The Holdovers (2023) or, The New England Christmas Blues

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Three disparate characters around a sparse meal with a very far from straight Christmas tree in the background make up this humorous poster for Alexander Payne's The Holdovers

Paul Hunham is an aging bachelor and a teacher of classics and antic history at the Barton Academy boys' school in New England in 1970. This Christmas the sarcastic curmudgeon has been left with the duty of overseeing the long vacation for the handful of holdover students at the school who are forced to spend it there.

The Holdovers is written and co-produced by David Hemingson (The Adventures of Pete & Pete (1995-96)) and directed by Nebraskan master filmmaker Alexander Payne (The Passion of Martin (1991)), whose 9th feature it is.

Besides the acidic Hunham, played with zest and sense of character by Paul Giamatti (Jungle Cruise (2021)), the central two at the school are the troubled teen Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa in an impressive debut) and kitchen manager Mary Lamb (Da'Vine Joy Randolph (The Guilty (2021)) in an assertive and powerful performance), who is grieving her recently lost teenage son's demise in Vietnam. Crusty humor and maudlin backstories join hand in hand. Swept in snowy New England exteriors and various locations comprising the picturesque Barton school, Payne also unleashes copious amounts of period-appropriate soft rock and pop songs. All contributing to the soft, pleasant blues-ey ride that is The Holdovers.

We may not be up there with Payne's best films (About Schmidt (2002), Sideways (2004), The Descendants (2011) and Nebraska (2013)), or maybe we are? Time will tell. There is a brittle warmth and sweet underlying humanity to this narrative of the discovery of a much-needed father figure (and more than a few kicks in the ass for the belligerent Hunham's mostly unchallenged self), which makes it a doozy and likely to become a holiday favorite. Many of Hemingson's lines are dynamite. After the expansive time with this little company of individuals, I only wish I knew what would become of Paul Hunham after this.

 

Related posts:
 
Alexander Payne: 2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]   
Nebraska (2013) or, Father and Son

Top 10: Best dramedies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
Top 10: The best big hit movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
2011 in films - according to Film Excess
The Descendants (2011) - Payne and Clooney score with a Hawaiian story of heartbreak, loss and family  
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Hung - season 1 (2009) - Ray Drecker overcomes bad circumstances in mostly promising dramedy (executive producer/director) 

I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007) - James and Sandler marry in Dugan's crude, wrongfully maligned buddy-comedy (co-writer) 

Paris, Je t'Aime (2006) - Short film anthology playground set in Paris (co-director)

2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
About Schmidt (2002) or, Dear Ndugu ...  
Election (1999) - Payne's high school politics dramedy 

 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Uncertain, projected 15 mil. $

Box office: 22.9 mil. $ and counting

= Too early to say

[The Holdovers premiered 31 August (Telluride Film Festival, US) and runs 133 minutes. Payne conceived the film upon seeing Marcel Pagnol's Merlusse (1935) and asked Hemingson to write the screenplay. Shooting took place from January - ? in Massachusetts. Focus Features bought the distribution rights for 30 mil. $ at the Toronto International Film Festival, breaking a record for highest amount paid in such a case at the festival. The release was eventually scheduled in North America as simultaneously theatrical and as VoD. The film opened #17 to a 211k $ first weekend in 6 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #6 and in 1,601 theaters (different weekends) and has grossed 18.6 mil. $ to date. The film has 15 scheduled opening markets yet to come, beginning with Italy and Mexico tomorrow, January 18th. It has won 2/3 Golden Globe nominations, is nominated for 4 Independent Spirit awards, has won 4 National Board of Review awards and an AFI award, among many other honors. Payne does not have his next film announced yet. Giamatti returned in Billions (2016-23) and Coins (2023, TV-series) and is set to make his theatrical return in San Andreas 2; Sessa does not have his next gig announced yet; and Randolph returned in Only Murders in the Building (2021-23) and is set to return theatrically in Bride Hard and Shadow Force. The Holdovers is certified fresh at 96 % with a 8.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Holdovers?

It (2017) - Muschietti succeeds with terrifying, thoroughly well-made King adaptation

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+ Best Adaptation of the Year + Best Horror Movie of the Year + Best Mega-hit Movie of the Year + Best Villain of the Year: Pennywise the Clown (Bill Skarsgård)

If you look into the red balloon on this poster for Andy Muschietti's It, you will see a hint of the film's terrifying villain

Derby, a New England town in 1988: A young boy goes missing during a heavy rain, seemingly lost into the sewer system. Months later, a group of friends band around the boy's big brother after each suffering similar, menacing experiences, wanting to expose and defeat the strange evil that haunts the town.

