Timothée Chalamet

Marty Supreme

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Marty Supreme
  • IMDb: link

I’m never rooting for Marty Mauser, and, for me, that limits how far Marty Supreme can reach (despite the talented filmmaking involved) as I have no stake in its destination. Inspired by the life of Marty Reisman, Timothée Chalamet stars as two-bit con-artist and aspiring ping-pong champion Marty Mauser. One of the best players in a sport largely ignored in the United States, our part-time shoe salesman cons and schemes on ways to improve his “Marty Supreme” brand while struggling to find the financing to make it to the World Table Tennis Championships in Japan.

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Top Ten Movies of 2024

/ / Top Tens & Lists

2024 wasn’t as top-heavy as some years, but there was a wide variety of good movies. Here’s a look back at my favorites from those movies I was lucky enough to view this year. Despite my best efforts there will always be some not included here if access was limited, the film wasn’t released in time for review before the end of 2024, the film wasn’t made available for awards consideration, or I simply ran out of time. Likely some of those other films you’ll see reviews for later in 2025 but they are not in consideration here. Here then, is my list of the best movies of 2024.

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A Complete Unknown

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: A Complete Unknown
  • IMDb: link

“You’re kind of an asshole, Bob.”

There’s a scene between Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) and Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro) after their first night together that sums up the themes of the movie succinctly. Returning to music over her, while also offering an offhand dismissal of her work, Bob still brings her back to his bed through his songwriting. In a nutshell, just as Ms. Baez so eloquently puts it, Bob is indeed an asshole. However, he’s one hell of a talented asshole.

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Wonka

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Wonka
  • IMDb: link

Wonka

The attempt to tell the origin story for Roald Dahl‘s famous eccentric chocolatier is a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand we get Timothée Chalamet as the still naive young man seeking his fortune creating chocolate for the world to enjoy which provides the heart of the film. There’s enough here that we can see the possibility of this version of Willy Wonka growing into the far more gruff character we see played by Gene Wilder. On the other hand we’re left with a script that turns out to have little to do with chocolate and more to do with crazy antics, involving bumbling bad guys, really only suited for small children.

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The French Dispatch

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The French Dispatch
  • IMDb: link

Writer/director Wes Anderson‘s latest is a quirky ensemble piece set around the final issue of the fictional French Dispatch circular from the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun in which each of the magazine’s stories, all taking place in and around the equally fictional town of Ennui-sur-Blasé, are acted out for the audience. The reason for the final issue is the unexpected death of its editor Arthur Howitzer, Jr. (Bill Murray, who appears in flashbacks).

The film starts out strong with Owen Wilson‘s short piece on the town as a bicycling reporter followed by J.K.L. Berensen’s (Tilda Swinton) more lengthy article about a murderer (Benicio Del Toro) finding artistic talent in prison with the help of one of the prison guards (an often nude Léa Seydoux) who becomes his muse. Both Del Toro and Sydoux are terrific here, and Adrien Brody adds some fun as a white-collar criminal who works to try and make money of the talented, but moody, artist.

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