Marty Supreme

 

Marty Supreme

Marty Mauser is a world-class table tennis player. Despite his relentless ambition for his sport, he is completely reprehensible. He lies, steals, and abandons his pregnant childhood girlfriend. To further his career, he is willing to be humiliated and throw a match.

 All this said, Timothee Chalamet brilliantly plays this character. Chalamet never eases up on Marty’s intensity. His portrayal of Mauser makes him unlikable. He is an apex conniver.

The cast is fantastic. Gwyneth Paltrow came out of retirement to play Kay Stone, a faded, retired actress, a bit past her expiration date. Stone and Mauser have a sexual liaison, but it is devoid of love. He uses Stone as a means to an end. She desires someone other than her husband. Their relationship is transactional.

Her husband, played by Kevin O’Leary, known as Mister Wonderful from the TV show Shark Tank, delivers a fantastic performance. His character as Milton Rockwell is a pen magnet who shifts from being a potential benefactor to Mauser’s tormentor. He takes pleasure in humiliating Mauser. O’Leary is quite comfortable as an actor.

Odessa A’zion, Racheal Mizler, is Marty’s very pregnant girlfriend. Staying in character, Marty denies being the father. She wants to leave her husband, but Marty is not a safe harbor.

Some members of the cast are eclectic. Besides Kevin O’Leary, there are other non-traditional actors. John Catsimatidis, who owns Gristedes and D’Agostino, plays a businessman. There is also Issac Mizrahi, the fashion designer, who plays Stone’s publicist. Penn Jillette, the magician, plays a farmer. As nontraditional actors, they gave great performances. Fran Dresher played Marty’s mother. She is an actress, but her last gig was the national president of the SAG-AFTRA actors' union. Her gravel voice is her hallmark.

The set design was impressive. It depicted New York City in the 1950s. Everything looked authentic, from the cars and police uniforms to the tenements. I can attest to their realism since this was my neighborhood back in the 50s.

Timothee Chalamet won the Golden Globe for Best Actor, so he has strong odds for an Oscar.

 

Dune

 

Dune

Seventy year old men should not watch Part One movies since seeing Part Two may be a bit tenuous. This is the first part of the epic 1965 sci fi novel by Frank Herbert. There are two books running 800 pages in all. The 1984 version of Dune was a box office flop. Dune was one of those 1970’s college campus must reads like Catch 22 and Slaughterhouse Five (I never read Dune).

This Dune has a lot of energy and an A rated cast. The plot is dense but it boils down to some basic elements: feudalism, palace intrigue, colonization, exploitation and a sprinkling of Zen. It is best to watch this movie in chunks. Dune is a great visual movie. The special effects are spectacular with futuristic spacecrafts traveling between planets. The battle scenes are different from other sci fi films in that they involve hand to hand combat. The costumes are unique and a key part of the movie. I am confident Dune will receive Oscar nominations for costume and art production.  

Timothee Chalamet plays Paul Atreides the ducal heir. He is still willowy but gives a strong performance.  He does not have the muscle mass of an epic hero. In one scene he disrobes to put on a desert survival suite and his back looks a portable xylophone. Oscar Isaac is focused and gives his usual strong performance. Jason Momoa provides an ample dose of arched eyebrows. Zendaya has a few scenes at the end of the movie but she does what she does well, smolder. With the exception of Chalamat there are too many diverse scenes for one character to have a sustainable dramatic impact, which is not a bad thing.

If you are a sci fi fan this is a must see. The movie’s visual effects alone are worth seeing. I did not watch the epic credit roll at the end because after 156 minutes I had to do what seventy year old men need to do.