Welcome to Film Club, the A.V. Club’s movie discussion series. Each week, A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife (and occasionally some special guests) will gab about the week's new releases, explore various corners of the film industry, and examine the lasting impact of some of history's biggest films.
December is fast winding down, and here at The A.V. Club, that means one thing: We’re looking back on the pop-culture we loved these past 12 months. The site’s big staff list on the best films of 2021 goes up early next week. Before we unveil that, however, two of our contributing critics have sat down to discuss their own personal favorite films of this rapidly elapsing year. On the final, extra-long episode of Film Club before we all break for the holidays, A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife run down their respective top-10 lists, seeing where they align and where they diverge, and waxing rhapsodic on the 18 different movies represented across both.
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Last week was 2001 Week at The A.V. Club, and as part of this multi-day retrospective of the pop-culture of two decades ago, we voted on the best movies from the second year of the new century. On a brand new episode of Film Club, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife continue that discussion of the bygone year in cinema, including thoughts on their respective favorites of Y2K1: David Lynch’s beloved dream-of-nightmare Hollywood reverie Mulholland Drive, and Wes Anderson’s melancholy NYC family fable The Royal Tenenbaums.
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Over this past month, Film Club has been revisiting the films written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It’s all been in anticipation of Anderson’s new movie, Licorice Pizza, which hits theaters this holiday weekend. On this special bonus episode of the podcast, we cap our four-part series with a conversation about his latest. Where does it rank in the filmography of American cinema’s most acclaimed contemporary filmmaker? Let’s discuss.
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Last week, Film Club dived into the two Paul Thomas Anderson movies starring Daniel Day-Lewis. This week, in the final installment of our four-week series on the movies of this essential filmmaker, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife tackle the other major director-star collaboration of Anderson’s career: the one-two punch of The Master and Inherent Vice. Then we close this month-long retrospective with our respective choices for the best of PT Anderson. Surprising spoiler alert: It might be the same film.
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What happens when the reigning Method actor of our time joins forces with one of America’s most celebrated filmmakers? On the third installment in our four-part series on the films of Paul Thomas Anderson, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife discuss the two towering collaborations between Anderson and three-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis: the oil-man epic There Will Be Blood and the fashion-world romance Phantom Thread.
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Our four-part series on the films of Paul Thomas Anderson continues this week on Film Club, as A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife look back on what can be succinctly described as the second half of the first half of Anderson’s career. After the success of Boogie Nights, Anderson got a blank check for his next feature, the sprawling three-hour emotional rollercoaster Magnolia (1999). By comparison, the 94-minute Punch-Drunk Love (2002) is positively slight.
Join our critics as we sail this relatively choppy period in Anderson’s career, looking back on the early ‘00s wave of what we dub “we’re all connected” movies, the deep well of rage inside Adam Sandler characters, and whether Magnolia really deserves its reputation as a masterpiece.
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Every new movie from Paul Thomas Anderson is an event. That’s certainly how we’ve treating Licorice Pizza, the writer-director’s latest picture, which hits theaters at the end of November. All month long, in the run-up to its release, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife will be revisiting all of Anderson’s other movies. The four-part series kicks off with a look back at his first two features, which happened to open the same year: the low-key gambler/crime drama Hard Eight, and the porn-industry epic Boogie Nights.
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It’s a scary time to be alive, and to go to the movies. But have the movies themselves been scary? With Halloween coming this weekend, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife discuss the year in horror movies—the state of the genre in these uncertain times, the trends that defined these past few months of fright fare, and our spooky favorites of 2021.
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The fall movie season is in full swing, and that means we’re getting a look at some of the most buzzed-about movies of the rest of 2021. On this week’s episode of Film Club, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife review three of October’s major auteur works: Denis Villeneuve’s enormous adaptation of the sci-fi novel Dune, which is now in theaters and on HBO Max; Wes Anderson’s foray into anthology storytelling, The French Dispatch, which is also on the big screen now; and the latest genre-blender from Edgar Wright, Last Night In Soho, which opens next Friday. Did these big names deliver with their big, highly anticipated, COVID-delayed fall movies? Let’s discuss.
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Halloween the holiday is still two weeks away. But the movie franchise named after it is back this very weekend. On a special bonus episode of Film Club, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife discuss the latest entry in this undying slasher saga, the middle entry in David Gordon Green’s reboot trilogy, Halloween Kills. And for their thoughts on the series as a whole, including the original and the remake, check out this week’s full episode of the podcast.
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This weekend, Michael Myers returns to Haddonfield and to theaters with Halloween Kills, a follow-up to David Gordon Green’s 2018 “legacy sequel” Halloween. To commemorate his latest rampage through the sleepy Midwest town that should probably outlaw trick-or-treating and rubber masks at this point let’s be real, Film Club is taking a deep dive into the whole Halloween franchise, looking back on a dozen slasher movies (and one weird magic-mask outlier) released over the last 40-plus years, with an eye towards the cream of the pumpkin crop—beyond, of course, John Carpenter’s timeless and unimpeachable original. For our critics’ thoughts on Halloween Kills, check out this special bonus episode of the show.
