Filmmaker Alexander Payne’s first movie in six years tops the DVD releases for the week of Jan. 2.
“The Holdovers”: A teacher, student and cafeteria manager find themselves forming a strange bond while stuck at a Massachusetts boarding school over Christmas break. Starring Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and newcomer Dominic Sessa.
“There’s a double-layered sense of self-reflective nostalgia baked into Alexander Payne’s misfit holiday movie ‘The Holdovers,’” writes Tribune News Service critic Katie Walsh in her review. “Set in 1970, there’s nostalgia for the time period, which is textured and rendered with care and conviction on-screen. But the film itself, a warm, spicy brew of humor, poignancy and irascible charm, also inspires the odd desire to be rewatching it while you’re watching it, a kind of nostalgia for the present moment.”
Also new on DVD
“The Marsh King’s Daughter”: Daisy Ridley — best known for portraying Rey in the “Star Wars” sequel trilogy — portrays a young mother trying live a life that has nothing to do with her infamous kidnapper (fellow “Star Wars” alum Ben Mendelsohn). Neil Burger directs the drama, based on Karen Dionne’s 2017 novel.