It is the second adaptation of one of Stephen King's (The Running Man (1982)) most horrifying novels, the 1986 book of the same title, following the 1990 miniseries version by Tommy Lee Wallace. It is written by Chase Palmer (Shock and Awe (2004), short), Cary Fukunaga (Beasts of No Nation (2015)) and Gary Dauberman (Annabelle: Creation (2017)) and directed by great Argentinian filmmaker Andy Muschietti (Mama (2013)). The story has been relocated from the 1950s to the late 1980s, a smart move probably made in order to make it more relatable and relevant to younger audiences today. The time is evocatively recreated with clothes, products and culture, such as one fine montage to a famous song (Six Different Ways) by The Cure.
The new version bests the also quite good and haunting miniseries and joins the ranks with some of the best King adaptations to date: I would place it after The Shining (1980) and Stand By Me (1986), and possibly The Shawshank Redemption (1994), but probably ahead of other great adaptations like Carrie (1976), Misery (1990) and Dolores Claiborne (1995). Muschietti's It is completely unfit for children; it is a violently intense and terrifying horror attack of a kind that only rarely comes around. The last instance of a major-studio, relatively big-budgeted horror of such high quality was James Wan's The Conjuring (2013). Audiences realize this and are flocking to see It right now for that very reason.
Bill Skarsgård (Atomic Blonde (2017)) is likely to become a household name off the performance he delivers here as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, which is nothing short of haunting. It veers from Tim Curry's fine turn in the miniseries in ways that are hard to describe; Skarsgård's Pennywise is less verbal and human; instead he is more animalic, demonic and malignant. The crafting of the look - or looks - of Pennywise are also first rate and impossible not to get fascinated with. More than anything, the few minutes we spend with Pennywise here are what will make people go back and see It again and again in days, months and years to come, as they hold some undeniable, freakish appeal.
The film has several attacks that are effective and terrifying. They are thrown upon adolescents whose lives are already fraught with peril: We are led in on the family situations of two of them, who struggle with bad parents, and they are all targeted by the school's violent bullies, led by an intensely hateful Nicholas Hamilton (Captain Fantastic (2016)). It in this way doesn't reflect a philosophy where kids become adults through peaceful progress and appropriation, but rather the opposite: Kids grow into adults through often violent processes, transgressive experiences and frightening realizations, - just as in King's book. One especially transgressive, strange and shocking scene from King's novel, (readers of it probably remember it), is also sacrificed in this adaptation, likely for more than one reason.
Some critics have tried singling out the film as a coming-of-age story, which is mostly merited as a drama, - which is ridiculous. The coming-of-age here is the motor of the horror; the kids' daring and curiosity spark their gory entering into adulthood.
It is gory and filled with spectacular and nightmarish effects that are more appropriate here than was the case in the somewhat overstuffed ending of Muschietti's otherwise scary previous horror, Mama. The sound work is also fierce and affecting.
The group of kids that portray The Losers' Club do well. Relying on so many child performances is tricky, and not everyone is superb all the time, but they generally do very well, and some deserve singling out: Jaeden Lieberher (The Book of Henry (2017)) is the pro in the bunch, and he makes a fine Bill. Jeremy Ray Taylor (Geostorm (2017)) gives a brave and winning performance as the big kid Ben, and Sophia Ellis (37 (2016)) is endearing and powerful as Beverly, who has the worst home situation of the bunch, which the film to its credit doesn't shy away from.

Related posts:

2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2017 in films - according to Film Excess
Mentioned King adaptations: The Shining (1980) - Kubrick's descent into madness is a timeless masterpiece 
Carrie (1976) or, Don't Bully the Strange Girl! 

 Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 35 mil. $
Box office: 209.9 mil. $ and counting
= Too early to say (but already a huge hit)
[It premiered 29 August (Film4 Frightfest, UK) and runs 135 minutes. Development started in 2009 with David Kajganich slated to direct. Later Cary Fukunaga took over and developed a script that booked Will Poulter as Pennywise and used personal memories from Fukunaga's childhood. But his vision also clashed with New Line's plans, and Muschietti was approached. Filming took place from June - September 2016 in Bangor, Maine and in Ontario, Canada, including in Toronto. Skarsgård was kept away from the shoot for the first weeks and didn't interact much with the child actors during production in order for them to be genuinely scared of him. The film opened #1 to an astonishingly huge 123.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, becoming the biggest horror opening ever as well as the biggest September opening to date. The colossal novel is planned as two films with Muschietti scheduled to return to direct the second film. It is certified fresh at 86 % with a 7.2 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of It?

