Saturday Supreme

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Happy final Saturday of 2025, all. I hope you’ve been enjoying the holidays so far: indulging in some downtime, eating too many cookies and catching up on movies. I took Nic to see “Marty Supreme” at a 9:35am showing on Christmas Day (more on that below) because it’s a film that really requires a second viewing, if only to catch the incredible array of actors in the smallest of roles. (Fred Hechinger! Penn Jillette!)

Watching a movie that’s so vibrant and invigorating felt like the perfect way to end what has been a crappy year for many people in many ways. I had breast cancer (boo!) but thankfully managed to deal with it quickly and now I’m cancer-free (yay!). Every day there’s some new piece of news that’s distressing or demoralizing, but then millions of people took to the streets — twice! — to fight for decency and democracy, which gives me hope. It’s been a lot for a lot of us.

So I think I speak for (gestures around wildly) everyone when I say 2026 can’t get here fast enough. But I’ve been so thankful to this community for your enthusiasm, insight and support all year long. Here’s what we reviewed during the final days of 2025 at our Breakfast All Day YouTube channel and podcast. Take us with you as you’re returning those well-intentioned gifts you know you’re never going to use, and maybe leave us a review and a few stars if you have a moment. It helps people find us in the ether.

• MARTY SUPREME. Timothée Chalamet IS Marty Supreme, and it’s the role he was born to play. As a table tennis phenom in 1950s New York, Chalamet is swaggering and charismatic but also vulnerable and panicked. Josh Safdie’s film has the structure of an underdog sports movie, but it’s actually a thrilling symphony of daring and danger. This deservedly won our LA Film Critics Association award for Safdie and co-writer Ronald Bronstein’s editing. Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A’zion and Tyler, the Creator are among the beautifully chosen supporting cast. In theaters.

And once you’ve seen the movie, check out this post from the always insightful Cinemarketing newsletter about the outrageous and ubiquitous “Marty Supreme” promotional campaign. A24 is consistently good at this stuff, but they really outdid themselves this time.

• NO OTHER CHOICE. Korean master Park Chan-wook (“Decision to Leave,” “Oldboy,” “Stoker”) is back with another stylish and twisty thriller. This is a gorgeously made film with a revelatory performance at its center from “Squid Game” star Lee Byung-hun. He plays a paper company executive who loses his job, then goes to extreme measures to eliminate the competition for a new one. Based on the Donald E. Westlake novel “The Ax,” “No Other Choice” is culturally specific but universally relatable. In theaters.

• ANACONDA (2025). It’s not exactly a sequel, or a remake, or a reboot. This new version of “Anaconda” takes place in a world where the original “Anaconda” from 1997 not only exists, but functions as a blueprint for aspiring filmmakers Jack Black and Paul Rudd. It’s a clever, high-concept premise that fizzles out pretty quickly. From director and co-writer Tom Gormican, who previously made the meta Nic Cage movie “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.” My buddy William Bibbiani fills in on this review. In theaters.

“Anaconda” also happens to be my last review for RogerEbert.com. After 12 ½ years of writing for the site, I decided it was time to step away and use my time differently, maybe work a little less. I like to joke that I have six jobs and I have no job, but writing for Ebert has been a constant within the flux of freelance work, and for that I’ve been truly grateful. Fifteen years ago, Roger changed the trajectory of my career — changed my life, really — when he asked me to be one of the two hosts of “Ebert Presents: At the Movies,” the revamped “Siskel & Ebert” show he’d long been envisioning.

No one could ever fill those balcony seats (although many of us have tried), but knowing that he had faith in me to help carry on that legacy was both daunting and inspiring. It’s been the honor of a lifetime to work with and for Roger. I sincerely appreciate Chaz Ebert for her dedication to her writers and for holding the banner high all these years. Special thanks to all the editors I’ve worked with over the years there, but particularly to Brian Tallerico, who’s as good-hearted as he is hardworking. RogerEbert.com remains a destination for smart, insightful film writing from a variety of voices, and I look forward to enjoying it from now on purely as a reader.

Also on Christmas Day, Nic and I binged the latest three episodes of “Stranger Things.” As you probably know, Netflix has been releasing this final season in chunks: four episodes on Thanksgiving, three on Christmas, with the two-hour series finale airing New Year’s Eve and playing simultaneously in theaters. (Have you gotten your tickets yet? We have ours.) Alonso and I plan to recap everything that’s come out during the holidays on our Patreon once we return on Jan. 5. But for now, I can say that these most recent episodes got better as they went along, with Will’s big speech in chapter 7 undoubtedly the high point. What do you think of season 5 so far? Are ready for it to be over, or are you sad to see it go? We’ll meet you back in the Upside Down soon.

That’ll do it for me for this week, and this year. But first, a couple of things.

I’ll go in-depth on my top 10 in next week’s newsletter (you can find all of the Ebert writers’ individual lists here), and Alonso and I will do our best/worst of 2025 when we come back in January.

Also, I’m doing one last Cameo promo before the end of the year: $26 for ‘26. Video messages from me will be available at that discounted rate through New Year’s Eve. So if you missed out on sending a holiday greeting to the movie fans in your life, or you’d like a video for yourself to kick off 2026, it would be my pleasure. Thanks to everyone who’s ordered Cameos from me this year, they’re always so fun.

I know I say it every week, but it’s always true: I’m so grateful that you’ve chosen to be a part of things here. I love being able to interact and talk movies with you in this setting, and I hope it’s been beneficial for you, too. Have a great week, Happy New Year, and I’ll see you back here next Saturday.