Dolly

You know sometimes when an actor becomes famous for a specific role and is most likely remembered specifically for that movie? We have seen this so many times before, i mean just look a legendary comedian actor Steve Guttenberg who played Mahoney in the Police Academy franchise. Most people only remember him from these classic 80´s comedies but forget that he was in really good films such as Diner, Cocoon, the sequel Cocoon: The Return, Short Circuit and Home For The Holidays. I still love his performance in the Police Academy movies, but i would honestly rather watch the Cocoon films if i had to choose because they are really true 80´s nostalgic films. Another actor who clearly have been marked in his movie career is actor Sean William Scott, without a doubt mostly known as the crazy character Steve Stifler in the American Pie franchise. I do enjoy his performance in those comedies, but i actually think he have done some great other films that no one seems to talk about. How many of you have seen actor Sean William Scott´s 2007 drama comedy film Trainwreck: My Life As An Idiot? I remember when this film came out on DVD and i rented it right away, because the trailer looked interesting and to see Sean William Scott do a much more dramatic role. Trainwreck: My Life As An Idiot tells the story of the character Jeff Nichols, who is diagnosed with ADHD, dyslexia, and a mild case of Tourette syndrome. On top of this he also have a heavy drinking problem. His life is one big mess as he tries to find a job, while struggling to find his place in society. Sean Williams Scott proved in this film he is actually a great drama actor, playing an individual with diffrerent diagnosis and capturing the signs of these diagnosis is not easy through acting. Well worth picking up on DVD, this is not a film you will find everywhere on streaming. Speaking of Sean William Scott did you know that he is one of the characters in a very gory slasher film called Dolly? I have heard about this film for a while and the reviews were positive. Since i am an old school slasher horror fan i just had to check this film out. Anything with dolls and horror combined always get me curoius. Is the slasher horrro film Dolly a must see this summer, or was this film not as fun as i was hoping it would be?

A couple named Chase ( Sean William Scott ) and Macy ( Fabianne Therese ) are out on a hiking trip, where they come across a very bizarre individual known as Dolly ( Max the Impaler ). What they don´t know is that this is a very disturbed individual who have no limits, anyone who go against Dolly will suffer into eternity.

If you have seen the classic 1981 slasher horror film The Burning from director Tony Maylam ( who later in the 90´s directed the sci fi cult horror film Split Second with Rutger Hauer, a must watch ), you might remember how gory that slasher horror film was. You could say that Dolly is following in the same footsteps except this film have no summer camp, we have a very creey forest area with dolls everywhere instead. While i highly recommend you watch The Burning on physical media, streaming or digital, let´s get into what i appreciate the film known as Dolly. First of all the poreclin designed doll face that this killer Dolly is wearing looks really creepy, almost like a adult version of a pocerlin doll that have a disfigured porcelin face. The facial design of Dolly is one of the better looking killer masks i have seen in quite some time. I feel that this is a very important detail if you want your killer to stand out, from all the most famous slasher horror icons that already exists. The disturbing mindset of the serial killer Dolly is shown by her hearing voices in her head, constantly having headache, clearly in a lot of pain mentally. And the old house she lives in could have been a cousin related family home, right out of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre family reunion. There are several disturbing details in this house, especially the creepy dolls in certain rooms. Max the Impaler, the well known wrestling legend plays the character Dolly very effectively, using a lot of body language to express herself since she can´t speak words. Actress Fabianne Therese ( who i remember from the anthology horror film Southbound, worth checking ou ), who plays the character Macy show that she is capable of delivering a solid performance. Actor Sean William Scott may not have a lot of screen time in the entire film, but he still got that charming personality in every character he dig into. Dolly is a love letter to the 1970´s grindhouse cinema with brutal practical special effects, some very disturbing scenery at certain locations and the combinamtion of this actually works. Dolly may not be a slasher horror classic compared to the 1981 horror film The Burning, but i definetely enjoyed this ride. Director Rod Blackhurst manage to bring back grindhouse horror in an old school way that´s charming, without making this film too predictable or boring. Dolly is definetely worth a watch if you enjoy old school slasher horror films with masked serial killers, i always feel welcome home seeing fingers being cut off or a head split into half. I know, my view on a loving home might be slightly different than others.

