The Holdovers
Greetings, ‘The Holdovers’ is a 2023 film directed by Alexander Payne who is also known for directing ‘Election’, ‘Sideways’ and more recently ‘Downsizing’. His latest offering is a period piece as it is set around the Christmas holidays of 1970 and the cinematography is shot in a way to evoke the feeling or aesthetic of the bygone era. The main cast is fairly small due to the isolated plot and stars Paul Giamatti as Paul Hunham. The actor had previously worked with Payne in ‘Sideways’. Newcomer Dominic Sessa, who plays Angus Tully, is another main lead as is Da’Vine Joy Randolph who is known for her recurring role in Steve Martin’s ‘Only Murders in the Building’. The OST was composed by Mark Orton who had also contributed musically to Payne’s film ‘Nebraska’ which was released in 2013.
The plot takes place in a New England boarding school named Barton Academy where Hunham teaches classical studies to apathetic students. Hunham, due to his brashness and off-putting personality, is disliked by the majority of his pupils and his fellow facility members. With Christmas fast approaching, a member of staff must watch over any students who have nowhere else to be during the holidays. Hunham is chosen for the position after another teacher shrugs off the duty with a fake excuse. The reason for his selection is because Hunham, in his high scholarly expectations, had flunked a wealthy donor’s son by issuing a poor grade after the submitted work failed to meet his rigorous standards. Hunham isn’t delighted by the news but accepts it without much complaint as he has very little in the way of a social life and rarely leaves campus.
There are only a few boys left behind as ‘the holdovers’ including one Angus Tully who discovers to his deep frustration that his mother had suddenly cancelled their festive plans in favour of honeymooning with her new husband. To add insult to injury, Hunham is an authoritarian who forces the boys to study for the majority of the day and forces them to run outside in the cold. This lasts for six days until a rich parent of one of the students arrives and offers to take ‘the holdovers’ on a family skiing trip. All but Tully are able to go as their parents provide their permission while his are unreachable. A dejected Tully realises he has to spend Christmas and ring in the New Year with Hunham and Mary Lamb, one of Barton Academy’s cooks who is recently bereaved over the death of her son in Vietnam. Hunham, sensing how difficult the time is for everyone left behind, tries to conjure up a little Christmas cheer.
I had heard rave reviews for this movie and had high expectations of it going in which were thankfully and effortlessly met. It is a funny, charming and touching film which I never felt bored of or felt that it dragged during any part of its over 2 hour run time. The characters were well realised with my particular favourite being the studious and socially awkward Paul Hunham who thawed out as the plot progressed. Randolph and Sessa also deserve some praise as they drove some of the more emotive scenes which struck a nice balance with its more humorous moments. As a result, I’m intending to watch some of Payne’s other works and delve into some movies in which Paul Giamatti starred.
Plot = 10/10
Characters = 10/10
Special Effects = 10/10
Overall = 10/10
Quote of the Day
The regional governors now have direct control over their territories. Fear will keep the local systems in line. Fear of this battle station.
Grand Moff Tarkin
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Happy New Year: 2023 Review!
Greetings, as hard as it is to believe it’s time to say farewell to 2023 and to welcome in 2024! The year has seemingly flown in as it doesn’t feel that long since we were ushering in 2023. As its New Year’s Eve, that means it’s also time for my yearly round up of the entertainment I immersed myself in these past 12 months. If there was any particular media you enjoyed and you think it should be highlighted, feel free to mention it in the comments as I might be tempted to check it out myself.
Television Show of the Year: Better Call Saul
‘Better Call Saul’ is a spinoff of the smash hit ‘Breaking Bad’ and focuses on the side character of Saul Goodman, a crooked lawyer who played a crucial role in Walter White’s criminal empire. It is certainly a different type of show from the one that spawned it but despite a slow start, I rate both of these series very highly. I really enjoyed how it expanded the ‘Breaking Bad’ universe, introducing new characters and adding more depth to already established ones as the viewer learns how Jimmy McGill slowly transforms into his flashy alter ego of Saul Goodman.
Book of the Year: Full Dark, No Stars
A collection of four stories by renowned horror writer Stephen King, ‘Full Dark, No Stars’ was released in 2010 and the works within are connected as they share the same thematic idea of retribution. Undoubtedly, ‘1922’ is the work most would be familiar with thanks to the movie adaptation that came out in 2017. It is about a farmer and his son who make a monstrous decision when their lifestyles are threatened by the metropolitan aspirations of their wife and mother. In usual King fashion, their decision comes back to haunt them quite literally.
Game of the Year: Devour
‘Devour’ is a four player horror game in which players must banish satanic forces by destroying or incinerating 10 sacrificial items or livestock before they find themselves hunted down by a demon possessed cultist. It is a very fun and often challenging game that was published by a small British based studio which is still in its formative years as they only opened their doors in 2019. At present there are only a handful of maps available to play but I’m looking forward to returning to this game in 2024 when new levels have been added and seeing any new additions that have been included since I played it last.
