The A.V. Club Presents Film Club

The A.V. Club Presents Film Club

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The A.V. Club Presents Film Club episodes

  • Friday The 13th turns 40

    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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    1 hr 18 min
  • What's the best year ever for summer blockbusters?

    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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    47 min
  • Which streaming service is right for film lovers?
    Welcome to a brand new episode of Film Club, The A.V. Club’s weekly movie-discussion series. Though some states are permitting theaters to begin re-opening with restrictions, it will be sometime before moviegoers flock back to theaters. There are still concerns about the health risks of large public gatherings, and there are just no new movies coming to theaters. That means, for the foreseeable future, many movie lovers will be doing the majority of their movie watching via various streaming platforms—an industry that has become increasingly crowded, with seemingly every legacy media corporation launching a new one weekly. So, on this week’s Film Club, our critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife wade into those muddy streaming waters in an attempt to find the best option(s) for movie lovers. In the episode, which you can listen to below, they discuss the major streaming players, recommend some lesser known but still great options, and talk some shit about Crackle.
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    57 min
  • Our critics get a Bad Education in the True History Of The Kelly Gang
    Welcome back to Film Club, The A.V. Club’s weekly movie discussion series. This week, A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife get back to basics again with an extended discussion of two new releases. First, they dig into True History Of The Kelly Gang, a western film inspired by the true stories of Australian bushranger Ned Kelly and his gang of outlaws. Then, a discussion of HBO’s Bad Education, also inspired by a true story and starring Hugh Jackman in one of the best performances of his career.
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    39 min
  • BONUS | Ryan Oestreich of Chicago's Music Box Theatre
    Welcome back to Film Club, The A.V. Club’s weekly movie-discussion series. In addition to this week’s regularly scheduled installment—which you can listen to here—we’re coming to you again with our first ever interview episode. Ryan Oestreich, general manager of Chicago’s historic Music Box Theatre, was kind enough to hop on a call with our critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife for a pleasant chat, which you can listen to below. In the episode, you’ll hear Oestreich discuss the challenges of running an arthouse theater in the middle of a pandemic, when he thinks moviegoers can get back into theaters, and what lies aheads for the moviegoing industry as a whole.
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    40 min
  • Remember going to the movies? Our critics sure do
    Remember going to the movies? Our critics sure do. Multiplexes and arthouses are shutdown around the world, but that won’t stop film editor A.A. Dowd and senior writer Katie Rife from waxing nostalgic about the moviegoing experience. In this week’s installment of Film Club, our critics dig into their personal histories of going to the movies, share some of their most memorable experiences, and a discuss a brief history of the pastime.
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    30 min
  • Bloodshot, Sea Fever & The Way Back
    Over the last couple weeks, Film Club has taken a few creative detours. With no new wide releases to discuss, our critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife have taken this opportunity to examine the pandemic’s impact on the film industry, pilot a new A.V. Club feature, and discuss the “F” CinemaScore. Today, its back to basics with an extended discussion on three relatively new films, all of which you can watch from the comfort of your own home: the Irish sci-fi horror Sea Fever, the Vin Diesel star-vehicle Bloodshot, and Ben Affleck’s sports drama The Way Back.
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    41 min
  • Is an "F" CinemaScore actually a good thing?
    CinemaScore, for the uninitiated, is a Las Vegas-based market research firm that bills itself as “the industry leader in measuring movie appeal.” On a film’s opening day, their representatives stand outside of theaters and ask hundreds of moviegoers to grade the films they just saw on an A-to-F scale, the average of which becomes the “CinemaScore.” But while the metric has become a useful marketing tool for studios, it has also underlined the divide between the general public’s reaction to a film, and that of the critic community. On today’s episode on Film Club, A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife examine that divide, deep dive into their own grading philosophies, and discuss whether or not an “F” from CinemaScore is actually a good thing.
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    35 min
  • White House Down or Olympus Has Fallen?
    With nothing new coming to theaters for the foreseeable future, Film Club, our weekly movie-discussion series, is switching gears and entering the Premise Dome. Each week our critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife will take two movies with similar setups—think Armageddon and Deep Impact, or Smallfoot and Abominable—and duke it out over which is superior. This week’s matchup features two movies from 2013 about the President Of The United States under siege with only a lone Secret Service agent to protect. Of course, we’re talking about Olympus Has Fallen and White House Down.
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    39 min
  • How COVID-19 is shaping the future of film
    Welcome to a brand new episode of Film Club, The A.V. Club’s weekly movie-discussion series. Normally on the show, cohosts A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife talk about the most notable new films coming to a theater near you. But because of the Coronavirus, nothing notable or otherwise is coming to any theaters this week (or the next one or the one after that and so forth). So instead, our critics had a long discussion about how this global health crisis might affect the film industry and its future, and what it could mean for the next few weeks or months of movie-watching. They also found room to discuss an older film with some sudden, chilling contemporary resonance: George Romero’s 1978 horror classic Dawn Of The Dead, an all-time favorite of both critics.
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    47 min

About The A.V. Club Presents Film Club

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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,…