Continuing the trend of biopics with A-list actors that perhaps aren’t interesting or important enough to warrant such a big-budget production, the Timothée Chalamet-led Marty Supreme (Dune, Beautiful Boy) is among them. The story is based loosely on a period of American table tennis player Marty Reisman’s life. If you’ve never heard of Marty Reisman, you aren’t alone. He lived a very unremarkable life, one that is far from the kind of role that would require one of the best working actors to spend time on during the peak of his career. This wasn’t a story about the Marty Supreme. This was about creating a character that Chalamet could lead to his first Best Actor Oscar win, which I believe will happen.
All posts by bryanbuser
Is This Thing On? (2025)
The 2025 film that felt the most real to me was one of the year’s final releases. Bradley Cooper’s (A Star Is Born, Maestro) is a poignant and personal look at the end of a marriage and the lengths we will go to overcome the loss that accompanies it. Will Arnett (Semi-Pro, Blades of Glory) delivers the best performance of his career as Alex, recently divorced from Tess (Laura Dern – Wild, Jay Kelly), trying to navigate a life in a new apartment and spending half as much time with his two elementary school-aged boys while still maintaining his career and career for his physical, mental, and emotional health. To escape his troubles, he ends up at a bar one night and on stage for an improv comedy skit.
Song Sung Blue (2025)
Hugh Jackman commands attention every time he’s on screen, regardless of the quality of the film surrounding him. Though he has just one Oscar nomination—for his performance in Les Misérables (2012)—his career spans fan favorites (Logan, Real Steel, The Greatest Showman, Eddie the Eagle), underseen gems (Bad Education, The Fountain), and even standout performances in films that never quite came together (The Front Runner, The Son). Jackman’s presence is undeniable, so it speaks volumes when an actor can upstage him in one of his films. Kate Hudson (Deepwater Horizon, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days) does just that, delivering an Oscar-worthy performance in Craig Brewer’s (Black Snake Moan, Hustle & Flow) Song Sung Blue.
Sinners (2025)
Michael B. Jordan has arrived, at least for those who haven’t watched films in either the Creed or Black Panther franchises. For many, Jordan first arrived with his breakout role in Ryan Coogler’s 2013 film Fruitvale Station, the true story of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old black man who is on the straight and narrow with his girlfriend and young after spending time in prison, only to be caught up in a 2008 altercation following a night that ended in tragedy after watching New Year’s Eve fireworks in San Frnacisco that ended in tragedy. Jordan’s sympathetic performance as a man wronged by a system that seemed determined to persecute him before knowing all the facts leaves the viewer feeling angry and distraught at the film’s conclusion. It could have earned Jordan his first Academy Award nomination. Twelve years later, he is still searching for that Oscar nomination that will add him to an exclusive list of Hollywood’s elite.
Train Dreams (2025)
I’m a sucker for Joel Edgerton movies. I’ll give any movie that he’s in a chance. I first learned of him when I saw the vastly underrated Warrior. This film follows a fairly predictable sports-drama formula. Still, for me, it was elevated to a Top 100 all-time movie by the performances of Edgerton, Tom Hardy, and Nick Nolte. Edgerton continued to impress with The Gift, a film that he both starred in and directed. Since then, he’s had memorable performances in movies that critics received well, but didn’t do well at the box office. Loving, Midnight Special, The Green Knight, It Comes At Night, and Boy Erased all earned Rotten Tomatoes critics’ scores of >80% fresh, yet each failed to reach $20 million at the box office. While I didn’t particularly care for any of those five movies, Edgerton continued to impress.