THE HOLDOVERS
(15) 133mins
★★★★☆
WE all had that one teacher at school who was loathed by everyone.
Who makes the kids, and often other teachers, eye-roll and groan.
They gave extra homework, wore a dust of dandruff and body odour, and refused to let you have fun.
That is exactly who Paul Hunham is.
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It is the 1970s and Mr Hunham (Paul Giamatti) has been working at the snow-covered New England all-boys boarding school since graduating as a pupil.
Now he’s about to spend another Christmas Day at the sprawling institution, looking after the student who wasn’t able to be collected for the holidays.
This year it is the clever-but-troubled Angus (Dominic Sessa) whose mum has decided to take a honeymoon with her new husband.
She callously calls her tearful son as he is waiting with his bags packed to tell him he will spend the break with Mr Hunham.
Their other companion over the festive season is cafeteria manager Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph).
Her beloved only child, who was also a pupil at the school, has been killed in Vietnam and it will be her first Christmas without him.
So there are three lonely, unpopular and desperately sad people forced to spend a supposedly joyful time together in a desolate school.
This may sound like the premise to a dull and depressing film, however it’s anything but.
All their unsightly baggage is brought to the table and the unlikely threesome connect on a level previously unknown to them.
Because Mr Hunham isn’t all grump. He shows much empathy for Mary’s loss.
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Angus isn’t just a spoilt teen. He has dealt with tremendous struggles in his young life.
And Mary, who has been hardened by grief, allows herself to be vulnerable with these two, strange companions.
Director Alexander Payne reunites with Giamatti 20 years after they made the hilarious Sideways.
And this poignant and gentle film is just as funny.
The performances from the trio are pitch perfect with plenty of humour and heart — and they soon find themselves going on a life- changing adventure together.
With a soundtrack including Cat Stevens and the Temptations, there’s plenty to warm the soul this cold season.
MEAN GIRLS
(12A) 112mins
★★★☆☆
MEAN Girls has now joined Matilda, Hairspray and The Producers . . . films turned into stage musicals, then into movie versions of that stage musical.
But, where the other three succeeded in making the jump, Mean Girls falls a little flat in many ways.
Updated for Gen-Z, Mean Girls has kept the hilariously bitchy and camp essence of the original, bringing back some of the most iconic scenes and lines, with new spins on them.
But the musical numbers continuously take the audience out of the movie, and away from writer Tina Fey’s amazing dialogue.
And it’s not helped by the distractingly weak singing voice of Angourie Rice, who plays the Lindsay Lohan-originated lead role, Cady Heron.
Renee Rapp completely embodies bully Regina George every second she’s onscreen, and is a vocal powerhouse, bringing the house down with her stand-out number, World Burn.
But Avantika Vandanapu steals the show with her very funny song, Sexy – about her character Karen Shetty’s favourite time of the year being Halloween, because she can be “who I wanna be…and sexy”.
It could never live up to the original but this is as “fetch” as it’s going to get.
THE END WE START FROM
(15) 106mins
★★★☆☆
THIS thought-provoking drama brings apocalyptic themes close to home.
Jodie Comer is exceptional as a young first-time mum, whose name we are never told, giving birth precisely as the UK is hit by an environmental catastrophe.
Torrential storms and flooding force her to flee London with her partner (Joel Fry) and their newborn, but any relief at their successful evacuation is short-lived.
As the country remains waterlogged, food rots, supplies dwindle and civil unrest takes hold.
It’s as much about the universal overwhelming loneliness of parenthood as the wider context of the continuation of the planet.
The couple separate for safety but being apart only becomes another endeavour of endurance.
By keeping blockbuster-style special effects to a minimum and instead utilising the skills of an outstanding cast, which includes Benedict Cumberbatch and Gina McKee, director Mahalia Belo makes this tale of nature on the rampage frighteningly real.
The pace trickles towards the end, and the perpetual watery metaphors such as taps, showers and lakes, are relentless, but Comer will still hold your attention throughout.
