Movie review: Marty Supreme

Many are saying that the recent cult movie ‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You’ should be renamed ‘MomCut Gems’ (I personally prefer ‘Uncut Gams’). Using that formula, Marty Supreme could be…(cough) ‘Top-spunCut Gems’? (a friend told me that’s a long walk, I don’t disagree). 

Riffing on the true story of a world-class table tennis player from Brooklyn (Marty ‘The Needle’ Reisman) trying to topple his Japanese nemesis, director Josh Safdie channels the pressure-cooker atmosphere that he and his brother Benny have made their signature vibe (see Good Time, Uncut Gems). You don't go to a Safdie film expecting restraint, and I don’t think it’s spoiling too much to say that you certainly don't find it here.

The story concerns the orbit of 1950s ping-pong (don’t call it that) miracle Marty Mauser, who personifies the hunger, drive, and specific energy of post-war American ambition. Timothée Chalamet attacks the title role with no little commitment. Every aspect of his life - all in some way geared towards world fame and fortune - is coated in hi-octane sweat, sometimes near-genius precision, and occasionally reckless abandon.
 
Marty is a hustler, the kind that denizens of Noo Yawk Cit-eh think that they have a monopoly on. He’s taking money from rubes at casual table tennis games with his associate Wally (Tyler the Creator), he’s having an affair with married childhood sweetheart Rachel (Odessa A’zion), he’s designing his own orange table tennis ball, he’s stealing money to travel to tournaments. 

It’s already a lot of plates to keep spinning, and throw in an erotic obsession with a fading movie star (played by Gwyneth Paltrow) and falling into the bad books of a local gangster (indie directing legend Abel Ferrara in a rare acting role) and you’ve got the kind of excessive, disorienting, occasionally exhausting caper that Safdie obviously relishes. 

The actual table tennis games are impressively choreographed and feasibly dramatic, but they’re almost sections of relief, given the frothing mess of everything around them. Adversarial investors, fraying family bonds and friendships, and an absolute casserole of a love life all build to a suitably chaotic climax, and some of the explosive set pieces - the hotel bathtub scene being one - are instantly memorable. 

If you found Uncut Gems (or Uncut Gams for that matter) somewhat on the anxiety-inducing side, then it’s likely not going to be a relaxing time at the cinema for you. If, however, you love a grifting-on-the-hoof, relentlessly intense, house of cards-style calamity that somehow keeps delivering hope, then let Marty Supreme paddle you into a good time (PO). 

Marty Supreme is showing in cinemas across the city.

Movie Review: Frankenstein

Legacy horror has enjoyed some big recent releases, what with Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu last year, and now Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of Frankenstein (a 35mm print is currently showing at Prytania Uptown). 

Before prodding the creation further, I’ll just note that I had a uniquely New Orleanian issue watching the opening. Last month, I saw NOLA Project’s excellent stage adaptation and so for the first 20 minutes, I was half distracted recalling the play’s hilarity as the otherwise-serious scenes played out. I laughed at the actual movie, too, but we'll get to that. 

Like the play, this sumptuous-looking film is faithful to Mary Shelley’s 19th century novel. Captain Anderson (Lars Mikkelsen) and his crew are stuck in the Arctic ice when they find a dying Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac). As they drag him onboard, they are attacked by a monstrous creature, really the last thing you need when you’re trying to evade advanced hypothermia. They temporarily repel the monster, cueing up Victor’s life story flashback. 

Victor's mother dies in childbirth, creating his lifelong conviction that death is negotiable. As he rises through the medical ranks, the establishment thinks he's lost the plot. Enter Christoph Waltz as arms dealer Harlander, along with his niece Elizabeth (Mia Goth) and her fiance, Victor's brother William (Felix Kammerer). Harlander backs Victor’s reanimation projects, and Victor juggles falling in love with Elizabeth with gathering battlefield corpses for his greatest achievement yet. 

One face-off with Harlander and a huge bolt of lightning later, and Victor’s hard work pays off. He awakes to find the creature (Jacob Elordi) watching over him, a meek and childlike giant, more baby giraffe than brute. Frankenstein becomes increasingly frustrated and cruel. Emotions run high, Victor’s love is unrequited and Elizabeth starts to feel affection for his tragic creation. Victor manically tries to destroy his lab and the creature, losing his leg in the explosion. 