Rating: DDD

The Investigation Of Lucy Letby

This upcoming summer it will be 27 years ago since i started working in health care. It is truly amazing how time flies by, and i love helping people in need. Before i did my health care education at college i worked as a constuction worker, i was even an educated butcher. But i realized that helping people with different diagnosis was my calling. Have there been rough times in my health care work? Of course i have seen people die in front of me, i have seen people suffer both mentally, physically and emotionally. One thing i learned already in the year 2000, a year after i started working in health care is to learn not to get too emotional. You can feel bad for patients, but if you loose focus on what you are supposed to do, things could go wrong and you might cause more damage. So over the years i have become really good at finding a solid balance, being professional and yet remaining respectful towards each patient while trying not to be affected too much personally. Even if i have had some really good working collegues over so many years, i espeially remember one woman who gave me so many alarm signs. She bascially only came to work just to get paid, didn´t care about any patients, she would rather sit and watch Instagram during her shifts. She was basically fired eventually when we warned our boss that she was not fit to work with patients. We did not talk about her to be rude or disrepectful, we had to think about the safety of the patients. After all this is what really matters, that each patient should feel safe with my team. But what if something very serious happens for example at a hospital, where patients suddenly start dying for unknown reasons? What if there is evidence that makes you question if a nurse or a doctor could be the reason of these deaths? This is one of those criminal cases that is fascinating, where we are talking about former British nurse known as Lucy Letby. I came across this case first in 2024 and i have been fascinated about this case for a number of reasons. Probably because i have worked so many years within health care and care so much about patients, this truly feels like a nightmare when you hear about what happened to these innocent babies. I decided to review the Netflix crime documentary film The Investigation Of Lucy Letby. Is this a well made documentary film worth a watch or should you just watch older news clips instead that are much more fascinating regarding this case?

When a number of children end up dying at a hospital in United Kingdom, people become very worried about what is going on. All tracks leads up to one single neonatal nurse known as Lucy Letby, where each baby seems to have died on her working shifts. Did she really kill all of these babies or is there another truth behind these walls at this specific hospital?

I personally have only heard about this case back in 2024 when i read an article on BBC News, i will link it below so you know where i first came across this case:

Lucy Letby sentenced to 15th whole life term

This article published on July 5 in 2024 did caught my attention, where i understood that Lucy Letby may be sitting behind bars the rest of her life. Now, after watching the Netflix documentary The Investigation Of Lucy Letby i have several questions. Did really Lucy Letby voluntary hurt these children or was this someone else´s fault? If Lucy really did hurt these children, what would her motivation be to do so? We do get to hear from police detectives who worked on this case, we also hear interviews from people who really know her, including interviews with different medical experts. What i find fascinating about this documentary film is that it tries to give you a chance to let you decide what you personally believe. Do you believe in the so called evidence that Lucy Letby really did this, or do you feel that the evidence is too weak to make Lucy look innocent? We are presented with several different details that was used as evidence, where they tried to explain what Lucy Letby could have done during her working shifts at the hospital. Since i have worked so many years in health care, i do feel fascinated in both the trials, the background story of the individual Lucy Letby. Did something happen to her in her youth that affected her to become an evil person or have media tried to make her look like a serial killer? I think the best way to approach this documentary film is to be open minded, so you can get your own opinion on what you believe is true or not. The Investigation Of Lucy Letby is a well made criminal documentary film that will divide a lot of people, seeing what they believe or not. And that´s actually what you want a documentary film to do, make people feel fascinated in a story that captures your interest right from the start. Director Dominic Sivyer deliver a well made documentary film that will clearly make fans of criminal cases pleased, if you love digging into real crimes. Worth a watch on Netflix.

