Episode 524: The Black Hole (1979)

Guest Co-Hosts: El Goro, David Kittredge

Sci Fi Month continues on The Projection Booth with a look at Gary Nelson’s 1979 film, The Black Hole. It’s the story of a group of astronauts who, after an unscheduled course correction, run across the missing ship The Cygnus, which is in stasis just outside of a black hole. It’s something of a re-telling of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea with Maximilian Schell playing Captain Nemo by way of Dr. Hans Reinhardt.

El Goro (Talk Without Rhythm) and David Kittredge (The Outcast) join Mike to discuss this uneven film.

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Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy The Black Hole on DVD
Read “We Never Had an Ending:” How Disney’s ‘Black Hole’ Tried to Match ‘Star Wars’ by David Weiner

Music:
"Main Theme" - John Barry

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Episode 522: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Special Guests: Peter Suschitzky, Paul Hirsch, Jim Bloom, Rebecca Harrison, J.W. Rinzler
Guest Co-Hosts: Jamie Benning, Chris Bricklemyer

#Sci-FiMonth kicks off with a look at possibly the best sequel of all times, The Empire Strikes Back (1980). It's the second -- or fifth -- chapter in the Star Wars saga which truly tests our heroes: Luke Skywalker gets mangled, Han Solo gets tortured, and Leia Organa gets a good kiss... from her brother.

Chris Bricklemyer (Outside the Cinema) and Jamie Benning (The Filmumentaries Podcast) join Mike to discuss Irving Kershner's first and only foray into the Star Wars universe.

Interviews include cinematographer Peter Suschitzky, editor Paul Hirsch, associate producer Jim Bloom, author Rebecca Harrison, and author J.W. Rinzler.

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Listen to More Jim Bloom:

Listen to our Star Wars episode:

Listen to the Star Wars Music Mix:


Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy The Empire Strikes Back on Blu-Ray
Download The Empire Strikes Back de-specialized version
Buy A Long Time Ago in a Cutting Room Far, Far Away: My Fifty Years Editing Hollywood Hits—Star Wars, Carrie, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Mission: Impossible, and More by Paul Hirsch
Buy The Empire Strikes Back (BFI Film Classics) by Rebecca Harrison
Buy The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back by J.W. Rinzler
Visit 365 Star Wars
Visit the OriginalTrilogy.com website
Visit the official Star Wars website

Music:
"Luke's First Crash" - John Williams
"Empire Strikes Back (Medley) Darth VaderYoda's Theme" - Meco
"Seagulls! (Stop It Now)" - Bad Lip Reading

Watch:

Building Empire, A Filmumentary By Jamie Benning @jamieSWB from Filmumentaries - Jamie Benning on Vimeo.

Special Report: Gone in Sixty Seconds (1974)

Guest Co-Hosts: Chris Stachiw, El Goro

Released in 1974, Gone in Sixty Seconds was directed, written by, and stars H. B. Halicki as Maindrian Pace. He’s an accident investigator by day… and a car thief by day too. He gets charged with stealing 48 cars for the unscrupulous Mr. Villas. All of the cars are given female nicknames and it’s the car named Eleanor that seems to haunt him as he and his crew get to work filling a very tall order.

El Goro (Talk Without Rhythm) and Chris Stachiw (The Kulturecast) join Mike to discuss Halicki's movie empire and the 2000 Dominic Sena remake starring Nicholas Cage.

Listen/Download Now:

Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy Gone in Sixty Seconds on Blu-Ray
Buy the H.B. Halicki Collection on DVD
Buy Gone in Sixty Seconds remake on Blu-Ray

Music:
"Gone in Sixty Seconds" - Philip Kachaturian

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Episode 521: Eternity and a Day (1998)

Special Guest: Andrew Horton
Guest Co-Hosts: John Atom, Agatha Luz

Theodoros Angelopoulos's 1998 film, Eternity and a Day, stars Bruno Ganz as Alexandros, a poet who thinks he’s at the end of his life. He rescues an Albanian refugee boy (Ahilleas Skevis) who lives on the street and wipes windshields for spare change.

