Secret Movie Club Podcast

SMC Pod #161: What is a masterpiece & masterpiece inflation

Secret Movie Club team members Edwin Gomez and Craig Hammill hash out what really IS the criteria that makes a movie a masterpiece? Although they easily agree on JAWS, they split when Edwin calls AIRPORT 77 and KING KONG 1976 masterpieces while Craig views Ingmar Bergman's WINTER LIGHT and PERSONA as masterpieces. Craig also is concerned that the term "masterpiece" gets used way too much these days. He fears the term is losing its important meaning as an indicator of a movie that truly rises above all others. Is there a fix? Is there a problem? Listen to see where Edwin and Craig ultimately land. We'd love to hear your thoughts. (You can always write us at: community@secretmovieclub.com. We might even read your comments in an upcoming pod!).

SMC Pod #160: CRUMB & The dark documentary (A deeper doc dive Part II)

Today, Secret Movie Club Team Members Edwin Gomez and Craig Hammill discuss Terry Zwigoff's breakout 1990's documentary CRUMB about underground comic book artist R. Crumb and his dysfunctional brothers. Both Edwin and Craig talk about how a second viewing really emphasizes how heavy Crumb's home life was. We nominate some other powerful "dark" documentaries. Edwin name checks the Maysles' 1960's key work SALESMAN and Errol Morris's 1980's THE THIN BLUE LINE. Craig talks about Claude Lanzmann's 1980's masterwork SHOAH and Joshua Oppenheimer's 2012 THE ACT OF KILLING. Edwin talks the re-opening of the Vista and Craig mentions how much he likes David Fincher's new movie THE KILLER. (This Pod acts as a kind of Part II to SMC Pod #94 which looked at AMERICAN MOVIE and the documentary genre). 

SMC Pod #159: Communicating cinematically or ”An idea in every shot”

As part of our final season wrap up on Alfred Hitchcock director of the year, we look at Hitchcock's late career advice to film schools to make sure that young filmmakers knew how to tell their stories visually/cinematically without needing to rely on dialogue. SMC founder.programmer Craig Hammill talks about how this approach has come to mean for him the goal of "an idea in every shot". Today we talk about examples from Murnau's The Last Laugh, Renoir's La Chienne, Stan Brakhage's The Act of Seeing With One's Own Eyes, Coppola's The Godfather I baptism cross-cutting scene, Kurosawa's High and Low among other movies to show how production design, framing, editing, cross-cutting, "gags" can all become tools in the tool box to communicate cinematically. 

SMC Pod #158: Why PSYCHO is the 2001 of Horror movies

For as popular and perennial as Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO is, 62 years after its initial release, Secret Movie Club founder.programmer Craig Hammill feels it is still underrated. In many ways, Craig feels PSYCHO is the 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY of horror movies. That is-a movie which changed the cinematic form, created new film language, and in many ways, has never been surpassed.  We take a look at the history of PSYCHO including Hitchcock's own doubts that it worked. We also look at how Hitchcock micromanaged brilliantly hiding the twist until its opening weekend and how Hitchcock used his five decades of film craft to take his "Subjective POV" style to its zenith. Finally, we discuss the unsettling and surprisingly complex world view of the movie which is neither optimistic nor cynical but stranger. A worldview that approximates the complexities of our own world. 

SMC Pod #157: Filmmaker Sensibilities: Blockbuster vs Art House

When you love cinema, it's fascinating how some of your favorite moviemakers are beloved by a small passionate group of "in the know" fans and other of your favorite moviemakers appeal to the entire world including your grandparents who know nothing about the film world. What defines the "art house" versus the "blockbuster" sensibility? If you're a moviemaker, where does your sensibility ultimately land? Does it help to be know? Is it even productive to think in these terms? Secret Movie Club founder.programmer Craig Hammill takes a look at a number of filmmaker sensibilities including those of Peter Greenaway, James Cameron, Satyajit Ray, Kelly Reichhardt, and Francis Ford Coppola. All have achieved success and longevity to wildly different audiences. 