Ratung: DDD

Dead Man´s Wire

I can still remember my very first visit to a film festival and that was in the year of 2003. It was in the Swedish city Stockholm at the Stockholm International Film Festival 2003. I remember how excited i was being able to see films that i usually would not see, mostly foreign films since film festivals such as this had films from all over the world. I was looking back at the program for the movies that were showing, and i do remember some of the films. While other films i can only remember certain details about. You see at this film festival i really tried to see several very different films, from a big diversity of directors across the world. I will be honest and tell you why i especially wanted to visit this specific year. Because this was the exclusive screening of iconic director Gus Van San´t latest film Elephant that i read so many brilliant reviews in movie magazines. If you never heard of this film that´s completely fine. It actually made a lot of movie fans worldside discuss the film, for a very good reason. This film is inspired by the 1999 Columbine High School Massacre, and the film show the day just as the massacre is about to happen. If you love really strong acting, brilliant cinematography by Harris Savides and powerful realistic scenes, then you should definetely watch Elephant on streaming, VOD or physical media. Director Gus Van Sant have done some really wonderful films over the years, where some of his biggest classics are of course Drusgstore Cowboy, My Own Private Idaho and To Die For. I really love his 2008 biographical drama Milk, with an absolutely brilliant acting performance from legendary actor Sean Pean as the gay activist, politician Harvey Milk. Last year i started hearing about Gus Van Sant´s latest film Dead Man´s Wire, based on a true story of American kidnapper Tony Kiritsis, who on in early 1977 kidnapped Richard O Hall, by attaching a dead man´s switch, a 12-gauge Winchester 1400 sawed-off shotgun to the back of Hall´s head. I know there was a documentary film released telling the story of what happened in 2018, i have not seen this one. But since i always been a big fan of Gus Van Sant i was very curious to see his film adaptation of this true story. Is this another Gus Van Sant classic or is Dead Man´s Wire not as good as it could have been?

On Tuesday, February 8, 1977, in Indianapolis, Tony Kiritsis ( Bill Skarsgård ) arrives for an appointment with wealthy mortgage broker M.L. Hall ( Al Pacino ) at the Meridian Mortgage company. Tony is instead met with M.L, Hall´s own son, Richard Hall ( Dacre Montgomery ), who reveals that M.L. Hall has left for vacation. Tony does not have any patience anymore, as he hold Richard Hall at gunpoint and wires a shotgun to his neck, rigged to fire if he tries to escape or anyone interferes. He believes the Halls cheated him on potential profit after he bought land to develop and is determined to expose them.  He notifies the locla police that he hase taken Richard prisoner, as he takes control over a police car and demand Richard to drive them to Tony´s home. Tony will not let Richard go until Tony get the respect that he deserves.

Knowing that iconic director Gus Van Sant is the director of Dead Man´s Wire does make this film unique of course. I have a lot of respect for him, not only as a director but also for how he manage to tell stories in his own unique way. I have almost seen all of his films ( except for the 2011 film Restless, which i will pick up on physical media at some point ) and i really love how he is able to take on any genre of film, and still make each film feel like a Gus Van Sant creation. Knowing that this film is based on a true story makes me fascinated, how this one single man managed to pull this off. Obviously i understand that police could not take too many risks since the main character, because if they shot Tony they could kill the kidnapped victim as well. Let´s move into what details i really appreciate with Dead Man´s Wire. Actor Bill Skarsgård as Tony Kiritsis proves what an amazing actor Bill really is, when he gets the right script and the right character. I personally feel that this performance really show that Bill Skarsgård can take on any kind of character, and capture the personality with the right body language and the sharp dialogue combined. His screen chemistry with actor Dacre Montgomery ( who i really enjoy as the character Billy Hargrove in Netflix TV series Stranger Things ) as the character Richard Hall, they deliver some solid dialogue scenes together where you can feel the atmosphere in Tony´s frustation. Another really powerful performance comes from the iconic The Princess Bride actor Cary Elwes, who playes the character Detective Michael Grable, where you can tell Cary tried to capture the mentality and personality of his character in a realistic way. Legendary actor Al Pacino is here as well, even if he is only in a few scenes you know he will be good. The film looks really good capturing a cool looking 70´s vibe with the right soundtrack, beautiful set designs and solid acting in general. There are only a few moments i feel certain dialogue scenes don´t feel as powerful as they could have been, after all this is a Gus Van Sant film and we know he is really good at delivering dialogue scenes. As a crime thriller i would say that Dead Man´s Wire is strong enough through great acting performances, and the time period captured really well of the 1970´s, director Gus Van Sant proves once more he is such a great director. Dean Man´s Wire is worth checking out on VOD or digital for sure.

