Movie Review The Holdovers

The Holdovers (2023) 

Directed by Alexander Payne 

Written by David Hemingson 

Starring Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, Da'Vine Joy Randolph 

Release Date October 27th, 2023 

Published November 20th, 2023 

The Holdovers is the story of three people trying to avoid discomfort, sadness, and reminders of grief and loss. It's a story that patiently and comically lays out the case that avoiding life is as painful or more painful than risking pain or sadness in the pursuit of something good. The trio of main characters in The Holdovers are cut off from the world physically and, more importantly, metaphorically as they'd like to avoid discomfort or wish that they could shape the world to what they want it to be. They will each learn that the world doesn't conform to anyone's will and that hiding from the world is not the answer. 

Paul Hunham, a perfectly rumpled Paul Giamatti, is the most hated teacher at Barden Academy, a private school for very, very, rich boys. Hunham is openly contemptuous and hostile toward students who don't appear to take their learning as seriously as he does. Hunham doesn't appear to enjoy many things but he does relish openly insulting students who fail to meet his standard of excellence in learning. Oh but, Paul's contempt is not reserved for just the lesser students in his class. He has hate for school staff, fellow teachers, and for his boss, a former student of his who can't understand how Paul has remained at the school considering how miserable Paul appears to be at all times. 

The plot of The Holdovers kicks in when one of Paul's fellow teachers schemes his way out of staying at the school for the winter/Christmas break. Thus, the duty of staying behind at the school and supervising kids left behind by parents and guardians, falls to Paul. Admittedly, Paul was going to be at the school during the break anyway, he doesn't have a life or home away from Barton. Monitoring the holdover students will also allow Paul to indulge in his dictatorial style of teaching even during a time when students are supposed to be on a break. 

There are five students this year who have nowhere to go for the holidays. Among the five is Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), a brilliant young man haunted by the ghost of his father. The other four students are soon shuffled off to a convenient trip with a generous parent but Angus is stuck as his mother is refusing to respond to repeated calls. Thus, we end up with Paul, Angus, and the school's head cook, Mary Lamb (Da'Vine Joy Randolph). Mary is grieving the loss of her son who was killed in Vietnam not long before the setting of this story in December of 1970. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media

Classic Movie Review Mrs. Doubtfire

Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) 

Directed by Chris Columbus 

Written by Randy Mayem Singer, Leslie Dixon 

Starring Robin Williams, Sally Field, Mara Wilson, Pierce Brosnan 

Release Date November 24th, 2023 

Published November 27th, 2023 

I feel like our culture has gaslighted us all for the past 30 years. During this time period our culture has maintained a notion that Mrs. Doubtfire is a classic comedy about a father who will do anything to be close to his kids following a separation and divorce from his kind but worn out ex-wife, played by Sally Field. If you look at the film simply through the lens of our culture-wide love affair with the late Robin Williams, you will only ever find people who think that Mrs. Doubtfire is an untouchable comedy classic, ranking among the best family comedies ever made. 

If, however, you view the film without your rose colored glasses, Mrs. Doubtfire is a mess. This is a sloppy and ludicrous movie that stops dead repeatedly so that Robin Williams can do annoying schtick more at home on a mediocre sitcom than in any mainstream feature comedy. But, even more insidious is the bizarre notion that Robin Williams' devoted dad is some kind of hero. This is patently absurd if you actually watch the movie. I recently watched Mrs. Doubtfire for the I Hate Critics 1993 podcast and the consensus among the three of us on the show is that Robin Williams is the villain of Mrs. Doubtfire. 

I realize this is hard for some people to hear but it's true. Williams' Daniel is a terrible person. Every choice he makes, every desperate, sweaty attempt at fooling people, and all of the lying he does to cover his backside, Daniel is a villain. You can try and convince yourself that he does all of these things because he's being kept from his children, but the reality is that he could have been with his children as their father but he chose to be their friend and he chose not to be a good and caring partner to his wife. Those are the facts and I will happily lay them out for you. 

Mrs. Doubtfire stars Robin Williams as Daniel, a father of three whom we meet as he quits his job as a voiceover artist. He does it because he doesn't want to voice a cartoon in which a character is seen smoking. He's concerned about the effect of seeing smoking on kids and I sympathize with that. However, can we pause and consider the level of privilege one must have to be able to quit a good job over a moral disagreement like this? A lot of us aren't in a financial position to be able to quit a job simply because we have a minor qualm. 

So, why does Daniel feel comfortable walking out on his job? It's because his wife, Miranda (Sally Field) has a great job, a well paying job. It's a job that makes their life together with three kids possible and provides him the freedom to think he can quit his job on a whim. Quitting as he does allows Daniel time to pick up his kids from school and get home in time to throw a birthday party for his son that includes a petting zoo and dozens of kids who run around their house crawling on the furniture, throwing trash on the floor and bringing the pets from the zoo into the house. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review Dream Scenario

Dream Scenario (2023) 

Directed by Kristoffer Borgli 

Written by Kristoffer Borgli 

Starring Nicolas Cage, Julianne Nicholson, Michael Cera, Dylan Baker, Tim Meadows 

Release Date December 1st

Published November 30th, 2023 

Dream Scenario stars Nicolas Cage as college professor, Paul Matthews, a bang average human being who randomly starts showing up in the dreams of strangers and acquaintances alike. Why? No one knows. It starts with Paul's youngest daughter, Sophie (Lily Bird), who suffers a nightmare in which things fall from the sky and her father is there and does not react. He continues just to watch as Sophie begins to float away, all the while calling for him as he stands and watches, doing nothing. As Sophie relates this dream the following morning, Paul can't help but seize on how he feels Sophie is portraying him as a bad father for letting her float away, something she was not doing. 

Paul seems to seek out things to take offense to, personal slights that he can seize on as if the world were always conspiring against him. One such offense occurs that same day as Paul attends a lunch with a former colleague. He's chosen to confront this colleague on the vague assumption that she's about to publish a paper that he believes was inspired by his work over a decade earlier. The deeply awkward and uncomfortable confrontation occurs at a restaurant at what this colleague believed would be a friendly bit of catching up. The friend hasn't even picked up her menu before Paul accuses her of not crediting him on her paper.

Never mind that in the more than a decade since they have spoken that Paul had not published on this topic, he's the one who has been slighted. The scene is edgy and anxiety inducing because we've only begun to know Paul and this is our first lengthy introduction to Paul and he's a sweaty, stammering, deeply awkward mess who doesn't realize what a mess he is. Paul is clearly in the wrong her and his gross entitlement and barely restrained anger charge the scene with a finger nails on a chalkboard like feeling of skin crawling physical cringe. 

This feeling will return throughout the entirety of Dream Scenario as Paul grows into a strange viral celebrity and, as happens with such odd fame, he quickly turns into a canceled villain. If you think Paul is hard to take as a smiling, entitled minor celebrity, just wait for the levels of angst inducing cringe behavior he will engage in as his celebrity curdles into infamy. Nicolas Cage's performance is twitch inducing. He makes you wish you could flee from him even as you can't tear yourself away from this fascinating story as it unfolds. The premise is such a grabber that the question of why this guy is appearing so many different stranger's dreams keeps you rooted to your seat. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media