hammercamera

Episode 14: 100% Certified French [with T.W. Stechnij]

In the quatorzième episode of the Hammer & Camera podcast, the communist are storming the Normandy Beach of Cinema, aka the Cannes Film Festival. Reporting from the front is T.W. Stechnij, an American ex-pat, sometimes-writer and film industry employee who attended the Festival for a few days this year. We discuss: the sections and competitions of Cannes, their exclusive/capitalist nature vs. their social value, "gatekeepers," a...

Episode 13: The Chronicles of Gambo [with Matt Christman]

In our bakers-dozenth episode, we're joined by Matt Christman of the Chapo Trap House media conglomerate in analyzing, hating on, nitpicking, mocking, and mourning the near-decade-spanning HBO television series Game of Thrones. We talk Khaleesi, the Starks, the freaking Dothraki and Unsullied, all the fan favorites. We also get cynical about the future of the book series, the promise of innumerable spin-off shows, and, for good measu...

Episode 12: Circling the Black Hole of Culture

Our dozenth episode sees us traverse the cosmos in Claire Denis' High Life and the Marvel's Avengers: Endgame, along with the dingiest green rooms in america in Alex Ross Perry's rock 'n' roll show Her Smell. We also talk Barry, the French, Representation, and rage, rage, rage against the Marvel Machine.

Become a Patron and join us for our Movie Night episodes here:

2019-05-22 19:59:25 +0000 UTC View Post

Episode 11: Freak Flag

The eleventh installment of the Hammer & Camera podcast sees us dealing with the films of April. We cover Harmony Korine's The Beach Bum (along with a short overview of the filmmaker's career), Jia Zhangke's Ash is Purest White, and David Sandberg's Shazam!. We also talk about what we've been watching on video, the parallels between the Venezuelan crisis and our chosen films, and continue our debate ove...

April Movie Night: Jordan Peele's Us (2019) with Revolutionary Left Radio

As part of our double-feature collaboration with Rev Left Radio and Breht, our Patreon episode for April covers the recently released Us, Jordan Peele's follow-up to Get Out, which we covered in our public episode. Our suggestion is to listen to the Get Out episode first, this Movie Night episode is basically a continuation of that conversat...

Episode 10: This Must Be The Sunken Place [with Revolutionary Left Radio]

For our tenth episode, we take it back to our roots; Hammer & Camera began as a spinoff of Revolutionary Left Radio's Film Vanguard series, and we're so pleased to welcome RLR's Breht to the podcast as a guest for the first time! Our topic of discussion is Jordan Peele's 2017 film Get Out, an immediate success and cultural phenomenon. We have a lively, wide-ranging discussion about the film, the filmmaker, and the various social ...

Episode 9: Mecha-Marx vs. the World (with Jon and Ash of Horror Vanguard)

Episode 9 features the guest appearances of Jon and Ash, co-hosts of the Horror Vanguard podcast, as we discuss and dissect the Chinese animated series The Leader (领风者) released earlier this year, an adaptation of the life of Marx and a treatment of many of his important works. The series can get a little weird, and we're not afraid to go there with it.

Become a Patron and join us for our Movie Night episodes here:

Episode 8: Dance Dance Devolution

In our eighth episode, we briefly banter on the subject of Thirstiness in film criticism, and look back at our film selections for March: the documentary Apollo 11, Gaspar Noé's dance/horror film Climax, and Christian Petzold's modern WWII take Transit.

We discuss the political meaning of the space programs and the function of their documentation, the effect of ideology on the psyche, and the impact of modern-day Nazis on fil...

Late March Movie Night: Blade Runner [1982]

To round out the month, we take a closer look at poll runner-up Blade Runner, the 1982 phenomenon that has, for better or for worse, defined cyberpunk for generations. We talk about what's good, what's bad, and what's interesting about Ridley Scott's follow-up to Alien, and philosophize about the function of the future in fiction. 

Episode 7: We Hurt Ourselves Today

In the seventh episode of the Hammer & Camera podcast, we dive into the M. Night Shyamalan Extended Universe, aka the Unbreakable Trilogy, aka the Eastrail 177 Trilogy. Consisting of Unbreakable (2000), Split (2017), and Glass (2019), the series is Shyamalan's attempt at interpreting and critiquing the world of comic books and comic book movies.

Become a Patron and join us for our Movie Night episodes here:

2019-03-29 20:53:57 +0000 UTC View Post

Early March Movie Night: Ghost in the Shell [1995]

For our first of two March Movie Nights, we're spending some quality time merging our consciousness with Mamoru Oshii's 1995 cyberpunk classic Ghost in the Shell! There's so much to get from this fantastic film, and it only gets better with every visit. We hope you enjoy your stay in New Port City!

Early March Movie Night Poll: Technology Gone Wild

We received a great suggestion for a Movie Club theme a while back from Wesley Chapman. 

"I’m a lover of the 'repercussions on our humanity from unchecked technological growth' genre of techno- thriller, and some favs I think offer a potential deep well of analysis:  Ghost in the Shell (original) Blade Runner (either) Juras...

Episode 6: Baby It's Cold Outside

On the February episode, we review Paweł Pawlikowski's Cold War, Hans Petter Moland's Cold Pursuit, and the James Cameron-produced, Robert Rodriguez-directed Alita: Battle Angel.