Rating: DDD

Crime 101

Criminal heist thrillers can be found on among streaming services and physical media, especially if you love the titles that are considered to be classics such as Michael Mann´s almost perfect heist thriller Heat from 1995. I mean this is probably one of the greatest heist thrillers ever made, who can resist such a brilliant cast such as Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Ted Levine, Ashley Judd, William Fichtner, Hank Azaria and Danny Trejo among many others? Heat is without a doubt one of the best in this specific genre, and i have a feeling it will be very difficult for any heist thriller to ever reach to the same level of quality as this film does. However, there are still some really good heist movie choices that are worth checking out. For example the 2001 heist comedy Ocean´s Eleven from director Steven Soderbergh is a perfect example of a really solid film in this genre. Amazing cast such as Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, Andy Garcia and many more well known actors. The story is pretty simple, a gang of associates plans to rob three Las Vegas casinos and make sure they get away without getting caught. One of the reasons why this is one of the better heist films is the chemistry between the cast. This is a really charming film, that also have solid acting from the whole cast and director Steven Soderbergh captures the magic of Las Vegas with beautiful night scenes and the colorful gambling image. Definetely worth a watch on streaming, digital or physical media. The sequels are alright, especially the third film, but i prefer the first film if im being completely honest. How many of you remember the emotionally strong documentary film The Impostor from 2012? That told the story of a man claiming to be the son who vanished 3 years ago without a trace, who return claiming he is their missing son and turns out to be an impostor. Really good documentary film from director Bart Layton worth a watch if you have not seen it. The director of this documentary film recently made a heist film called Crime 101 that landed on Amazon Prime. I decided to check this film out to see if it would be anything in my taste. Is this the perfect heist film to enjoy after barbecues this summer, or is Crime 101 nothing you will remember at all?

In Los Angeles, Mike ( Chris Hemsworth ) is an elusive and disciplined jewelry thief, carefully planning robberies to avoid violence and DNA evidence while escaping via U.S. Route 101. Interecepting a diamond delivery carrying decoys, he steals diamonds worth 3 million U.S. dollars but is shaken by an unexpected bullet. He calls off a planned robbery in Santa Barbara, but his fence, Money ( Nick Nolte ), enlists volatile young biker Ormond ( Barry Keoghan ) instead. Mike understand someone else is getting paid for jobs as he confronts Money, without any luck. There is a really big job coming up, problem is that Det. Lou Lubesnick ( Mark Ruffalo ) have figured out the U.S. Route 101 pattern of robberies and is on track to find the suspect.

I am fully aware that a lot of people might think Crime 101 is a very basic heist film, and there are elements of that here. But, what makes this film stand out a little bit its that this film is more focused on the consequences of our life chioces. This film have a surprisingly deep meaning regarding how far you are willing to go, what chances are you willing to take in life? So i would say that Crime 101 doesn´t focus on the violence, it´s more focused on the characters and the risks they take. This is actually a good approach if you want to do something different in a heist story, since most films in this genre are usually pretty similar. Speaking of characters there are actually several great characters in this film. One of my personal favourite characters in this film is actor Mark Ruffalo´s character Detective Lou. He is the kind of old school police detective we used to get in the 80´s in different cop films, who seems to have gone through a lot in his life. Mark Ruffalo proves again why he is such a great actor, since he can take on any kind of character and knows how to deliver dialogue. The chemistry between Detective Lou and his partner Det. Tillman ( played really well by actor Corey Hawkins ) is a delightful combination. Legendary actor Nick Nolte is here as well as the criminal character Money, and even if he is an old man now he still deliver strong dialogue and powerful acting in his own unique way. Of course we have actor Chris Hemsworth as the criminal character Mike, what´s interesting about him is that he doesn´t have anything in his life other than doing crimes. No wife, no children, so he basically think about work constantly which makes his character very lonely. Crime 101 is a well made crime thriller with a realistic portrait of criminals, how they function in difficult scenarios and have to take chances. The moments when we do get some action scenes looks good as well, from a technical camera perspective. Nowhere near as good as the 1995 classic Heat, but definetely still worth a watch on Amazon Prime if you enjoy heist thrillers.