Film of the Year: The Whale
Brendan Fraser of ‘The Mummy’ trilogy fame made a welcome come back to the cinematic world after a long period of absence as he stars in a unique offering from director Darren Aronofsky. 2022’s ‘The Whale’ is a depressing but engrossing film about a morbidly obese English teacher called Charlie who has more or less given up on life and is slowly killing himself with his poor diet. After he suffers a near death experience, Charlie realises that he wants to repair his relationship with his estranged daughter Ellie and makes active efforts to be part of her life once more.
That’s all for 2023! It has been one of the better years recently in my own opinion and I hope you had a great time. As always, I’ll be back to blogging in January with regular updates and I’m already playing around with various ideas for future Write Wise projects. I’ve decided to take it easy for a few months however after the considerable effort that went into the 2023 entries. Until then, I’m wishing you all the best for 2024!
Quote of the Day
I'm just a mean, green mother from outer space and I'm bad!
Audrey II
The Little Shop of Horrors
Merry Christmas 2023!
Greetings, the year has flown in and Christmas Eve is here once again! As such, I’d like to wish you a Merry Christmas for tomorrow and hope you have a good day taking it easy. We had a great Write Wise challenge this year to celebrate the occasion. It finished off a brilliant year that had some excellent pieces from each writer. I’m looking forward to what new works will come about in 2024 and will need to start thinking of my own projects in the coming weeks. There is one blog update left for 2023 in which I’ll round up the year’s entertainment but have a Happy Christmas before then!
Quote of the Day
Hello, Bedford Falls! Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas, movie house! Merry Christmas, Emporium! Merry Christmas, you wonderful old Building and Loan! Hey! Merry Christmas, Mr. Potter!
George Bailey
It’s a Wonderful Life
Devour
Greetings, ‘Devour’ is a co-operative horror game from 2021 that was developed and published by Straight Back Games. The Edinburgh based company is fairly new, having only come into existence in 2019 when it was started by Joe Fender and Luke Fanning. They have one other title in their completed works to date which was released a year earlier in 2020. That other game is called ‘The Watchers’ which looks to be fairly similar to ‘Devour’ in terms of gameplay and subject matter. While ‘Devour’ has a maximum of 4 players, ‘The Watchers’ is limited to 2 as the players take on the roles of a brother and sister team as they stealthily evade cultists while trying to unravel the mystery behind their mother’s disappearance.
The plot of ‘Devour’ is very simplistic as it was never intended to be the main selling point of the game and it is effectively the same in all the variations of maps the players can explore. The players belong to a satanic cult called ‘The Watchers of Azazel’ and one of their fellow cultists has been possessed by the malevolent entity known as Azazel. They must banish and excise the demonic presence by destroying a total of 10 totems or ritual items. These totems differ in each of the five maps but they consist of sacrificial possessed goats, pigs and mice as well as inanimate objects such as spider eggs and books. The livestock need to be lured towards the player by placing food such as hay or a bowl of food.
As aforementioned, there are five maps at present with more due to be added in the future. The first of these is the Farmhouse which is haunted by Anna, the Asylum is watched over by Molly while the Inn has a particularly creepy antagonist in Zara, an arachnophobia sufferer’s worst nightmare. The Western setting of the Town is the undead gunslinger Sam’s terrain while Nathan lords over the Slaughterhouse. After each totem is destroyed, the difficulty is ratcheted up a bit more as the enemy becomes increasingly more deformed and faster paced. The bosses are aided in their attempts to kill the players with their ghoulish minions who have to be repelled by focusing a flashlight on them before the battery runs out.
‘Devour’ is definitely a fun game but after the player gains the satisfaction of figuring out how to beat the antagonists, it loses its appeal a bit which is probably the same for any game of its ilk. The characters do have backstories in their bios although little is done to distinguish them from any of the other choices in actual gameplay. There is also a minor set of objectives in each map as the player is tasked with locating 25 hidden objects which have been scattered about. This is much harder than would initially be believed as the player is often trying to outrun the possessed cult leader or is overrun by smaller enemies. This game apparently shares the same universe as ‘The Watchers’ which I might check out at some point.
Plot = 5/10
Characters = 5/10
Graphics = 7/10
Overall= 7/10
Quote of the Day
To my dear Prince Alexis... I did not "usurp" the crown. I found it, in the gutter, and I, I picked it up with my sword, and it was the people, Alexis, the people who put it on my head. He who saves a nation violates no law.
Napoleon Bonaparte
Waterloo
The Quiz Part 15
Greetings, November has rolled around again and that means I’m back once more with the quiz! Last year Joh took 1st place by getting all but one question right while Mark and Aaron came tied in 2nd position by answering 6 questions correctly. I’ve tried to balance out the quiz and appeal to all players with at least one question tailored with them in mind but there are some general, trickier questions in there as well. So have a go and test your wits! Don’t forget to avoid the spoilers below and put your scores in the comments. Good luck!
1. Which comedic Canadian-American actor was the voice talent behind the antagonist known as Benny in the 2010 video game ‘Fallout: New Vegas’
2. Who said this? – ‘I'll be back.’
3. Infamous criminals Burke and Hare have remained in the public conscience for their body snatching activities and a series of murders they committed in 1828 but in which British city did they commit their heinous crimes?