We also discuss whether or not Zac Efron is too sexy to be a serial killer, and get psychoanalytical on everything.

Become a Patron and join us for our Movie Night episodes here:

2019-02-28 18:32:19 +0000 UTC View Post

February Update for our Patrons

Here's a short audio update to fill you all in on our plan for this and next month. It also contains the theme for the next Movie Night Episode! We'll be posting the poll for that soon. 

January Movie Night: These Boys Are on Fyre!

Our January Movie Night episode comes courtesy of Kaleb W, who suggested coverage of the Fyre Fest documentaries! He writes: "A Marxist breakdown of that entire event would be interesting because its such a perfect combination of commodification of the festival culture with the internet age with straight up capitalist grifting. I feel like y...

Episode 5: What If Something Bad Goes Wrong?

On the January episode of the Hammer and Camera podcast, we review Barry Jenkins' If Beale Street Could Talk, Jeffrey Nachmanoff's Replicas, and Henry Dunham's The Standoff at Sparrow Creek.

We also posit Hollywood trolley problems, discuss Lucrecia Martel's short-lived Marvel career, and spend a lot of time going on tangents and talking about dumb shit.

Become a Patron and join us for our Movie Night episodes here: 2019-01-28 23:17:02 +0000 UTC View Post

Episode 4: The People's Swamp [with Nolan]

In a very special Hammer & Camera Special Topics episode, we give Shrek, the 2001 animated masterpiece directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, the detailed analysis it deserves. We're joined by Nolan, aka @toomuchprotein, aka @gr18vidz14kidz, a Shrek-expert (Shrekspert?), producer of the fan remake Shrek Retold, and master of funny moments, on our quest. We also discuss Shrek Retold, as well as the music and social impact of...

December Movie Night Episode: Last Action Hero [1993]

Our Movie Night movie for December is 1993's Last Action Hero, an action-comedy with some meta quirks. It's a perfect movie for Movie Night: unabashedly fun, with some really interesting implications to its meta-ness. Taylor and Phil take a walk on the tight rope between fictive non-fiction and hyper-fiction, with the great Schwarzenegger as...

Episode 3: We Didn't Start the Fire

Phil and Taylor review Burning, The Favourite, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

They also discuss the meaning of the Great Gatsby, what happens when universes collide, and the best performances of the year. Become a Patron and join us for our Movie Night episodes here:

https://www.patreon.com/hammercamera

December Movie Night Discussion: Last Action Hero [1993]

The Movie Night flick for December is the 1993 action comedy Last Action Hero, a Schwarzenegger-starring feature that attempted to send up the musclebound star's celluloid exploits while simultaneously profiting from them (thanks to patron "Tiberius Gracchus" for the suggestion). We think there will be a lot to talk about with this one, and ...

November Movie Night: Election [1999]

November's Movie Night episode covers Alexander Payne's Election, a dark comedy set in a Midwestern high school about a teacher, played by Matthew Broderick, who begins to tamper with the headline-echoing class president campaign of his overachieving student, played by Reese Witherspoon.

We talk about the treatment this film gives the electoral system and the middle class, and discuss its implications. 

Episode 2: Nostalgia, Ultra

Phil and Taylor review Mid90s, Overlord, and Wildlife, and discuss films released in the year of our births. We have mild disagreements over the star values of the films, and ponder the difference between nostalgia overload and tasteful period piece, and whether or not its okay for actors to be weird-looking.

November Movie Night Discussion: Alexander Payne's Election [1999]

The results are in, and "Election" has been elected to be this month's Movie Night film! Alexander Payne's second major feature, the film taps into the id beneath our cultural obsession with elections, with the help of Payne's keen eye for the little contradictions and hypocrisies that make up the miserable life and consciousness of the American Mi...

Review: David Lowery's The Old Man and the Gun

By Taylor

Unjust laws deserve to be broken. The 2008 financial crisis, and as of 2018, what seems like the endless fall-out from it, prove that laws can be bent when a class of people exerts its influence. In 2008, the CEOs and other members of the world’s wealthiest class upended the global economy as well as thousands, if not millions, of...

Episode 1: Stars are Born

Phil and Taylor review A Star is Born, Mandy, and Venom, give a rundown of our 15 favorite films. We ask, are celebrities working class? How do we grieve ethically? Why did Sony bother making Venom? And more!

Episode 1: Stars Are Born

Phil and Taylor review A Star is Born, Mandy, and Venom, and ask are celebrities working class? How do we grieve ethically? Why did Sony bother making Venom? And more!

We're recording our episodes this week. It's a bit down-to-the-wire, but both the public and Movie Club episodes will be out by the end of the month!

Remember, to get the Movie Club episode, you need to be a $5 subscriber.

If you want to follow along, the films we're covering in our public episode are Mandy, A Star is Born, and Venom.

Taylor's review of Chloe Zhao's The Rider

Here's a patron-exclusive review Taylor wrote for Zhao's film, which was released earlier this year. Spoiler alert: he liked it. A lot.

(The Roving Eye was a blog project we were planning before Hammer & Camera started really coming along. We definitely plan on continuing written work and making it available to patrons, time will tell what shape that will take.)