(by Steve Hopkins)
The movie review site RottenTomatoes.com describes the recently released “Marty Supreme” as the story of Marty Mauser, a young man with a dream no one respects, who goes to hell and back in pursuit of greatness. Mauser is loosely based on American Great Marty Reisman, an accomplished table tennis star player, self-promoter, and as Reisman described later in his book – a ping pong hustler.
In its opening day, “Marty Supreme” brought in $875,000 with a limited release. It has now opened worldwide and has already brought in $17 million dollars. On Christmas Day, a ping pong movie topped its competition (including “Anaconda” and “Avatar Fire & Sun”). Timothy Chalamet trained extensively in preparation for the role, and so far his character is being well received… as is the movie. RottenTomatoes.com has given the movie a 95% score, showing that a vast majority of the audience have a positive view of the movie.
Over the years there have been a lot of movies with table tennis included as a part of the plot. If you prefer to spend your holiday at home, here are some additional options that you can find at home through various streaming services. These stream-able movies feature our sport prominently:
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1. Balls of Fury | Rotten Tomatoes 22% | A one-time ping-pong prodigy who hasn’t played since he blew his chance at a championship more than 20 years ago is recruited by the FBI to infiltrate an underground ping-pong death match. | Hulu, Amazon Prime, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play
2. Ping Pong Summer | Rotten Tomatoes 59% | A 1985 summer vacation changes the life of a shy white teen who is obsessed with table tennis and hip-hop music. | Tubi, Amazon Prime, Vudu, YouTube, iTunes, Google Play
3. Ping Pong Playa | Rotten Tomatoes 64% | A slacker must preserve is family honor by winning a table tennis tournament. | Tubi, Amazon Prime
4. Top Spin | Rotten Tomatoes 100% | Ariel Hsing, Michael Landers, and Lily Zhang prepare to compete in the 2016 Olympic Trials. | Amazon Prime
5. Ping Pong | Rotten Tomatoes 78% | Table Tennis playing seniors heading to China to compete in the over 80s Table Tennis Championships in Inner Mongolia. | Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Vudu
6. Forest Gump | Rotten Tomatoes 75% | One of Tom Hanks’ signature roles of a unique figure who maneuvers through history with one hallmark event being his participation in Ping Pong Diplomacy. | Hulu, Amazon Prime, Vudu, Google Play, YouTube
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