Category: All Posts

Want our Best of 2014 Holiday Special? Join Smug Film Club!

holidayspecial

Alright, you little pipsqueak! We know you like our podcast, and we know you’ve been waiting with bated breath for a new episode.

Well, you’ll be pleased to learn that Season Two of the podcast starts on January 5th, with new episodes going up every Monday after that! But, if you join Smug Film Club (our awesome mailing list where we never email you unless we’re giving you cool free exclusive bonus stuff) you can listen to a brand new podcast episode right now!

It’s our Best of 2014 Holiday Special, where we discuss our favorite movies of the year, and holiday movies in general. This special bonus episode will never be on iTunes or anywhere else—the only way to hear it is by becoming a Smug Film Club member, which is a completely free and painless process. Find out more about Smug Film Club here!

EXCLUSIVE: Josh Pais Fires Agent After Watching Trailer For ‘Foxcatcher’

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Smug Film has obtained an exclusive transcript of a phone call between Josh Pais and his agent, made moments after Pais watched the trailer for Foxcatcher, and boy is it juicy! See for yourself:

Continue reading EXCLUSIVE: Josh Pais Fires Agent After Watching Trailer For ‘Foxcatcher’

EXCLUSIVE: George Lucas To Edit Crossguard Lightsabers Into Previous Star Wars Films

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The internet is split on the new crossguard lightsaber shown in the Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens trailer, which features two mini-sabers on its hilt. Some have derided it for its impracticality, while others see it as just plain cool. But what does George Lucas think? We sat down with him to discuss this very topic:

Continue reading EXCLUSIVE: George Lucas To Edit Crossguard Lightsabers Into Previous Star Wars Films

Jenna Ipcar on ‘Nightcrawler’

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Nightcrawler (2014)
Written & Directed by Dan Gilroy
117 min.

I don’t even know where to start with this one. On so many basic levels, it’s just flat out bad—Nightcrawler is what I would call a full-blooded B movie. How exactly it’s been getting rave reviews, I can’t say I particularly understand. I assume we’re just so desperately hungry for movies that aren’t based off comic books or teen romance novels that most of us will just take whatever we can get.

Yet, as I left the theater, I couldn’t help but wonder if there was something deliberate about the heavy-handed execution of the whole thing.  What if these aspects that seemed like missteps were really just deliberate choices made in order to hammer the point of the film home? After all, there did seem to be a very specific point to Nightcrawler: to shine a light on the dangers of unchecked, amoral startups in an economy saturated with entrepreneurial go-getters.

Continue reading Jenna Ipcar on ‘Nightcrawler’

Brad Avery on ‘Birdman’

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Shortly after seeing Birdman, I happened to begin reading Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer. It was good timing as I quickly realized that both works have a strong focus on the creative process and what happens in the minds of artists. They also both share a strong disdain towards the popular works of their time. Miller writes:

“There is only one thing which interests me vitally now, and that is the recording of all which is omitted in books. Nobody, so far as I can see, is making use of those elements in the air which give direction and motivation to our lives…The age demands violence, but we are only getting aborted explosions…Passion is quickly exhausted. Men fall back on ideas, comme d’habitude. Nothing is proposed that can last more than 24 hours.”

Continue reading Brad Avery on ‘Birdman’