The Witch (2015) - Eggers' unsettling period-set debut creep-out

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+ Best Horror of the Year

+ Best Debut Movie of the Year

 

This poster for Robert Eggers' The Witch lingers at the creepy qualities of a goat

 

17th century New England: An English immigrant family struggles to scrape together enough food and stick together, as a terrible event threatens to drive them apart.

The Witch is the feature debut of great writer-director Robert Eggers (The Tell-Tale Heart (2008), short), stylized on posters and its title credit as The VVitch and subtitled 'A New-England Folktale'. It is a handsomely shot (by Jarin Blaschke (I Believe in Unicorns (2014))), rich on atmosphere and thoroughly unsettling film about a Puritan family who take sin-awareness and self-blame one or two steps too far. It features powerful acting in all the major parts, SPOILER with young Harvey Scrimshaw (Oranges and Sunshine (2010)) as Caleb particularly incredible in his agonizing scenes leading up to his death. Measured in sheer negative power, these scenes are right up there with what Linda Blair went through for The Exorcist (1973), - and so I deeply hope that Scrimshaw is okay today.

Non-Westerners and people with little knowledge of Christianity will inevitably lose meanings and nuances in The Witch. My only criticism of it is about its incessantly oppressive tone, which is as heavy as to make the film at times near the outlandish. SPOILER But in light of its completely occult ending, this may also be fitting.

In any case The Witch is an original and excellent horror.

 

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2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Anya Taylor-Joy (Split (2016)) in Robert Eggers' The Witch

Watch an official trailer for the film here

Cost: Reportedly 3 - 3.5 mil. $

Box office: 40.4 mil. $

= Huge hit

[The Witch premiered January 27 (Sundance) and runs 93 minutes. For lack of tax incentives there, the film had to be shot in Canada instead of New England, and a remote area of Ontario was chosen. Filming was accomplished only using natural light outside and candle lights inside. The film opened #4, behind holdover hits Deadpool and Kung Fu Panda 3 and newcomer Risen, to an 8.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its second week and grossed 25.1 mil. $ (62.1 % of the total gross.) The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Mexico with 3.4 mil. $ (8.4 %) and Brazil with 2.5 mil. $ (6.2 %). The film won the Directing Award at Sundance. The Witch is certified fresh at 91 % with a 7.8 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Witch?

Irrational Man (2015) - Allen's pleasant morality tale divertisement

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Joaquin Phoenix looks swanky (and hides his giant beer gut) on this stylish, albeit slightly dull poster for Woody Allen's Irrational Man

Irrational Man is the new film from master writer-director Woody Allen (Anything Else (2003)), who is already shooting his next film and also set to direct his first TV-series, both to come out next year. Pushing 80, the impressive man is anything but slowing down.

Abe Lucas is a philosophy professor, who is moving to a friendly New England college, where a couple of women take to his depressed outpourings. Real trouble sets in, as Lucas seizes a radical means to pull himself out of his slump.

Thematically, Allen is in (familiar) Crime and Punishment waters here, (referring to Fyodor Dostoyevsky's classic 1866 novel), and the novel also gets mentioned in the film, along with a long line of other novels, writers and thinkers. As is usually the case with Allen's films, prior knowledge to the intellectual and in this case also the academical world heightens the understanding and pleasure of the film. I found it to be a stimulating story. It's not among Allen's deepest and certainly not his funniest, but as a weary adult's diversion, it's excellent.
SPOILER The weakest moment of the film, and I can't, regrettably, really explain why, is a dinner scene, in which Emma Stone's (Magic in the Moonlight (2014)) character presents her professor Joaquin Phoenix (The Master (2012)) to her parents at home, and they debate the facts surrounding a mysterious local murder. For whatever reason, this scene just doesn't work. But I find that the plot is generally plausible and sound enough, and that this is just a little rough patch in an otherwise good film.

