By Amanda Gilmore
Director Alexander Payne is in top form with the delightful Dramedy The Holdovers.
The Film takes place in 1970 over Christmas break at an elite boarding school in small-town Massachusetts. It follows strict Professor Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) who’s gifted the undesirable assignment of supervising the students unable to return home for the Christmas holidays. Resolved to have the students suffer along with him, he makes them start the next semester’s assignments. However, when only one student remains, the intelligent but belligerent Angus (Dominic Sessa), the two begin to see themselves in each other.
The Holdovers is an intimate, touching portrait of broken, lonely people connecting. Realizing they’re not alone. This is told through three central characters, Hunham, Angus and school cafeteria manager Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph). Each of them outcasts and harbouring their own unique melancholy within. Screenwriter David Hemingson and Payne keep the cause of some of their pain a mystery until the end, except for Mary.
She’s just lost her only son in the war. Randolph gives a heartbreaking performance as a mother experiencing her first Christmas without her son. Randolph’s impeccable comedic talent earnestly shines through creating authentic levity woven within the pain. It’s a successful dramatic turn that will have people knocking on her door.
Meanwhile, Hunham and Angus’s reason for despair remains hidden behind their quick wit and short tempers. Giamatti gave one of the finest performances of his career. He plays Hunham as eccentric yet stern, cruel yet empathetic. Similar to Hunham, Angus has a chip on his shoulder. In his first-ever feature role, Sessa stuns. It’s a performance of a seasoned Actor. He portrays the anguish Angus carries and his desire to be understood.
Overall, The Holdovers is a moving exploration of loneliness over the holiday season with captivating performances and a winning Soundtrack.
The Holdovers screens at TIFF ’23:
Monday, September 11 at 3 PM at Visa Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre
Tuesday, September 12 at 12 PM at Visa Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre
Saturday, September 16 at 6 PM at TIFF Bell Lightbox
Sunday, September 17 at 9 AM at TIFF Bell Lightbox
…
Alexander Payne (The Descendants, Sideways) is back with THE HOLDOVERS and teams-up once again with Paul Giamatti! Today we get a brand-new Trailer.
Story:
From acclaimed director Alexander Payne, THE HOLDOVERS follows a curmudgeonly instructor (Paul Giamatti) at a New England prep school who is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually he forms an unlikely bond with one of them — a damaged, brainy troublemaker (newcomer Dominic Sessa) — and with the school’s head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam (Da’Vine Joy Randolph).
Director: Alexander Payne
Writer: David Hemingson
Producers: Mark Johnson p.g.a, Bill Block, David Hemingson
Executive Producers: Andrew Golov, Thom Zadra, Chris Stinson
Cast: Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, introducing Dominic Sessa
Focus Features and Universal Pictures Canada
will release THE HOLDOVERS
In Select NY & LA theatres on October 27, 2023
In Limited Release on November 3, 2023
& In Theatres Nationwide on November 10, 2023
(Photo/video credit: Focus Features)
Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt star in JUNGLE CRUISE. Check-out this brand-new Teaser Trailer!
Synopsis:
Inspired by the famous Disneyland theme park ride, Disney’s JUNGLE CRUISE is an adventure-filled, Amazon-jungle expedition starring Dwayne Johnson as the charismatic riverboat captain and Emily Blunt as a determined explorer on a research mission. Also starring in the film are Edgar Ramirez, Jack Whitehall, with Jesse Plemons, and Paul Giamatti.
See the Trailer:
Hot off its victory as the Winner of the People’s Choice Award at TIFF ’13, Steve McQueen‘s Oscar Contender 12 Years a Slave soon gets a release, starting with Toronto first. Both Fox Searchlight Canada and Mr. Will Wong would like Readers to experience first the Film everyone’s raving about emphatically!
The Screening takes place the week of October 14, 2013. Final time/venue to be announced.
Offical Synopsis:
In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty (personified by a malevolent slave owner, portrayed by Michael Fassbender), as well as unexpected kindnesses, Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity. In the twelfth year of his unforgettable odyssey, Solomon‘s chance meeting with a Canadian Abolitionist (Brad Pitt) will forever alter his life. Based on the Book by Solomon Northup.
12 Years a Slave also stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Sarah Paulson, Alfre Woodard, Paul Giamatti and Lupita Nyong’o.
To enter to win, simply click “like” on this Post at Mr. Will Wong on Facebook. Double your shot by sharing this Post via Facebook with your Friends or Re-Tweeting the below:
http://www.mrwillwong.com/12yearsaslave-2 @MRWILLW wants us to #win Double Passes to attend an Advance Screening in Toronto of #12YearsaSlave. Opens 10/18!
