Podcasts about secret movie club

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. 

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.

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. 

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. 

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.

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"?

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... 

The one and only Edwin Cesar Gomez of @physicalmediasociety returns to the Secret Movie Club podcast fold to discuss American cinema producing legend Roger Corman. When SMC did its first Corman tribute a few months back, Edwin said "Hey! I shoulda been on that pod!" And he was right. Very few folks have seen as many Corman pictures as the ECG.  Today, Edwin and SMC founder.programmer Craig Hammill, discuss three more movies that give a fuller picture of how influential Corman was to late 20th century cinema: the 1967 Roger Corman directed LSD movie THE TRIP, the 1976 Roger Corman New World Pictures released HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD, and the 1979 Roger Corman produced SAINT JACK. 

It's fascinating to see how the adaptation of a single novel, here Shirley Jackson's 1958 haunted house masterpiece The Haunting of Hill House, can have such a profound impact on sixty years of moviemaking. First adapted by master Hollywood director Robert Wise in 1963 as The Haunting, Shirley Jackson's novel would then inspire Stephen King to write The Shining and Stanley Kubrick to adapt The Shining in 1980. The Shining movie would influence the styles of everyone from Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg to French moviemaker Coralie Faraget. And when Faraget made 2024's body horror The Substance starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, she would use The Shining's film grammar. Secret Movie Club founder.programmer Craig Hammill takes a deep dive look at how movie adaptations can have long lasting effects on moviemaking itself.

Adaptation from one storytelling medium to another is key to cinema. Be it a novel, a play, a TV show, an opera, or beloved legend, the work adapted MUST be molded and changed to suit the strengths of cinema.  Ironically, faithful adaptations are often the least successful. Today, Secret Movie Club founder.programmer Craig Hammill looks at the classic 1818 romantic Gothic horror novel Frankenstein and how subversive clever film director James Whale adapted it in 1931 for Universal Studios. Whale even injects an LGBTQ+ subtext not present in the novel. And yet the key spark, soul of the original is in the film. Check out the pod and let us know what you think (in comments on our socials or by writing us at: community@secretmovieclub.com).

Today, we look at some of the great "pure cinema" movies with little to no dialogue. Now listen-dialogue is great. Dialogue is cinematic. But to scale the heights, a moviemaker needs to know how to communicate cinematically (image + sound) without using dialogue as a crutch to convey information. Secret Movie Club founder.programmer Craig Hammill looks at F.W. Murnau's 1924 masterpiece The Last Laugh (with only two intertitles for the entire movie), avant garde master Stan Brakhage's The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes, Ron Fricke's 70mm essay movie Baraka, the incredible Ukranian movie all in sign language The Tribe, and Phil Tippet's stop motion mind blower Mad God as examples of movies whose power comes from their commitment to what Alfred Hitchcock called "pure cinema". 

Movies have always had their ups and downs. Every time it looks like cinema is gonna give up the ghost, it somehow roars back and a new era is born.  But is that true in 2025? Or has cinema finally come to the end of the line? Secret Movie Club founder.programmer Craig Hammill takes stock of the state of cinema. He tries not to pull punches or manufacture a conclusion. Where are we? Do we have a future? Take a listen and let us know what you think. 

Today, we inaugurate an occasional series "Is this Cinema?" in our podcasts. We'll look at a controversial, shocking, and/or divisive movie that divides cinephiles. There may be no better place to start than famed Italian moviemaker Pier Paolo Pasolini's final film, 1975's SALO or 120 DAYS OF SODOM adapted from shocking source material written by the Marquis De Sade. Pasolini adapted the movie to World War II fascist Italy. Four fascist libertines imprison 18 youths in a villa for the fascists' violent perversions and depravity. SALO is shocking, even by today's standards. And yet the movie is also a rigorous exploration of exploitation, abuses of power, corrupt governments, the hypocrisy of the wealthy, etc. There are also scenes of near unbearable coercion, perversion, and violence. Secret Movie Club founder, programmer Craig Hammill looks at it all to ask....is this cinema? 

