The Holdovers

 

The Holdovers-Prime

There must be a special place in hell for people who make deceptive trailer ads. The trailer makes the film appear humorous and warm hearted. For the most part, it is not. The Holdovers is not humorous. There are sad stories and the road to redemption is bumpy and painful.

 Paul Giamatti is Paul Hunham a curmudgeon ancient history teacher whom his students and peers dislike.  He cycles through various levels of curmudgeonhood in the film. Sympathy for him is gained after tales of his misery. He is a sad and lonely person.

Dominic Sessa is Angus Tully the holdover student Giamatti has to babysit. He has a sad backstory that would make Tiny Tim cry. In this formula plot, they deeply dislike each other and over the course of the film they defrost. Eventually, Giamatti and Sessa form a friendship/ allegiance to fend off their adversaries. The bond they achieve traverses rocky terrain.

Da’ Vine Joy Randolph is the head cook Mary. She has a deeply sad story herself that has nothing to do with Hunham and Tully. Sadness is their bond. Her main role is to humanize Hunham.

The acting is well done and they portray their characters well. For all the sadness you would expect more happiness and joy. It is a Christmas movie after all.   

San Andreas

The action stars of this movie are the earthquakes and the tsunami, the Rock is just some guy flying a helicopter. This is the most un-Rock movie I have seen to date. He doesn’t kill anyone, shot anyone, break any one’s back or even takeoff his shirt. No pectoral dancing here ladies. Oh a correction, he does punch out one obnoxious looter.

The Rock and his estranged wife are looking for their daughter amidst the devastation of the San Francisco earthquake. I am not dissing this noble cause, but this is not Rockish. You would expect him to be knee deep in rubble saving babies and lifting trucks of the legs of some priest. Just rushing around looking for his daughter is boring. It is more boring when his daughter is a very smart and capable young woman able to take care of herself. She handles distress well. Anyone want to guess the ending?

There were actually flashes of acting on the Rock’s part. Getting all pissy about signing divorce papers and giving the new boyfriend the stinky eye. There was even a passionate kiss with his wife lasting a bit too long (closed mouth).

The earthquakes were biblical. Buildings fell like Jenga blocks with total disregard to building codes. Modern buildings in seismic areas are required to have life saving features. Then there is the claim of predicting earthquakes made by the head of Cal Tech’s seismic department played by Paul Giamatti. When they predicted an earthquake it was already occurring. That is not what predicting means. A prediction is something before it happens not when. Surprisingly Giamatti’s character does not know how probability works. A poor actuary sitting next to me groaned. 

This movie harkens back to the disaster films of the 1970’s: Airplane, Towering Inferno and Earthquake. Aside for innovations in computer graphics this film has the same chunkiness of its predecessors. The spectacle  overwhelms the story.

I hope this is not a trend for the Rock.  Please stick to mayhem, fast cars, guns and women of questionable morals. Anyone can save a lady in distress, but can they make their pecks dance?

12 Years a Slave

This is a great and brutal movie. The whippings, lynchings, chains and rapes are all true. The story is based on the protagonist’s, Solomon Northup, own writings of his ordeal as a kidnapped freeman sold into slavery. To some extent we are familiar with slavery but the graphic depictions of cruelty and dehumanization are shocking. A comparable modern situation would be the Nazi concentration camps.

All the components of this film make it a great story. The lead and supporting actors were essential to the film. The two pillars of this movie are Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Fassbender. Ejiofor is the slave, Solomon Northup, and Fassbender the slave owner Edwin Epps.

Ejiofor transitions from the bewilderment of being kidnapped to subcoming to the reality of being a slave and assuming a new persona. Even in his subjugation he hopes to gain his freedom. The strongest lashes do not break his will. Ejiofor’s acting is visceral; Solomon’s pain etches Ejiofor’s face.

Michael Fassbender is brilliant. His acting arch is formitable. His characters span from Dr. Jung in A Dangerous Method, to Magnito in the X Men movies to a sex addict in Shame. As Edwin Epps he is a sadistic psychopath who indulges in cruelty and degradation.  Epps has a singular dislike for Solomon and beats him at every opportunity. Fassbender acting was intense with sweat pouring down his face and veins popping on his neck from screaming at his slaves. He is frightingly convincing in his role.

There are other excellent performances. Paul Dano, as John Tibeats an overseer, plays his usual understated role. What belies his passive façade is a meanness based on jealousy and revenge. Solomon is a target of his ire. Dano gives a sheepishly cowardly performance.

Paul Giamatti is the dapper slave trader. His approach to selling slaves is akin to a stud bull auction. He shows the white teeth of the slaves and slaps the males on the chest as if beating a taut drum. He is totally dispassionate in his negations and has no computation to split families for the best return. He is as repulsive as he is well dressed.

Brad Pitt makes a brief appearance. In the story his character is very important, but his air time is humblingly short.

There are other wonderful actors such as Benedict Cumberbatch and Alfe Woodward. The script was focused and even the brief flashbacks worked. This is a tough graphic movie but the acting and the story make it worth seeing.