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This weekend, No Time To Die brings to an end the Daniel Craig era of James Bond, putting a lid on a story that began 15 years ago with the reboot origin story Casino Royale. This is, of course, just one stretch of a franchise that’s been running since the early 1960s, with no more than a few years ever passing between subsequent installments. In honor of this latest turned page in the ongoing book of Bond, we’ve programmed a prospective marathon of 007 adventures, selecting one movie for each of the six actors that have played the superspy. To discuss this daunting, nearly day-long block of espionage blockbusters, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife welcome a special guest: fellow A.V. Club staffer and lifetime James Bond superfan Cameron Scheetz. Fair warning: We do not see eye to eye on Goldeneye.
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Now in its 16th year, Fantastic Fest is probably the biggest and more prominent genre-centric film festival in America. But it offers a lot more than just raw meat and geysers of blood for the midnight-movie crowd. On this week’s episode of Film Club, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife discuss the evolution of this annual destination summit for fans of the weird, the wild, the extreme, and the outrageous. And they take a close look at three of the most prominent selections of the program this year, including an ultra-violent COVID-era zombie movie, the latest character study from a hometown indie-film hero, and the big, controversial winner of another festival across the pond.
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North America’s largest and most prominent film festival winds down this weekend. Experienced in person or virtually, the fest was a typically mixed bag of a movie marathon, offering the usual range from triumphs to follies. The A.V. Club’s critics, A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife, caught their share of both over the last eight days. On this brand new episode of Film Club, they talk about a few they both saw, including a delicate French familial drama, a confounding German experiment, and a batshit found-footage horror movie featuring one of the most obnoxious protagonists in recent cinema history. The two also offer a couple of recommendations for movies to watch out for as the fall festival season spills out into the wider world of film releasing.
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For almost as long as there have been movies, there have been movies based on literature. Even in the age of superhero spectaculars, novels remain one of Hollywood’s prime sources of source material. But transporting a story from page to screen isn’t always so simple. On this week’s brand-new episode of Film Club, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife explore the tricky art of adaptation, identifying the pitfalls of this common practice, and why the expression “The book is better” still rings plenty true much of the time.
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Labor Day is traditionally thought of as the unofficial end of the summer movie season. It’s also generally a dead zone for new Hollywood releases, with the studios accepting the conventional wisdom that many Americans want to spend the holiday outdoors, not seated in a movie seater. Nonetheless, this strange year brings at least two major options for those feeling comfortable enough to head for the multiplex right time. On a brand new episode of Film Club, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife discuss these franchise competitors: this week’s addition to the Marvel canon, Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings, and last week’s reboot of a ’90s horror sensation, Candyman.
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As summer begins to wind down and the crisp breezes and scented candles of autumn beckon, we’re taking a week to circle back and talk about what has (thus far) been the horror event of the summer: Netflix’s trilogy of Fear Street movies. Set in 1994, 1978, and 1666, each of the entries in director Leigh Janiak’s teen-centric series combines a period setting, abundant needle drops, and queer romance for a YA riff on slasher movies. Our critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife dig in to all this in their discussion of Fear Street, as well as the layers of homage that go into these films.
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Negative reviews are fun to read—just asks the scores of film fans that have purchased Roger Ebert’s bestselling collection of them, I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie. Truth is, they can be very fun to write, too, at least for a critic who finds cathartic pleasure in chronicling their own torturous experience with a bad movie, book, meal, etc. But there is an art to penning a pan—and maybe a code of conduct the critic should follow, lest scathing analysis shade into mean-spirited invective. On this week’s very inside-baseball episode of Film Club, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife take the listener behind the curtain of their critical process and discuss how to write about bad movies right.
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Late summer is not, normally speaking, a time to expect exceptional cinema; by the onset of August, blockbuster season is winding down and awards season hasn’t yet begun, leaving audiences stranded in a purgatorial middle zone, heavy on Hollywood’s less promising releases. But against all odds, in these abnormal times, the dog days of summer are bringing some big movies to the big screen that are very much worth seeing. On this week’s episode of Film Club, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife talk about a trio of new releases giving the summer movie calendar a good name: M. Night Shyamalan’s nightmarish aging thriller Old, which came out last week; David Lowery’s hypnotic Arthurian fantasy epic The Green Knight, which opens today; and James Gunn’s gory, funny new addition to the DC superhero universe, The Suicide Squad, which will hit theaters and HBO Max next Friday.
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M. Night Shyamalan is one of the few Hollywood directors working today who qualifies as a household name. But what reputation does that name now carry? Since bursting into the public eye with his third feature, the Oscar-nominated box-office phenomenon The Sixth Sense, Shyamalan has experienced ups and downs, disappointments and comebacks. Today, he’s sometimes treated like an industry punchline and punching bag, even as his movies continue to do good business and satisfy a faithful critical fanbase. On this week’s episode of Film Club, A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife discuss the career of this divisive blockbuster auteur, whose latest thriller, Old, is now playing in theaters.
