The Holdovers (Released 10/27/23)

You can kind of expect where this goes based on the trailers. A student and a teacher are at odds but over the course of the Christmas break, they learn to respect each other. They both have flaws and in general, have a lot of character parallels. The humor is very spot-on and done well. It gets emotional when it needs to as well. The movie is a little on the long side but is paced well enough to feel like the runtime rather than longer. It is heartwarming and the performances are magical. Definitely recommend this, especially as a holiday film.

Story - 20%

Characters - 20%

Pacing - 17%

Spectacle - 16%

Entertainment - 18%

Total score: 91%

Grade scale:

90%-100% = must watch

80%-89% = solid, but could be better

70%-79% = Not terrible, watch if the characters or story interests you

60%-69% = only watch for completionist reasons

0%-59% = just skip it, I find the positives and they don't exist here