Rating: DDD

Send Help

Let´s be honest for a moment. The world of horror would have never been the same without iconic horror director Sam Raimi if he never created the Evil Dead franchise. The Evil Dead, the cult low budget horror film released in 1981 turned out to be one of those horror films that inspired so many low budget director´s. Even until this day you can hear both director´s and film producers talking about how influenced they were making low budget horror, thanks to the work of director Sam Raimi. I can totally understand why since this film looked really good, considering only having a budget around 375.000 U.S. dollars. Ok, i will admit that the practical make up effects in this film might look a little bit silly today, but we are talking about a horror film released in 1981 and a lot have improved since then. A young actor Bruce Campbell proved himself in this film, that he was something special among the characters in The Evil Dead. The sequel Evil Dead II - Dead By Dawn ( my personal favourite in the Evil Dead franchise ) turned out to pretty much me a remake of the first film but with even more brutal kills, even more slapstick humour, and so much blood that it becomes hillarious. Director Sam Raimi returned to direct, taking iconic horror actor Bruce Campbell back in his role as Ash. Evil Dead II is without a doubt one of the craziest horror comedies of the 80´s and in my opinion a masterpiece. This is still my favourite Sam Raimi film until this day, even if i really do enjoy Army Of Darkness. Since then director Sam Raimi have directed several other great films such as Darkman, The Quick And The Dead, A Simple Plan, The Gift, three different Spider-Man films and of course his return to horror in the 2009 film Drag Me To Hell. The one thing that director Sam Raimi always been really good at, is mixing horror and comedy together. And this is exactly what he seems to be doing in his latest film called Send Help. I was supposed to see this film in cinema ( that was the plan at least ), i ended up watching it on Disney + instead. Is this another delightful film from director Sam Raimi, or have he taken on a story that he should have left at the writing board instead?

Linda Liddle ( Rachel McAdams ) is a very hard  devoted worker, she is working as a strategist for a financial management company. She have been promised a promotion from her CEO, until the son of the CEO named Bradley Preston ( Dylan O´Brien ) one day takes over his father´s company. Linda finds out her promotion will not happen, since Bradley have decided to give the promotion to recently hired Donovan Murphy ( Xavier Samuel ). Linda is not happy and confront her new boss Bradley about her promised promotion. Bradley makes a suggestion, that she can go with them to Bangkok, Thailand to prove that she can finalize a company merger. The plane crash on the way unfortunately, only leaving two survivors, Linda and Bradley, on a deserted island. They will have to try and adjust themselves to survive.

Imagine if you combined the reality TV show Survivor and mix it with the 2000 drama film Cast Away with Tom Hanks, and you basically have an the combination of what Send Help looks like. One of the things though that we do find in this film as well, is the classic brutality of Sam Raimi films of the past. As a big fan of films of his past i expected to see Sam Raimi go back to his classic ingredients, and in certain scenes i do feel he manage to bring that cinema magic back to the big screen. There are a few brutal kill scenes ( especially towards the hog killing scene ) where it really feels like Evil Dead brutality, but then the film go in a completely different direction and becomes much softer. I can understand why director Sam Raimi wanted to do something different with this story, and do something that feels more like a Robinson Crusoe inspired story. He have done a lot of different kinds of films, and i would imagine sometimes you get fed up just sticking to gory horror scenes only and actually want to tell a story. Speaking of story, you do feel bad for the lead character Linda Liddle ( played really well by actress Rachel McAdams ). She might be very nerdy and not dress modern, but she have a big heart and mean well. There are certain scenes that are actually difficult to watch, because how terrible certain people bully her. So to seer her become a true fighter on this deserted island located in Thailand is a fun idea. Especially since her surviving boss Bradley ( also played well by actor Dylan O´Brien from The Maze Runner trilogy, all three films are worth a watch ), who is a complete ignorant asshole. The survival story on the island is something we have pretty much seen before, but it is the screen chemistry between actors Rachel McAdams and Dylan O´Brien that makes this film work ( outside of the gory scenes ). Is this a future classic by legendary director Sam Raimi? I still prefer the Evil Dead films plus Darkman over his latest film, but i do enjoy Send Help and can easily recommend it, streaming on Disney +. Nice to see that you can still make a solid survival horror thriller, while having some fun in there as well. Send Help should do the trick if you want something easy to digest.