4. Which of the following works was not written by horror novelist H.P. Lovecraft? – A. ‘The Rats in the Walls’ B. ‘The White Ship’. C. ‘The Dunwhich Horror’. D. ‘The Evil Clergyman’ E. ‘Casting the Runes’
5. On Wednesday 24th November an anonymous skyjacker, who has since become known as D.B. Cooper, parachuted out of a plane with $200,000 in ransom money but what year did this high profile crime take place in?
6. In the ‘Horrified’ board game, players take on classic Universal Monsters including Frankenstein, the Bride of Frankenstein, the Wolfman, Dracula, the Creature from the Black Lagoon and the Invisible Man but which villainous creature is missing from this list?
7. Name the character.
8. Unscramble the letters to reveal an actress – IDOJE TFORES
9. In my entry for the 2021 Write Wise Challenge, Rigby Denholm wants to head home for Christmas but what kind of monstrous critters, known for dismantling machinery, attack his train?
10. As of 2023, Jordan Peterson has written three main books including ‘Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief’ and ’12 Rules for Life: An Antidote for Chaos’ but what is the tile of the third work?
Spoilers!
1. Matthew Perry
2. The Terminator / T-800
3. Edinburgh
4. E. ‘Casting the Runes’
5. 1971
6. The Mummy
7. The Driver
8. Jodie Foster
9. Gremlins
10. Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life
Quote of the Day
What must it be like not to be crippled by fear and self-loathing?
Chandler Bing
Friends
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Greetings, ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ is a 2021 supernatural film that was directed by Jason Reitman who took over the reins of the franchise after his father Ivan’s beloved cinematic hits took pop culture by storm back in the 1980s. After a 32 year gap from where the story was left off in the late 80s, ‘Afterlife’ is considered the third film of the series that started all the way back in 1984. The movie ushered in a new era of actors and actresses to the iconic boiler suit wearing ghostbusting team with Mckenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard and Logan Kim being the core members. There other stars include Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, Celeste O’Connor and some cameo roles from the original cast who helped cement this latest instalment as a continuation of the saga. The music was composed by Rob Simonsen who expertly incorporated themes and motifs from Elmer Bernstein’s earlier score.
The film begins in the dead of night as Egon Spengler is driving away from a mine at furious speed. As his truck roars through rural America, it is clear he is being chased by an invisible entity and his blinking ghost trap implies he has captured a malevolent spirt. The vehicle flips over during the chase and the aging Spengler climbs out of it, making a run for his remote shack with the trap in his hand. He reaches his wooden deck and kicks a power grid to life that will ignite a trap surrounding his house. The ghostly footprints make impressions on the soil and Egon pulls a lever to snare the apparition. The power fails at the crucial moment and despite his best efforts, he can’t get it to work again so he runs inside his house where he conceals the occupied ghost trap underneath the floorboards. With nothing else to do but bid his time, Egon sits down in his armchair and patiently waits for the monster to attack him as he knows it will. He is equipped with his trusty P.K.E. Meter to monitor any spectral activity in the area as he sits.
A white mist slowly seeps in from the fireplace and an outline of a creature can be seen to rise behind Egon before it quietly subsides into nothingness. Demonic arms reach out of the armchair and restrain him. A bright light flies over the dilapidated farmhouse like a comet indicating the creature was caught by some unseen trap. The silent meter falls from Egon’s unmoving hand and lands on the floor. After a moment, the P.K.E. Meter chirps up again and the blinking lights suggests that a new ghostly presence has entered the house. Some days later, the financially struggling Callie Spengler inherits and moves into the farmhouse with her two children Phoebe and Trevor after being unable to stay in her Chicago apartment. Her relationship with her father had been non-existent as Egon had become increasingly withdrawn from everyone and it is apparent that his grandchildren knew nothing of the man he was. It isn’t long before the intellectually gifted Phoebe starts to notice some unusual phenomenon happening around the house that defies rational thinking.
I enjoyed this movie, even after significant hype which can ruin many a picture, and felt it had a great opening which set the rest of the story up perfectly. While I realise that it was not a perfect addition, it treated its previous entries with the respect they deserved and nicely added to what came before. It importantly gave Egon a touching send off after Harold Ramis, the well renowned actor behind the character, passed away in 2014. ‘Afterlife’ brought a bit of charm back to the series after Paul Feig’s much maligned all-female reboot came out in 2016 to a barrage of criticism. The 2021 version wisely ignored the former iteration which had been the focus of an early battle in the Culture Wars that gripped the Western world in the early 2010s. Overall, parts of ‘Afterlife’ felt a bit underdeveloped or rushed but I believe it would have pleased most fans, old and new alike, and I would consider myself a satisfied customer as well.
Plot=7/10
Characters=7/10
Special Effects=8/10
Overall=8/10
Quote of the Day
Mulder, it is such a gorgeous day outside. Have you ever entertained the idea of trying to find life on this planet?
Dana Scully
The X-Files
