Movie Reviews
Exquisite, five-star movie can’t be missed
Think about the teacher you had that everyone hated.
They were probably strict, uncompromising and more than a little mean. And it wasn’t just the kids who didn’t like them, you could tell they weren’t popular with the rest of the faculty as well.
That’s Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti), a crusty and curmudgeon ancient civilisations teacher at the snow-covered New England boarding school in the 1970-set film The Holdovers. Paul is dedicated to teaching, but he has no patience for the students, referring to them as “reprobates”, “hormonal vulgarians” and “fetid layabouts”.
He’s a misanthrope, his wounds born out of what he perceives as a life that has been chipped away by the unfair advantages the privileged have over him. He’s on the nose with the headmaster after Paul refused to pass a failing student whose parents were big donors to the school.
When Christmas rolls around, Paul draws the short straw and is assigned to supervise the students who can’t go home for Christmas. One of them is Angus (Dominic Sessa), an unpopular kid whose mother decides at the last moment that she’s going on a honeymoon with her new husband instead of the Caribbean getaway she promised him.
Also stuck at the school is cafeteria manager Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), who is facing her first Christmas without her son, a former student who has been killed in the Vietnam War.
The plea to Paul to “at least pretend to be a human being, please, it’s Christmas” has little effect – at first – but over the course of their time together, it’s clear these three lonely people with mountains of baggage will connect on a deeply human level, and find the world a little easier to live in.
That might sound trite and potentially dripping in sentimentality, but director Alexander Payne has balanced The Holdover’s acerbic wit with generosity. So few filmmakers are capable to managing tone the way Payne can.
Paul may be tough and sharp-tongued, but he is decent. He’s not driven by malevolence.
Giamatti, reuniting with Payne after the two made Sideways in 2004, gives a towering but restrained portrayal. There’s nothing mannered or false about Giamatti’s character, you feel the textures of a man burdened with disappointments. He doesn’t bluster or blubber, he just is. It’s a humanist performance and deserving of all the accolades.
Similarly, Sessa (a newcomer Payne discovered in a high school drama program) and Randolph (currently the frontrunner for a best supporting actress Oscar) are pitch perfect, diving into the rich seams of David Hemingson’s screenplay. Their vulnerabilities are there but it’s never maudlin.
Payne is a wonderful world-builder of small communities and the specificities and personalities contained within them. From opening shots of snow-shovelling and choir practice, you know exactly where you are. Plus, there’s the needle drops which include The Allman Brothers, Temptations, Cat Stevens and Chet Baker.
He knows how to tell character-driven emotional stories with humour and heart.
The Holdovers is less astringent than Sideways and About Schmidt and as gentle as The Descendants and, particularly, About Schmidt. It’s also smart, like Payne’s masterful 1999 political satire Election.
It’s been a decade since Payne made an exquisite film (it’s easier to forget the 2017 Matt Damon movie Downsizing exists) and The Holdovers is a confident roaring comeback.
Rating: 5/5
The Holdovers is in cinemas from Thursday, January 11
By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer
Posted: May 8th, 2026 / 08:34 PM
AFFECTION movie poster | ©2026 Brainstorm Media
Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Jessica Rothe, Joseph Cross, Julianna Layne
Writer: BT Meza
Director: BT Meza
Distributor: Brainstorm Media
Release Date: May 8, 2026
AFFECTION is an odd title for this tale. While it is about a number of topics and emotions, fondness isn’t one of them. Obsession, definitely. Love, possibly. The kind of general warm fellow feelings associated with “affection”? No.
There have been a lot of movies lately in which characters – mostly women – are grappling with false identities and/or false memories imposed upon them, mostly by men.
Let us stipulate that the protagonist (Jessica Rothe) in AFFECTION is not an android or in an artificial reality. However, we can tell something is way off from the opening sequence. A car is stalled on a tree-bordered highway. Rothe’s character is lying face down on the asphalt beside it, possibly dead.
