Marty Supreme (2025) | REVIEW

Timothée Chalamet as ‘Marty Mauser’ in Josh Safdie’s MARTY SUPREME — PHOTO: A24 (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Josh Safdie — Screenplay by Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie.

The intensity and anxiety that the Safdie brothers tapped into when creating their breakthrough features Good Time and Uncut Gems is not easily replicated. The Safdies burst onto the scene with a clear sense of style, storytelling, and ability to foster great leading performances. They not only furthered the reputations of Robert Pattinson and Adam Sandler with those two equally electric films, but they also managed to have the anxieties of their films’ protagonists leap off the screen and affect their viewers. So, when the brothers — Benny and Josh — split up to pursue filmmaking careers as solo-directors, one of the big questions that their ‘break-up’ left you with was whether or not they, on their own, could recapture the same lightning-in-a-bottle concoction that they had successfully conjured into existence together. Josh Safdie’s first solo effort since their recent split is Marty Supreme, a critically acclaimed genre-blended sports film that earned the cast and crew recognition from awards bodies far and wide. But is the film actually as good as its reputation and the intense marketing that its leading man helped promote? Well, before I get into it later in my review, I’ll say this: it certainly packs a spark of energy, which I found to be quite effective. It’s certainly a unique sports film.

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Until Dawn (2025) | REVIEW

(L-R) Ji-young Yoo, Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino, Odessa A’zion, and Belmont Cameli in UNTIL DAWN — PHOTO: Sony Pictures Releasing (Still image from trailers).

Directed by David F. Sandberg (Lights Out) — Screenplay by Gary Dauberman (‘Salem’s Lot) and Blair Butler (The Invitation).

After years and years of middling-to-poor video game adaptations, it seems we’re finally at a moment in time when Hollywood is confidently turning video games into beloved and/or successful films or series. We’ve got The Last of Us, Fallout, Sonic the Hedgehog, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie, just to name a few. Now, of course, there are still some duds out there, such as Eli Roth’s Borderlands adaptation, which was largely regarded as one of the worst movies of last year. The latest attempt at turning a popular video game into a successful movie is David F. Sandberg’s Until Dawn from Sony Pictures, with which the studio is hoping to find low-budget horror movie success, like certain studios have become quite known for on a regular basis, but with a video game adaptation. In a lot of ways, Until Dawn makes a lot of sense for that model, and, heck, it should be a success given the horror movie veterans — like Gary Dauberman and David F. Sandberg — they’ve hired to get the job done. But does Until Dawn succeed as a video game adaptation? Frankly, I think it’ll divide opinion.

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