Woody Allen directing Jamie Blackley and Emma Stone for his Irrational Man

The details:

Irrational Man sees Allen work with Phoenix for the first time. Phoenix, in the title role, has grown a solid potbelly for the film (I guess...?), which is impossible not to notice, although I couldn't say I enjoyed his abdominal addition per se. He plays the lead as he finds best and not in the vein of how Allen might have done it himself, which works in his favor, and he does well. Stone  is back for her second Allen film, (following Magic in the Moonlight), and she is perfectly cast as the keenly intelligent young woman, SPOILER who still falls right smack for her professor's 'charms'. Parker Posey (The Sweetest Thing (2002)), who is actually 6 years older than Phoenix, is beginning to look her age. - Not to say that she isn't still sexy as hell, though, and she also gives another fine performance in Irrational Man.
Great cinematographer Darius Khondji (Magic in the Moonlight) doesn't get too much to play with visually here. The film has a typically Allenesque, snazzy jazz sound side, although without any majorly recognizable tracks this time.
One of Allen's producers for several decades, Jack Rollins (Alice (1990), executive producer), passed away in June, and Irrational Man is his final screen credit, as co-executive producer.

Related reviews:
 
2014 in films - according to Film Excess
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess
Woody Allen:  Magic in the Moonlight (2014) - Allen's irresistible French Riviera romance
Fading Gigolo (2013) - Turturro's pleasant turn as a high-end NY prostitute  (as actor)
Blue Jasmine (2013) - Allen presenets Blanchett, a woman under the influence
To Rome with Love (2012) - Woody Allen's slightest film to date  
Midnight in Paris (2011) - Allen's zany (and a little depressing) crowd-pleaser  
Cassandra's Dream (2007) - Allen's well-laid but inconsequentiel English cul-de-sac  
Anything Else (2003) - Perfect contemporary relationship comedy    
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) - Allen's hypnotic, noirish shenanigans 
Celebrity (1998) or, Stars in New York 
Celebrity (1998) or, Beautiful Celebrities Talk About Sex (guest review) 
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) - Sin and guilt up for laughs and rumination in unspectacular Allen work 
Broadyway Danny Rose (1984) or, Keep Your Heart   
Annie Hall (1977) or, My Relationship with Alvie Singer   
Bananas (1971) - Woody Allen's South American misadventure is still a barrel of laughs   
Casino Royale (1967) - The packed spy spoof frontrunner, a film very much of its time (as actor)  

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 5.8 mil. $ and counting
= Uncertainty
[Irrational Man was shot in Newport, Rhode Island, in July - August of 2014. It premiered in Cannes, and its domestic gross seems to have landed on a rather flat 3.8 mil. $. Abroad, it has so far done best in Russia, where it has made 0.5 mil. $. It does not, unfortunately, look like it is going to end up as a theatrical hit.]

What do you think of Irrational Man?

City of the Living Dead/Paura Nella Città Dei Morti Viventi/The Gates of Hell (1980) - New England town turns to a gory hell in Fulci's slow shocker favorite

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Colorful, irresistible poster for Lucio Fulci's City of the Living Dead

QUICK REVIEW:

The priest in Dunwich, New England commits suicide on hallowed grounds and thus opens a Gate to Hell!
Four big hearts for this fantastically gloomy, macabre zombie gore horror. Sleepy little Dunwich is turned into a truly nightmarish place on Earth, as rats, maggots and zombies begin to crowd the place as a result of the miserable priest.
The eerily hypnotizing buried-alive scene (which was referenced and nearly recreated in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)) and the seemingly floating images from the foggy town contribute to making this an atmospheric favorite among Italian horror master Lucio Fulci's (The Beyond (1981)) impressive body of work.
The music by Fabio Frizzi (The Beyond (1981)) adds to the nightmarish quality of the work. The ending is fantastic and deeply strange.

The original Italian title means 'Fear in the City of the Living Dead', and it is the first film in Fulci's unofficial Gates of Hell trilogy, which also includes The Beyond (1981) (which is probably his best film) and The House by the Cemetery (1981).
In this next poster, to the right you see the actress Daniela Doria, who actually swallowed sheep entrails for the film and then vomited them up for the running camera for one legendary scene in the annals of gore:

Exciting horror-enthusiastic poster for Lucio Fulci's City of the Living Dead with a reference to the marketing of Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left (1972) [It's only a movie, only a movie, only a movie ...]

Related review:

Lucio Fulci: The Beyond (1981) - Fulci's ultimate vision of surreal horror

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown

What do you think of City of the Living Dead?
What are some of your favorite zombie movies?