by Josh Sewell
Marty Supreme
(Rated R for language throughout, sexual content, some violent content/bloody images and nudity. Now playing in theaters.)
Timothée Chalamet has been a big part of the Oscar race for many years now, but his role as a thoroughly loathsome punk you still can’t help rooting for might be the performance that finally gets the Best Actor trophy in his hands. (I say “finally” like he’s not a guy who just turned 30 with a decades-long career in front of him.)
In 1950s New York City, Marty Mauser (Chalamet) is a young man with dreams of becoming the world’s best table tennis player. It’s a dream no one respects, but he goes to hell and back in pursuit of victory.
In real life, you’d want to punch Marty in the face before avoiding him for the rest of your life. But in director Josh Safdie’s anxiety-inducing dark comedy (which he co-wrote with Ronald Bronstein), he’s an athlete/con artist who’s so audacious and persuasive that you want to see where his nonstop scheming takes him.
Although the film clocks in at two-and-a-half hours, you never feel the length thanks to the story’s episodic nature. Marty gets into so many adventures and predicaments that the flick could’ve easily been an HBO Max-style limited series if Safdie and Bronstein wanted to spend more time in their chaotic, twisted world.
The supporting cast delivers compelling work as the characters left behind in Marty’s destructive wake. Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A’zion and Kevin O’Leary (yes, the guy from Shark Tank) are particularly strong, with the latter coming out of nowhere to deliver one of 2025’s funniest lines. In fact, there’s a ton of witty dialogue throughout, including some darkly hilarious moments that drew gasps in my press screening several weeks ago.
Adding to the greatness of Marty Supreme is an anachronistic soundtrack full of ’80s hits, a terrific score from composer Daniel Lopatin and beautiful cinematography from Darius Khondji. It’s the epitome of divisive cinema, but those who loved Uncut Gems will enjoy an equally stressful but marginally more uplifting journey.
Grade: A
Avatar: Fire and Ash
(Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, bloody images, some strong language, thematic elements and suggestive material. Now playing in theaters.)
In the third installment of James Cameron’s epic, billions-grossing saga, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) grapple with grief after their oldest son’s death. At the same time, their family encounters a new, aggressive Na’vi tribe led by the fiery Varang (Oona Chaplin), as the conflict on Pandora escalates and a new moral focus emerges.
Cameron’s bank account probably doesn’t regret his 30-year mission to transport viewers to the world of Pandora. However, I can’t help but wonder what other movies we could’ve gotten from him in that time instead of three Avatar flicks with diminishing narrative returns.
The first one was an astonishing visual journey with some thrilling action sequences, even if I admittedly called it “Dances with Smurfs” because of the derivative story. The Way of Water improved on the already incredible technology and altered the characters slightly, but it still felt like watching someone else play an intricately detailed video game.
Fire and Ash is yet another step down. For most of the gluttonous 197-minute runtime, it’s a rehash of everything that happened in the previous movie. It seems there are no permanent stakes – even death can be sidestepped thanks to respawning in avatar bodies and hallucinatory dream sequences – and no evolution for most of the characters, especially Jake.
He’s the same bullheaded guy from the first movie, only he’s blue now. He almost never considers other perspectives and ignores pretty much all the advice he receives from those with more experience on Pandora.
Even the death of his son doesn’t prompt change. He still resents his remaining family, alienating them so much that he almost ritualistically sacrifices one and another comes close to attempting suicide. Then the story immediately pivots from both traumatic events like they never happened.
Admittedly, the final battle sequences – which take up the final 45 minutes or so – are stellar and an improvement over the last installment. But audiences are forced to slog through a ton of repetitive plot points and dialogue to get there. Almost the entire second act could’ve been removed with no impact on the overall story.
At least Fire and Ash ends in a place where there are no loose ends if this turns out to be the final Avatar. But if we do get more sequels (I predict we will, though Cameron passes the directorial torch to someone else), I bet we’ll still be dealing with the same unkillable villains and protagonists who refuse to change.