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On this week’s Film Club, our critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife are creating a new tradition with the second annual edition of what we like to call the Mid-Year Awards. Last summer, Film Club ran an episode saluting the best performances, screenplays, direction, and films of 2020—a strange year for movies that turned out, despite all odds, to be a very good year for cinema as well. This year, with everyone from Vin Diesel to Steven Spielberg acting as cheerleaders for the return of the theatrical experience, our critics find themselves curiously underwhelmed with what 2021 has had to offer so far.But they push through, and reveal their picks for the best of 2021—a list that includes everything from Marvel blockbusters to African arthouse films.
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One year later than scheduled—and after years of fan demand—Marvel has finally released a starring vehicle for the most opaque of its Avengers, the Russian assassin that switched sides, Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff. How does it stack up against past installments in this forever franchise? And does it manage to deviate from the formula established by its numerous predecessors? On this bonus episode of Film Club, A.A. Dowd, Katie Rife, and special guest Alex McLevy talk about Black Widow, the new Marvel movie playing in theaters and streaming on Disney+. For a larger conversation about the MCU, check out this week’s official, full episode of the podcast.
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Today ends a two-year hiatus for the biggest franchise in movie history. Black Widow, new to theaters and Disney+, is the first Marvel movie to come out since July of 2019, and though a series of television spinoffs have kept the MCU alive in the public imagination, today is the day that this giant blockbuster machine truly lurches back to life. On a brand new episode of Film Club, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife are joined by special guest and fellow A.V. Club staffer Alex McLevy to discuss this ongoing big-screen crossover event—its strengths and weaknesses, its highs and lows, and what the future might hold for Earthiest’s mightiest box-office heroes. And for their thoughts on Black Widow itself, check out this week’s very special bonus episode.
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From its origins 20 years ago as a humble Point Break ripoff featuring fast cars, tough guys, and stolen DVD players, The Fast & The Furious has grown into a global mega-franchise. On this week’s episode of Film Club, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife trace the evolution of this outrageously over-the-top action series, compare it to superhero movies, and share their favorite stunts. Plus, the return of #Candyassgate! And thoughts on the latest entry in the series, the brand new, outrageously oversized F9.
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For the second time in six months, Pixar has released a new movie directly to Disney+. But unlike the existentially minded Soul, the new Luca is a deliberately breezy affair: a 95-minute fairy tale about two teenage sea creatures who take human form and caper across a picturesque Italian town sometime in the late ’50s or early ’60s. On this special bonus episode of Film Club, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife discuss why this especially lithe addition to the studio’s canon didn’t quite melt their hearts and stir their imaginations. Want a bigger bite of Pixar discourse? Check out this week’s full episode, which gets into the diminishing returns of America’s most beloved animation house.
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At this point, Pixar’s legacy as the most beloved of American animation houses is probably secure: No other studio so regularly earns the adoration of audiences, critics, and awards voters alike. All the same, it’s difficult not to notice that the output of Disney’s acclaimed younger sibling has waned a bit in quality and imagination since that magic early run of animated triumphs, the first dozen or so feature released by the Bay Area dream factory. On a brand new episode of Film Club, A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife discuss what makes Pixar at its finest so special—and also try to get to the bottom of why this once infallible creative collective isn’t quite firing on all cylinders anymore. Meanwhile, those curious about Luca can check out a special bonus episode on the studio’s latest all-ages adventure, which hit Disney+ today.
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This week’s for the theater kids, as Film Club’s A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife welcome When Romance Met Comedy columnist and self-described musical nerd Caroline Siede for a discussion of the evolution and appeal of the 21st-century movie musical. From In The Heights to Chicago to the similarities between dance and action choreography, this week’s episode has everything short of our critics bursting into song—and we’re all probably better off without that.
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This weekend, Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga return as Ed and Lorraine Warren in The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. The film is the third feature to dramatize the nominally fact-based cases of the married, real-life, and self-proclaimed paranormal investigators. But it’s also just one part of a larger, extended story—a whole Avengers-style shared universe for the ghosts, demons, and creepy sentient dolls the Warrens supposedly encountered during their heyday. On a brand new episode of Film Club, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife dive into this most Catholic of hit horror franchises, picking their favorites of the series and sharing some thoughts on the new entry now playing in theaters and streaming on HBO Max.
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After a brief spring break, Film Club returns this week to check in on the state of one of our critics’—and, presumably, our listeners’—favorite activities: Seeing movies on the big screen. With COVID-19 vaccinations becoming widely available and theaters reopening around the U.S., we revisit a discussion about cinema safety that began last summer. And with the PSA portion of the podcast complete, Katie Rife and A.A. Dowd embark on another return to normalcy by reviewing two films coming to theaters this Memorial Day. First up is John Krasinski’s long-delayed, hotly anticipated sci-fi horror sequel A Quiet Place Part II, followed by Emma Stone as a young, hip Cruella de Vil in the Disney live-action origin story Cruella.
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Our main reviewer didn’t much care for the new Mortal Kombat movie. Actually, he basically died from boredom watching it. But depending on your sensibilities, there is some fun to be had from this latest Hollywood attempt to move the mayhem of a video-game world into the lucrative arena of the multiplex. On this special bonus episode of Film Club, special guest William Hughes joins critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife to discuss the scant merits of the franchise-thirty martial-arts fantasy currently streaming on HBO Max. Want more movie/game crosstalk? Check out this week’s full episode on the spectacularly bad history of movies made from video games.