Of all the Saturday Night Live TV actors who have gone on to the movies, Bill Murray has had possibly the most fascinating, long lasting, unpredictable run.  Murray is complex, known equally for great performances, hilarious in-real life stunts, endless restlessness, and difficult personal behavior. Yet, very few actors have built up the reservoir of good will Murray has with his fans and the movie community due to his clear love of cinema. From early comedy hits like Caddyshack and Stripes to mid-period masterpieces like Groundhog Day to career reinvention with Rushmore, Lost in Translation, Broken Flowers, Bill Murray has always been pulled by a spiritually seeking restless voice to always keep it fresh and unpredictable. In this podcast, Secret Movie Club programmer Craig Hammill takes a look at  Bill Murray's career from his Second City & SNL start through his near 50 year career. 

On January 16, 2025, cinema lost one of its greatest lights. David Lynch passed away in Los Angeles at 78 years old. Like all master moviemakers, Lynch contained multitudes. The writer/director behind Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Mulholland Drive, and many other films crafted a dreamlike, surreal, spiritual, emotional tone with intense lights and darks that was impossible to imitate. Only David Lynch could make a David Lynch movie. And David Lynch LOVED movies. He understood that cinema is a language that can go beyond words and many other art forms. Secret Movie Club founder.programmer Craig Hammill offers an appreciation on this podcast of Lynch the moviemaker and of Lynch movies. 

First and foremost, Secret Movie Club sends everyone affected by the Los Angeles fires (this podcast is posted January 2025) the best. We're here as a community to help rebuild. If it can bring a smile to your face in a helpful way, we offer this podcast on "The Lubitsch Touch".  Master classic Hollywood filmmaker Ernest Lubitsch developed a cinematic shorthand storytelling style full of visual, verbal, and cinematic grace/flair.  If he could convey character or information cinematically rather than through clunky dialogue, he did it. This style, the essence of what cinema can do, inspired countless moviemakers most notably master moviemaker Billy Wilder. Today we look just at Lubitsch's 1932 pre-code sophisticated sex comedy masterpiece Trouble In Paradise and the examples of his subtle touch therein.  

Furiosa, Hundreds of Beavers, I Saw the TV Glow, Anora just to name a few showed that 2024 had lots of genius, fight, promise, vitality, relevancy still for cinema. And movies like Dune Pt II, Hit Man, Conclave, Juror #2 were worthwhile, stimulating additions to the annals of moviedom. Secret Movie Club founder.programmer Craig Hammill looks at the year in movies 2024...and finds there's mercifully, blessedly still a beating heart at the center of it all. 

Stanley Kubrick may be one of the key patron saints of all cinema (even if he himself was an ardent athiest). Born in the Bronx, New York, a mediocre student, Kubrick followed a monofocused drive to make movies. From making low budget features to cut his teeth in the mid 1950's to becoming one of the only true Auteur American moviemakers to work in the studio system yet be on a level with moviemakers like Bergman, Fellini, Kurosawa, Stanley Kubrick created a cinema of ideas and iconography. And he never settled until he got it right. Secret Movie Club founder.programmer Craig Hammill takes a look at Kubrick's career and the rules he developed to make his wildly ambitious films. These rules allowed Kubrick to make masterpieces in almost every genre: sci-fi 2001, period drama BARRY LYNDON, horror THE SHINING, war PATHS OF GLORY, psychological interrogations of marriage EYES WIDE SHUT, and more. 

Has any moviemaker made more out and out hits, influenced 20th century cinematic pop culture iconography, or so married the pop, commercial, and artistic into one as Alfred Hitchcock? Hitchcock directed 53 movies, 10 of which are arguably unqualified masterpieces (39 Steps, Lady Vanishes, Shadow of a Doubt, Notorious, Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho, The Birds). Hitchcock is the rare director whose name alone could finance a picture, so synonymous was it with suspense and popcorn brilliance. Secret Movie Club founder.programmer Craig Hammill gets into it-from the profound influence of German expressionism on Hitchcock, to Alma Reville, Hitch's lifelong wife and creative partner, to Hitch's techniques and understanding that suspense is an emotional state. And that's what makes it so powerful. 