Back on the ship, the creature has reappeared, and has violently boarded in search of Victor. It’s here that one of the clunkier plot devices kicks in, as Elordi also sets up a flashback. Granted, Del Toro has described the movie as an “emotional Mexican melodrama” but this, “Now let me tell you MY side of the story” and multiple people telling Victor that he’s the real monster both had me rolling my eyes and smirking cynically. Perhaps that was the point. 

Elordi instills an impressive emotional life into the creature, ricocheting between violence and tenderness as he becomes more articulate. He flees into the woods, is educated by a blind hermit, and returns to find Victor on the day of Elisabeth’s wedding. Now aware that he will spend eternity alone, the creature wants a companion, but Victor refuses. Pandemonium ensues, and the hunting of the creature begins, leading them both into the Arctic. 

Del Toro is a masterful world builder and the aesthetic flourishes, together with a tone that verges on camp without committing to it, make for an entertaining ride. The sets are perhaps less fantastical than Lanthimos created for Poor Things (essentially his Frankenstein), and aren’t as cartoonish as a Tim Burton joint. It’s a striking, visually dramatic work, though, and Alexandre Desplat’s excellent score only occasionally conjures up Danny Eflman. If you like your horror with a healthy amount of melodrama running through its DNA, then Frankenstein is well worth firing up (PO).

Frankenstein is currently streaming, and showing at the Prytania Uptown 

Review: ​One Battle After Another
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Fans of director Paul Thomas Anderson sometimes identify his filmography as being in drug-fuelled phases. There’s the ‘cocaine’ phase of Boogie Nights and Magnolia, with cameras whipping and zooming. Then the ‘weed’ phase of the more stationary There Will be Blood, The Phantom Thread and the nostalgic Licorice Pizza. With his latest, One Battle After Another, the weed is getting stronger and the paranoia is setting in. 

We open with a revolutionary group called the French 75 running riot as they free immigrants from federal facilities and blow up politicians’ offices. "Ghetto" Pat Calhoun (Leonardo di Caprio) and Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor) lead the charge, the latter humiliating a military man, Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn). Lockjaw is depicted as being physically tense with bigotry, but develops a sexual obsession with Perfidia. He catches her planting explosives, offering her freedom for one night of motel sex. 

Peffidia gives birth to a baby girl, but abandons Pat and her new family. She remains active, getting caught again, eventually ratting out the French 75 and going into witness protection. Gang members are slain, the rest go into hiding, and Perfidia disappears. 

Cut to: 16 years later. Pat is now Bob Ferguson, a paranoid stoner and boozer. He’s bringing up daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti ) as best he can, and she’s independently learning self reliance and karate skills. It’s in the blood, after all. Also in her blood could be DNA from Lockjaw, though. He’s attempting to join an ultra-racist sect - The Christmas Adventurers Club - and an ‘impure’ bloodline just won’t do. 

What follows is two hours of tense mayhem, as Pat/Bob and Willa are forced into increasingly pressurised situations in light of Lockjaw’s personal mission, as well as general federal interest. Bob’s a little rusty, preferring to watch ‘The Battle of Algiers’ over activism. The weed has fried his brain, too, so he can’t remember old emergency code words to use with the underground resistance network or evade capture as nimbly as he used to. 

It’s a dynamic mix of humor (Bob running around like The Dude from The Big Lebowski, if The Dude had trained with the Bader-Mienhoff gang) and tension. Help comes in the form of Sergio St. Carlos (Benicio del Toro), Willa's Karate teacher who is running “A Latino Harriet Tubman situation”. We get manic car chases, brutal violence and multiple reckonings. 

