Unpopular with both students and faculty, teacher Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) is just such a man. Prickly to the extreme, his solitary life gives him little joy but he knows no better. Even being an accomplished teacher at a known college gives him little respite from the chip on his shoulder.

When circumstances align he is forced to spend time with Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) a very bright student with an equal chip. The film’s main sense of direction is the result of these two’s budding friendship. This emergence is handled with humour, taste and no calculated outlandishness. It’s a joy to see Giamatti riff with Sessa and the newcomer hold his own with the consummate professional.

Sideways alumni Alexander Payne and Giamatti have reunited for all the right reasons for a deep-cut journey through the early seventies with The Holdovers. This slice of life is so believably funny, that it aims for the absurd comedy that exists in normal life and hits a direct bullseye.
Rob Hudson
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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).

The Holdovers will be released in Australian cinemas January 11!
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Downsizing imagines what might happen if, as a solution to over-population, Norwegian scientists discover how to shrink humans to five inches tall and propose a 200-year global transition from big to small.

People soon realize how much further money goes in a miniaturized world, and with the promise of a better life, everyman Paul Safranek (Matt Damon) and wife Audrey (Kristen Wiig) decide to abandon their stressed lives in Omaha in order to get small and move to a new downsized community — a choice that triggers life-changing adventures.

Downsizing Stars Matt Damon, Christoph Waltz, Hong Chau, and Kristen Wiig – in cinemas BOXING DAY!
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