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Last week, a new movie based on the popular fighting game series Mortal Kombat made its way to theaters and HBO Max. And though the action in the film is appropriately bloody (plenty get finished, in the parlance of Midway games past), almost everything else about this blockbuster fits the dispiriting profile of your typical video-game adaptation. Which got us wondering: Why are films made from games always so lousy? On this week’s brand-new episode of Film Club, hosts A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife welcome fellow A.V. Club staffer (and Games editor) William Hughes to discuss the history of console-to-multiplex entertainment—including a few picks for the rare video-game movies they do like. And if you enjoy this discussion, check our bonus episode picking apart the good, the bad, and ugly of Mortal Kombat itself.
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The Academy Awards finally air this Sunday, some 14 months after last year’s ceremony and Parasite’s big win. To put a lid on this protracted awards season, Film Club wraps up its month-long, four-part series on the major categories with a discussion of the Best Picture lineup. Can anything stop Nomadland? And does anything deserve to? Before Hollywood’s big night, join critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife for one last round of Oscars talk.
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With the Academy Awards ceremony roughly a week away, we’re closing in on the end of this unusual and unusually long awards season. On the third installment of Film Club’s four-part series discussing the major categories, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife take a closer look at this year’s Best Actor contenders, as well as the extremely competitive Best Actress lineup, which might be the closest race of the night. Will it be Viola Davis, Carey Mulligan, or Frances McDormand? And who should it be? We’ll get into that and much more on this penultimate round of Oscars talk.
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This year’s Academy Awards are still a few weeks off. Leading up to Hollywood’s biggest night, Film Club is taking a close look at each of the major Oscar categories to determine what will win and what should win. On the second installment of their four-week series, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife dive into the writing awards, Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay. After that, they pivot to a discussion of this year’s Best Director race. Aaron Sorkin and David Fincher fans, listen at your own risk.
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Thanks to the ongoing pandemic, this year’s Academy Awards have been pushed to the late date of April 25. That gives us another whole month to unpack, critique, and trace the trajectory of the forthcoming 93rd Oscars. In the first of a four-week series on the major categories, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife dive into the Best Supporting Actress and Actor races—making predictions, singling out their favorites, and noting the unprecedented significance of a Hollywood veteran scoring Oscar and Razzie nominations for the same performance. What will win and what should? Let’s discuss.
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In just a few days, moviegoers and HBO Max subscribers alike will be treated to the title-fight rematch of the year, as Japan’s most famous radioactive reptile takes on the biggest ape of them all for the first time since 1962. And while The A.V. Club spent this past week of Watch This tracing Kong’s big-screen franchise evolution, it’s time to pay a little attention to his rival’s equally estimable body of work. That’s right: On this week’s kaiju-friendly episode of Film Club, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife are looking back on the 70-year history of Toho’s biggest star, Godzilla. Can we get a Skreeongk?
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On this week’s full episode of Film Club, A.A. Dowd and fellow A.V. Club staffer Alex McLevy discuss the DCEU—its origins and evolution, its strengths and weaknesses, its best and worst installments. What they don’t get into much there is the new director’s cut that inspired the topic of conversation. For that, check out this very special bonus episode of the podcast, wherein the Alexes break down the fabled Snyder Cut (now streaming on HBO Max) and discuss whether it’s better or worse than the version we all saw and disliked a few years ago. Fair warning: There will be spoilers.
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By popular and very persistent demand, this week saw the improbable release of a kind of holy grail of superhero-cinema fandom: the fabled, four-hour Zack Snyder cut of Justice League, which fans have been clamoring for since the heavily rewritten, reshot, and recut version of the movie landed like a hunk of kryptonite back in 2017. In honor of the occasion, regular Film Club host A.A. Dowd and special guest Alex McLevy (who’s filling in for Katie Rife this week while she covers the SXSW Film Festival) look back on the franchise Snyder launched eight years ago, tracing its origins and course corrections, while talking about what works and what doesn’t in super-sized spectacles like Man Of Steel, Batman V Superman, and Wonder Woman.
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The Criterion Collection is set to release a new box set collecting seven films by the celebrated Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar Wai on March 23. And considering that he’s on both of their short lists for their favorite director of all time, A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife jumped at the chance to talk in depth about Wong’s singular visual style, dreamy pet themes, and languid cast of alienated characters. From hitmen in the throes of an existential crisis to neighbors embroiled in an emotional affair in ‘60s Hong Kong, this week’s Film Club is for the hopeless romantics.
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It’s still not especially safe to go to a movie theater in America. Fortunately, those looking for the comfort food of a new new Hollywood comedy don’t have to leave their homes to find one; several major new studio yukfests are available to stream right now. On a brand new episode of Film Club, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife discuss three of them: the long-awaited sequel Coming 2 America; the zany Kristen Wiig vehicle Barb And Star Go To Vista Del Mar; and the newest live-action adventure for the cartoon duo Tom and Jerry. Which of these once-theatrically-bound movies brings the laughs? And what do they collectively have to say about the state of Hollywood comedy?