Based on Thoma Pynchon’s book ‘Vineland’, it’s half Coen Brothers-style romp and half ‘How to Blow Up a Pipeline’ resistance flick. At almost three hours, we’re afforded time to develop character, but a good majority of the movie is action. Old revolutionary flames are reignited, but it’s all about whether Pat/Bob can keep the flame alive. (PO)

The New Orleans Film Society (NOFS)has announced its Closing Night, Centerpiece and additional Spotlight Films for the 36th annual New Orleans Film Festival (NOFF), taking place in-person October 23-27 and virtually October 23-November 2 through the NOFF Virtual Cinema (available globally). All Access Passes, Six Film Passes, Student/Teacher Passes and Virtual Passes are now available for purchase, with Individual tickets on sale to NOFS members October 9 (12 PM CST) and general public on October 16 (12 PM CST). To view the complete NOFF film guide, visit neworleansfilmsociety.org/lineup-events.  

• NOFF’s Closing Night Film, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (dir. Rian Johnson, prod. Rian Johnson, Ram Bergman, Katie McNeill), is the third installment of the Oscar-nominated Knives Out film series starring Daniel Craig as world-renowned detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), returning for his most dangerous case yet. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last week. 
• The festival’s Centerpiece Film is Jay Kelly, the latest from acclaimed director Noah Baumbach. Fresh off premieres at the Venice and Telluride Film Festivals, where it drew ecstatic acclaim, the film stars George Clooney in a career-defining turn as legendary movie star Jay Kelly who is joined by his loyal manager Ron (Adam Sandler) as he embarks on an unexpectedly profound journey across Europe that blurs the line between public persona and private truth.
• Other high-profile Spotlight Films announced include Bradley Cooper’s Is This Thing On?, which follows Alex (Will Arnett), who seeks new purpose in the New York comedy scene as he navigates a divorce from wife Tess (Laura Dern); Hedda from director Nia DaCosta and starring Tessa Thompson in the titular role; and HIKARI’s Rental Family, starring recent Oscar winner Brendan Fraser. 
• The festival also unveiled 16 features and shorts that will screen out of competition in a Special Presentations section, representing festival favorites, notable new voices and films with deep connections to the city. Highlights include: World premiere of Shelby (dir. Daniel Fiore), which follows one Louisiana man’s adventures underwater logging and treasure hunting; North American premiere of In Hell With Ivo (dir. Kristina Nikolova), a profile of provocative Bulgarian queer artist and songwriter Ivo Dimchev; Lovers (dir. Taylor McFadden), executive produced by Nathaniel Rateliff, follows two women who return to their hometown for the funeral of a friend and includes New Orleans–based musician Sabina McCalla in a supporting role. *Special performance by Rateliff at screening.

READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH NOFF ARTISTSIC DIRECTOR CLINT BOWIE

Highest 2 Lowest
Review by Jeff DeRouen

Like 2006’s Inside Man, Spike Lee’s new joint, Highest 2 Lowest, starts out as an action movie but ends its story as a fully formed allegory about morality and what we owe to each other on this planet.

Lee is an expert in taking a high-concept thriller (which he executes brilliantly) and then, at the end of the movie, he drops us into his own moral universe where the auteur is not afraid to tell us, in no uncertain terms, what he believes and where he thinks the world should go.

Lee’s frequent collaborator, Denzel Washington (who was robbed of an Oscar for Malcolm X), plays music mogul David King, a fading talent trying to get back on top, even though it may be time to pass the baton, sit back, and enjoy his money.

David wants to interrupt the pending sale of his label, so he makes a risky move to get his company back, forcing him to leverage all his family’s finances. We see David slowly building the stakes of the movie (the deals, the promises, the risks) and Washington plays him cool like cucumber and mayonnaise noodle salad despite the enormous weight on his shoulders. David’s best laid plans are shot to hell, of course, when a loved one is kidnapped and held for ransom, putting his family and everything he's worked for in jeopardy.

I don’t want to spoil any of the plot details except to say that the movie moves at a clip and shows off some of Spike Lee’s best work. There is a “money drop” sequence set to the music of Eddie Palmieri that is absolutely thrilling and worth the price of admission alone.

There is also no question at this point: Spike Lee is THE New York City filmmaker. He adores the place and shoots the hell out of it; the Big Apple hasn’t looked this gorgeous on screen in a very long time. The cinematography alone is a VERY good reason (here we go) to get up, put on PANTS, and go OUT to the movies to see this limited run in the biggest way you can before the movie moves to AppleTV.

