramount Theater.

Thank goodness we did come back, because Tarantino is edited the two films together seamlessly, and added a few bits and pieces here and there to make the movie feel fresh, in spite of the fact that we just seen it two months before. Someplace else can tell you about all of the changes that have been made. The extended anime sequence of Oren's background is probably the most noticeable part of the film that has been enhanced. There may also have been a couple of shots in the House of Blue leaves fight that were not there before. Noticeably missing was the dialogue that David Carradine provided at the end of Kill Bill volume one, they provided the cliffhanger. Since the movie just continues the information about the bride's daughter still being alive has been reserved for much later in the film then what it was previously.

Tarantino includes a couple of touches the throwback to the 1970s era that he so loves, as do I. Veteran moviegoers will know to sit through the credits to make sure they've seen everything that will be part of the film. Everybody else in the theater left before the final segment played out on the screen, but we were still there to see it. It's an additional chapter done in an anime style using storyboard techniques that were probably used in the original film, for a segment that was eliminated. It was completely unnecessary but it was a lot of fun and we were certainly glad that we stayed to the very end.

Most of the rest of the story Remains the Same, and you could look at my notes from our September screening if you want to know more about what I thought of the films. It is also bittersweet that we lost Michael Madsen earlier this year, his Bud, is a key transition to the second segments of the movie. He will always be Mr. blonde in my head, but Bud is a great character that he brought to life for these films.

One of my online friends fervently hopes that the whole bloody affair is never released on home video, so it will always be a theatrical experience. I share that sentiment entirely, but I live in the real world and unfortunately this kind of screening maybe two infrequent to forgo a release to streaming or physical media. Believe me, if this version of the film does make it to physical media, I will be purchasing it.