Secret Movie Club Podcast

SMC Pod #187: The complex American character through 100 years of American cinema

On any given day, you could pick 20 American movies that would show a different cross section of the complex contradictory conflicting aspects of the American character. Today, Secret Movie Club founder.programmer Craig Hammill picks 20 including 1928's King Vidor directed The Crowd, the biting 50's satire Ace in the Hole, 70's masterworks like Husbands, Girlfriends, Nashville, Killer of Sheep, Black Caesar, and more recent works that wrestle with American identity like He Got Game, Better Luck Tomorrow, Nomadland, and Killers of the Flower Moon (+many more). On this 4th of July, Secret Movie Club tries to aid the American experiment by taking a look at how our national character has expressed itself in our cinema. 

SMC Pod #186: Rossellini's 1940's War trilogy: Rome Open City, Paisan, Germany Year Zero & the thematic trilogy

Thematic trilogies are fascinating and exciting. Though characters may reappear, they are really trilogies around a theme or fascination or concern. Italian master Roberto Rossellini rose to the top of world cinema in the 1940's with his trilogy of movies focused on World War II and its immediate after effects: Rome, Open City (1945), Paisan (1946), and Germany Year Zero (1948).  The first two movies deal with the war and the occupation of Italy first by Nazis then by American soldiers. The last movie suddenly jumps into the belly of the beast and examines immediate post-WWII deprivation from the point of view of a German boy and his struggling family in a bombed out Berlin.  These movies helped create and define Italian neo-realism and shared a singular focus on war's effects on everyday people. Secret Movie Club founder.programmer Craig Hammill talks about these movies and other interesting thematic trilogies like Wong Kar Wai's Love trilogy and Steven Spielberg's 9/11 trilogy along the way.  

SMC Pod#185: Steven Spielberg's JAWS & Why it's the exception to the rule

As everyone and their cousin is telling you these days, it's the 50th anniversary of Steven Spielberg's classic monster movie blockbuster Jaws (1975). Directed by wunderkind Spielberg when he was only 28 years old (yet had already been a professional director in the TV & movie game at least 8 years), Jaws set the template Hollywood is still chasing: promising young director, huge recognition with a pre-existing IP (intellectual property), massive opening weekend on the most amount of screens, etc. Yet Jaws is still a classic 50 years later (unlike the majority of summer blockbusters) because of how it differs from the rules it established. Secret Movie Club programmer Craig Hammill waxes rhapsodic and caustic about the moviemaker, the movie, the team, and the phenomenon that casts a shadow on the ocean floor over everything so many decades later. 

SMC Pod #184: The Fantasy, Sci-Fi, & Horror genres (and how they are reflected in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings)

That's a mouthful! Today, Secret Movie Club programmer talks about the wonders and possibilities of the fantasy, sci-fi, and horror genres and how those wonders/possibilities are beautifully realized in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. To narrow it down, Craig explores 1939's The Wizard of Oz (fantasy), 1972's Solaris (sci-fi), and 1974's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Then Craig takes an element from each genre and how it affected or was expressed through Peter Jackson's genius in LOTR. This podcast was a lot to bite off and chew so Craig decided to focus in on three movies.

SMC Pod #183: Francesco Rosi's SALVATORE GIULIANO (1962, Italy)

Every now and then, you have to deep dive an amazing movie to celebrate it. Today, Secret Movie Club founder.programmer Craig Hammill sings the praises of journalist turned moviemaker Francesco Rosi's 1962 Italian masterpiece Salvatore Giuliano. It tells the story of famed Sicilian outlaw Giuliano not from his POV but from the POV's of everyone around him-townspeople, police, the Italian government. Shot by master cinematographer Gianni di Venanzo (Fellini's 8 1/2), Giuliano is a cubist Citizen Kane, using film form to tell a political story. Filmmaker Rosi makes a damning movie about political power without being simplistic. Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, and Steven Spielberg have all been deeply influenced by this must-see world classic. 

SMC Pod #182: The Cannes Film Festival with someone who's been there!

Blake Winston Rice @blakewrice had his life turned inside out when he found out his short film Tea had been accepted for competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. Suddenly after years of shorts submissions and rejections, he had less than a month to get ready for the biggest opportunity of his life. Blake talks with Secret Movie Club founder.programmer Craig Hammill about the crazy ride he had last year, what Cannes is really like for those who experience it, and advice he has for everyone fighting the good fight. 

SMC Pod #181: Recent movies that give me hope

Recent movies like the Latvian animated instant masterpiece Flow, the hilarious and well thought out parody.satire.personal journey indie The People's Joker, the formally daring subjective POV two-hander Nickel Boys, the Romanian dark comedy of the moment Do Not Expect Too Much From the End Of the World, and the musical political horror of the documentary Soundtrack to a Coup D'Etat among many others show that cinema still has new frontiers to cross, new voices to regenerate the medium, a new chapter for all of us. Secret Movie Club founder.progammer Craig Hammill digs into why these movies feel like beacons of light in the wilderness. And also what may need to happen on the marketing.advertising.exhibition side to re-ignite cinema as pop culture necessity.

SMC Pod #180: Is This Cinema Part 2 Part 2! Conversation on what is cinema

A movie podcast so expansive, so intense, it took several weeks to edit!  Actor.musician.cinephile Andras Jones (Nightmare on Elm Street 4, Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-o-rama, https://previouslyyours.com) and Secret Movie Club founder Craig Hammill have part 2 of their conversation about what exactly defines cinema? Andras challenges Craig on Craig's definitions of simulation, artifice, consent since many great movies, documentaries ignore those things.  Craig puts forward that trust and shared vision among cast & crew are critical to getting the best out of a movie, especially when the subject matter is unsettling. Everything from Coppola's Apocalypse Now to Fassbinder's In a Year of 13 Moons to Gallo's The Brown Bunnny gets discussed. And we try to get closer to that obscure object of definition "What is cinema"?

SMC Pod #179: Is this Cinema Pt II: The Human Centipede

We return to our Is this Cinema series to look at one of the 2000's most divisive horror movies: Tom Six's The Human Centipede (2009). The concept was so shocking (three humans sewed together by a mad doctor to make a...well you guessed it...) it became a pop culture phenomenon. Comedy shows like South Park devoted whole episodes to it. But was it cinema or just an edgelord eyeball grab for money?  Actor, musician, artist Andras Jones (Nightmare on Elm Street 4, Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-o-rama) who can be found at https://previouslyyours.com/ joins Secret Movie Club founder.programmer Craig Hammill to hash it out. Andras has a totally different definition of cinema than Craig that helps broaden the conversation. This is Part 1 of 2, the conversation was so epic. Part 2 which digs into the challenges of defining what is cinema comes out next time as SMC Pod #180. Here we go... 

SMC Pod #178: Gene Hackman - A helluva actor

The strange and still not fully understood deaths of actor Gene Hackman and his wife of 30+ years Betsy Arakawa may unsettle us for awhile or for always. But Gene Hackman's contribution to cinema is undeniable. From 1967's Depression-era gangster movie Bonnie & Clyde through Wes Anderson's 2001 comedy The Royal Tenenbaums, Gene Hackman captivated audiences with his always truthful electric performances. Secret Movie Clubber Edwin Gomez and SMC founder.programmer Craig Hammill talk the Hackman filmography from The French Connection to Unforgiven. Edwin singles out 1973's Scarecrow and Craig highlights how Hackman was great even in underrated genre movies like Sam Raimi's 1995 western The Quick and the Dead. Simply put: Gene Hackman is one of the greatest actors movies have ever produced.