Timothée Chalamet, a Neil Diamond tribute band and more in theaters for Christmas

Timothée Chalamet, a Neil Diamond tribute band and more in theaters for Christmas Timothée Chalamet in Marty Supreme . A24 hide caption toggle caption A24 A ping pong hustler for the ages, a Neil Diamond interpreter for the '80s, choral music both comic and spiritual, plus tormented teens, twisted families, and a giant snake on the loose. It's quite the jolly holiday at your local cineplex. They join a new Avatar sequel, a Bradley Cooper-directed drama , and more in theaters. Marty Supreme In theaters Thursday YouTube I feel as if I should tell you to speed-read this review, preferably with Fats Domino's "The Fat Man" blaring in your ear. Josh Safdie's adrenaline-fueled, screwball comedy about a table tennis hustler who dreams of world domination - in a sport that hasn't registered yet with the American public - is a mesmerizing cinematic tour de force. Timothée Chalamet plays Marty Mauser (loosely based on real-life 1940s and '50s U.S. ping pong champ and petty criminal Marty Reisman), graduating from determined kid-with-a-passion to aggrieved also-ran-in-full-melt-down mode, attracting and then alienating everyone he comes across. We meet him as a New York shoe salesman having storeroom trysts with his married childhood sweetheart (Odessa A'zion) and prepping for a bout in England for which he can't even afford plane fare. Marty establishes with a series of heists and scams that he's got no problem cheating or stealing to get there, then regales the press with a pugnacious racist routine that lands him on front pages before his first serve. Chalamet's live-wire approach is neatly countered by a serenely sensual turn by Gwyneth Paltrow as an aging movie star who finds Marty amusing and alarming in about equal measure. And the film's just getting started at that point, careening towards a championship in Japan with the propulsive, harrowing, rush-to-judgment feel of Safdie's Uncut Gems mixed up with dizzying comedy. It's a thrill ride, pure and simple. - Bob Mondello Song Sung Blue In theaters Thursday YouTube Mike and Claire Sardina, the real-life, blue-collar Milwaukee couple who formed a Neil Diamond tribute act in the 1980s, get the sequin-and-spangle treatment in this Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson love-fest. Writer and director Craig Brewer keeps the music central and the sentiment tolerable as the couple meets cute, bonds quick, and forms a musical act known professionally as Lightning and Thunder. The stars are well-matched and appealing - Hudson does a winning Patsy Cline impersonation, and Jackman completely nails Neil Diamond's sound and bearing. The couple's story, which has more downs than ups, doesn't quite match the mood of a movie determined to be ever-and-always-up. Still, the stars are engaging, the supporting cast great fun, and the music rousing. - Bob Mondello Anaconda In theaters Thursday YouTube The original Anaconda movie came out almost 30 years ago, sending an assortment of '90s movie stars down the Amazon, where they were menaced and occasionally crushed and/or devoured by giant deadly snakes. That film, starring Jennifer Lopez and Ice Cube,...

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