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Special Guest: Michael Lucker On this special episode, Mike talks with writer Michael Lucker about his career in Hollywood (including co-writing the screenplay for A Vampire in Brooklyn) as well as his recent book, CRASH! BOOM! BANG! How to Write Action Movies. Links: Buy CRASH! BOOM! BANG! How to Write Action Movies by Michael Lucker Visit Lucky Dog Filmworks Read An Oral History of A Vampire in Brooklyn Visit Michael Wiese Productions

Special Guests: Albert Pyun On this special episode, Mike talks with writer/director Albert Pyun about his latest film, the sci-fi epic Interstellar Civil War: Shadows of the Empire (2017). They also discuss Pyun’s dementia and how he was able to use this as an artistic method in the creation of his film. Links: Visit the official Albert Pyun website Be sure to LIKE Interstellar Civil War on Facebook Listen to our Captain America episode Listen to our Mean Guns episode

Special Guests: Brian Jay Jones, Matthew Robbins, Maggie McOmie, Bruce Chesse, Sid Haig Guest Co-Hosts: Jay Bauman, Chris Bricklemyer The first feature film from director George Lucas, THX-1138 (1971) features a world in which love is outlawed and mind-altering drugs are mandatory. The film stars Robert Duvall as the titular THX-1138 and Maggie McOmie as LUH-3417 as roommates who eventually develop into something much more despite the totalitarian regime in which they live. Co-written by Walter Murch, the film ponders materialism, religion, and love. Chris Bricklemyer (Outside the Cinema, Are You Serious?) and Jay Bauman (Red Letter Media) join Mike to discuss Lucas’s freshman film, how its themes would echo in his other work, and how he revised it in the 2004 “director’s cut.” Download the original version of THX-1138 Buy THX-1138 (Director’s Cut) on Blu-Ray Watch Electonic Labrynth: THX 1138 4EB Read about the differences between the original and director’s cut of THX-1138 Read the THX-1138 script Buy The Original Movie Game – Blockbuster Edition

Special Guests: Shawn Levy Guest Co-Hosts: Craig Bierko, Peter Flynn The 1960 directorial debut from Jerry Lewis, The Bellboy, also stars Lewis in the titular role. He’s Stanley, a put upon hotel worker at the Fountainbleu hotel in Miami. The film doesn’t necessarily have a three act plot per se but is more an opportunity for a string of gags. Filmmaker Peter Flynn and actor Craig Bierko join Mike to discuss The Bellboy as well as many other aspects of Lewis’s career. Special guest Shawn Levy is the author of King of Comedy: The Life and Art of Jerry Lewis. Buy The Bellboy on DVD Buy King of Comedy: The Life and Art of Jerry Lewis by Shawn Levy Buy the Pierre Etaix collection Buy Funny Bones on DVD Buy UnReal on DVD Buy Dying of the Light on DVD Hear more of Peter Flynn on the Dying of the Light episode Hear more of Craig Bierko on the Strange Brew and Thirteenth Floor episodes

Special Guests: Jeremy Richey, Noël Véry, Michael Levy Guest Co-Hosts: Daniel Bird, Samm Deighan Also known as The Streetwalker, The Margin, and sometimes even as Emmanuel 77, La Marge film stars Joe Dallesandro as Sigismond, a loving husband who leaves his wife and child to head to Paris. While there he learns of the sudden, unexpected death of his aforementioned family and spends a few days living in fringes of society, spending most of his time with Diana, played by Sylvia Kristel, a prostitute. The 1976 film is one of several adaptations of André Pieyre de Mandiargues by director Walerian Borowczyk. Samm Deighan and Daniel Bird school Mike in the work of Walerian Borowczyk with the help of Jeremy Richey (author of the upcoming Sylvia Kristel in the Seventies: From Emmanuelle to Chabrol), cinematographer and cameraman Noël Véry, and Walerian Borowczyk’s assistant, Michael Levy. Buy Walerian Borowczyk: The Book by Daniel Bird Buy Camera Obscura: The Walerian Borowczyk Collection on Blu-Ray Visit the Friends of Walerian Borowczyk website Buy Lost Girls: The Phantasmagorical Cinema of Jean Rollin edited by Samm Deighan