Agatha Luz (Cinemaspection) and John Atom (Heroic Purgatory) join Mike to discuss the films while Andrew Horton (The Films of Theo Angelopoulos: A Cinema of Contemplation) talks about his relationship with Angelopolous.

Listen/Download Now:

Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy Eternity and a Day on DVD

Music:
Original Soundtrack - Eleni Karaindrou

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Episode 520: Khrustalyov, My Car! (1998)

Special Guests: Jonathan Brent, Guy Seligmann
Guest Co-Hosts: Gianna D’Emilio, Spencer Parsons

Released in 1989, Aleksey German's Khrustalyov, My Car! is set in 1953 agains the death of Josef Stalin and his "Doctor's Plot". The film centers on General Klensky, a huge man with a penchant for cigars and cognac-laced tea, who is doomed to be replaced by a double who will give the right answers during his inevitable show trial.

Gianna D’Emilio and Spencer Parsons join Mike to discuss this chaotic film (which was lambasted upon its screening at Cannes). Professor Jonathan Brent (author of Stalin's Last Crime: The Doctor's Plot) talks about the state of the Soviet Union in 1953 while producer Guy Seligmann provides the history of the film.

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Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy Khrustalyov, My Car! on Blu-Ray

Music:
"Gasthaus Zum Lachenden Stalin" - Jan Delay
"Goodbye Lenin, Hello Stalin" - Kullhammar Osgood Vgan

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Episode 519: Cuties (2020)

Guest Co-Hosts: Judith Mayne, Angela Mac

We're discussing the controversial 2020 film from Maïmouna Doucouré, Cuties. It's the story of Amy (Fathia Youssouf), a young immigrant girl from Senegal living in Paris and desperate to fit in with the girls she sees as "cool" at her school. Her home life is collapsing as her father is due to return from Africa with a new bride who threatens to displace Amy, her mother, and her little brother.

Judith Mayne and Angela Mac join Mike to see if all the hullabaloo about the film is merited or if it's just a Ted Cruz tempest in a teapot.

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Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Watch Cuties on Netflix
Watch Maman(s) on Vimeo

Music:
"Thank Heaven For Little Girls" - Maurice Chevalier

Watch:

Episode 518: Hard-Boiled (1992)

Guest Co-Hosts: Beth Accomando, Jess Byard

John Woo's 1992 film, Hard-Boiled is the story of a hot-handed supercop, Tequila, (Chow Yun-Fat), and an undercover cop -- either Alan or Tony depending on what version you watch, played by Tony Leung. Tony and Tequila are working two sides of the same case involving the dastardly Johnny Wong (Anthony Wong). More than being a case of cops and robbers, the film is a farewell to the Hong Kong that Woo once knew and a farewell before emigrating to the U.S. for the next phase of his career.

Beth Accomando and Jess Byard join Mike to discuss this action-packed thriller.

Listen/Download Now:

Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy Hard-Boiled on Blu-Ray
Buy John Woo: The Films by Kenneth E. Hall

Music:
Original Soundtrack - Michael Gibbs

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Episode 517: Escape from New York (1981)

Special Guests: Nick Castle, Adrienne Barbeau, Joseph Alves
Guest Co-Hosts: Aaron Peterson, Father Malone

On the second of our two-part discussion about John Carpenter films, Father Malone, Aaron Peterson and Mike discuss Escape from New York (1981). It's the story Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell), a former war hero turned disillusioned criminal in an America that has turned into a police state. When the President's plane crashes in the prison colony that was once Manhattan, Snake is sent in after him.

Interviews include co-screenwriter Nick Castle, actress Adrienne Barbeau, and production designer Joseph Alves.

Listen/Download Now:

Links:
Become a supporter of The Projection Booth
Buy Escape from New York on Blu-Ray
Buy Escape from L.A. on Blu-Ray
Buy Lockout on Blu-Ray
Buy There Are Worse Things I Could Do by Adrienne Barbeau

Music:
"Escape From New York" - Merciless Attack
"Escape from New York" - Robert Johnson And Punchdrunks
"The Duke Arrives -- The Barricades" - John Carpenter

Watch: