Episode 403: Get Rollin' (1980)

Guest Co-Hosts: Benjamin Buxton, Leon Chase

We continue Black History Month with the 1980 film from director J. Terrance Mitchell, Get Rollin'! It’s the story of three very colorful people and their lives in and around a roller rink in Brooklyn; Vinnie Vinzerrelli of the "Jigaboo Jammers", Pat The Cat, and Inez Daniels. At some point the film becomes less of a documentary and more of a drama about Vinzerrelli ‎ and Pat the Cat taking their roller boogie skills to England.

Filmmakers Benjamin Buxton (On the Rink) and Leon Chase (Suzy Hotrod: Roller Derby Star) join Mike to discuss rollerskating, Brooklyn in the late '70s, and more.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 403: Get Rollin' (1980)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Listen to Cinespia founder John Wyatt on Trailers from Hell
Check out the Skategroove website and the National African American Roller Skating Archives Project
Subscribe to the Getyoursk8on YouTube channel

Music:
"Skate Dancer" - Vinzerrelli
"A Roller Skating Jam Named "Saturdays" - De La Soul

Bonus Music Track by Grapefruit 45


Watch:

on the rink from benjamin buxton on Vimeo.

Episode 402: House Party (1990)

Special Guest: Reginald Hudlin
Guest Co-Hosts: Jay Scott Smith, Patrick Bromley

We kick off Black History Month 2019 with Reginald Hudlin's House Party (1990). Starring Christopher Reid and Christopher Martin AKA Kid 'N Play, the film is about a House Party, the wild shenanigans surrounding it, and a whole lot more.

Jay Scott Smith of JSC Radio and Patrick Bromley of F! This Movie join Mike to discuss the ins-and-outs of House Party and the four other films it inspired. Special guest Reginald Hudlin dishes about the making of House Party, the glorious "Hey Love" commercial, Bebe's Kids, Boomerang, Black Panther and more.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 402: House Party (1990)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy House Party on DVD

Music:
"Ain't My Type of Hype" - Full Force
"Rollin' With Kid 'N Play" - Kid 'N Play

Watch:

Episode 401: F/X Murder by Illusion (1986)

Special Guests: Robert Mandel, Alan Ormsby, Cliff DeYoung
Guest Co-Hosts: Adam Schartoff, Jedidiah Ayres

Robert Mandel's F/X (1986) (AKA FX: Murder by Illusion) is the story of Rollie Taylor (Bryan Brown), a movie special effects man who is hired by two government agents (Cliff DeYoung & Mason Adams) to stage the public assassination of a mob boss (Jerry Orbach) who’s turned state's evidence. What better way to keep the mob off the tail than by “killing him”? But things don’t turn out as easy as that.

Jedidiah Ayres and Adam Schartoff join Mike to discuss F/X, its sequel, and the spin-off TV series.

Interviews on this episode include director Robert Mandel, writer Alan Ormsby and actor Cliff DeYoung.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 401: F/X (1986)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy F/X on Blu-Ray
Buy F/X2 on Blu-Ray
Buy F/X The Series on DVD
Hear more Adam Schartoff on Filmwax Radio
Keep up with Jedidiah Ayres at Hardboiled Wonderland

Music:
"Bust the Bust" - Bill Conti
"The Bombs" - Bill Conti
"Just an Illusion" - Imagination

Watch:

Guest Spot: Jackie Chan Month

One might think that after subjecting Chris Stachiw to a month of Japanese New Wave films that he'd never allow me to program a month of the Kulturecast again. But, he foolishly agreed to allow me to make December was "Jackie Chan Month."

I chose four films to show Jackie playing comedy, action, intrigue, and more; concentrating on his work in the '80s and early '90s from Police Story to Drunken Master 2 (AKA The Legend of Drunken Master).

Dragons Forever:

Listen to "Dragons Forever" on Spreaker.

Police Story:

Listen to "Police Story" on Spreaker.

Armour of God:

Listen to "Armour of God" on Spreaker.

Drunken Master II:

Listen to "Drunken Master II" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy I Am Jackie Chan by Jackie Chan
Buy Never Grow Up by Jackie Chan
The Painful Price of Becoming Jackie Chan by Ryu Spaeth
Buy Police Story 1 & 2 on Blu-Ray (Criterion)
Buy Drunken Master 2 on DVD
Buy Dragons Forever on Blu-Ray

Watch:

POLICE STORY & POLICE STORY 2 from Janus Films on Vimeo.

Episode 400: The Rutles - All You Need is Cash (1978)

Special Guests: Greg Weis, Neil Innes
Guest Co-Hosts: Skizz Cyzyk, Maurice Bursztynski

For the 400th episode of The Projection Booth, Maurice Bursztynski and Skizz Cyzyk join Mike to discuss the 1978 made-for-TV movie The Rutles: All You Need is Cash. Directed by Gary Weis and Eric Idle, this mockumentary tells the tale of the incredible smash hit band The Rutles, their meteoric rise to fame and incredible influence on the music business.