With the passing of the "Pope of Pop Film" Roger Corman at 98 this year, a key era of American moviemaking left us. Producer/Director Roger Corman famously made hundreds of movies without "ever having lost a dime". He did this by shrewdly making very low budget genre pictures catered to what was hip at the time (monsters, drugs, motorcycles, sharks, aliens...) with super talented hungry young moviemakers. Jack Nicholson, Francis Ford Coppola, Peter Bogdonavich, Martin Scorsese, Joe Dante, Jonathan Demme, James Cameron just to name a few all come out of the unofficial "Roger Corman film school". And Corman himself directed or produced key indie genre movies including the Edgar Allen Poe series of the 1960's, Monte Hellman's COCKFIGHTER from the 1970's, etc. Secret Movie Club programmer Craig Hammill looks at some of the "rules" a moviemaker can still learn from the maverick master who made daring movies while also protecting the bottom line. 

And. . .we're back. After almost a year of radio silence, the Secret Movie Club podcast returns with SMC Pod #162! Secret Movie Club founder.programmer Craig Hammill gives thanks (Thanksgiving 2024 weekend) for the Bravo Channel in the early 1990's. Way back then (Craig was 12-15 years old), the Bravo Channel was devoted to idiosynchratic world cinema and American indie movies. Sneaking to the tv room late at night, to watch these movies when his family was asleep, Craig saw Jane Campion's An Angel at My Table (1990),  Ildikó Enyedi's Hungarian My Twentieth Century (1989), Aki Kaurismaki's Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989), Hal Hartley's Trust (1990), and (possibly) Jean Claude Luzhon's French Canadian Leolo (1992). Plus, some hints and reveals about the full reopening of the Secret Movie Club theater and programming...

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!).

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. 

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. 

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.

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. 

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. 

As our Summer podcast series heads into the back stretch, founder.programmer Craig Hammill decides to devote the remaining 4 summer pods to a deep dive into each phase/cycle of David Lynch's magnum opus Twin Peaks which now comprises two tv seasons, a movie, and a limited series on cable. If last week was a kind of general prologue, this week Craig deep dives into television seasons #1 and #2 which aired on ABC 1990-1991. Craig specifically focuses on how the poorly received back half of season 2 when Lynch stepped away from the series set the gears in motion for Lynch and co-creator Mark Frost to re-focus/re-center the show with the Season #2 finale. This in turn set up the 1992 Lynch directed feature FIRE WALK WITH ME which in turn set up 2017's TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN (all of which will get discussed in the next few episodes). Then we re-post SMC Pod #85. This was our first pod devoted to a long form conversation of a Secret Movie Club filmmaker of the year-here ultra prolific German auteur Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Editor Andrew Groves joins the conversation and adds deep rich detail. 

Today in our ongoing August "summer break series" something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. . .Secret Movie Club founder.programmer Craig Hammill talks about season one of David Lynch's and Mark Frost's revolutionary TWIN PEAKS. Arriving in 1990 on network television, TWIN PEAKS was like nothing anybody had ever seen. Disturbing, unsettling, cinematic. It's also a fascinating case study in what a movie director brings to TV versus how a show runner trained in television would handle a series. Craig talks Lynch's stylistic imprint on the episodes Lynch directed including the still shocking pilot. Then we re-post the very first "Defend This Movie" posted in June 2021 in which Craig defends his love of the 1969 James Bond movie "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" against the withering scorn heaped by Craig's friend Steve Grest who finds it one of the worst of the Bonds. 

The Wicker Man - "Awake Ye Heathens!"Midsummer is the perfect time to celebrate pagan traditions and delve into the folk horror sub-genre! We begin this round with a definitive folk horror masterpiece - THE WICKER MAN (1973). A haunting tale that puts a mirror up to society and challenges where our moral compass may really lie.  We hope you enjoy this fresh offering from us as tribute for the summer season!*A real highlight for us was watching this flick on the big screen at The Secret Movie Club in DTLA! Check out their fun revival programming if you're in or visiting Los Angeles.Support the show

The return of our side podcast Defend This Movie! Secret Movie Club team member Edwin Gomez has long loved William Friedkin's controversial 1980 police thriller Cruising about Al Pacino going undercover to find a serial killer in New York's underground gay S&M leather bar scene. Founder.Programmer Craig Hammill has long felt uncomfortable about the movie for what he feels is a lurid, uncomfortable use of a gay sub-culture in a slasher/edgelord kind of way. But upon re-watching the movie, Craig's feelings have become more ambivalent. Head projectionist Alex Olivier feels the movie has incredible merit and is far less problematic then some of the other movies Craig has programmed for Secret Movie Club.  The three meet for an Oxford style debate about one of the 1980's most controversial movies. 

