Staff Picks: Fall Movies

The Fall 2022 Film Studies Crew presents our top picks for the fall season. Throw on a knitted sweater, grab a warm mug of coffee, and enjoy!

SLC Punk – Kevin

Matthew Lillard in SLC Punk

Set in the Fall of 1985, two nerds become the punkiest of the punk. This film is peak Fall relax times. Just about a couple dudes being punks, it’s great. The plot revolves around 2 punk college graduates living in Salt Lake City trying to do their best to punk against the system. Matthew Lillard proves himself as a great actor that can handle himself as a punk and a lead. Michael A. Goorjian as Heroin Bob is hilarious with his stories and straight-edge antics and punk mohawk. Give yourself a good Fall day and watch SLC Punk on streaming or Blu-ray. Punk!

 

Knives Out – Carla 

Daniel Craig in Knives Out

Knives Out is a modern, unique take on your typical whodunnit. It features a stacked all-star cast made up of Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana De Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collete, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Christopher Plummer, and Lakieth Stanfield. It’s a two hour spectacle of a rich white family holed up in a mansion wearing knitted sweaters and fighting for money while James Bond solves the murder of their patriarch—and it’s worth every second as the film comes together in the finale. It’s a brilliantly written addition to the murder mystery genre that would make Agatha Christie proud. It’s follow up film, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, releases later this year and I, for one, will be watching.

 

When Harry Met Sally – Kayla

Billy Crystal (left) and Meg Ryan (right) in When Harry Met Sally

Directed by Rob Reiner, When Harry Met Sally is an 80’s classic that is full of romance, comedy, and big hair. The story follows Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) and Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) as they run into each other ten years after meeting each other for the first time. The film is light-hearted, cheesy, and sometimes sexist in portraying the idea that men and women can’t be friends (which the film tries to prove). But besides this, the film becomes an essential fall watch; just as the seasons change, we watch how slowly these two go from friends to lovers.

 

The Quick and the Dead – Tatiana

Sharon Stone in The Quick and the Dead

Released during that little moment in the 90s when Hollywood was having western revival (before they quickly overstayed their welcome), The Quick and the Dead, directed by Sam Raimi isn’t like any western movie you’ve ever seen. The film follows a mysterious female gunslinger (Sharon Stone), a character reminiscent of the lone wanderer you often find Clint Eastwood playing, as she wanders into the town of Redemption. She soon enters a quick-draw tournament as a means to kill the town’s mayor (Gene Hackman). The film’s characters are all walking clichés, and the action sequences are beautifully over the top yet as you watch you can’t help but buy into the film’s bleeding heart.