Reader beware, a few spoilers ahead.
Chants across social media scream “’Marty Supreme’ on Christmas Day,” but who exactly is Marty — and what’s his obsession with orange ping pong balls? That was the question I walked in with ahead of A24’s screening at Cinépolis in Inglewood, California, introduced by Hawthorne’s very own Tyler, The Creator.
The entire Regal Cinemas complex in Times Square was reserved for the New York premiere of “Marty Supreme” ahead of its Christmas Day release. The house was filled with press, guild members, special guests, and celebrities, (Zohran Mamdani, Jack Harlow, Sissy Spacek, Benny Safdie, Anna Wintour, and more) alongside 100 students personally invited by Chalamet from LaGuardia High School’s drama department. The energy was palpable, young artists seated among industry veterans, all waiting for the lights to dim.
The 34th annual Gotham Awards, held on December 2, 2024, at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City, honored the best in independent film and media. Hosted by the Gotham Film & Media Institute, the ceremony celebrated innovation, diversity, and excellence in storytelling across categories such as film, television, and emerging talent.
On Sunday, at its highly anticipated US premiere, Dolby Atmos technology transported viewers directly onto Arrakis, the desert planet of Dennis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two.” The latest installment in the iconic trilogy was an alluring experience from start to finish, and with Dolby and its beyond surround-sound and immersive visuals, it was very easy to feel like you had drifted right into the film. But for many premiere guests, the experience doesn’t end in the theater, and “Dune: Part Two” was no exception.
When it comes to Denis Villeneuve’s films, and especially his takes on Frank Herbert’s cult-classic “Dune” series, one thing is for certain: they must be experienced in theaters. His 2021 film “Dune: Part One,” and it’s following continuation, “Dune: Part Two” (which will make it’s highly anticipated theatrical release on March 1st) are visual and audial masterpieces that transport viewers onto the desert planet of Arrakis, and there’s no better way to experience that than on the big screen.
When viewing a film like “Dune: Part Two,” where viewers are taken on a journey of such epic proportions, how to view it is key. Last night, the highly-anticipated (and star-studded) US Premiere of the film was presented in Dolby Atmos, a stunning technology that ensures sound can be precisely placed anywhere in a room, even overhead, creating an immersive soundscape that sounds more like real life. It’s a leap forward from surround sound that allows viewers to experience multi-dimensional audio with incredible clarity that brings them deeper into the story. For a film like this, Dolby Atmos creates a revolutionary new experience that makes it feel as if you are standing right beside Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atradies, or Zendaya’s Chani.
So what does this mean for viewers come March 1st? “Dune” fans can experience the film with the stunning visuals of Dolby Vision and the immersive sound of Dolby Atmos when the film releases. One of the best ways to experience a film with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos is by watching a film at your local Dolby Cinema, which offers guests the best movie-going experience. It unlocks the emotional impact of every film, allowing you to see subtle details and ultra-vivid colors (courtesy of Dolby Vision) and hear sounds come alive all around you (thanks to Dolby Atmos). On top of that, Dolby Cinema also features spacious recliners with clear sight lines. Once you experience films in Dolby Cinema, you won’t want to experience movies any other way afterwards.
NYC, NY – 1/1/00 – Dune Part Two U.S. Premiere
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– PICTURED: Rebecca Ferguson, Denis Villeneuve and Tanya Lapointe
– PHOTO by: Dave Allocca / StarPix
– Location: Lincoln Center Plaza
Herbert’s iconic novel was split into two parts for Villeneuve’s film saga. Where we left off in the first installment, Paul has just joined Chani and the Fremen on their journey in hopes of bringing peace to Arrakis. The latest installment follows his journey of embracing his fate as the Muad’Dib and avenging the enemies that destroyed his family. Plagued by visions of a detrimental reality, he must choose between fate and love, a near impossible choice. It’s an epic tale of wonder, hope and revenge that must be seen to be believed.