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Last week, The A.V. Club put out a call for questions from you, readers of the site and loyal listeners of our weekly podcast, Film Club. This week, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife are answering a selection of them on a very special AMA episode. Press play below to hear their thoughts on the future of movie releases, which of each other’s reviews they disagree with the most, and much more. And apologies in advance if they didn’t get to your query—we’ll likely do this whole thing again down the road.
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Valentine’s Day is Sunday, and to celebrate this annual rush for florists, chocolatiers, and greeting-card magnates, The A.V. Club has rolled out several odes to romantic pop-culture. It’s Love Week, you saps! The festivities continue on this uncharacteristically mushy episode of Film Club, wherein critics (and usual cynics) A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife talk about cinematic love stories, from the Golden Age of 194os screwball courtship to the rom-com dregs of the early 2000s. They close things out with some recommendations for this weekend’s collective date night. Because it’s you, dear listeners, we really love.
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Every January, thousands of people fly into Utah and then descend on the sleepy ski town of Park City for the annual movie-lover summit that is Sundance. Not this January, though. Because we’re still snowed in, so to speak, by the dangers of an ongoing pandemic, America’s most popular and prominent film festival went largely online in 2021. Did this change in format change the fabled Sundance experience? And how were the films themselves this year? Reporting “from” Sundance—which it to say, their living rooms—critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife discuss this unusual year for the festival, including some of its most prominent and talked-about titles.
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This episode comes with a warning up top, but don’t worry: All the classic films whose big twists are revealed on this week’s episode of Film Club are at least a couple of decades old. And although whether there’s such a thing as a term limit for spoilers is part of the conversation, we’re not just ruining movie plots for our listeners at random. Our critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife approach the topic of spoilers from both a historical and a practical perspective, discussing the origins of spoiler culture as we know it today, how they handle spoilers in their own work, and how much they like to know about a movie or TV series before diving in.
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An extended eligibility window for a pandemic Oscars means that this year, awards season will extend well into the spring. But for their first episode of 2021, our critics are setting the prestige pics aside and celebrating a January tradition: Crappy horror movies. Since 2012's The Devil Inside, the cinematic calendar has reliably featured a throwaway studio horror title on the first weekend of January. And although the streak was broken this year, this week’s Film Club dives in to this ignominious run and asks: Are any of these movies actually worth watching?
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Yesterday, The A.V. Club posted its list of the best movies of 2020. That was, of course and as it always is, a group effort—a picture of the year in film as determined through consensus as much as singular passion. For the latter, you can peruse the individual ballots, which provide a look at how all 12 contributors voted. Or you can press play on the podcast below—the year’s final episode of Film Club, in which our critics, A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife, run down their respective top-1o lists and discuss their own favorites of 2020. Admittedly, there’s some consensus between the two of them, too.
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It’s mid-December, and for many people, that means the Christmas season is in full swing. Far be it from us at The A.V. Club to deny anyone their annual holiday traditions—including the yuletide staples, like It’s Wonderful Life or A Christmas Story or Home Alone, that grace televisions (and, in normal times, movie screens) every year around this time. But what about those who are just a little sick of the regularly scheduled programming, who want to find something different under the proverbial tree this December? On this very special holiday-themed episode of Film Club, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife discuss some of their favorite alternative Christmas picks, from the new classics that haven’t yet earned their spot in the canon to some dark counter-programming for all the incorrigible Grinches out there. Don’t worry, though: They also find room to sing the praises of a couple of more traditional films. Because it wouldn’t be Christmas without a few ol’ chestnuts.
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Once upon a time, movies and television were mortal enemies, and pretty easy to tell apart, too. But the lines that once separated these two mediums have been blurring for a while now—a process that’s only been accelerated by the rise of streaming platforms, where everything is just content for the algorithm. And this year, as movie theaters closed their doors in the face of a deadly pandemic and people began watching everything at home, the distinction between big and small screen entertainment seemed less relevant than ever. But have we really reached the point where the two are one and the same? On this week’s episode of Film Club, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife are joined by a very special guest, TV Club editor Danette Chavez, to discuss our strange new media landscape. Don’t worry: Twin Peaks comes up, of course.
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It seems that the Academy Awards are still happening next year, just a little later than usual. What that means is that an abnormally long awards season is upon us! On this week’s episode of Film Club, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife discuss two high-profile Netflix releases vying for a spot in the race: David Fincher’s Mank and Ron Howard’s Hillbilly Elegy. But because it’s not all awards hopefuls out this autumn, they also make room for Freaky—the perfect chaser of genre fun after a double feature of Oscars aspiration.
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Werewolves had a moment in 1981. Excluding Wolfen, whose killer canines technically don’t fit the species description, Hollywood produced not one but two odes to the lycanthrope that year: John Landis’ Oscar-winning An American Werewolf In London and Joe Dante’s franchise-launching The Howling. But which of these shaggy horror comedies was best in show? We polled Twitter earlier this week. Now, on our final Halloween-season episode of Film Club, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife are picking different dogs in this fight. Welcome to The Premise Dome, full moon edition!