This week! Drusilla tours the American South and watches a ton of Ken Russell films in the process. Josh does a Russ Meyer double feature at Secret Movie Club (https://www.secretmovieclub.com) : Faster Pussycat… Kill! Kill! and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. He also saw and loved No Hard Feelings. Drusilla hypes the KanKan Theater (https://kankanindy.com) in Indianapolis where she saw Multiple Maniacs. She also watched The Twentieth Century (2019) by Matthew Rankin which leads to a discussion of Guy Maddin and Brand Upon the Brain. Josh discusses Cornish College of the Arts where all his classmates starred in indie films senior year.  The main event this week is The Lodge (2019.) From Wiki: “The Lodge is a 2019 psychological horror film directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, written by Franz, Fiala, and Sergio Casci, and starring Riley Keough, Jaeden Martell, Lia McHugh, Alicia Silverstone, and Richard Armitage. Its plot follows a soon-to-be stepmother who, alone with her fiancé's two children, becomes stranded at their rural lodge during Christmas. There, she and the children experience a number of unexplained events that seem to be connected to her past.” Also mentioned: Goodnight Mommy, Alicia Silverstone, Poison for the Fairies, Los Espookys, Knives Out, Hereditary, Rosemary's Baby, Heaven's Gate, mental illness, The Thing, Hammer Films, The Lady in Black, gen x parenting, Roar, PTSD, The Righteous Gemstones, and more.  NEXT WEEK: The Boys Next Door (1985) Website: http://www.bloodhauspod.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/BloodhausPodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/bloodhauspod/Email: bloodhauspod@gmail.comDrusilla's art: https://www.sisterhydedesign.com/Drusilla's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hydesister/Drusilla's Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/drew_phillips/Joshua's website: https://www.joshuaconkel.com/Joshua's Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoshuaConkelJoshua's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshua_conkel/Joshua's Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/joshuaconkel 

On the heels of Secret Movie Club's biggest screening to date, SMC programmer and founder, Craig Hammill, sits down with Team member and head projectionist (AND samurai aficionado), Alex Olivier, to spend nearly an hour talking about one of the best films of all time, Craig's desert island film, Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai! Alex and Craig go into the movie's themes, the legendary cast, the difficult production, and the enormous influence the film and Kurosawa has had over cinema since its release. Edwin makes a brief appearance.

1939's The Wizard of Oz (dir by Victor Fleming, MGM) was not only one of the greatest movies in what is considered Hollywood's greatest year but it also has had a sonic boom cultural influence on almost all pop culture of the last 90 years. Secret Movie Club founder.programmer Craig Hammill looks at all the amazing creative folks influenced by Oz including Stephen King, Steven Spielberg, David Lynch, James Cameron, as well as folks like Stanley Kubrick who claimed to hate it.  Craig powers through the podcast as the pre-focus for Top Gun happens in the background. He also shares a story about how his Jewish great-grandfather, Sam Levin, a tailor at MGM, and Craig's Bubbe (Yiddish for grandmother) are connected to The Wizard of Oz. 

While the Secret Movie Club team takes a much needed one month break (SMC Pod #152 returns June 23rd), founder.programmer Craig Hammill hosts a mini-four part series of "bite size" pods. This week, Craig finally watches Lars Von Triers' third feature EUROPA/ZENTROPA (1991), a movie he's wanted to see since he was a teenager. Craig notes how all the elements of Von Trier's cinema are here without yet coming to full blossom. He also feels it's key  to tap into your "young person" style no matter what age you are. Plus he blows his intro. 

It's the big night and the Secret Movie Club Team (Connor Lloyd Crews, Edwin Gomez, Daniel Ott, and Craig Hammill) gets all gussied up for a discussion on the 95th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film of 2022, including Best Picture winner Everything Everywhere All at Once! The Team also presents you their favorite films of 2022 and what they're looking forward to in 2023. Connor adored EEAAO, but has mixed feelings about its wins. Edwin is just mad about the one category that didn't go the way he wanted. Craig laments his current lack of connection to the Awards. Daniel keeps things lighter than these other three!