Rating: DDD

The Stickman´s Hollow

I have a female friend in my hometown Uddevalla named Maria, i actually met her through my work in health care back in the early 2000´s. When i got to know her really well i found out she loves horror movies in many different cartegories. So we used to have horror movie nights in my apartment, where we would rent DVD´s downtown of horror films that looked interesting. But she did have one rule, no found footage horror films. She hated that category while i enjoyed some films in this genre. So, whenever i wanted to watch a found footage horror film Maria always told me:- You will be watching that one without me. I was completely fine with that since she liked most horror films in general. I have not seen her for many years unfortunately, probably because she moved to a complete different city with her fiancee, far away from where i live now. But we did have a lot of enjoyable horror nights together that i always will remember. Found footage horror films have followed with me for many years, and there are several titles i could easily recommend. Instead of going through a whole list, let´s just dive into one specific title for a moment. My recommendation for a found footage horror movie would be, the 2014 horror film known as The Taking Of Deborah Logan. This film is directed by Adam Robitel ( who horror fans might recognize the name since he directed the sequel Insidious: The Last Key ). The Taking Of Deborah Logan tell the story of Deborah Logan ( played by actress Jill Larson ), an elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer´s disease who have a film crew filming her, filming her condition and what changes she goes through with her disease. As the film crew capture more footage of Deborah´s behavior they notice some unexpected changes. The Taking Of Deborah Lamb was one of the better horror films of the year 2014, and i love it just as much today. One of the better found footage horror films that i can remember, highly recommended picking up on physical media. One found footage horror film i have wanted to see since early this year is a film called The Stickman´s Hollow. The reviews were pretty positive, and the plot looked interesting as well. I decided to rent this film on VOD and give it a chance. Is this a solid horror choice for true fans of horror, or is The Stickman´s Hollow not as good as i was hoping it would be?

A family travel out into the wilderness to enjoy a family holiday together. As they spend their first night out in these woods, they are about to find out that this is no ordinary hunting ground.

When you make a found footage horror film on a very limited budget, to make the audience fascinated you have to be creative and tell an interesting story. Since you are not supposed to use CGI effects and everything is supposed to portait a certain event on camera, this is where you have to prove yourself as a film maker. I have to say director Jack Cox manage to make this film far more interesting than what i expected. If some of you remember the 2013 found footage horror film Mr. Jones, i could proabably say that The Stickman´s Hollow reminds me of that film a little bit, but still have a completely different plot. Mr. Jones managed to capture the mystery surrounding strange symbols and wooden figures, and this is something that we will find in The Stickman´s Holllow as well. Let´s be clear though that both of these films have not much else in common, just in case you happen to be a huge fan of Mr. Jones and was hoping for something similar. The Stickman´s Hollow is divided into different chapters, where each chapter is connected to why certain specific locations have a important meaning to a young possessed girl. I like that the film is divided into different chapters, makes you think a litle bit more than just being served the entire plot. The acting in general is alright and i can´t really complain about some of the performances. The best part of this film is where the most effective horror scenes kick in, and they actually deliver. You also later find out how these symbols are connected to the story, and i love the design of these wooden figures ( especially the biggest one ). Director Jack Cox manage to find the right tone towards the end of this film, making it a creepy anthology horror film. Nothing original or any surprising twists, still i feel that The Stickman´s Hollow deserve some respect for actually making an effort to bring back this genre on the right path. This is a difficult genre to succeed with and this film proved that it´s still possible. Worth a watch on VOD if you also enjoy the genre of found footage horror films.

Rating: DDD

Marty Supreme ( Blu ray review )

