Secret Movie Club Podcast

SMC Pod #107: Political movies & politics in film!

The Secret Movie Club Team (Cattor Lloyd Crews, Edwin Gomez, Daniel Moott, and Craig Hammill) gets down in the muck and offends everybody (not really) by chatting about the differences between morals and ethics in Election, Clint Eastwood’s murderous ambitions in Absolute Power, Godard’s revolutionary period, representations of journalism and law in films like All the President’s Men and Michael Clayton, and the distinction Olivier Assayas makes of a political film versus a film about politics. If you DO happen to be offended by this episode, please contact Edwin at edwingomez@secretmovieclub.com with any and all complaints.

SMC Pod #106: WEST SIDE STORY (1961) & WEST SIDE STORY (2021) & remakes!

The Secret Movie Club Team (Connor Lloyd Crews, Edwin Gomez, Daniel Ott, and Craig Hammill) discusses the original 1961 West Side Story directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, the brand new Steven Spielberg-helmed adaptation, and remakes at large! Are remakes always bad? What makes a great remake good? Connor wants Hollywood to let him remake Ghost Ship. Craig and Daniel disagree on which version of The Man Who Knew Too Much they love more. Edwin attempts to pick a fight about Yojimbo and A Fistful of Dollars. They also chat about Cape Fear, The Blob, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, John Carpenter’s The Thing, The Departed, and Ringu and The Ring among others!

SMC Pod #105: Palm Springs Getaway recap + 70mm & other film formats!

The Secret Movie Club Team (Connor Lloyd Crews, Edwin Gomez, Daniel Ott, Craig Hammill, and newcomer Alex Olivier!) debriefs their successful Palm Springs Getaway weekend where SMC showed 2001: A Space Odyssey, Lawrence of Arabia, and the original West Side Story all on magnificent 70mm! Then they attempt to explain what the heck 70mm is, chat about the future of film projection, and share their optimism or pessimism about the state of the format, all aided by projectionist Alex! Edwin also makes an overdue apology as America waits with bated breath.

SMC Pod #104: BOTTLE ROCKET & the 90’s American New Wave

The Secret Movie Club Team (Connor Lloyd Crews, Edwin Gomez, Daniel Ott, Craig Hammill) discusses Wes Anderson's 1996 debut feature BOTTLE ROCKET as well as the moviemakers cited as part of the 1990's American New Wave-Steven Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sofia Coppola, Robert Rodriguez, Allison Anders, Richard Linklater-among others. The Team talks about what makes a generation of moviemakers unique as well as their own personal feelings, affinities for specific moviemakers. 

SMC Pod #103: Long form cinema storytelling

The Team (Connor Lloyd Crews, Edwin Gomez, Daniel Ott, Craig Hammill) discuss cinema and TV stories that have found lives that extend decades.  Star Trek, Breaking Bad, Twin Peaks, the Japanese anime Evangelion, Richard Linklater's Before Trilogy all get discussed.  The team talks about how this can backfire when folks try to engineer these stories to be cash cows or "expanded universes" rather than letting the audience dictate when they want more of a certain kind of story. 

SMC Pod #102: Spiritual, Agnostic, & Atheist Cinema

The Secret Movie Club Team (Connor Lloyd Crews, Edwin Gomez, Daniel Ott, Craig Hammill) discusses how cinema comes at God, spirituality, doubt, religion, skepticism in different ways. Breaking the Waves, Robocop, Ida, the Coen Brothers' movies, Luis Bunuel's powerful atheist cinema, all get name checked. But the team-specifically Connor, Daniel, and Craig-end up really digging into their backgrounds and current states of belief or non-belief. Craig tears up. Connor and Edwin note the similarity between going to church and going to the movies. 

SMC Pod #101: LIQUID SKY & Transgressive Cinema

The Team (Connor Lloyd Crews, Edwin Gomez, Daniel Ott, Craig Hammill) discusses the mind-blowing 1983 cult hit transgressive masterpiece LIQUID SKY told from a bracingly female perspective, co-written by its female star Anna Carlisle who plays male and female roles, Nina V. Kerova, and directed by Russian immigrant Slava Tsukerman. The Team also looks at what "transgressive" really means (using dark humor and shocking situations to convey messages mainstream audiences often ignore) and how the genre is alive and kicking with 2021's Palm D'Or winning shocker TITANE directed by Julia Ducournau. #transgressivecinema 

SMC Pod #100: Our 100th episode! Nominating 21st century movies for masterpiece status.

The SMC Team (Connor Lloyd Crews, Edwin Gomez, Daniel Ott, Craig Hammill) celebrates and clashes (as usual) their 100th podcast episode milestone. After some initial marital bickering, each member of the team nominates a 21st century movie he feels is a new masterpiece for new canon. Titles that get name-checked include Lord of the Rings, Spirited Away, and Un Prophete. And of course Edwin bucks the premise and nominates 1999's The Mummy but balances it out by coupling it with 2001's The Mummy Returns. 

SMC Pod #99: Best Picture winner CODA & the state of the Academy Awards

The Secret Movie Club Team (Connor Lloyd Crews, Edwin Gomez, Daniel Ott, Craig Hammill) discuss 2021's Best Picture winner CODA (about a hearing-abled teen in a working class family of fishermen who are deaf) and their thoughts on the current state of the Oscars and the Academy Awards.  We briefly touch on the moment that seemed to cause more conversation than any of the movies-the Will Smith and Chris Rock slap-but mostly pass over that to discuss everyone's different feelings about the movies nominated, some people's sense that the Academy has lost its way, and what the future might look like. 

SMC Pod #98: Controversial German Filmmakers Gunther & Hans Dieter Storhammer

Controversial German filmmakers, director Gunther and actor Hans Dieter Stormhammer shocked the 2022 Berlinale this year with their 296 minute film der toefl die kindergarten und die sexy dame (2022, wri/dir Gunther, Germany) which has the dubious distinction of being the only movie EVERY SINGLE AUDIENCE MEMBER walked out on. The Secret Movie Club Team (Connor Lloyd Crews, Edwin Caesar Gomez, Daniel Ott, Craig Hammill) get the exclusive post-shock debut interview with these filmmakers who agreed to the Q&A from an undisclosed location. Some of the most controversial scenes get discussed including how Stormhammer played 18 parts, the treatment of children on the set, and a surprise revelation about Edwin and Craig.