SMC Pod #156: Sex in American Cinema and the X & NC-17 Rating

While the team re-assembles, Secret Movie Club founder.programmer Craig Hammill goes solo to discuss the history of sex in American cinema and the X and NC-17 rating. Craig marvels that 50 years ago X-rated movies like MIDNIGHT COWBOY were winning Best Picture and THE DEVIL IN MISS JONES were mainstream, making the equivalent of $100 million dollars, and getting 3 star ratings from Roger Ebert while now American studios, filmmakers, and films seem to have no idea how to deal with sex scenes (and so avoid them). For the societal health of the country, Craig advocates for the emergence of the "adult sex movie" as a mainstream genre like action, horror, fantasy & sci-fi, and the superhero. It would help bring conversations about sex and sexuality back into the light and mainstream.

SMC Summer Podcast #10: Twin Peaks:The Return Parts 9-18 & SMC Pod #115: Tom Cruise

And so, finally, we get to Summer 2023 Pod #10. The number of completion. We look at Parts 9-18 of Twin Peaks: The Return. We discuss how David Lynch managed the seemingly impossibly by matching Part 8 with the sheer brilliance of Part 18. And we discuss all the grace notes throughout. Secret Movie Club founder.programmer feels that TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN ultimately is the greatest movie of 2017, one of the greatest features of the 21st century, and that TWIN PEAKS as a whole is one of the key cinematic works of the last 50 years. We also re-post SMC Pod #115 where the team discusses the mystery and marvel that is Tom Cruise, one of the most interesting and complicated of America's movie stars. 

SMC Summer Pod #9: When Hitchcock experiments & SMC Pod #108 Repost The High Concept Low Budget Film

Alfred Hitchcock is one of American cinema's most daring risk-takers and experimenters. His filmmography is filled with wild experiments from single location movies like LIFEBOAT, ROPE, REAR WINDOW to rule breaking near avant garde stunners like PSYCHO and THE BIRDS. Today, Secret Movie Club founder.programmer Craig Hammill looks at 1948's ROPE (comprised of only 11 shots and filmed to look like one continuous take) and 1963's THE BIRDS (in which seemingly docile everyday birds attack a small Northern Californian town with little to no explanation). Craig marvels at ROPE's technique and THE BIRDS secondary, less talked about subtext about the chaos of lust and desire. We also repost SMC Pod #108 about the wonderful Spanish time travel movie TIME CRIMES and the low budget high concept feature. 

SMC Summer Pod #8: Twin Peaks The Return Parts 1-8 & SMC Pod #10000 Repost Favorite pre 23rd Century Movies

Today we continue our TWIN PEAKS masterwork series by looking at 2017's TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN Parts 1-8. Founder.Programmer Craig Hammill talks about how David Lynch and Mark Frost telegraphed their ambition with the VERY FIRST Twin Peaks episode/pilot in 1989. Lynch's expanded vision which encompasses all of America married to Kyle Machlachlan's commitment to 5 different roles (!!) married to avant garde masterpiece parts like Part 8 make THE RETURN the greatest movie of 2017 and one of the great 21st century masterworks for Craig. We also repost SMC Pod #10000 recorded April 1, 2021 which was our first attempt at an April's Fool's episode where we wanted to make ya' laugh.

SMC Summer Pod #7: Personal Favorite movies of the 21st century & SMC Pod #96 re-post Speed Racer

SMC founder.programmer Craig Hammill talks about his personal favorite movies of the 21st century including Catch Me If You Can, Zodiac, No Country For Old Men, Un Prophete, Boyhood, Lovers Rock among several others. He notes how watching recent masterpieces can help give a current moviemaker the faith and belief necessary to commit to cinema in the current strange moment. David Lynch's and Mark Frost's Twin Peaks: The Return (which Craig considers one of the great 21st century movies) will get talked about at length next week in SMC Summer Pod #8. We also repost SMC Pod #96 about the Wachowski's Speed Racer and the wonderful phenomenon of movies that get re-appraised, re-considered over time.