The Rutles were the brainchild of writer/comedian Eric Idle of Monty Python, Rutland Weekend Television, (and more), and musician Neil Innes of The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 400: The Rutles - All You Need is Cash (1978)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy The Rutles: All You Need is Cash on DVD
Buy Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography by Eric Idle
Buy Rutles Highway Revisited on CD
Buy The Rutles: Archeology on CD
Listen to the See/Hear episode on The Rutles

Music:
"I Must Be in Love" - The Rutles
"How Sweet It Is To Be an Idiot" - Neil Innes
"Whatever" - Oasis
"Cheese and Onions" - The Rutles

Watch:

Episode 399: To Be or Not to Be (1942)

Special Guest: Joseph McBride
Guest Co-Hosts: Lutz Bacher, Ken Stanley, Paula Guthat

We conclude our discussion about Ernst Lubitsch with a discussion of his 1942 film To Be or Not To Be, the story of Joseph and Maria Tura (Jack Benny and Carole Lombard), two actors in Poland who are in a current run of Shakespeare’s Hamlet though working on a new play called Gestapo. The new play never happens on stage but they’re able to act it out in real life after Poland falls to the Nazis. The film is one of the first films to openly lampoon Nazis, made in a time before Pearl Harbor -- though released afterward -- in a time when mocking Nazis wasn’t as acceptable as it should have been.

Recorded at the studios of Podcast Detroit, Paula Guthat, Ken Stanley, and Lutz Bacher join Mike to talk about this stellar comedy of manners. In the first of a two-part interview, Joseph McBride talks about his latest book, How Did Lubitsch Do It?

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 399: To Be or Not To Be (1942)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy To Be or Not To Be on Blu-Ray
Buy The Mel Brooks Collection on DVD
Buy Fireball: Carole Lombard and the Mystery of Flight 3 by Robert Matzen
Buy The Big Screen Comedies of Mel Brooks by Robert Alan Crick
Buy How Did Lubitsch Do It? by Joseph McBride
Buy Herbert Marshall: A Biography by Scott O'Brien
] Buy Kay Francis - I Can't Wait To Be Forgotten - Her Life on Film and Stage by Scott O'Brien
Buy Ernst Lubitsch's American Comedy by William Paul
Buy Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise by Scott Eyman
Read Ernst Lubitsch: 10 essential films by David Parkinson
Visit the Ernst Lubitsch fan site

Music:
"To Be or Not to Be (The Hitler Rap)" - Mel Brooks

Watch:

Episode 398: Trouble in Paradise (1932)

Special Guest: Joseph McBride
Guest Co-Hosts: Lutz Bacher, Ken Stanley, Paula Guthat

The first of two episodes focusing on Ernst Lubitsch, this week we're discussing Trouble in Paradise (1932). The film stars Herbert Marshall as Gaston, a gentleman thief who initially connects with Lily (Miriam Hopkins), a highly skilled pickpocket, before the two begin the long con with Madame Mariette Colette (Kay Francis), the owner of a Parisian perfume company. Unfortunately for Gaston, and Lily, and Madame Colette, things aren’t so easy when it comes to the fleecing...

Recorded at the studios of Podcast Detroit, Paula Guthat, Ken Stanley, and Lutz Bacher join Mike to talk about this stellar comedy of manners. In the first of a two-part interview, Joseph McBride talks about his latest book, How Did Lubitsch Do It?

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 398: Trouble in Paradise (1932)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy Trouble in Paradise on DVD
Buy How Did Lubitsch Do It? by Joseph McBride
Buy Herbert Marshall: A Biography by Scott O'Brien
] Buy Kay Francis - I Can't Wait To Be Forgotten - Her Life on Film and Stage by Scott O'Brien
Buy Ernst Lubitsch's American Comedy by William Paul
Buy Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise by Scott Eyman
Read Ernst Lubitsch: 10 essential films by David Parkinson
Visit the Ernst Lubitsch fan site

Music:
"Trouble In Paradise" - Charles Agnew
"Trouble in Paradise" - The Crests

Watch:

Episode 397: Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

Special Guests: Sandy King Carpenter, W.D. Richter
Guest Co-Hosts: Vincenzo Natali, Tony Black

John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China (1986) tells the story of Wang Chi (Dennis Dun), a restaurateur whose finance, Miao Lin (Suzee Pai), gets kidnapped by the nefarious forces of David Lo Pan (James Hong), a seemingly innocent old man who is actually the embodiment of the evil spirit of Lo Pan, a demon who needs a woman with green eyes in order to become corporeal again and begin his reign of terror on earth.

And, there are some other white people involved in the story, too.

Tony Black and Vincenzo Natali join Mike to discuss this bizarre mash-up of Chinese mysticism and American action that only W.D. Richter could write.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to "Episode 397: Big Trouble in Little China (1986)" on Spreaker.

Links:
Buy Big Trouble in Little China on Blu-Ray
Buy The Official Making of Big Trouble in Little China by Tara Bennett & Paul Terry
Learn more about Storm King productions
Learn more about the Big Trouble comic books

Music:
Music from the Original Soundtrack recording

Watch: