The Holdovers is about a professor who despite his wishes has to look after the few kids in his boarding school that are not going on vacations. It's made by Alexander Payne and also the first film I have seen from him.

I watched it last night and have been thinking about our ever since. The movie was obviously a success and was even nominated for Best Picture but I have mixed feelings about it.

This movie is like watching a modern artist create a clay pottery out of traditional methods. It even has that analogue feeling to it in the way it's filmed, how the shots have little burns( I don't know what they are called but like little black dots that randomly appear as it used to when we watched old films).

It has textures, coloring and cinematography so tangible that you can almost smell the wood on a kitchen cupboard, feel how the doors would feel if you were to reach inside the film and touch them.

Our two primary main characters is a stubborn professor trying to adhere to the integrity of his work and a student who just wanted a good vacation during Christmas as they learn to live with the cards they are dealt and change over the course of the movie.

The soundtrack is really good, it has lot of Christmas tunes and old songs that help you settle into the setting of this world.

I have never seen Paul Giamatti in a film before but he plays the main role really well, conveying that stubborn and i-don't-trust-you attitude that makes him unlikable at the start of the film and seeing his character learn and grow by the end was really good.

Overall: It looks really nice and is very well paced as well, the 2 hour 30 minute something runtime never feels like it is dragging but the movie is certainly too long for something where nothing really memorable happens.