Christopher Media

Max Ophuls’s 1953 film The Earrings of Madame de… revolves around a pair of earrings, the titular woman who owned them (Danielle Darrieux), the man who gave them to her (Charles Boyer), and the man who gives them to her again (Vittorio De Sica). Ken Stanley and Paula Guthat join Mike to talk about this beautiful and heart-breaking film. Susan White, author of The Cinema of Max Ophuls, discusses Ophuls’s career.

Detroit Rock City (1999) from director Adam Rifkin is the story of four friends and their desperate quest to get from Cleveland to Detroit to see KISS play live at Cobo Arena in 1978. They’re faced with a series of challenges that threaten to keep them from seeing Gene, Paul, Ace, and Peter play the hits. Returning from the Never Too Young To Die episode are co-hosts Josh Stewart and Heather Drain join Mike on this deluxe episode of the show which features director Adam Rifkin, screenwriter Carl V. Dupré, producer Tim Sullivan, actress Lin Shaye, and James Campion author of Shout It Out Loud: The Story of Kiss’s Destroyer and the Making of an American Icon.

James Cole (Bruce Willis) may or may not be a time traveler sent from our future to learn about our present. Inspired by Chris Marker’s La Jetee, Terry Gilliam’s Twelve Monkeys is based on a script by David Webb and Janet Peoples. Tony Black and Jedidiah Ayres join Mike to discuss this twisted time travel story. Dahlia Schweitzer — author of Going Viral: Zombies, Viruses, and the End of the World — discusses the prevalence and significance of the disease narrative at the time of Twelve Monkeys’s release.

Guest Co-Hosts: Jordan Blossey, Roxy MacDonald

Jordan Blossey and Roxy MacDonald join Mike to discuss Barbara Loden‘s Wanda. Released in 1970 the film was written by, stars, and was directed by Loden. It’s the personal story of a woman at wits ends who seems adrift in her own life.

Special Guest: Brian Jay Jones
Guest Co-Hosts: Kat Ellinger, El Goro

Jim Hensonand Frank Oz‘s The Dark Crystal (1982) is a dark fantasy story of Jen, one of two remaining gelflings in the world of Mithra. He goes on a quest to reunite a shard with the titular Dark Crystal in order to restore balance to his world.

El Goro of the Talk Without Rhythmpodcast and Kat Ellinger of Diabolique Magazine discuss all the various versionsof the revolutionary film with Mike while guest Brian Jay Jones — author of Jim Henson: The Biography — talks about Henson’s career from his early days of puppeteering to his experimental films and beyond.p

Special Guest: Andy Robinson
Guest Co-Hosts: Heather Drain, Maurice Bursztynski

Loosely based on the novel The Lootersby John Reese, Don Siegel‘s Charley Varrick (1973) stars Walter Matthau as the titular Varrick, who, when he robs a backwater bank, accidentally gets embroiled with the mob.

Actor Andy Robinson discusses his career from playing Scorpio in Dirty Harryto Larry Cotton in Hellraiser to Garak in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Co-hosts Maurice Bursztynski and Heather Drain talk about the appeal of Walter Matthau and Joe Don Baker, the films of Don Siegel, and much more.

Special Guests: Peter M. Lenkov, Fred Dekker, Daniel Waters, David L. Snyder
Guest Co-Hosts: Laura Helen Marks, Chris Bricklemyer

Directed by Marco Brambilla and produced by Joel Silver, the Demolition Man (1993) stars Sylvester Stallone as hot shot supercop John Spartan. When he’s set up to look like a mass murderer by his nemesis Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes), the two are sent to cryo-prison where they’re put on ice until the distant future year of 2032 where Phoenix breaks out of jail and the namby pamby cops of the future have no idea how to handle him. Of course, it’s up to John Spartan to bring Simon Phoenix to justice again.

Stallone superfan Professor Laura Helen Marks and Outside the Cinema’s Chris Bricklemyer join Mike to discuss this disarmingly charming sci-fi action film. Guests include three of the many writers of the film from original scribe Peter M. Lenkov to Fred Dekker to Daniel Waters. We also hear from the incredible production designer David L. Snyder

Special Guests: Kenneth E. Hall, Joseph McBride
Guest Co-Hosts: Jon Cross, Ben Buckingham

We travel back to the days of yesteryear with a look at the 1962 film from director John Ford, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. The film stars Jimmy Stewart as Ransom Stoddard, a lawyer who comes out west only to get robbed by the titular Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin). The film also stars John Wayne as Tom Doniphan, a man of action and the living embodiment of “The Old West”.

Joseph McBride and Kenneth E. Hall discuss the works of John Ford while Jon Cross and Ben Buckingham join Mike to talk about Liberty Valance and revisionist Westerns.

Special Guest: William Richert
Guest Co-Hosts: Jeff Meyers, Matthew Socey

Based on the 1974 novel by Richard Condon, William Richert‘s Winter Kills (1979) tells the tale of Nick Kegan (Jeff Bridges), half brother of President Tim Kegan who was assassinated in Philadelphia in February 1960. When he receives a deathbed confession from the man who allegedly shot President Kegan, Nick goes down the rabbit-hole, trying sort out the truth from the lies and obfuscations of everyone around him, including his father, Pa Kegan (John Huston).

William Richert discusses the making of the film — a story which rivals the on-screen antics. Matthew Socey and Jeff Meyers join Mike to talk about comic conspiracy films.

Special Guests: Daniel Bird, James Steffen
Guest Co-Host: Larry Revene

We’re looking at Sergei Parajanov’s The Color of Pomegranates. Released in 1969, the film is something of a look at the life of Armenian ashugh Sayat Nova told in an oblique and beautiful way.

Director and DP Larry Revene joins Mike to talk about this poetic film. Daniel Bird, director of The World is a Window: The Making of The Color of Pomegranates and James Steffen, the author of The Cinema of Sergei Parajanov, discuss the making of the film as well as the cuts imposed by Russian censors.