If a movie that centers around a balding, older curmudgeony dude who hates everyone is what gets your junior mints to pop out of the box, then you were in for a real treat this year. There are two fine examples of this genre represented in the Best Picture Nominees, as well as the Best Actor category. The Holdovers and American Fiction were two of my favorite films this year, due mostly to the remarkable performances of Paul Giamatti and Jeffrey Wright.

The Holdovers 

I am a sucker for films set in academia. Give me an ivy league campus with a leafy quad and a bunch of teachers trying to shape young minds with literature and ideas and I will sit quietly for as long as the test lasts. The Holdovers fits vaguely in all those categories (it’s a boy’s boarding school in the middle of winter with a teacher who can’t stand his students). A group of petulant boys and an angsty troubled adolescent are left behind over the Christmas holiday in the care of the hated teacher, Mr. Hunham (Paul Giamatti). The other boys eventually get to leave with a parent, but Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) is forced to remain on campus. Together with Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph as the grief-stricken school cook), the three form a tentative bond that benefits all three characters and becomes (almost) a heart-warming movie.

Giamatti gives a strong performance as the disliked teacher who finds himself gradually thawing as he spends time with Angus and Mary. The film is directed by Alexander Payne, who last paired with Giamatti on Sideways (“No, if anyone orders Merlot, I’m leaving. I am not drinking any fucking Merlot!”). 

The movies this year are giving us a new vocabulary for words meaning sex. In Poor Things, Bella greatly enjoys furious jumping; in The Holdovers, a street hooker approaches Paul Giamatti and asks him if he wants some candy cane. Later, as he and Angus tour an ancient Greek exhibit, Mr. Hunham points out a plate with a couple fornicating, to which a delighted Angus replies, “Candy cane!” Sadly, there are no new terms in Barbie, as none of the dolls have genitals. Both Barbie and Ken are confused when he asks her if he can spend the night, and she says “Why?”

The Popcorn Kernels of Truth give this film Three and Half Kernels; the half off is because Paul Giamatti’s confession that he knows he always smells like fish (and then using Glade air freshener as a deodorant) is too sad for four kernels. 

Category: flicksthatyoushouldpick