But then the young woman rises, dragging a broken ankle. She experiences a full-body seizure. Fighting to recover, she sees oncoming headlights and tries to run, only to be hit by a car.
The woman wakes up in a bed she doesn’t recognize, next to a man (Joseph Cross) she likewise is sure she’s never seen before. One big confrontation later, the man says his name is Bruce – and that the woman is his wife, Ellie.
Ellie insists that her name is Sarah Thompson, and she is married to someone else, with a son. When she sees her reflection in a mirror, she doesn’t relate to the face looking back at her.
Bruce counters that Ellie has a rare neurological condition that causes her to block out her waking life and believe her dreams are real. This is why they agreed, together, to move to this isolated house, without the kinds of interruptions that can hinder Ellie’s recovery.
The set-up is presented in a way where we share Ellie’s skepticism. But Ellie and Bruce’s little daughter Alice (Julianna Layne) immediately identifies Ellie as “Mommy!” Alice appears to be too young to be in on any kind of deception, so what is going on here?
AFFECTION eventually explains this via a helpful videotape, though it’s so convoluted that viewers watching on streaming may want to replay the sequence to make sure they understand the exposition.
Writer/director BT Meza musters a sense of menace and lurking weirdness, as well as making great use of his location.
We still have a lot of questions, many of which are still unanswered by the film’s end. It may not matter to the points AFFECTION is trying to make, but a better sense of exactly how all this started might help our investment.
As it is, despite a heroically versatile performance by Rothe, a credible and anguished turn by Cross and appealing work from Layne, we’re so busy trying to piece together what’s important and what’s not and how we’re supposed to feel about all of it that it can be hard to keep track of the action as it unfolds.
Agree or not, Meza’s arguments are lucid and illustrated clearly by AFFECTION’s events. However, the movie is structured in a way that becomes more frustrating as it goes. We comprehend it intellectually but can’t engage viscerally.
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RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — In this episode of 8News Reel Talk, digital producer Julia Broberg is joined by anchor Deanna Allbrittin and reporter Allison Williams to talk about “The Devil Wears Prada 2.”
The hosts gave their reviews and assigned the following star ratings:
Deanna: ★★★★.5
Allison: ★★★.25
Julia: ★★
To watch more livestreams and digital video content, head to the WRIC+ Originals page. You can also watch full on-demand videos on your smart TV using the WRIC+ app.
Billie Eilish fans prepare yourself, the much talked about secret project has finally arrived on the big screens!
Billie Eilish has always been about intimacy over artifice, but her latest concert film takes that to a visceral new level. Co-directed by Eilish and James Cameron, Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D) manages to bridge the gap between a massive stadium show and the quiet grit of life backstage.
The film starts 18 minutes out from the show and builds the tension until audiences are literally folded into a box with her. Being taken under the stage, passing fans who have no idea she’s inches away, sets a tone of total immersion. What makes this film different is the balance between the spectacle and the behind-the-scenes reality. We see the creative shorthand between Billie and James Cameron as they chase what she calls the “best kind of sensory overload”.
The film is very much fan focussed, with the sound mix being so specific that you can hear individual fans singing along in sync with the visuals.
There are so many standout moments, the handheld camera work during “Bad Guy” that gives a dizzying POV of the band, and the chilling minute of silence Billie requests from the crowd to record a vocal loop.
The film captures her unique stage presence. Influenced by rap culture, Billie refuses to have anyone else on stage, unlike many female artists that use back up dancers. Billie can hold the entire stadium in awe by herself which is incredible to witness, until Finneas joins her for a beautiful, emotional piano set.
Between the high-tech visuals and the “Puppy Room” (where she keeps rescue dogs for staff to decompress), the film feels incredibly personal. While the film doesn’t give us any new insights into Billie, Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D) is an enjoyable experience that elevates the tradition concert film.
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