The film, which is currently the number one rated movie of all time on IMDB, is jam packed with new and returning stars, including Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet (“Wonka,” “Call Me by Your Name”), Zendaya (“Spider-Man: No Way Home,” “Malcolm & Marie,” “Euphoria”), Rebecca Ferguson (“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning”), Oscar nominee Josh Brolin (“Avengers: End Game,” “Milk”), Oscar nominee Austin Butler (“Elvis,” “Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood”), Oscar nominee Florence Pugh (“Black Widow,” “Little Women”), Dave Bautista (the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films, “Thor: Love and Thunder”), Oscar winner Christopher Walken (“The Deer Hunter,” “Hairspray”), Léa Seydoux (the “James Bond” franchise and “Crimes of the Future”), Souheila Yacoub (“The Braves,” “Climax”), with Stellan Skarsgård (the “Mamma Mia!” films, “Avengers: Age of Ultron”), with Oscar nominee Charlotte Rampling (“45 Years,” “Assassin’s Creed”), and Oscar winner Javier Bardem (“No Country for Old Men,” “Being the Ricardos”).
The orange carpet, reminiscent of the stunning hues of Arrakis (best-seen in a Dolby Theater!) was graced with appearances by Chalamet, Zendaya, Ferguson, Brolin, Butler, Pugh, Bautista, Walken, Seydoux, Yacoub, Skarsgård, Rampling, and Bardem, along with filmmaker Denis Villeneuve, producers Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Tanya Lapointe, and composer Hans Zimmer.
So what can you look forward to with Dolby on release day? Premium, immersive sound like you’ve never experienced before. With Dolby Atmos, you’ll feel transported into the world of Arrakis, as you’ll be placed right in the middle of the action and ultimately connect more deeply to the characters and emotions on screen. So be prepared to sit on the edge of your seat during high-stakes action sequences, as you may notice the sound of an Ornithopter flying overhead or hear the movements of a nearby sandworm.
Find your nearest Dolby theater here!
Highly organized research is guaranteed to produce something cool!
Long before the days of everlasting gobstoppers, an expansive chocolate lake, and the boy who suddenly got everything he’d ever wanted, there were hoverchocs, a rather dreary looking room in the employee wing of a laundry parlor, and an inquisitive orphan named Noodle. And before Willy Wonka was Gene Wilder, he was Timothée Chalamet. Actually? Strike that, reverse it.
In order for Violet to turn violet inside of Willy Wonka’s infamous Chocolate factory, there had to be a factory to begin with. Paul King’s latest installment to Road Dahl’s beloved trilogy gives us a firsthand view of the road to this creation, and as to be expected (or maybe not at all), it did not come without hardship.
Without curiosity for a character’s past, a prequel doesn’t have a great deal of ground to stand on. Luckily, Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory does a brilliant job at evoking curiosity (and a great deal of confusion) as to how these characters all ended up in the same place at the same time. Mel Stuart’s beloved 1971 film allows us to imagine the endless, quirky possibilities as to who Willy Wonka truly is and where he came from prior to the equally-as-quirky events that unfolded within the walls of the factory. The beloved film presents quite a mysterious character at the forefront, and it does make sense for the next installment to feature the rather ridiculous life of a young Willy Wonka.
The scene is set in a fictional European town in a (somewhat frustratingly) unknown year, with a vivaciously excited Willy Wonka, played by the always-exquisite Timothée Chalamet, singing a ballad of sorts about the past seven years of his life, which have been spent aboard a ship. In his own words, he’s pinned seven years of hope on the city he is about to arrive in, but he’s in for a bit of a rude awakening when the aforementioned metropolis is not exactly what he’d hoped for. After spending nearly all of the twelve silver sovereigns that he so confidently sang to us about having in the earlier, more naive verses of the song, it appears that his luck has run out when the final one slips through the highly noticeable hole in his pocket into the grated storm drain he’s standing directly over. Did not see that one coming. After accepting what sounded like an initially very kind offer to spend the night at Mrs. Scrubitt’s laundry parlor, Willy is slapped with a substantial debt due to his inability to “read the small print,” as Noodle, an orphan facing a similar debt, quietly encouraged. Willy’s inability to read lands him twenty seven years working in Scrubitt’s basement, throwing quite the wrench-shaped bar of chocolate into his plans.