The Prytania Uptown is, for my money, the best screen in New Orleans (beautiful 4K laser projection and Dolby Atmos sound) and starting this weekend, they’ll be playing Highest 2 Lowest alongside the film it’s based on, Akira Kurosawa’s classic High and Low. It’s an amazing opportunity to see two masters of cinema at the top of their game working with their muses, Denzel Washington and Toshiro Mifune.

Is Highest 2 Lowest one of Spike’s masterpieces like Malcolm X or Do the Right Thing? Well, that’s for you to decide. In the end, the movie’s message may be a little too on the nose and perhaps heavy-handed to be held alongside those sophisticated works, but it’s authentic, very entertaining, and full of terrific performances (Geoffrey Wright has that supporting Oscar in his crosshairs, friends). I like that Spike still has something to say and knows how to say it loudly and with pride and, you know what? He ain’t wrong.

For showtimes at the Prytania Theatre, click here

Weapons
Review by Jeff DeRouen

Zach Cregger’s new movie, Weapons, is a delightfully disturbing and wicked little tale of a small town thrown into turmoil when a classroom of small children vanishes. Each kid inexplicably, and at the same time, got out of their beds while everyone slept, walked out of their homes, and then ran until they disappeared into the night.

The mystery and how it affects the people of the small town is broken into chapters to give us six separate points of view of the events that unfold. The always exceptional Julia Garner plays the maligned teacher of the kids who’ve disappeared and is now under suspicion by everyone in town. She joins forces with the father of one of the missing kids (a powerful and moving performance by James Brolin) to solve the mystery and, as each chapter goes by, we go further and further into the darkness until it all comes full circle in a shockingly hilarious (in a horror movie?!) and totally satisfying ending.

Plenty of the terminally online will fight with each other over the term “elevated horror” because, I guess, some people need to create a whole new genre to single out the best product. Some folks have not and will not ever give horror its due as a genre with bold ideas and artistic legitimacy. The genre, though, should be irrelevant in our expectations of a well-made film that holds our attention because of how it tells the story and doesn’t glide by with cheap and cliché elements.

That’s not to say there aren’t jump scares here (there are and they WORK) but they are not cheap. The scares add to what are already exquisitely orchestrated scenes that maximize the edge Cregger knows he’s brought us to.

Is there a deeper meaning to Weapons? Maybe! I don’t want to build it up so much that it doesn’t meet the hype, but it’s a great story whose first goal is entertainment and Cregger has a deep respect for the audience and what we THINK we want. It’s thrilling, funny, creepy, and gives Amy Madigan (whose character I wouldn’t dream of spoiling here) a platform to return to the big screen and deliver an insanely brilliant performance that should absolutely be given awards consideration.

Weapons is EXACTLY the kind of movie I want to see: an original story told with expertly crafted filmmaking and terrific performances. I love where the horror genre is today and I look forward to going where visionaries like Zach Cregger want to take us because, honestly, it was really fun to scream out loud in a movie theater again.

Movie Review: The Naked Gun
By Jeff DeRouen

Let me be absolutely clear: I adore disgusting jokes. For folks like me, there is no bar too low when it comes to what will elicit fits of laughter from us so jolting we struggle to contain our loud accidental farts like the character on screen trying to hilariously outrun the chili dog runs.

I know this truth about myself because I am the primary source, the living data, telling you that The Naked Gun is so funny, the aforementioned “hypothetical” could happen to you. Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson lead a pack of serious actors like Paul Walter Hauser, Danny Huston, and CCH Pounder, who completely commit to some of the stupidest, funniest, bits and jokes I’ve seen in a movie in years.

A reboot like this could have been a lazy retread, but director Akiva Schaffer manages to stick to the old playbook (smartly) and keep the material fresh. Please don’t think I’m hailing this movie as a comedy masterpiece or a work of cinematic importance; it’s not, and that’s part of the charm. The Naked Gun isn’t meant to change your life, just your day.

I hope that folks use this film as an opportunity to forget about all the pain in the world, the difficulty of making ends meet, and the constant onslaught of political propaganda. It’s ok to step out of the real world for a bit to find some joy, and The Naked Gun is a surefire way to make you smile – especially if you think poop is funny.