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Halloween is imminent, and if you’re anything like us, you’re getting in the holiday spirit with some of your favorite seasonal staples—going back once more to those timeless classics of the scary-movie genre, like Michael Meyers returning to Haddonfield right on schedule. But while Halloween, like Halloween, never gets old, there are options for those looking to watch something new this October, something they don’t know line for line or kill for kill. On this week’s episode of Film Club, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife run down their five favorite horror movies of the year, most of which will be available to watch from home by the 31st. And they overlap on only one film. Hint: It may or may not involve an invisible man.
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Most people use the terms “horror movie” and “scary movie” interchangeably. But that raises a question: Does a horror film really have to be scary? And are some scares better or more valuable than others? On this week’s episode of Film Club, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife discuss these questions, as well as the horror genre’s regular tactics for getting under an audience’s skin. They then confess which movies frighten them the most.
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Everybody has classic movies they’ve somehow never seen. On this week’s episode of Film Club, we’re addressing two of them in a new feature called The Blindspot Challenge, wherein our critics, A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife, confess and then fill in the biggest gaps in their moviegoing history. And because it’s October, both films are of the horror variety: Katie finally catches up with Richard Donner’s satanic blockbuster staple The Omen, while A.A. Dowd gets around to the influential French shocker Eyes Without A Face. But what major horror milestone have you never seen?
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It’s tough to pinpoint the exact origins of the expression “elevated horror.” But it was sometime around the middle of last decade that someone coined the term to refer to a new renaissance of atmospheric, critically acclaimed scary movies like It Follows, The Babadook, and The Witch. Is it a useful distinction or just a condescending buzzword? On the first of four episodes Film Club is devoting to spooky Halloween fare this October, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife discuss what qualifies as elevated horror, while also getting into both the popularity and the backlash to the label and movement.
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Last week, The A.V. Club marked the serendipitous release of two new films from Antonio Campos and Sean Durkin with a Watch This series on Borderline Films, the New York City-based production company co-founded by Campos and Durkin alongside fellow filmmaker Josh Mond (James White).
This week on Film Club, A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife continue the discussion with reviews of those films. We start off with a discussion of The Nest, a haunted house movie (of sorts) starring Carrie Coon and Jude Law that marks Durkin’s first outing as a director since 2011's Martha Marcy May Marlene. Then the discussion turns to The Devil All The Time, Campos’ stab at bleak Appalachian pulp featuring Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland, and an all-star cast.
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Greetings from the Toronto International Film Festival, a.k.a. our living rooms. Because of COVID, this year’s edition of the fest has been mostly online. Our film critics, A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife, have been covering it from home over the past week, writing about the best and biggest titles at this unusual, virtual version of the annual movielovers’ summit. On today’s episode of Film Club, they discuss the challenges and nuances of attending a film festival from your couch, and also get into several of the most high-profile selections, including Nomadland, Ammonite, and One Night In Miami...
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After a month spent digging into the filmography of Christopher Nolan, you’d think our critics would be perfectly situated to really understand the nuances of Tenet. You’d be wrong. This week, Film Club turns into a confession booth, as both A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife divulge that the blockbuster auteur’s latest spectacle left them feeling more than a little lost.
Meanwhile, the second film discussed on this week’s episode, Charlie Kaufman’s I’m Thinking Of Ending Things, is just as complex in its storytelling as Tenet, but its emotional through line resonated much more clearly with our critics. It probably doesn’t hurt that Dowd has read the book, however.
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Welcome to Film Club, the A.V. Club’s movie discussion series. Each week, A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife (and occasionally some special guests) will gab about the week's new releases, explore various corners of the film industry, and examine the lasting impact of some of history's biggest films.
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Today, we're introducing Push The Envelope, a new podcast where The A.V. Club editors and celebrity guests come together to discuss the Emmys, Oscars, Grammys, Globes, and more. From dream nominations to current snubs and surprises to favorite moments from past ceremonies—if someone’s passing out trophies, we’re talking about it.. Future episodes will cover everything from the VMAs and Tonys to the latest critical darlings of all forms of entertainment, but Push The Envelope kicks off with four episodes focused on the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards.
Every Friday leading up to the Sept. 20 ceremony, TV editor Danette Chavez and managing Editor Erik Adams will join editor-in-chief Patrick Gomez in analyzing the nominations and predicting what we can expect from the upcoming at-home telecast. Push The Envelope will also feature interviews with some of the folks you’ll see in that telecast; in our first episode, you’ll hear from The Good Place’s D’Arcy Carden and Schitt’s Creek’s Catherine O’Hara. The three episodes that follow will focus on the limited series and movie, drama, and comedy categories, and feature conversations with Uzo Aduba (Mrs. America), Tituss Burgess (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy Vs. The Reverend), Nicholas Braun (Succession), some of the Watchmen creative team, and more.
And if the TV isn’t your thing for some reason, don’t fret—this podcast is a year-round effort and we’ll be moving on to discuss other topics posthaste, with more celebrity guests and members of the A.V. Club staff joining the conversation. For now, we hope you’ll subscribe to Push The Envelope, available wherever you get your podcasts.
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For the past three weeks on Film Club, our critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife have embarked on a deep dive into the films of Christopher Nolan. And our final installment in the series is as twisting and complex as it gets, as we discuss the blockbuster trio of Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014), and Dunkirk (2017). Is Nolan’s reputation for making chilly films that are full of ideas, but short on emotion, justified? Have our opinions of his work changed after spending the last month seeped in his filmography? And how did he manage to put out a such an ambitious series of $100 million-plus epics, with only a few years in between?