Chalamet harbors the interesting ability to convince viewers that he was born to play every single role he’s ever had, and bizarrely enough, a young Willy Wonka is far from an exception. He’s a visionary as Wonka, delivering the perfect amount of absurdity, wholesomeness, and, since it’s Willy Wonka we’re dealing with, a perfectly calculated edge of madness.
But, if you’re searching for the somewhat dark and twisted elements that you’ll be met with in Stuart, and later Tim Burton’s, renditions of Dahl’s book, you won’t find it in Wonka. Spoiler alert- despite a close call or two, nobody drowns in chocolate in this one. The film carries a new cadence, a delightfully wacky ball of absurdity. In it, we see Willy and Noodle steal a giraffe (named Abigail) from the local zoo, a multi layered chocolate that mimics a big night out so perfectly that it has the security guard at the aforementioned zoo crying on the phone to the subject of his middle school admiration, a corrupt priest and his hundreds of chocoholic monks played by none other than Rowan Atkinson, and a “chocolate cartel” made up of Mr. Slugworth (Paterson Joseph), Mr. Prodnose (Matt Lucas) and Mr. Fickelgruber (Mathew Baynton), who are arguably one of the funniest aspects of the film.
The film’s subplots are where most of its charm lies. The decision to set the film entirely in the time prior to Wonka obtaining the factory rather than having at least some of it pertain to its creation and early days was a unique one, as the factory has been the main focal point of the trilogy. That being said, it does make for some highly entertaining tidbits involving Willy and Noodle going on wacky adventures and meeting some colorful characters. The layout of the story could not be more perfect, it is the ideal mix of concrete plot points that contribute to the storyline and absurd whimsicality that provides the charm one would hope to find in a Willy Wonka film.
Through Chalamet’s portrayal, we see a softer version of Wonka than what we’re used to. It’s unlikely that this particular version of the character would have stood around and simply observed the less than favorable situations that the factory guests had found themselves in in the first film. His banter with Lane’s noodle and the miniature details that his character is strapped with (i.e.- a small bottle of hand sanitizer inside of his magical chocolate making box, a factory prequel in and of itself, so that hennever has to make chocolate with dirty hands) create for a delightfully wholesome protagonist that you can’t help but root for.
Newcomer Calah Lane surely won’t be a newcomer for very long. With an absolute powerhouse of a voice, an unmistakable charm, and the same ability as Chalamet to completely transform into a character, she has a bright future ahead of her. At her very core, Noodle is the heart of this film. The emotional story of an orphan in search of her family is something that has been done many times before, but it feels refreshing from her perspective. Her curious attitude and friendship with Willy adds to the loving atmosphere of the film.
When Willy exasperatedly confides in Noodle that a “little orange man” has been stealing all of his chocolate at night, she doesn’t believe him. What may be most surprising to the viewer about this exchange is not the existence of the little orange man or Noodle’s disbelief. Rather, there’s only one little orange man?
Where the two previous films had no shortage of Oompa-Loompas, this film only had 1. But what it lacks in quantity, it makes up for in, well, Hugh Grant. Grant carries the weight of an infinite amount of the aforementioned creatures. Simply put, he’s hilarious, and his performance is absolutely delightful.
The film’s music can be met with the same word: delightful. Lane carries every song that she is a part of with an unmistakably remarkable voice, and Chalamet, a high school theater veteran, has a warm and inviting voice that is perfect for this role.
