Joey’s Home Movies For the Week of January 1st – Kick Off 2024 with ‘The Holdovers’

Welcome back to my Home Movies! This week, 2024 begins with one of 2023’s major Oscar players in The Holdovers. Coming right after the holidays, what’s better than a film that may well be in line to become a new holiday classic? Exactly. There’s also the return of the Criterion Collection, after a few weeks off, so the slate is fully back. Read on for more…

Joey’s Top Pick

The Holdovers

One of the more universally liked films of last year, The Holdovers more than just a return to form for director Alexander Payne. It’s also some of the finest work of Paul Giamatti‘s career, while truly announcing Da’Vine Joy Randolph as a force. Throw in young Dominic Sessa and it’s an acting showcase. I spoke to Giamitti here, Payne here, Randolph here, and Sessa here, in addition to cinematographer  Eigil Bryld here, so check all of those out. is Here is some of what I had to say about the flick back at the Telluride Film Festival:

Up until Downsizing, Alexander Payne was a wildly consistent filmmaker. Everything he’d made was at least very good, if not outright great. Then, his first real misfire happened. There was an open question as to what we’d see from him next. Well, here at the Telluride Film Festival I can report that it’s a return to form. The Holdovers is Payne back in control of his craft, which is something very satisfying to witness.

The Holdovers not only sees Payne working within some of his comfort zones, it also sees him fueled by the style of Hal Ashby. This is a lived in movie, one with personality to spare. Ostensibly a three hander, watching our trio come together is, by and large, an absolute pleasure.

Also Available This Week

Dirty Dancing (Blu-ray)

The Marsh King’s Daughter

Criterion Corner

The Apu Trilogy

From The Criterion Collection: “A breathtaking milestone that brought India into the golden age of international art-house film, Satyajit Ray’s The Apu Trilogy follows one indelible character, a free-spirited child in rural Bengal who matures into an adolescent urban student and, finally, a sensitive man of the world. Ray’s delicate masterworks—Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road), Aparajito (The Unvanquished), and Apur Sansar (The World of Apu)—based on two books by Bibhutibhusan Banerjee, were shot over the course of five years, and each stands on its own as a tender, visually radiant journey. These films—which have risen from the ashes in meticulously reconstructed restorations, after the original negatives were burned in a fire—are among the most achingly beautiful, richly humane movies ever made.”

Stay tuned for more next week…