"Marty Supreme" - Review

The year is 1952 and Marty Mauser (Timothee Chalamet) is determined to be the greatest table tennis player in the world. All that stands in his way are a lack of funds, a domineering mother (Fran Drescher), a pregnant girlfriend (Odess A'zion), crippling poverty, and Abel Ferrara.

(Photo Credit; Vanity Fair)
I went into this fucking movie solely because the 4th on the billing was crack fiend, cult director, maniac, true-blue New Yorkian legend Abel Ferrara, and that insanity being in service of a gritty, wild, exciting, see-sawing free-wheeling adrenaline shot to the soul is simply a bonus.
The movie is a frenetic, frantic good time, bouncing from place to place in a picaresque adventure, where Chalamet is absolutley on the form of his life and the first performance where he is not only having fun and relishing the chance to go nuts, but it truly charismatic as well, a far cry from the introverted "Bones and All" and subtler Paul Atreides. The movie has a ground's eye view of people and places and relationships, and uses its cast wonderfully: as usual A'zion is on a tear (though, for fun, imagine her lines said as Bobby Hill: "My dad says ping pong's a bastard sport." "That's my paddle! I DON'T KNOW YOU!") between this and "Hellraiser", and Gwyneth Paltrow has put down her snake oil and decided to act again, I honestly like her in this.
But I'm here for my man Ferrara, a truly inspired piece of casting, and between the collapsing bathtubs, con-games, hustling (Tyler the Creator is fantastic here) and bullshit spin; Ferrara spikes the madness as an unpredictable, incredibly dangerous maniac with a dog. It's like "John Wick" but on heroin when he's here. I love him.
Watch "The Addiction" and "King of New York".
Anyway the movie's great, it flies by.

"Hellraiser" - Review

Recovering drug addict Riley (Odessa A'zion) is at a low point in her life, but trying to get better. She has moved in with her estranged but sensible brother Matt (Brandon Flynn), his lovely boyfriend Colin (Adam Faison) and their flatmate Nora (Aoife Hinds). After tumultuous arguments and temptations to get back on the wagon, her fellow addict boyfriend Trevor (Drew Starkey) has a plan: they can steal an imported collector's item belonging to reclusive strange millionaire Mr Voight (Goran Visnjic), sell it and make off like bandits, especially since Voight died in mysterious circumstances and won't miss it...
But when they open the shipping container, all they find is a luscious, mysterious puzzle box. And when they open it, Riley is haunted by visions of... something (Jamie Clayton), and she will be introduced to mysteries and wonders beyond the deepest, darkest desires of mankind...

"Hellraiser" has had a rough time over the years. Since maybe "Hellraiser 2", it's had maybe the worst sequels of any big horror movie franchise (I'm including "Leprechaun" in that list). At least "Friday the 13th" had a couple of gems, and "Nightmare on Elm Street" had 2, 3 and "New Nightmare".
This is very much a return to the bloody, depraved, oh-so-horny form that we love Clive Barker for, and keeps true to the mayhem and mauling of his libidinous original vision. It's a gnarly, bloody, raucously fun trip into the depths of depravity, with some truly excellent new Cenobite designs, some wonderful gore and kills pushing the limits of what we've seen so far, imaginative weirdness, and the always wonderful Jamie Clayton (whom the movie really blue-balls us on, to its benefit) putting in an excellent performance as The Hell Priest and getting most of the best lines. Riley gets a fantastic role-reversing moment to switch things up when the Cenobites seem to be dominating them, and the puzzle box hurts you the more you solve it, making you WANT to obtain the prize. Special shoutout to the underrated Goran Visnjic, who gets one of the most painful moments in the film, and plays a truly reptillian character, he's excellent.
It's what you want from "Hellraiser", and I reccommend it to fans of the series, as well as those new to it.