Christopher Media

Czechtember 2018 continues with a discussion of František Vláčil’s Marketa Lazarova. Based on the book by Vladislav Vančura, the film is an epic tale of fighting tribes in the 13th Century in the area that would become Czechoslovakia. The film is named after the maiden Marketa Lazarova who befalls one of the many brigands in the sweeping, beautiful, black and white film.

On this special episode of The Projection Booth, we discuss the 2018 documentary on musical group Public Image Limited and John Lydon, The Public Image is Rotten. We hear from PiL drummer Martin Atkins, bassist and producer Bill Laswell, and the director of The Public Image is Rotten, Tabbert Fiiller. Crusty punks Chris Cummins and Skizz Cyzyk join Mike reminisce about “the good old days” and complain about the music the kids are listening to today…

On this special episode of The Projection Booth, Mike talks to Anthony&Alex, the directing team behind the new documentary, Susanne Bartsch: On Top (2018). For more information visit: http://www.anthonyandalex.com/

On this special report, Mike talks to author Nick Dawson (Being Hal Ashby) and Amy Scott about the new documentary about filmmaker Hal Ashby… Hal (2018). Learn more at http://hal.oscilloscope.net/

On this special episode of The Projection Booth we’re discussing the documentary film The Writer with No Hands. Directed by William Westaway, the film tells the story of writer and professor Matthew Alford and his investigation into the strange case of Hollywood screenwriter Gary DeVore. Rod Lott (Bookgasm, Flickattack) joins Mike to tackle this film.

As part of the research for The Writer with No Hands episode, Mike went back into the archive to re-tool an oldie and a goodie, TRAXX (1988). Written by Gary DeVore and directed by Jerome Gary, Traxx (1988 ) stars Shadoe Stevens as the titular action hero who comes to a town beleaguered by baddies (including Robert Davi as Aldo Palucci). He cleans up crime with gusto, verve, and an endless amount of bullets. But Traxx really wants to give up his live as a one-man army to become the next Famous Amos.

Written and directed by Andrew Niccol, Gattaca (1997) stars Ethan Hawke as Jerome Morrow… or is he? He’s actually Vincent Freeman, a naturally occurring person in a world where people can be genetically engineered…. for a price. This creates a new elite class where genes determine privilege. Vincent impersonates Jerome through a rather elaborate scheme in order to fulfill his dream of leaving this planet and becoming an astronaut. Chris Cummins and Skizz Cyzyk join Mike to discuss the film while interviewee Xander Berkeley talks about his role in Gattaca as Dr. Lamar as well as his work in Mommy Dearest, Leaving Las Vegas, Safe, Barb Wire, and more.

Jerzy Skolimowski’s Deep End (1970) stars John Moulder-Brown as Mike, a fifteen year old drop-out who finds work at a public bath where he takes care of the male patrons while Jane Asher plays Susan, the female attendant. Mike becomes obsessed with Jane while she juggles her fiance and side piece. It’s a rather unsettling coming-of-age story in the twilight days of swinging London. Alicia Malone (The Female Gaze) and Jonathan Owen (Avant-garde to New Wave: Czechoslovak Cinema, Surrealism and the Sixties) join Mike to discuss the film along with other coming-of-age films.

On this special episode of The Projection Booth we’re looking at Dennis Hopper’s The Last Movie. Barely released by Universal Pictures in 1971, the film stars Hopper as Kansas — a man as middle-American as his name. He’s in Peru as a stunt man for a Western. When the cast and crew packs up and goes back to Hollywood, he stays behind where the natives form a sort of cargo cult around movie-making, holding up Kansas as their god, savior, and their sacrifice. Mike talks to Craig Rogers and David Marriott from Arbelos Films who have restored The Last Movie and have re-released the film. He speaks to author Jessica Hundley, editor of Dennis Hopper: Photographs 1961-1967, John Buck Wilkin who performed music on both The Last Movie and Lawrence Schiller & L. M. Kit Carson’s The American Dreamer. Finally, he speaks with Nick Ebeling, the director of Along for the Ride and its subject, Satya De La Manitou. Nick Dawson and Ben Buckingham join Mike to discuss the film as well as its fascinating history

Alan J. Pakula’s, The Parallax View (1974) stars Warren Beatty as reporter Joe Frady. After a mysterious series of deaths, Frady gets embroiled in an investigation that leads him to The Parallax Corporation, a shady company that finds and recruits sociopaths in order to use them as assassins. Interviews this episode include actor William Daniels and his wife Bonnie Bartlett, author Barna Donovan (Conspiracy Films: A Tour of Dark Places in the American Conscious), and filmmaker Shane O’Sullivan (RFK Must Die). Jess Byard and Chris Stachiw join Mike to discuss the Loren Singer book, the Lorenzo Semple Jr. script, the David Giler rewrite and the eventual final product.