Christopher Media

After nearly a decade of development, Robert Zemeckis’s Contact came to the silver screen in 1997. The film stars Jodie Foster as a SETI scientist who discovers a message from space.  Mike is joined by The Feminine Critique‘s Emily Intravia and Movie Geeks United‘s Jamey Duvall. This episode features interviews with actor William Fichtner, producer Lynda Obst, screenwriter James V. Hart, and science adviser Seth Shostak.

In a decade lousy with “nature strikes back” films, visual designer turned filmmaker Saul Bass’s Phase IV stands out as a hybrid of solid science fiction, nature documentary, and personal drama.

This is the voice of world control. I bring you an episode of The Projection Booth about Colossus: The Forbin Project, the 1970 Joseph Sargent film based on a novel by D.F. Jones where man enslaves himself via a supercomputer.

Noirvember 2015 concludes with a little murder among friends in Danny Boyle’s 1994 feature debut Shallow Grave which stars Kerry Fox, Ewan McGregor, and Christopher Eccleston as three prats looking for a new flatmate.

Over a score of years, a group of Michiganders created the public access (now internet) show, “30 Minutes of Madness”, under the leadership of Jerry White Jr. Jeremy Royce documented this phenomenon in his film 20 Years of Madness. In a special report we talk about video mix tapes, public access, and more.

Noirvember continues as we consider Louis Malle’s debut feature film, Elevator to the Gallows AKA Ascenseur pour l’échafaud, which stars Jeanne Moreau as Florence and Maurice Ronet as Julien. Shot in beautiful black and white and featuring a legendary improved jazz score by the great Miles Davis, Elevator to the Gallows questions the nature of self, love, and life as only Louis Malle could.  Our guests this week include Nathan Southern, author of The Films of Louis Malle: A Critical Analysis and Jack Southern, author of Milestones: The Music And Times Of Miles Davis. Our guest co-host, Jedidiah Ayres, is a writer for page and screen.

Noirvember continues as we look at crime and detective films with a foreign accent. We’re looking at Jean-Luc Godard’s 1965 sci-fi philosophical noir starring Eddie Constantine and Anna Karina, Alphav

Noirvember continues as we look at crime and detective films with a foreign accent. We’re looking at Jean-Luc Godard’s 1965 sci-fi philosophical noir starring Eddie Constantine and Anna Karina, Alphaville.  We’re joined by David Sterritt, the author of The Films of Jean-Luc Godard: Seeing the Invisible, and Pulp Serenade’s Cullen Gallagher.

The may be the first time we’ve done a sequel episode. Not the sequel to a film but the sequel to an episode we did back in January, 2012. On there we discussed the classic film Manos: The Hands of Fate and the fundraising efforts of Ben Solovey to restore the film to its former glory.  We’re back to talk about the restoration with Ben again, to talk with Rachel Jackson about Manos: The Hands of Felt and with Jackey Neyman Jones for the scoop on Manos Returns.

Noir November returns with a quartet of unusual titles. We kick off the month with a double dose from Jim Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai and Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samourai.