(Rated R for language throughout, sexual content, some violent content/bloody images and nudity. Now playing in theaters.)
Timothée Chalamet has been a big part of the Oscar race for many years now, but his role as a thoroughly loathsome punk you still can’t help rooting for might be the performance that finally gets the Best Actor trophy in his hands. (I say “finally” like he’s not a guy who just turned 30 with a decades-long career in front of him.)
In 1950s New York City, Marty Mauser (Chalamet) is a young man with dreams of becoming the world’s best table tennis player. It’s a dream no one respects, but he goes to hell and back in pursuit of victory.
In real life, you’d want to punch Marty in the face before avoiding him for the rest of your life. But in director Josh Safdie’s anxiety-inducing dark comedy (which he co-wrote with Ronald Bronstein), he’s an athlete/con artist who’s so audacious and persuasive that you want to see where his nonstop scheming takes him.
Although the film clocks in at two-and-a-half hours, you never feel the length thanks to the story’s episodic nature. Marty gets into so many adventures and predicaments that the flick could’ve easily been an HBO Max-style limited series if Safdie and Bronstein wanted to spend more time in their chaotic, twisted world.
The supporting cast delivers compelling work as the characters left behind in Marty’s destructive wake. Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A’zion and Kevin O’Leary (yes, the guy from Shark Tank) are particularly strong, with the latter coming out of nowhere to deliver one of 2025’s funniest lines. In fact, there’s a ton of witty dialogue throughout, including some darkly hilarious moments that drew gasps in my press screening several weeks ago.
Adding to the greatness of Marty Supreme is an anachronistic soundtrack full of ’80s hits, a terrific score from composer Daniel Lopatin and beautiful cinematography from Darius Khondji. It’s the epitome of divisive cinema, but those who loved Uncut Gems will enjoy an equally stressful but marginally more uplifting journey.
Grade: A
(Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, bloody images, some strong language, thematic elements and suggestive material. Now playing in theaters.)
In the third installment of James Cameron’s epic, billions-grossing saga, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) grapple with grief after their oldest son’s death. At the same time, their family encounters a new, aggressive Na’vi tribe led by the fiery Varang (Oona Chaplin), as the conflict on Pandora escalates and a new moral focus emerges.
Cameron’s bank account probably doesn’t regret his 30-year mission to transport viewers to the world of Pandora. However, I can’t help but wonder what other movies we could’ve gotten from him in that time instead of three Avatar flicks with diminishing narrative returns.
The first one was an astonishing visual journey with some thrilling action sequences, even if I admittedly called it “Dances with Smurfs” because of the derivative story. The Way of Water improved on the already incredible technology and altered the characters slightly, but it still felt like watching someone else play an intricately detailed video game.
Fire and Ash is yet another step down. For most of the gluttonous 197-minute runtime, it’s a rehash of everything that happened in the previous movie. It seems there are no permanent stakes – even death can be sidestepped thanks to respawning in avatar bodies and hallucinatory dream sequences – and no evolution for most of the characters, especially Jake.
He’s the same bullheaded guy from the first movie, only he’s blue now. He almost never considers other perspectives and ignores pretty much all the advice he receives from those with more experience on Pandora.
Even the death of his son doesn’t prompt change. He still resents his remaining family, alienating them so much that he almost ritualistically sacrifices one and another comes close to attempting suicide. Then the story immediately pivots from both traumatic events like they never happened.
Admittedly, the final battle sequences – which take up the final 45 minutes or so – are stellar and an improvement over the last installment. But audiences are forced to slog through a ton of repetitive plot points and dialogue to get there. Almost the entire second act could’ve been removed with no impact on the overall story.
At least Fire and Ash ends in a place where there are no loose ends if this turns out to be the final Avatar. But if we do get more sequels (I predict we will, though Cameron passes the directorial torch to someone else), I bet we’ll still be dealing with the same unkillable villains and protagonists who refuse to change.
Grade: C
Reach out to Josh Sewell at joshsewell81@gmail.com or on BlueSky @joshsewell.bsky.social
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