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F for Fake, the 1973 essay film from Orson Welles is a story of art forgery, the phony autobiography of Howard Hughes, and quite a bit of sleight of hand from our humble narrator, Mr. Welles himself. Peter Flynn and Spencer Parsons join Mike to discuss hoaxes, magic tricks, and the power of editing.

On this special episode of The Projection Booth, Mike spoke to writer/director Michael Almereyda about his latest film, Tesla (2020) which stars Ethan Hawke as the titular inventor. Almereyda’s Tesla script was one of the first things he wrote and was initially optioned in the early ’80s. But, good ideas never die!

It’s showtime, folks! On this episode we’re talking about Bob Fosse’s 1979 film All That Jazz. It’s definitely not an autobiographical picture about a choreographer slash director (Roy Scheider) who’s working on his previous film about a groundbreaking stand-up comedian (Cliff Gorman) while rehearsing his next Broadway sensation. It’s definitely not about Fosse facing down the specter of mortality and expressing it the best way he knows how. David Kittredge and Emma Westwood join Mike to discuss the film. Interviews include editor Alan Heim, actress Deborah Geffner, and our old friend Keith Gordon.

On this special episode, Mike talks with Charles Mruz about his 2020 documentary Gamemaster — the story of game development, play, and how games bring us together. Gamemaster is now available to rent/buy/stream on most major streaming platforms.

We’re discussing the 1985 film from Wolfgang Petersen, Enemy Mine. Based on a novella by Barry Longyear, the film stars Dennis Quaid as Davidge and Lou Gossett Jr. as Jerry. The two are of different races — one human, one drac — who find themselves stranded on a hostile world. Corine and Tim Luz from the Cinemaspection podcast join Mike to discuss the odd journey of Enemy Mine from novella to finished film including the initial work by original director Richard Loncraine.

In a special cross-over with the See/Hear Podcast, we’re discussing Suzi Q (2019) a documentary from Liam Firmager about Detroit’s own Suzi Quatro, who left the States early in her career and became more of a rock star in the UK and Australia while not charting as high as she should in her home country. She became known more in the U.S. thanks to her many appearances on Happy Days as the character Leather Tuscadero. The film looks at her career overall, showing what a wild ride it’s been. Leon Chase and Maurice Bursztynski join Mike to talk about the documentary, Quatro, and more.

On this special episode of The Projection Booth, Mike talks with author/screenwriter Scott Smith about his latest film, The Burnt Orange Heresy — an adaptation of Charles Willeford’s wonderful book about a sociopathic art critic. Mr. Smith also discusses his earlier work from A Simple Plan to The Ruins to Siberia.

We are looking at the 1984 film from writer/director Michael Crichton, Runaway. It’s the tale of Jack Ramsay (Tom Selleck) a member of the Runaway unit who takes care of errant robots. He’s a single dad with a son and a robot at home and a new partner on his team, Karen Thompson (Cynthia Rhodes). He’s put on a case which leads him to the dastardly Luther (Gene Simmons). Carol Borden (The Cultural Gutter) and Josh Stewart join Mike to discuss this quasi-futuristic tale.

On this special episode of The Projection Booth we’re looking at the 1985 film from director Mark L. Lester, Commando. The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger at PEAK Schwarzenegger. The film really defines 80s action movies — hyper violence, a killer soundtrack, and corny one-liners. The only things missing are gay panic and a good dose of misogyny. Ti Singh (In Search of the Last Action Heroes) and Chris Stachiw (The Kulturecast) join Mike to discuss action films, Schwarzenegger, the unmade sequel, the Russian remake, and more.

We conclude Cinema Novo month with a look at Glauber Rocha’s The Lion has Seven Heads, though, this movie seems to be post-Cinema Novo and wasn’t even made in Brazil. Instead, this film was made after Rocha was exiled from Brazil and shot in Brazzaville in the Democratic Republic of Congo along with help from French and Italian producers. Chris Stachiw and Heather Drain join Mike to discuss this dense political treatise about colonialism.