Holiday Movie Guide: 'Marty Supreme,' 'Song Sung Blue,' 'The Testament Of Ann Lee,' 'Anaconda,' And More

HOLLYWOOD, CA — Five films land on Christmas Day, offering a mix of sports drama, music, spiritual fervor, economic dread and meta‑adventure for holiday crowds.

“Marty Supreme,” directed by Josh Safdie, stars Timothée Chalamet as Marty Mauser, a hustling table‑tennis prodigy in 1950s New York whose drive for greatness tips into obsession. Loosely inspired by real‑life ping‑pong icon Marty Reisman, it plays like a white‑knuckle coming‑of‑age story about ambition, ego and the cost of winning.

“Song Sung Blue” pairs Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson as a Milwaukee duo whose Neil Diamond tribute act becomes both a lifeline and a test of loyalty, with Craig Brewer steering the film toward grit, warmth and lived‑in emotion.

“The Testament of Ann Lee” delivers a quiet jolt of spiritual intensity as Amanda Seyfried and Thomasin McKenzie trace the rise of the Shaker movement’s enigmatic founder in Mona Fastvold’s intimate period drama.

“No Other Choice,” Park Chan‑wook’s darkly comic thriller, follows Lee Byung‑hun as a laid‑off worker who takes extreme measures to secure a new job, with Son Ye‑jin grounding the story’s mix of satire and dread.

“Anaconda,” Tom Gormican’s meta‑comedy adventure, sends Paul Rudd and Jack Black into the jungle to remake a movie from their youth — only to discover the danger is real. It’s positioned as a broad, crowd‑pleasing holiday romp.

Ready to dive in? Scroll down for the full lineup — and step into the shimmering world of storytelling, where every frame is an escape, with deeper explorations of each film below that unpack performances, themes and craft in greater detail.

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What To Watch This Holiday Weekend

“Marty Supreme”

Timothée Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow; directed by Josh Safdie

“Marty Supreme” is Josh Safdie’s most audacious swing yet — a fevered, brass-lit character study set in the cutthroat world of 1950s table tennis. Timothée Chalamet stars as Marty Mauser, a hustler-showman whose talent is matched only by his appetite for reinvention. Chalamet delivers a performance of wiry intensity, shaping Marty as both a magnetic prodigy and a young man teetering on the edge of his own mythology.

Safdie, working with longtime collaborator Ronald Bronstein, builds the film with his signature pulse: jittery, immersive, and attuned to the rhythms of strivers who treat survival as spectacle. The period detail is vivid without tipping into nostalgia, grounding Marty’s ascent in cramped basements, smoky clubs, and the restless energy of postwar New York.

Gwyneth Paltrow brings a cool, enigmatic presence as Kay Stone, a faded star who recognizes in Marty the same combustible mix of brilliance and fragility that once fueled her own rise. Their scenes together add a surprising emotional undertow, softening the film’s sharper edges.

At times, the film’s maximalism threatens to overwhelm, yet its momentum rarely slips. “Marty Supreme” ultimately stands as a bold, stylish portrait of ambition — and the cost of burning too brightly for too long.

“Song Sung Blue”

Hugh Jackman, Kate Hudson; directed by Craig Brewer

Craig Brewer’s “Song Sung Blue” moves with an easy, unforced warmth — a film that understands how showmanship and survival often blur for working musicians. Centering on Lightning and Thunder, a Milwaukee couple whose Neil Diamond tribute act becomes both vocation and refuge, Brewer shapes the story with his familiar blend of grit and grace. What could have slipped into novelty instead becomes a portrait of artistic devotion carved out in the margins, where small dreams carry real weight.

Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson bring a lived‑in clarity to their roles, grounding the film’s musical exuberance in emotional truth. Their chemistry gives the narrative its steady hum: two performers navigating the quiet recalibrations, the stubborn hope, and the private heartbreaks that accumulate over years of shared ambition. Brewer stages the musical numbers with a scrappy vitality, but it’s the offstage moments — the compromises, the flickers of doubt, the fragile recalculations — that deepen the film’s resonance.

