Secret Movie Club Podcast

SMC November 2021 Calendar Podcast!

The SMC team (Connor Lloyd Crews, Edwin Gomez, Daniel Ott, and Craig Hammill) roll out and announce our November 2021 schedule of movie screenings! Everything from two John Cassavettes' 70's gems on 35mm, the GuadaLAajara Film Festival, CASINO, and much much more!

SMC Pod #78: BEETLEJUICE & Tim Burton

The Secret Movie Club Team (Connor Lloyd Crews, Daniel Ott, eventually Edwin Gomez when he finally wakes up and calls in, and Craig Hammill) discuss Tim Burton's seminal 1988 Halloween-horror comedy-coming of age-totally its own thing BEETLEJUICE, the importance of the performances of Michael Keaton and Catherine O Hara in making the movie work, what makes the best Tim Burton movies so "Tim Burton", as well as a discussion about why his post 2003 output has seemed so different from his first 15 years. 

SMC Pod #77: Donnie Darko & Cult Films

The Secret Movie Club podcasting team (Connor Lloyd Crews, Edwin Gomez, Daniel Ott, Craig Hammill) dive into Richard Kelly's cult classic DONNIE DARKO, their own favorites, as well as what exactly defines a "cult" movie in the age of easily accessible media.  Edwin also wins when he corrects Craig's pronunciation of Alejandro Jodorowsky. 

Defend This Movie #3: JOKER

It has come to this. Team members Edwin Gomez and Craig Hammill debate Todd Phillip's 2019 JOKER, the highest grossing rated R movie of all time that finally won Joaquin Phoenix the Best Actor Oscar.  Edwin loves the movie.  Craig respects many aspects but has some big issues. Mental health and the proper setting up of a new Batman mythos get discussed. As well as the movie's reverence for Martin Scorsese. Edwin keeps insisting on using a Mohammed Ali metaphor to describe this debate. Craig says the audience will have to decide who Ali is after listening. 

SMC Pod #76: Pieces of Cinema-Special FX

Special guest movie makeup artist Ashley Stansbury @astansmakeup joins the SMC team (Connor Lloyd Crews, Edwin Gomez, Daniel Ott, Craig Hammill) to discuss amazing and. . .not so amazing uses of special effects-practical, digital, makeup-in movies. The conversation often focuses on how, in the current moment, the key is to find the balance between the practical and the digital.  Also Edwin predicts a bloodbath when he and Craig go up against each other in next week's podcast. . .

SMC Pod #75: VIDEODROME, EASTERN PROMISES, & David Cronenberg

The team (Connor Lloyd Crews, Edwin Gomez, Daniel Ott, & Craig Hammill) discuss Cronenberg's middle period masterpiece VIDEODROME and his later period masterpiece EASTERN PROMISES as well as Cronenberg's genius at body horror & the subconscious. 

SMC October 2021 Preview Podcast!

HALLOWEEN-O-THON 2021 begins! The team (Connor Lloyd Crews, Edwin Gomez, Daniel Ott, and Craig Hammill) rat-a-tat tat our October 2021 schedule at the Million Dollar Theater Movie Palace and the Secret Movie Club Theater. Almost all Horror. Almost all 35mm! Come join us...if you dare!

SMC Pod #74: THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST & Spiritual Cinema

The Secret Movie Club team (Connor Lloyd Crews, Edwin Gomez, Daniel Ott, Craig Hammill) discuss Martin Scorsese's controversial yet ultimately spiritually devout 1988 THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST. The team looks at cinema that takes on the transcendent and spiritual, whether from a position of faith, doubt, or atheism.  Movies as varied as James Gunn's SUPER, the Coen Brothers' A SERIOUS MAN, and Stephen Cone's PRINCESS CYD get name checked. The team debates why, like political movies, it's so hard to make a good spiritual movie.

SMC Pod #73: War of the Worlds and Dark Spielberg

The Secret Movie Club team (Connor Lloyd Crews, Edwin Gomez, Daniel Ott, Craig Hammill) discuss the intensity of Steven Spielberg's 2005 WAR OF THE WORLDS, debate the appropriateness of its use of 9/11 imagery in sci-fi, and discuss with fascination many of Spielberg's darker movies including MINORITY REPORT, MUNICH, EMPIRE OF THE SUN, AI, among others. 

SMC Pod #72: Pieces of Cinema-Producing

The Secret Movie Club team (Connor Lloyd Crews, Edwin Gomez, Daniel Ott, Craig Hammill) pick up their sometime series on moviemaking. Today, they discuss the mysterious yet absolutely crucial role of the Producer. Somebody has to make sure the movie gets made. From developing the script through to overseeing all the movie's afterlives to streaming, TV, blu-ray, product tie-ins, the Producer has to deal with every heart attack and put out every fire. Famous producers like David Selznick, Daryl Zanuck, Debra Hill, Dino De Laurentis get name checked, and stories get told and debated.