Skyler Higley has never seen 2001, but he rewrote it and we read his script! It's... incredible. He nails it. First, Mike Carrozza tries to guess who Skyler is, and what movie things he is. Kyle then serves up some of those classic Never Seen It games. Brand new Kyledad, and more! Los Angeles! Kyle is hosting Movie Trivia Night, Sorta! with Secret Movie Club, on Monday, March 20th. Come out, bring a team, bring a you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Screenwriter Steve Grest (originator of the Defend This Movie idea) returns to the pod to debate Secret Movie Club programmer and founder Craig Hammill about Steven Spielberg and George Lucas' Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, starring Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, and Ke Huy Quan! The 1984 sequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark was controversial upon release for its dark content, and Steve agrees that it is a joyless, annoying slog. Craig admits that Temple has its problems, but he also thinks the film is a nightmarish joy brimming with classic Spielbergian cinema. Listen, and we'll let you decide who wins!

Secret Movie Club programmer and founder Craig Hammill is joined once more by SMC blog writer Patrick McElroy to start 2023 with a recap of our director of 2022, John Ford, maybe the most important American filmmaker of all time. Craig and Patrick love the old man and his films, which include classic westerns like The Searchers and Stagecoach as well as acclaimed dramas like The Grapes of Wrath and How Green Was My Valley. Along with diving deep into his moviesj, Craig and Patrick also delve into Ford's Catholicism, his Irish heritage, his belief in America, and his incredible grasp of the art of cinema.   Check out Patrick at: https://www.facebook.com/patrick.mcelroy.3726 or his IG: @mcelroy.patrick

Secret Movie Club Team members Patrick McElroy and Craig Hammill sit down to talk about two of master filmmaker Martin Scorsese's late period films: Hugo from 2011, and The Wolf of Wall Street from 2013! Both Patrick and Craig love Scorsese, but Craig thinks Hugo doesn't work and Patrick thinks Wolf is obvious. Craig comes to the defense of Wolf as a hilarious, relevant satire of American greed; Patrick loves Hugo because of how personal it feels for Scorsese. Will they let this disagreement lead to the end of Secret Movie Club and – possibly – the world as we know it?!   Check out Patrick at: https://www.facebook.com/patrick.mcelroy.3726 or his IG: @mcelroy.patrick

Secret Movie Club programmer and founder Craig Hammill and SMC blog writer Patrick McElroy take either side on Michelangelo Antonioni's seminal 1960 masterpiece, L'Avventura! Scorsese called Antonioni “The Man Who Set Film Free,” and Patick agrees. Craig thinks the movie is pretentious. Both acknowledge its impact on film language. They talk about the cinematography, the themes, the style, and everything else! Who wins? We'll let you decide!   Check out Patrick at: https://www.facebook.com/patrick.mcelroy.3726 or his IG: @mcelroy.patrick

The Secret Movie Club Team (Connor Lloyd Crews, Edwin Gomez, Daniel Ott, and Craig Hammill) journeys to the heart of Ray Ramayya's bizarro good-bad masterpiece, Ryan's Babe, programmed for Connor's birthday! Three of them highly recommend the experience. They also ask what makes a bad movie good? Edwin likes classics like Mac and Me, while Connor prefers newer, weirder stuff like After Last Season. Daniel shouts out The Snowman. Craig explains how the origins of Secret Movie Club are inextricably linked to “so-bad-it's-good” cinema. A new segment debuts.

Find this episode on YouTube https://youtu.be/jaTyJ-dal7kIn this weeks episode I visit the Secret Movie Club theater in Los Angeles to chat with founder/programmer Craig Hammill. We break the seal on a brand new bottle of Jeffersons Ocean Aged Rye and discuss his love for cinema, how he secret movie club began, where it is, and where it's going all while dealing with some audio issues. You don't want to miss this one! Special thanks to Adam Adorno for helping to set up and monitor cameras, as well as give the idea of recording backup audio on our phones which saved the episode.Find all the info you need on secret movie club at https://www.secretmovieclub.com/Please rate review and subscribe!

