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Every school has that certain teacher who is a bully, heartless and at times sadistic. Everyone must take their class, but no one finishes the course unscathed. Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) of Alexander Payne’s acclaimed comedy-drama “The Holdovers” is one such instructor. Set in 1970, “The Holdovers” revolves around the by-the-books classics professor teaching at the same New England boarding school he had attended. Hunham is hated by his students, as well as his fellow teachers. And he’s also in hot water, after he failed one of the school’s largest donor’s son in his class. During the Christmas break, he is forced to supervise the “holdovers — -the students who for various reasons must stay on campus. He ends up sharing the holidays with one troubled student (Dominic Sessa) whose mother recently remarried; and the cafeteria administrator (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) grieving her only son’s death in the Vietnam War.

A series by Christopher James looking at the 'Gay Best Friend' trope

Look past the early "Chris" Walken appearance, Bernstein (Antonio Fargas - center) is the subject of this week's Gay Best Friend column.

Flying the nest can be simultaneously liberating and horrifying. On one hand, you have all this freedom to do what you want, when you want. Unfortunately, you have to learn how to take care of yourself and be self-sufficient. For those with tight knit families or over-involved parents, the horrifying can outweigh the liberating.

Next Stop, Greenwich Village laser focuses on the growing pains in this transition. The year is 1953. Larry Lapinski (Lenny Baker) leaves his parents’ home in Brooklyn to chase his dreams of stardom. His Mother, Fay (Shelley Winters), is utterly distraught and inconsolable. The umbilical cord is only hurt, not severed though. Larry's mother bursts in to his new life at the most inopportune times.

Paul Mazursky’s affectionate memoir of the New York bohemian life circa 1953 has a feel for the milieu and an honest appraisal of the kooky culture therein: artists, actors, users, takers, sweethearts, neurotics and phonies. Lenny Baker’s main character may have an amorous relationship with his girlfriend Ellen Greene, but his strongest connection is with his overbearing mother, played to perfection by Shelley Winters. She was a Best Supporting Actress nominee for The Poseidon Adventure but not for this? Honestly.

Next Stop, Greenwich Village

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1976 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 111 min. / Street Date May 22, 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring: Lenny Baker, Shelley Winters, Ellen Greene, Lois Smith, Christopher Walken, Dori Brenner, Antonio Fargas, Lou Jacobi.

Cinematography: Arthur Ornitz

Film Editor: Richard Halsey

Original music: Bill Conti

Production Designer: Phil Rosenberg

Produced by Paul Mazursky and Tony Ray

Written and Directed by Paul Mazursky

Fans of Paul...

A story of murders in the ER becomes, courtesy of writer Paddy Chayefsky, either a preview of social breakdown or an impassioned examination of why we invest our lives and souls in imperfect institutions. George C. Scott is the doctor coming apart at the seams, who meets his match in a New Age hippie from a New Mexico commune. My instinct is that such a person would not look like Diana Rigg, but everybody needs a dream girl.

The Hospital

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1971 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 103 min. / Street Date December 19, 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring: George C. Scott, Diana Rigg, Barnard Hughes, Richard A. Dysart, Stephen Elliott, Donald Harron, Andrew Duncan, Nancy Marchand, Jordan Charney, Roberts Blossom, Lenny Baker, Richard Hamilton, Katherine Helmond, David Hooks, Frances Sternhagen, Robert Walden, Jacqueline Brooks, Stockard Channing, Dennis Dugan, Julie Garfield, Christopher Guest, Janet Paul, Sab Shimono, Tracey Walter.

Cinematography: Victor J. Kemper...

In a commendable effort to save forgotten genre items either cloaked in obscurity or in danger of disappearing completely due to degrading source materials, distributor Arrow Video releases its first volume of a new series called American Horror Project. Fans of vintage indie horror from a game changing golden era should be enthused for this trio of inventive efforts even if not all live up to the excitement promised by the vibrant packaging. Lurid, carnivalesque, and even tawdry, it’s a new formidable platform for films unfairly dismissed upon release and deserving of another opportunity to provoke.

The earliest film here is the ungainly titled Malatesta’s Bucket of Blood, the 1973 debut and solo feature of Christopher Speeth. The plot synopsis promises palpable weirdness, concerning a middle aged couple, Mr. and Mrs. Norris (Paul Hostetler, Betsy Henn) who show up seeking employment at a seedy, run down carnival. Their zeal is a ruse,...