No matter what you are doing at this very moment, grab yoursself a cup of fresh brewed coffe, or a fresh cup of tea and let us go back to the year of 2019. That´s not that long ago right? Very true, but there is a very good reason to why this year is very important, especially in the subject known as movies. This was the year when director´s  Josh Safdie and Benny Safdie brought us one of the best films of that year, that was actually released on the streaming service Netflix. If you don´t know what film i am talking about, i can tell you that it is the powerful Netflix drama known as Uncut Gems. Now, if you have read my reviews over the years you may have seen i have been critical to some Adam Sandler films, for a very good reason. Some of his streaming comedies on Netflix have been pretty terrible, except that i enjoyed his 2024 space drama Netflix film Spaceman. But it´s still nowhere near as good as Uncut Gems is, the best film Adam Sandler have ever done in my opinion. Uncut Gems tell the story of Howard Ratner ( played by Adam Sandler ), a Jewish-American jeweler and gambling addict who must retrieve an expensive 2008 NBA Championship ring he purchased, in order to pay off his debt. Uncut Gems is a perfect example of how dangerous it is being a gambling addict, or addicted to making money in general where you don´t have any limits. Howard Ratner may be a character in a script, but there are so many people out there struggling with gambling addiction as this character does. Adam Sandler is absolutely brilliant in the lead role and the film looks so gorgeous. This is my personal favourite streaming film on Netflix so far and i have probablu watched it 10 times since it came out. There is actually a really good 4KUltraHD release of Uncut Gems from the distrubution company Criterion Collection. One of the director´s of Uncut Gems, the man known as Josh Safdie, released his own film Marty Supreme last year with critical praise and being nominated at the 83rd Golden Globe Awards and the 98th Acadamey Awards. I was supposed to see this film in cinema late last year, but somewhere a long the way those plans were changed. So, to prepare for this review of Marty Supreme i decided to get a physical blu ray copy from the UK ( since this film is not coming out on physical media until June 9th here in Sweden ). Being such a critically acclaimed film worldwide, is Marty Supreme as good as many films critics have been saying or is this just a waste of your precious time?

In New York City in 1952, Marty Mauser ( Timothée Chalamet ) works as a shoe salesman in his uncle Murray Norkin´s ( Larry "Ratso" Sloman ) shop while also competing profesionally as a table tennis player. Marty dreams of winning the British Open to bring American attention to the sport. He also pitches selling orange "Marty Supreme" novelty table tennis ballsto his friend Dion Galanis ( Luke Manley ) and his father. But the journey to reach his goal to have a successfull career within table tennis comes with many challenges, queston is if Marty is prepared to sacrifice everything to reach to the top?

I know that last year there were many film critics calling this film as ome of the best of the year of 2025. My personal opinion is, i don´t think it´s that brilliant. I do think this film holds some really solid levels of quality, especially when it comes to the acting, the costume deisgn and some really effective dialogue scenes. But best film of 2025? I personally feel that i would have probably chosen the Netflix horror film Frankenstein over this one if im being completely honest. Of all films to compare between, why compare Frankenstein to Marty Supreme? One of the biggest issues with Marty Supreme is that the story is all over the place. And even if Frankenstein is a very classic tale that have been told in many different film adaptations, i feel that this version proved to be the most powerful adaptation so far. Director Guillermo del Toro proved with Frankenstein you can make a classic story, tell it slightly different than before and still make if feel so fascinating. I can sort of understand why Marty Supreme needs to be told the way the story is developed, because there are some parts that´s actually really good. But the table tennis scenes is where this film lost me a little bit. Never been interested in table tennis ( even though i have played some back in the early 90´s with school friends ), and even if the table tennis scenes looks good from a technical camera perspective, this is still a sport that i never really cared about. Where this film really works is outside the table tennis scenes where we follow Marty´s chaotic life. This is where things get much more interesting regarding our main character. Lead actor Timothée Chalamet ( really good in the latest Dune films )  as Timmy Mauser is the strongest acting performance in this film. The way he manage to portrait Timmy with facial expressions, his attitude combined with personality is a true winning combination. I personally never cared about if he will be succesfull or not in table tennis, i just want to know how he will be able to control himself before things fall apart. Actress Odessa A´zion gives a really powerful performance as the pregnant character Rachel. The soundtrack filled with 80´s classics actually works well with this film, even though this film is set in the 1950´s. You might think that shouldn´t be possible but this is not an issue for me, somehow the story manage to match to the music. Marty Supreme is a story of finding your place in life, taking chances and work really hard to reach your future goals. A film filled with real top quality acting, smooth dialogue and strong characters. Director Josh Safdie may not have made a future classic, but this is definetely one of the better films i have seen this spring. Marty Supreme hits all the right notes and proves that there is still hope for high quality films.

Rating: DDDD

If you want a physical copy from the Uk with some nice special features, you can pick up your own copy on the following link:

MARTY SUPREME BLU-RAY: Amazon.co.uk: Timothée Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A'zion, Kevin O'Leary, Tyler the Creator, Abel Ferrara, Fran Drescher: DVD & Blu-ray