Latest News and Reviews

UW Film Club Podcast #94: Top 10 Films of 2022: Part 2

We are again sitting down to talk about our favorite films of 2022. This episode is part 2 of our 2-part series in which we focus on our top 10 films. In this episode, we focus on the top 4 films on our lists. If you’d like to listen to the first episode, I highly recommend it before listening to this one. Lastly, I hope you enjoy our 94th episode of the UW Film Club Podcast!

On this episode: Drew Favors, PJ Knapke, Luke Wilhelm, Harrison Hall

You can find us on Facebook at /UWFilmClub, and on Twitter and Instagram @FilmClubUW. Make sure to rate, comment, and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify, and Google Play, and tune in every week for a new episode of the UW Film Club Podcast!

 

UW Film Club Podcast #93: Top 10 Films of 2022: Part 1

2022 is now long behind us. With that in mind, it was one of the greater years of cinema we have experienced in quite some time. For this podcast, we are sitting down and breaking down our top 10 films of last year, some of our honorable mentions, and our general opinion of recent films with some of our more disliked films entering into the mix. This episode is part 1 of a 2-part series in which we will focus on our top 10 films. In this episode, we are focusing on our honorable mentions and the films that made our 10-5 spots on our lists. I hope you enjoy our 93rd episode of the UW Film Club Podcast!

 

On this episode: Drew Favors, PJ Knapke, Luke Wilhelm, Harrison Hall

You can find us on Facebook at /UWFilmClub, and on Twitter and Instagram @FilmClubUW. Make sure to rate, comment, and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify, and Google Play, and tune in every week for a new episode of the UW Film Club Podcast!

SIFF 2023 Capsule Reviews

The 2023 Seattle International Film Festival begins on May 11th and runs through May 21st, with select films screening on the SIFF Channel May 22-28. UW Film Club will be covering as many films as possible so that you know which films to see! Throughout the festival, this article will be regularly updated with capsule reviews for festival films. Check back every few days to see what’s new!

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Drew Favors’ Top 10 Films of 2022

It’s easy to say that 2022 was the greatest comeback year for films since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and even a few years before it. Films that have been in “development hell” for years, or passion projects that have slipped by various studio goalies, have emerged to create a nostalgic cinematic experience that I have yearned for but have not been able to experience in so long.

With the cinema landscape having been open to the public continuously over the past year, Hollywood, and some more silent heavy hitters, have emerged to bring beautiful films both internationally and domestically. Since the release of films this year has been so broad, I would like to start off with a few honorable mentions that didn’t quite make the Top 10 cut, but rightfully deserve recognition for their stellar achievements in filmmaking. Keep in mind, these mentions will be brief.

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Review: ‘A Good Person’ Sends a Good Message

Grief. It’s an emotion that is frequently paired with loss; the loss of an opportunity, an item, or in this film’s case, a loved one. It’s a complicated, messy emotion that sometimes leads a person to perform questionable actions while they are at their worst. But as A Good Person plays on, we are forced to look at the actions of almost every character and truly ask ourselves “What does it mean to be a good person?”

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Review: Does the Plot of ‘Tetris’ Fall into Place?

“They’ll make a movie about anything these days!” is what most of us likely said upon hearing that a movie about Tetris was being released. It’s been said before— and it’ll be said again— but the film industry is completely oversaturated with biopics and corporate/product origin stories right now. Seeing so many films of this same genre coming out at once makes it hard to get excited about any of them; they tend to come off as an inauthentic cash grab more than anything else. An entire film dedicated to an old computer game where you have to line up falling blocks almost sounds like a joke at this point. And yet, despite everything that should be working against it, Tetris manages to not only be a pretty solid thriller but also a pretty fun time.

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Review: ‘Scream VI’: A Killer Addition to the Franchise

We’re certainly not in Woodsboro anymore. Scream VI finds our new protagonists have made the move to the Big Apple and are ready to leave the horrors of the previous year in their rearview mirror. But in typical Scream fashion, one doesn’t simply leave Ghostface behind.

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Retrospective: Tsai Ming-liang: The Art of Isolation

Tsai Ming-liang makes movies that so perfectly speak to our modern day communal, lived experiences; yet the three films I’m going to be talking about were made in times ranging from the early 90s to early 2000s.  This just speaks to the power of his work, since it can still be so relevant to our lives, yet it was made before I was even born.  Tsai Ming-liang is a Malaysian-Taiwanese filmmaker who is considered one of the best “second new wave” directors in Taiwanese cinema.  He has made many films but the three I’m covering are The Hole, Goodby Dragon Inn, and Rebels of the Neon God.  I immediately became infatuated with his work from the latter of the films mentioned above and couldn’t stop watching his work after that.  Thematically all three of these films really tie together and provide a beautiful look into the world we live in by encouraging the audience to take time to analyze the world around them in order to better live within it. 

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UW Film Club Podcast #92: The Deer Hunter

“Nicky, do you remember the podcast? Remember all the different ways of the podcast? Remember that? Remember? Huh?”

Here on today’s Film Club podcast, we are examining Michael Cimino’s most notable film, The Deer Hunter, and how its release contributes to discussions of early Oscar bait and the changing American landscape of who goes to the cinema and what they see. Here, we talk about the film’s depiction of the Vietnam war and those involved, the film’s brilliant performances by its stellar cast, and how some of its 3-act structure ultimately fell short. By the time you are done with the podcast, hopefully, you will love John Cazale more than you should already. Listen in on the UW Film Club’s 92nd episode!

On this episode: Drew Favors, PJ Knapke

You can find us on Facebook at /UWFilmClub, and on Twitter and Instagram @FilmClubUW. Make sure to rate, comment, and subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify, and Google Play, and tune in every week for a new episode of the UW Film Club Podcast!

Review: ‘Shazam: Fury of the Gods’ is DC’s Newest Godlike Blunder

The DCEU, since its inception with Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, has been criticized for a multitude of things. Bad casting, bad directing, bad writing, bad storytelling all around, just to name a few. Trying to create an MCU-like universe for the DC heroes seems simple enough, yet DC’s try at it has been lacking in nearly every way. Some hope for a return to Snyder, let him finish his universe, most are sighing with relief that James Gunn has been brought in to just not do this anymore. My biggest gripe with the franchise so far has been the fact that its stories are at odds with the themes. They come out of nowhere, or aren’t developed, and these lackluster and underdeveloped themes create bad characters, bad story cohesion, and ineffective world building. Shazam: Fury of the Gods is the latest in the DCEU lineup, and you know what, I was pleasantly surprised with how much worse it was than I expected. 

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