See the Trailer below:
Mr. Will and the amazing Steve McQueen himself at TIFF ’13:
Good luck.
Fox Searchlight releases 12 Years a Slave in Toronto on Friday, October 18, 2013, followed by additional Cities.
(Photo/video credit: Fox Searchlight)
One of the most eagerly-awaited Films to debut at TIFF ’13 is Peter Landesman‘s Parkland. The Historical Drama centers on the events of November 22nd, 1963 – a day that changed the world forever – when young American President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. This Film follows a handful of individuals forced to make split-second decisions after an event that would change their lives and forever alter the world’s landscape.
Parkland stars Paul Giamatti, Billy Bob Thornton, Colin Hanks, James Badge Dale, Jacki Weaver, Zac Efron and Marcia Gay Harden.
Watch the riveting Trailer below:
Remstar Films releases Parkland in Toronto on Friday, October 4, 2013 with additional cities to follow. You have two opportunities to see Parkland at TIFF ’13:
Friday, September 6, 2013 at 9:30 PM – ROY THOMSON HALL
Sunday, September 8, 2013 12:30 PM – WINTER GARDEN THEATRE
(Photo/video credit: Remstar Films)
Although we don’t know for sure, I’m almost certain this will be at TIFF ’13 this September as it would be the perfect Launching Pad for its Oscar Campaign. Everything about the Drama 12 Years a Slave says Awards and a brand new Trailer just surfaced today for it! How can we resist the Canadian connection this Story and above all, Brad Pitt playing one of us?
Official Synopsis:
12 YEARS A SLAVE is based on an incredible true Story of one Man’s fight for survival and freedom. In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty (personified by a malevolent Slave Owner, portrayed by Michael Fassbender) as well as unexpected kindnesses, Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity. In the twelfth year of his unforgettable odyssey, Solomon’s chance meeting with a Canadian Abolitionist (Brad Pitt) forever alters his life.
Solomon Northrup Day celebrates its 15th Anniversary on Saturday, July 20, 2013.
The Drama also stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Garret Dillahunt, Paul Giamatti, Scoot McNairy, Lupita Nyong’o, Adepero Oduye, Sarah Paulson, Michael Kenneth Williams, Alfre Woodard, Chris Chalk, Taran Killam and Bill Camp; Steve McQueen directs.
Watch the Trailer below:
Fox Searchlight releases 12 Years a Slave on October 18, 2013.
(Photo/video credit: Fox Searchlight)
At long last, a Trailer has arrived for Saving Mr. Banks, and if this isn’t bait for an Oscar, I don’t know what is!
Chronicling Walt Disney‘s 20-year struggle to bring Author P.L. Travers’ Mary Poppins to the big screen, the Disney (I know, how meta!) Drama stars Tom Hanks as the famed Animator and Emma Thompson as Travers; John Lee Hancock directs.
Saving Mr. Banks also stars: Colin Farrell, Paul Giamatti, Jason Schwartzman, Bradley Whitford, Annie Rose Buckley, Ruth Wilson, B.J. Novak, Rachel Griffiths and Kathy Baker.
See the official Synopsis below:
When Walt Disney’s Daughters begged him to make a movie of their favorite Book, P.L. Travers’ Mary Poppins, he made them a promise—one that he didn’t realize would take 20 years to keep. In his quest to obtain the rights, Walt comes up against a curmudgeonly, uncompromising writer who has absolutely no intention of letting her beloved magical nanny get mauled by the Hollywood Machine. But, as the books stop selling and money grows short, Travers reluctantly agrees to go to Los Angeles to hear Disney’s plans for the Adaptation.
For those two short weeks in 1961, Walt Disney pulls-out all the stops. Armed with imaginative storyboards and chirpy songs from the talented Sherman Brothers, Walt launches an all-out onslaught on P.L. Travers, but the prickly author doesn’t budge. He soon begins to watch helplessly as Travers becomes increasingly immovable and the rights begin to move further away from his grasp.
It is only when he reaches into his own childhood that Walt discovers the truth about the ghosts that haunt her, and together they set Mary Poppins free to ultimately make one of the most endearing Films in Cinematic History.
See the Trailer below:
Saving Mr. Banks gets a Limited Release on December 13, 2013 and a Wide Release December 20, 2013, making this a prime choice for Families this Christmas!
(Photo/video credit: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Canada)
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