Hosts Julie Slater & Jason Friday chat with Craig Hammill - the founder and programmer of Secret Movie Club! SMC started in April 2016 when Craig screened Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark on 35mm at midnight at the Vista Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Secret Movie Club's mission has always been to screen great movies of all kinds (on film as often as possible) in great theaters to great audiences. They have worked to build a local and virtual worldwide community where movie lovers and movie makers can connect, watch great movies in theaters and get the audience experience, and just celebrate cinema. SMC programs their movies in seasons (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall) and by series. They occasionally are lucky enough to have the filmmakers themselves come for Q&As with our audience. SMC also have a vibrant virtual community we'd love you to be a part of where we do deeper dives into movies, have conversations, do podcasts, offer movie materials, articles, etc. On the pod we talk movies, movie makers, and movie lovers…Irish exits...U2's best album (?)...the best and worst movies...movie snacks and more. Follow @cuzihavetopodcast on Instagram for all the latest news. We'd love to hear from you - email us at cuzihavetopodcast@gmail.com. Find other episodes or leave us a voice message for the show on the anchor website. Thanks for tuning in! Keep on living those dreams, friends, CUZ YOU HAVE TO!! - jULIE AND jASON --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/cuzihaveto/message

The Secret Movie Club team (Connor Lloyd Crews, Edwin Gomez, Craig Hammill; Daniel Ott is still out on a shoot) discuss Spanish master filmmaker Pedro Almodovar, his transgressive daring, often LGBTQ focus, with a specific look at his transitional work 1987's LAW OF DESIRE. Two of the team-members have seen it. One tries to fake his way through. All discuss Almodovar's incredible talent with color, framing, and injecting Hitchcockian tension into almost any genre including melodrama. Edwin and Craig extol Almodovar's darker work, particularly THE SKIN I LIVE IN. 

The Secret Movie Club team (Connor Lloyd Crews, Edwin Gomez, Craig Hammill; Daniel is off shooting) discusses genres its not super hot on. Connor and Edwin explain why romcoms and Hugh Grant aren't their jam. Craig expresses his ambivalence about the slasher genre. Edwin airs his grievances about kid's movie CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG. Connor makes the key point that despite this, many movies beloved by the entire team are in genres they don't gravitate to because greatness always transcends. 

Like Godzilla vs King Kong, Edwin Caesar Gomez and Craig Herbert Hammill of Secret Movie Club go head to head on Ingmar Bergman's 1966 PERSONA.  Edwin doesn't get it and thinks a lot of Bergman doesn't work. Craig thinks PERSONA is one of the greatest movies ever made and Bergman one of the greatest moviemakers who ever lived. Thus. . .Craig has to DEFEND THIS MOVIE. Who wins? Is the point even winning? At the very least we hope you'll take a listen and watch PERSONA to make up your own mind.  Here we go...

Today, we release the "pilot" conversations for what would become our Secret Movie Club podcast. Filmmmakers Matt Olsen, Brian Hatfield, and Steve Grest joined Secret Movie Club Founder.Programmer Craig Hammill in 2018 to discuss Hitchcock movies like SHADOW OF A DOUBT, REAR WINDOW, PSYCHO as well as 80's sci-fi like STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN and James Cameron's original TERMINATOR. Along the way, beer gets drunk, stories get told, Sam Peckinpah's weird cuckolding fetish somehow gets touched on, and laughter abounds. 

Go vote. This episode, we're closing out our series reviewing every Akira Kurosawa movie ever! It's been a long journey and I can say with absolute certainty that Kurosawa will always be one of my favorite directors who will have always directed some of my favorite movies. I have two movie posters sitting next to me as I write this; the first is one of Mondo's Back to the Future posters by George Bletsis, and the second is Secret Movie Club's Ikiru by Olivia Sy. If you are in the Los Angeles area, and like movies, I highly suggest seeking out their 35 mm showings. They're incredible. Anyway, finishing Kurosawa's filmography chronologically, Chris (@gokuffy), Chris (@antoniuspius), and I talk about Madadayo. Then, finishing Kurosawa's films by filling in a 1949 blank, Chris and I talk about The Quiet Duel. And finally, Basil (@itsbasiltime) joins me to talk about Ahiru no Sora. Listen Show notes: 0:30 - Chris, Chris, and I talk about Madadayo! 32:44 - Chris and I talk about The Quiet Duel! 1:05:28 - Basil and I talk about Ahiru no Sora! 1:37:38 - Ahiru no Sora questions! Next time is our Anime Secret Santa episode!

Connor Crews of The Secret Movie Club podcast joins Kaitlin and John in the bunker to discuss G&G, D&D, and a bunch of Riverdale-related "would you rathers."