Ping Pong, Andromedan, Neil Diamond, Favorite Pastime, Haves and Have Not and Ella McCay
MARTY SUPREME | A24 | Writer/Director Josh Safdie |
Co-Writer Ronald Bronstein
We’ve all seen movies about boxers going one more round in the ring, tennis champs, football heroes, baseball greats, and brilliant chess players, but can’t recall any about ping pong/table tennis until now. There’s something fun and audacious about “Marty Supreme”. Timothée Chalamet’s Marty Mauser is a fast-talking, restless, allergic to limits kinda creature – but he’s also a little softer than expected.
Set in postwar New York, Marty is a Lower East Side dreamer stuck selling shoes, clinging to the conviction that ping pong will be his escape hatch. Safdie understands that what Marty is really chasing isn’t fame, but legitimacy—the right to take up space in a world that keeps telling him his dream doesn’t matter. Chalamet leans fully into Marty’s contradictions. He’s charming and exhausting, romantic and petty, a man whose confidence often reads as self-delusion. The performance mimics the sport itself, kinetic, fast-paced, bouncing. Marty isn’t always likable, but he’s rarely dull—and that tension powers the film forward.
Safdie’s direction is also pure momentum. Shot on 35mm by Darius Khondji, the film hums with restless energy. The camera drifts, lunges, and eavesdrops. Every scene feels alive with texture and believable lived-in worlds.
The female roles are pivotal – Gwyneth Paltrow, lured out of semi-retirement, brings a brittle melancholy to Kay Stone, an old movie star Marty decides to seduce for various reasons. And Odessa A’zion nearly steals the film as Rachel, Marty’s ex-girlfriend and fiercest believer—a young woman who understands the cost of devotion even as she pays it. Her performance gives the movie its emotional anchor, especially when Marty’s ambition begins to eclipse everything else.
At 150 minutes, Marty Supreme does occasionally test patience. The film’s devotion to Marty’s point of view means it sometimes indulges his excesses a bit too much, looping through the same beats of hustle, humiliation, and renewed belief. There are moments where the story threatens to spin out, mirroring Marty’s own inability to stop when he should. But that indulgence also feels intentional—Safdie isn’t interested in tidy arcs or easy lessons. He wants you inside the obsession, even when it’s uncomfortable.
When the film finally slows down enough to ask who Marty might be without his dream, the answer is both unsettling and quietly profound. Rating: 4 outta 5
BUGONIA |Focus Features| Director Yorgos Lanthimos |
Screenplay Will Tracy | Based on film Save the Green Planet!
by Jang Joon-hwan
“Bugonia” refers to an ancient belief, described in works like Virgil’s Georgics, that honeybees could spontaneously generate from the decaying carcass of a sacrificed bull or ox, symbolizing death and renewal. I think that’s interesting, but the movie left me cold. I have no issues with it and I have no love for it. I know Yorgos Lanthimos can go out on a limb and normally I’m there perched and enthralled; but couldn’t really find any muster for this one. Yes, there are fine performances from Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone, as per usual. I get the social commentary of the inhumanity of corporate control. I also feel it has the only fitting ending.. and yeah, but okay… Next. Rating: 3 outta 5
SONG SUNG BLUE | Focus Features | Writer/Director Craig Brewer |
Based on Book Song Sung Blue by Greg Kohs
There’s a quiet sincerity to this movie that sneaks up on you. I went in thinking this is going to be super corny; one of those throw away movies that probably should go straight to streaming. Of course, some will still feel this way, due to the nature of the plot and the cheesy, lower class characters based on real-life couple Mike and Claire Sardina (played by Hugh Jackman & Kate Hudson) a Milwaukee based Neil Diamond tribute duo, called Lightning & Thunder. But I was really drawn into their sadness, struggles, highs, lows and love story.
Writer/Director Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow) inspired by the 2008 documentary of the same name, traces the rise of Lightning & Thunder’s local fame alongside the quieter, more painful battles playing out, as they blend their families, deal with money troubles and health issues.
Jackman really seems to have a handle on this guy Mike, who feels so strongly about performing in general, but after meeting Claire (a Patsy Cline impersonator) is encouraged to become not a Neil Diamond impersonator, but rather an interpreter. And it’s not just a gimmick, he truly reveres the prolific singer/songwriter and wants audiences to understand Diamond is so much more than “Sweet Caroline” dunt dunt dunt.
Hudson gets to not only show off her harmonizing skills, but delves into a completely understandable and convincing spiral of depression.
Newcomer Ella Anderson who plays Claire’s daughter Rachel is one to watch. Her character has a good arc and Anderson expresses volumes with her remarkable eyes.
What makes it work so well is its refusal to romanticize struggle while still finding grace in it. Brewer understands that the appeal of a tribute act isn’t perfection; it’s devotion. Watching Mike and Claire build their act from sheer love of the music—performing for small crowds, community halls, and anyone willing to listen. It becomes a gentle reminder of how art sustains people long before it ever rewards them. The Neil Diamond songs aren’t just nostalgia bait; they function as emotional anchors, carrying the weight of shared memories and unspoken resilience.
SONG SUNG BLUE may not reinvent the music biopic, but it doesn’t need to. Its strength lies in its modesty and sincerity, in the belief that ordinary people with extraordinary perseverance are worth watching.
Rating: 4 outta 5
EEPHUS | Music Box Films| Director Carson Lund |
Writers Michael Basta, Nate Fisher, Carson Lund
Boring as any real baseball game. I fell asleep near the end and woke up to see them finally leaving the field and couldn’t even muster enough interest to rewind and see who won. How did this win the NY Critics Best Film of the year? I get the folksy quality and the whole America’s favorite pastime thing, but zzzzzzz
Rating: 2 outta 5
GOOD FORTUNE| Lionsgate | Writer/Director Aziz Ansari
ELLA MCCAY| 20th Century Studios| Writer/Director James L. Brooks
I can’t believe this is by legendary director James L. Brooks. It felt like a high school play. Just wrong on so many levels. Cringe-worthy really. And so obvious that Brooks feels this girl, Emma Mackey, should be more well-know than she is and determined he’d showcase her the way “Pretty Woman” put Julia Roberts on the map once upon a time. But that was a great script and delightfully directed. I wish I could say the material is terrible but Mackey shines despite it – but no – she seems to be treading water trying to keep this thing afloat. The whole movie feels so forced.
And who pairs Woody Harrelson and Rebecca Hall as a believable couple? Granted, Hall’s only in it for a split second but there’s no way you believe she’d have been married to Harrelson’s character for years and years taking that kind of mental abuse. Again, it just felt forced.
With all due respect to the once great James L. Brooks, this is my pick for Worst Movie of 2025. Rating: 1 outta 5
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Tinsel & Tine provides year-round free promotion, sparking conversations and awareness, celebration and reviews of the movie industry - from local indie shorts to international films/filmmakers, to studio driven movies/moviemakers. Mixed with a spotlight on Philly Happenings. #MiniMovieReview #PhillyCalendar
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