Special Guest: Jonathan Clements Guest Co-Hosts: El Goro, Chris Cummins Based on his manga of the same name, and released two years before the end of the comic series, Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira (1988) tells the tale of Kaneda — a teenage punk in a motorcycle gang — and Kei — a member of an underground resistance — and their adventures in NeoTokyo. They enter into a world of psychics including the titular Akira, the little boy with incredible powers that lead to the devastating explosion that opens the film. Special guest Jonathan Clements, author of Anime: A History, provides Mike with some much-needed background on Japanese animation while co-hosts El Goro and Chris Cummins describe their love of Otomo’s groundbreaking film. Links: Buy Akira on Blu-Ray Buy Akira, the manga Visit the School Girl Milky Crisis blog Check out the books of Jonathan Clmenets Visit the Akira wiki Visit the Talk Without Rhythm podcast Read Chris Cummins’s articles on Den of Geek

Special Guest: Tom Mes Guest Co-Hosts: Kevin Heffernan, Patrick Bromley Written by Itaru Era, the 2001 movie from prolific director Takashi Miike Visitor Q tells the story of a family in disarray. The unemployed father (Ken’ichi Endô) a former newsman who laid off after an unfortunate incident, the mother (Shungiku Uchida) a heroin addict who prostitutes herself for money to get a fix, the son (Jun Mutô) is a victim of bullying who then bullies his own mother, and the daughter (Fujiko) who has left home to become a prostitute as well. When the titular Visitor Q (Kazushi Watanabe) shows up… things change. Special guest Tom Mes, author of Agitator: The Cinema of Takashi Miike, discusses Miike’s career. Co-Hosts Patrick Bromley and Kevin Heffernan join Mike to examine Visitor Q as well as François Ozon’s Sitcom and Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Teorema (1968). Links: Buy Visitor Q on DVD Buy Sitcom on DVD Buy Teorema on DVD Buy Agitator: The Cinema of Takashi Miike by Tom Mes Buy Re-Agitator: A Decade of Writing on Takashi Miike by Tom Mes Buy Iron Man: The Cinema of Shinya Tsukamoto by Tom Mes

Special Guest: Jenni Gold Guest Co-Hosts: Sean Gray, Steve Byrne On a special episode of The Projection Booth Steve Byrne and Sean Gray join Mike to discuss the documentary film CinemAbility (2013). Directed by Jenni Gold and co-written by Samuel Reed, the film looks at the long history of portraying disabilities on screen. Links: Visit the official CinemAbility website Read 14 Cisgender Actors in Transgender Roles from The Hollywood Reporter Read ‘Blind’ Director Addresses Backlash Over Casting Alec Baldwin And Not Disabled Actor In Lead Role by Michael Mailer Be sure to visit the Is This Venue Accessible website Check out the Freep Film Festival

Special Guests: Antonio Fargas, Peter McCarthy Guest Co-Host: Chris Cummins Keenan Ivory Wayans’s I’m Gonna Git You Sucka (1988) is at once a parody of and follow-up to Blaxploitation films of the 1970s. In it, Wayans stars as Jack Spade, the new blood trying to take down Mr. Big (John Vernon) with a team of classic heroes like John Slade (Bernie Casey), Hammer (Isaac Hayes), Slammer (Jim Brown), Kung Fu Joe (Steve James) and Fly Guy (Antonio Fargas). Chris Cummins joins Mike to discuss the film. Special guests include actor Antonio Fargas (Putney Swope, Cleopatra Jones) and producer Peter McCarthy (Tapeheads, Roadside Prophets). Links: Buy I’m Gonna Git You Sucka on Blu-Ray Check out Brown Sugar Visit the official Chris Cummins website

Guest Co-Hosts: Ken Stanley, Samm Deighan Peter Greenaway’s The Cook The Thief His Wife & Her Lover (1989) tells the tale of Albert Spica (Michael Gambon), a monstrous gangster putting on airs as a gourmand. This loutish brute is the co-owner of a restaurant where he, his wife Georgina (Helen Mirren) and his crew are regulars. Also a frequent patron at the restaurant is Michael (Alan Howard), a book dealer who is secretly Georgina’s lover. Samm Deighan and Ken Stanley join Mike to discuss this controversial film as well as Greenaway’s other work. Buy The Cook, Cook The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover on Blu-Ray Buy Peter Greenaway’s Postmodern / Poststructuralist Cinema Paperback edited by Paula Willoquet-Maricondi and Mary Alemany-Galway Buy Peter Greenaway: Interviews edited by Vernon Gras and Marguerite Gras Buy Peter Greenaway: The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, Her Lover by Peter Greenaway Visit The Cinematic Endeavors of Peter Greenaway Visit Luperpedia Foundation Hear more from Samm Deighan at Daughters of Darkness Hear more from Ken at Ken’s Loud Band