Fantastic Four: First Steps
Review by Jeff DeRouen

Again, I’m not really the guy to analyze comic book movies because (aside from some obvious cinematic masterpieces) I look at them as pretty much all the same, really: little fables with a bunch of action, awesome special effects, and perfect entertainment for a Saturday afternoon.

While Superman certainly delivers a more compelling and sharper script, Fantastic Four is the one for the WHOLE family to enjoy. The acting is fine, the script is on the nose but gets the job done, and there are truly exceptional elements in the movie.

The effects are the best we’ve seen in a Marvel flick in a good while (Galactus, the villain, is huge and so cool to look at on the big screen) and folks are positively raving about the incredible production design by Kasra Farahani.

He makes retro look fresh, and the colors pop off the screen. It’s slick and fun, but I disagree with the folks who are likening it to The Jetsons – this looks to me like if Disney’s Tomorrowland (the park, not the movie) got it right. By the way, Disney’s Tomorrowland got nothing right: we all want to kill each other, and the billionaires are gonna make that easier by unleashing AI overlords; no happy robots and moon colonies here.

Look, if comic book movies aren’t your thing, there’s plenty out there to choose from. Adults who are looking for more substance should go see Eddington or 28 Years Later. Folks who want something a little smarter than the regular Hollywood fare, and also big and loud, should see Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning or even F1, but The Fantastic Four: First Steps is unabashedly for all ages.

What I mean is it adequately covers all the bases: it’s perfect for the family unit, the young middle schoolers going on their first date, and college kids on mushrooms. There’s something for everyone. So get up, comb your hair, grab the nice underwear, and get out to the picture show!

Review by Jeff DeRouen

The question of how to use Covid and the reality of those “lockdown” days in entertainment has plagued the industry and artists since our collective masks came off. How do you portray a miserable time in everyone’s life where each day brought a new catastrophe in the world, a fresh social media battle, and hours of Andrew Cuomo talking out loud to no one on CNN. How do you begin to explore what all of that was and what it means now?

If you’re Ari Aster, one of our greatest living filmmakers, you make Eddington, the story of a tiny town during the Covid epidemic and use that town as an allegory to show us exactly how insane we all really were and, sadly, still are. Aster’s brilliant new movie is hilarious, shocking, and guaranteed to join the ranks of great American satires like Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove and Altman’s Nashville.

Joaquin Phoenix embodies Joe Cross, the Sherrif, who runs for mayor against his arch enemy and incumbent, Ted Garcia, played pitch perfectly by Pedro Pascal. Sheriff Cross is anti-mask where Mayor Garcia and the majority of folks in Eddington (who are not afraid to shame the maskless in public) want the mandates enforced. Add Black Lives Matter protests and performative white people to the mix and you get a VERY funny movie that no one knows if they should laugh with (you absolutely should).

The movie feels and is shot like a modern western with echoes of legendary director John Ford and action maestro John Woo. After films like Hereditary, Midsommar, and the criminally underseen and appreciated dark comedy masterpiece, Beau is Afraid, Aster has become a master storyteller and changes the stakes of the film constantly.

He keeps us on our toes trying to figure out who’s good and who’s bad or who’s right and who’s wrong: the answer is no one and everyone. The heat under the narrative gets turned up slowly until all the worst parts of ourselves and the conspiracies we believe and promote play out for us in the delightful third act that can only be described as “full blown bat shit”.

We always say, “Hollywood needs to make more original movies” and here is one to support. I absolutely adore Eddington, but I understand it may not be everyone’s bowl of chilli. You may not like it (and that’s ok!) or even understand it, but you will not deny that Eddington is wildly imaginative, unpredictable and, good or bad, will have folks talking – the way good art is supposed to.

And I just want to end this review by mentioning the magnificent Deirdre O’Connel who plays Joe’s mother-in-law. She was recently seen on HBO in a sensational performance as the Penguin’s mother and she does stellar work here as Joe’s mother-in-law, a delusional (maybe?) conspiracy believer. Go see this movie.