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Last week on Film Club, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife discussed Christopher Nolan’s massively popular Dark Knight trilogy. This week, in the third part of our month-long series on Nolan’s filmography, they’re pulling a Memento and dicing up the timeline to discuss the movies the director made directly before and directly after his first trip to Gotham. It’s two smaller-scale thriller adaptations for the price of one: Insomnia, Nolan’s work-for-hire remake of a Norwegian detective thriller, and The Prestige, his twisty take on the Christopher Priest novel about dueling 19th-century magicians.
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For the second installment in our month-long series on the films of Christopher Nolan, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife revisit the blockbuster comic-book franchise that made him one of the world’s most celebrated directors. Nearly a decade later, which entry in the trilogy holds up best? And how did this particularly operatic take on the caped crusader shape both the future of big-budget moviemaking and Nolan’s own style?
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Later this month, audiences around the world (including—though this is less certain—some in the United States) will finally lay eyes on what once looked like the movie event of the summer, Tenet. In honor of the belated release of this time-bending thriller, we’re spending the rest of August talking about the filmography of its celebrated director, Christopher Nolan, who’s become possibly the premier blockbuster craftsman of the new millennium. Today, to kick off our four-part series, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife are returning to Nolan’s pre-Hollywood work: his scrappy directorial debut, Following, and his big breakthrough, Memento. How well do these nonlinear indie noirs hold up two decades later? Let’s discuss.
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The year is about halfway over, and though no new movies have hit theaters in months, plenty of very good ones have made their way to streaming platforms, video-on-demand, and virtual cinemas since everything shut down in March. Which got us thinking: If next year’s Oscars honored only the current crop of 2020 releases, which ones would be most worthy of consideration? On the first new episode of Film Club since June, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife offer their picks for the best movies, performances, and scripts of the year so far, in what we’re calling The Midyear Awards. Don’t worry: Our “ceremony” is much shorter than the real one. And there are no montages.
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It’s almost July, and if release calendars can be believed (they probably can’t), we might see a few movies creep into theaters again. (Christopher Nolan’s Tenet and the live-action Mulan remake are both currently scheduled to debut in multiplexes by the end of next month.) Whether that actually happens remains to be seen, of course. For now, we’re still stuck watching movies at home—and plenty of new ones arrived over this last month. On the last new episode of Film Club for three weeks, A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife look back on two of June’s more high-profile digital releases: the Pete Davidson-Judd Apatow comedy The King Of Staten Island and the Gothic psychodrama Shirley, starring Elisabeth Moss as horror author Shirley Jackson. Plus, both critics offer their recommendations of the best news films currently streaming.
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A few weeks ago on Film Club, our critics reminisced about movie theaters, many of which are still closed because of the pandemic. But the multiplex will reopen eventually. What, by contrast, will become of the video store, which was endangered long before COVID-19? On today’s episode, A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife are joined by fellow A.V. Club contributor and former Film Club cohost Ignatiy Vishnevetsky to discuss the past and potential future of brick-and-mortar movie renting, along with their own fond memories of frequenting and working behind the counter of video stores.
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There’s a new Spike Lee joint available today on Netflix. Da 5 Bloods, about a group of Black veterans returning to Vietnam decades later in search of both their fallen brother-in-arms and some gold they buried during the war, has earned Lee mostly glowing reviews (though not from our own reviewer, Ashley Ray-Harris). In honor of the film’s release, our critics sat down with Robert Daniels, who runs the website 812FilmReviews and has written for RogerEbert.com and The Playlist, to talk about Lee’s prolific career as a filmmaker over the last three-and-a-half decades.
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Welcome to this week’s second installment of Film Club, The A.V. Club’s weekly movie-discussion series. On this very special, format-breaking episode, our critics encroach on TV editor Danette Chavez’s turf to discuss the strange world of The X-Files. Since its premiere almost three decades ago, Chris Carter’s sci-fi drama grew from beloved cult favorite, to pop culture juggernaut, garnering prestige and acclaim along the way. By total coincidence, A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife both found themselves revisiting the series while quarantining, and decided to record this bonus episode of Film Club. In it, they discuss their shared love for the series, its influences and legacy, and whether or not it still holds up.
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Welcome to a brand new episode of Film Club, The A.V. Club’s weekly movie-discussion series. The culmination of a remarkable rise from an independent production helmed by a self-taught filmmaker to the Toronto International Film Festival, Andrew Patterson’s buzzy indie-sci fi movie The Vast Of Night makes its debut on Amazon Prime today. It’s an inspiring story, but is it also a great film? Our critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife weigh in.
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We’re rolling into a long weekend, and with multiplexes around the country still closed, movie lovers will have to get their fix at home. Among the more high-profile options available to rent or stream are two films once headed for theaters: the hijinks-heavy, crime-themed romantic comedy The Lovebirds, starring Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani; and Capone, Josh Trank’s look at the ignoble final days of the fearsome Chicago gangster, played here by Tom Hardy. Are either worth your time and/or money? On this new episode of Film Club, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife debate the merits of these very different movies, both vying for your Memorial Day attention.