For many, Wonka was a delightful surprise. The perfect mix of absurdity and affection, and truly the perfect addition to the holiday season. Hear more about it here!
It’s a new semester at Essex College and Kimberly, Bela, Leighton, and Whitney are up to even more in the highly anticipated second season of the fan-favorite The Sex Lives of College Girls. From the exquisite minds of Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble, the series once again follows the four roommates as they navigate sex, relationships, passions, futures, and so much more. The show perfectly captures the ever-so-unique time period of being a college freshman, something that isn’t exactly comparable to anything else in life. The beauty of the series is that pretty much any viewer can see a representation of themself on screen, in the high highs and the low lows of the time in which the girls are constantly navigating.
In Season two, we meet the girls right as Thanksgiving break draws to a close and It’s time for a new semester. The girls (Pauline Chalamet’s Kimberly, Amrit Kaur’s Bela, Alyah Chanelle Scott’s Whitney, and Reneé Rapp’s Leighton) are not the same people that they were at the beginning of last semester, especially Kimberly, who is navigating the many changes that her life has seen. “You’ll see a Kimberly that’s facing much bigger problem and who is growing into herself,” Pauline said. “She’s forced to kind of grow up a little.”
We sat down with Pauline, Renee, Alyah and Amrit to talk all about season two! Check out the conversation below!
It’s rare to find such a strong feeling of humanism in a horror film, even if the true meaning of horror is up to interpretation, but if anyone can do it, it’s Luca Guadagnino. The Call Me By Your Name director has one again joined forces with Timothée Chalamet to bring audiences an unconventional love story that you are simply unable to get out of your head, even long after you’ve left the theater.
Taylor Russell Stars as Maren, who harbors a secret that is, quite literally, eating her up inside. After being abandoned by her father, Maren is forced to go off on her own to find a place where she belongs. It’s somewhere down the road that she meets Timothée’s Lee, who shares her secret. Within each other they find a solace that they never expected to have with another person. The two connect with each other through everything from car rides to carnival rides, and as their time together stretches on they begin to learn that they are not as alone in the world as they once thought. At its very core, the film shows a story of first love in its most vulnerable light. Combine it with the magic of Guadagnino’s directing and Chalamet and Russell’s unparalleled performances, and it’s truly not something you’ll want to miss.
We sat down with the unparalleled cast and crew of Bones and All, check out the conversation below!
What do you get when you combine cannibalism, romance, an on-the-road adventure, and two of the greatest young actors of the generation? “A metaphor for the trauma we carry, the curses we hold within ourselves, and the inability to move on from what we find to be our original sin,” says Timothée Chalamet, who stars as Lee in Luca Guadagnino’s all-new horror romance film Bones and All.
Metaphor and fable were the two most common words that the cast and crew used to describe Bones and All last night at its premiere at the 60th annual New York Film Festival, and it couldn’t be more true. The film follows eighteen-year-old Maren (played by the unparalleled Taylor Russell) who believes that she is the only person in the world harboring her deep (and frankly, poorly kept) secret, that there is a hunger inside of her that can only be sated by another human being. After being abandoned by her father, Maren sets out on a journey to find what she isn’t even quite sure she’s looking for, maybe hoping to find a place where she belongs. After a bone-chilling encounter with Mark Rylance’s Sully, the first person she’s ever met thats “like her,” Maren is left fearful and confused. But after a chance encounter with Lee inside of a grocery store, the two seek solace in each other and begin to see what it’s like to finally have someone understand you. Chalamet and Russell deliver an absolutely stunning performance depicting a coming of age narrative in such a unique format. Though the movie is undoubtedly gory, there’s such a calming sense of humanity to it during the moments of in between, and had you tuned into the film midway into one of those scenes, you might not even get the sense that it’s a horror film at all. The versatility is truly one of the many components that makes Guadagnino such an incredible director. We had the amazing opportunity to talk to this brilliant cast and crew, check out our full conversation below!