“Song Sung Blue” ultimately becomes a study in resilience, attentive to how performance can both shield and expose. For viewers drawn to character‑driven dramas with a strong musical spine, it offers a clear‑eyed, generous experience — a reminder of the labor behind dreaming, even when the spotlight dims.

“No Other Choice”

Lee Byung-hun, Son Ye-jin; directed by Park Chan-wook

Park Chan-wook’s “No Other Choice” unfolds with a cool, unnerving precision — a darkly comic thriller that channels the anxieties of the modern job market through a story as sharp as it is bleakly funny. Adapted from Donald Westlake’s novel “The Ax,” the film follows Man-su, played with icy magnetism by Lee Byung-hun, a paper‑industry expert whose layoff pushes him into a macabre spiral.

As he realizes that every job opening has a line of equally desperate competitors, he begins eliminating them one by one, convinced that survival demands ruthlessness. The premise is extreme, yet Park grounds it in fears that feel painfully current.

Lee’s performance is the film’s anchor — controlled, simmering, and quietly devastating. Son Ye-jin brings a steady emotional counterweight as his wife, charting the slow erosion of a man who once believed in ordinary stability.

Park’s direction is taut and sly, blending satire and dread with the confidence of a filmmaker who understands how humor can sharpen horror. The film’s premiere at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival earned a lengthy standing ovation, and its awards momentum reflects its resonance.

“No Other Choice” becomes a study in economic despair and moral collapse — a thriller that cuts close to the bone while never losing Park’s signature elegance.

“The Testament of Ann Lee”

Amanda Seyfried, Thomasin McKenzie; directed by Mona Fastvold

Mona Fastvold’s “The Testament of Ann Lee” unfolds with a quiet, inexorable force — a period drama that treats spiritual awakening not as spectacle but as lived experience, shaped by trauma, conviction and the fragile hope of building something better.

Drawing from the life of Ann Lee, the visionary founder of the Shaker movement, Fastvold crafts a film that moves with the gravity of testimony and the intimacy of confession. Amanda Seyfried delivers a performance of striking stillness, embodying a woman revered as the female Christ by her followers yet haunted by the wounds that shaped her theology. Thomasin McKenzie provides a luminous counterpoint, tracing the pull of belief with a clarity that deepens the film’s emotional stakes.

Fastvold’s direction is meticulous without feeling austere. The reimagined Shaker hymns — choreographed as rapturous communal movements — give the film a rhythmic pulse, while William Rexer’s cinematography captures the tension between utopian aspiration and earthly hardship. The result is a world that feels both historically grounded and eerily contemporary.

“The Testament of Ann Lee” becomes a study in devotion, power and the cost of forging a new order. For viewers drawn to character‑driven historical dramas with a spiritual spine, it offers a resonant, clear‑eyed portrait of a woman who refused to be ordinary.

“Anaconda”

Paul Rudd, Jack Black; directed by Tom Gormican

The new “Anaconda,” slithering into theaters Dec. 25, looks less like a straight creature reboot and more like a holiday adventure that knows exactly how ridiculous its premise is — and has a blast with it. Director Tom Gormican leans into a meta setup: a group of middle‑aged friends decide to remake a movie they loved as teenagers, only to discover that the jungle doesn’t care about nostalgia. Paul Rudd and Jack Black lead the charge, playing two buddies whose midlife crises collide head‑on with an actual giant snake.

Rudd brings his signature deadpan charm, the kind that makes even the most unwise decisions feel strangely reasonable. Black, meanwhile, goes full throttle, giving the film a jolt of chaotic enthusiasm that pairs perfectly with the story’s self‑aware tone. The script — from Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten — seems to embrace the franchise’s pulp roots while winking at the audience just enough to keep things buoyant.

With a Christmas Day release and a cast stacked with comic ringers, “Anaconda” is being positioned as a broad, good‑natured romp. If the mix of humor, adventure and creature chaos lands, it could easily become the season’s surprise crowd‑pleaser — the kind of movie you watch with popcorn in hand and a grin you don’t bother hiding.