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Welcome to a brand new episode of Film Club, The A.V. Club’s weekly movie-discussion series. The original Friday The 13th film was released on May 9, 1980 to middling reviews but staggering financial success, grossing $59 million on a estimated budget of $550,000. 40 years on and a dozen films later, the quintessential slasher franchise continues to lumber through our pop-culture consciousness. This week on Film Club, Katie Rife and A.A. Dowd are running down the Friday The 13th series, from Camp Crystal Lake to the year 2455, on an episode ominously taped on Wednesday the 13. In the episode—which you can listen to below, or wherever you get your podcasts—you’ll hear the pair discuss the franchise’s history, its influences and legacy, its unlikely future, and their favorite kills
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Ever since 1975, when Steven Spielberg’s Jaws gobbled up every box-office record in sight, Hollywood has treated the warmer weeks of the year like a launching ground for its most expensive, extravagant productions—a whole season of would-be blockbusters, vying for our moviegoing attention from the beginning of May until the end of August. There will, of course, will be very few, if any, blockbusters coming to a theater near you this summer. On a brand new episode of Film Club, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife offer a history lesson of this suddenly halted tradition, before debating which year, in the 45 since Jaws, gave us the greatest summer blockbuster season.
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Welcome back to another edition of Film Club. This week, senior writer Katie Rife is joined by contributor Ignatiy Vishnevetsky to discuss a pair of new releases: writer/director Leigh Whannell’s ingenious update on The Invisible Man, and Corneliu Porumboiu’s deligthful neo-noir, The Whistlers.
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Welcome back to another episode of Film Club. Today, our critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife sit down to discuss Sonic The Hedgehog—Paramount’s completely unnecessary adaptation of the beloved 90s video game character—and Downhill—the American remake of Ruben Östlund’s marital drama about a male ego in crisis, Force Majeure.
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Welcome back to another edition of Film Club. After hitting all of Sunday’s Best Picture nominees, A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife are back to discussing the week’s new releases, starting with the latest entry in the new-and-improved DCEU, Birds Of Prey. Directed by Cathy Yan and starring Margot Robbie, Birds Of Prey is a wildly colorful mess of a movie—but it’s also really fun.
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In honor of the fast-approaching 92nd Academy Awards—airing this Sunday, February 9—Film Club is looking back at the Best Picture nominees we didn’t cover last year. Today, A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife discuss Parasite and Jojo Rabbit. For further Oscars discussion, check out our previous Film Club episodes about fellow Best Picture nominees—Marriage Story, The Irishman, Little Women, 1917, Joker, Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood, and Ford v Ferrari.
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Welcome back to another edition of Film Club. Film editor A.A. Dowd is unable to join us this week, as he is in Park City, Utah covering this year’s Sundance Film Festival—check out his excellent coverage here. In his place, contributor Ignatiy Vishnevetsky joins senior writer Katie Rife to discuss Reed Morano's The Rhythm Section and Kantemir Balagov's Beanpole.
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In honor of the fast-approaching 92nd Academy Awards, airing Sunday, February 9, Film Club is taking a break from covering this week’s film releases (do we really need to cover The Gentlemen?) to look back at the Best Picture nominees we didn’t cover last year. Today, A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife discuss Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood, Joker, and Ford v Ferrari. Look out for our episodes on Parasite, and Jojo Rabbit in the coming weeks.
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Welcome back to Film Club! For the first episode of 2020, Our critics discuss Dolittle—the wholly unnecessary reboot of Hugh Lofting’s children’s lit series starring Robert Downey Jr. in his first post-Endgame film—and 1917—the recently minted Oscar favorite which feels like an empty technical showcase.
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For the final Film Club of the year, our critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife discuss the final chapter in the new Star Wars trilogy, The Rise Of Skywalker, and Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Women, Also, special guest Ignatiy Vishnevetsky stops by and tries to wrap his head around Cats.
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Join our critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife for discussion of Jay Roach’s toothless dramatization of the Fox News-Roger Ailes sexual harassment scandal, Bombshell, and Josh and Benny Safdie’s anxiety-inducing thrill ride, Uncut Gems.
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Join our critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife as for a spoiler-free discussion of the twisty murder mystery, Knives Out—one of the year's most entertaining films—and the rapturous romance from Céline Sciamma, Portrait Of A Lady On Fire—our favorite film out of Cannes.
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This season’s second installment of Film Club is all about Netflix. Earlier this fall, the streaming giant reunited with Noah Baumbach for the tragicomedy Marriage Story, and debuted Martin Scorsese’s long-in-development-hell crime epic The Irishman. With both films hitting the service in the coming weeks—The Irishman premieres today, Marriage Story on December 6—our critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife sit down to discuss the merits of these two impressive films.
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Welcome back to Film Club, The A.V. Club’s weekly movie discussion series, now available in podcast form. In the first episode of our new season, film critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife discuss two family-oriented entertainments hitting theaters in advance of the Thanksgiving holiday: Frozen II the sequel to the most successful animated movie ever, and A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood, starring Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers.
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