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Writer, director and actor Michael Showalter joins hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante to discuss his favorite movies.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Wet Hot American Summer (2001)

The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021)

The Baxter (2005)

Hello, My Name Is Doris (2015)

Runaway Daughters (1994)

Clueless (1995)

Bagdad Cafe (1987)

Coda (2021)

The Long Goodbye (1973) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Jaws (1975) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

Do The Right Thing (1989)

Sugarbaby (1985)

City Slickers (1991)

Attack! (1956) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Paris, Texas (1984) – Karyn Kusama’s trailer commentary

Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (1985)

Pretty In Pink (1986)

Escape From New York (1981) – Neil Marshall’s trailer commentary

Hamburger: The Motion Picture (1986)

The Warriors (1979)

The Thing (1982) – Jesus Treviño’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Innerspace (1987) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Christine (1983)

Crossing Delancey (1988)

Annie Hall (1977) – Robert Weide’s trailer commentary

When Harry Met Sally… (1989)

The Fugitive (1993)

The Big Sick (2017) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Between The Lines...

‘I got letters every day from people telling me how the film inspired them to do something about their lives’

It was a Christmas vacation and we were travelling the desert on Route 66 with our kids. We saw these strange lights in the sky, which came from, as we later discovered, a solar energy project. We took photographs and fantasised about writing a story for the actor Marianne Sägebrecht, who we had had a success with in a film I’d directed called Sugar Baby. We just improvised and started joking about our round German star meeting with Whoopi Goldberg, because we had just seen The Color Purple. We saw the name Bagdad on a map, and we went there and there was nothing: just a few trees and a rundown gas station. We brought the two together under those solar lights and created our own Bagdad.

To mark the release of Bagdad Cafe on 13th August, we’ve been given 1 copy to give away on Blu-ray.

Driving through the Mojave Desert somewhere between Las Vegas and Disneyland, Jasmin (Marianne Sägebrecht) strikes out on her own following a row with her husband. Trudging down the highway, she catches the attention of Brenda (Cch Pounder), the irascible proprietor of the Bagdad Café. So begins a hilarious and touching account of these two women of different cultures, joined together in the middle of desolation in an oasis of friendship.

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The Small Print

Open to UK residents only The competition will close 16th August 2018 at 23.59 GMT The winner will be picked at random from entries received No cash alternative is available To coincide with Gdpr regulations, competition entry information will not be stored once the competition has...

Bagdad Cafe screens Thursday September 21st at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood). The movie starts at 7:30pm.

Drawn to a pair of lights in the barren American desert sky, a mysterious German woman, Jasmin (Marianne Sagebrecht), stumbles upon a dilapidated motel/diner in the middle of nowhere. Her unusual appearance and demeanor are at first suspicious to Brenda (Cch Pounder), the exasperated owner who has difficulty making ends meet. But when an unlikely magic sparks between the two women, this lonely desert outpost is transformed into a thriving—and popular—oasis.

Admission is:

$6 for the general public

$5 for seniors, Webster alumni and students from other schools

$4 for Webster University staff and faculty

Free for Webster students with proper I.D.

Advance tickets are available from the cashier before each screening or contact the Film Series office (314-246-7525) for more options. The Film Series can only accept cash or check.

Gerard Depardieu has joined the cast of Bach, an upcoming biopic on the 17th century classic composer Johann Sebastian Bach. Max Von Sydow (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), Axel Milberg (Hannah Arendt) and Marianne Sagebrecht (Bagdad Cafe) will co-star in the feature from That Good Night director Eric Styles. The role of Bach in the film, which will chart the beer-fueled rebellion of one of the world's greatest composers, has not yet been cast. Styles is directing from a script by Jeffrey Freedman, who will also produce alongside S.J. Evans of Dark Art Films. “I believe in

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Exclusive: Cast, sales outfit The Yellow Affair join composer biopic.

Gérard Depardieu is set to join the cast of Bach, a biopic about iconic composer Johann Sebastian Bach.

Depardieu’s role has not yet been set in the film, which is also due to star Axel Milberg (Hannah Arendt) and Marianne Sagebrecht (Bagdad Café).

The Yellow Affair has boarded sales on the project, currently in development, which will chart the life and passionate battles of the German Baroque composer.

Director is Eric Styles (That Good Night). Writer is Jeffrey Freedman who also produces alongside S J Evans.

Crew attached to the production includes Oscar winner Gabriel Yared, American Beauty editor Tariq Anwar and three-time Oscar winning DoP Vittorio Storaro.

Depardieu said: “I believe in this production which will please millions of fans. Jeffrey Freedman’s film is an important one and I have long been an admirer of Bach.”

The Yellow Affair is at the Afm with...

Selection opens with a documentary about what motivates Somali pirates and includes the European premiere of 20,000 Days on Earth, starring Nick Cave, and 10 world premieres.Scroll down for full list

The Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 6-16) has unveiled the 16 films that will make up the documentary section of its Panorama strand.

This year’s Panorama Dokumente comprises 16 films, including ten world premieres, and will open on Feb 7 with the world premiere of Dutch co-production The Last Hijack by Tommy Pallotta and Femke Wolting. The film depicts what motivates piracy in Somalia.

The topic of Africa, which is also reflected in the Ethiopian fictional feature Difret, is also central to Swedish filmmaker Göran Hugo Olsson in Concerning Violence. This commentary on Africa’s decolonisation, cites Frantz Fanon’s “The Wretched of the Earth” - and Us singer Lauryn Hill lends these texts her voice.

Olsson previously presented The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 about the Afro-American civil rights...

DVD Release Date: Nov. 26, 2013

Price: DVD $24.95

Studio: Hen’s Tooth

Laura Fraser (l.) and Isabella Rossellini in Left Luggage.

Laura Fraser, most recently seen as the ricin-ingesting Lydia on TV’s Breaking Bad, stars in the 1998 drama Left Luggage.

Set in Antwerp, Belgium in the early 1970s, Left Luggage is the story of Chaja (Fraser), a rebellious college student struggling to accept her Jewish identity, particularly as her relationship with her parents, both concentration camp survivors, is strained. A family friend finds her a job as a nanny for the Kalmans, a Hassidic family with five children. She has little patience for their strict household rules but soon finds herself drawn to Simcha, their 4-year-old son who has yet to speak. Through her love for Simcha, she finds common ground with Mrs. Kalman (Isabella Rossellini, Blue Velvet) and learns respect for a culture steeped in tradition and religious values.

Directed...

Actor Stellan Skarsgård (The Avengers, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Mamma Mia!) has joined the cast of Peter Chelsom.s drama comedy Hector And The Search For Happiness, it was announced today by The Solution Entertainment Group.s (.The Solution.) founders and partners, Lisa Wilson and Myles Nestel, and producers Judy Tossell of Egoli Tossell Film and Christine Haebler of Screen Siren Pictures.

Skarsgård joins the previously announced Simon Pegg (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol), Rosamund Pike (upcoming Jack Reacher) and Oscar winner Christopher Plummer (Beginners). Also appearing in a cameo will be cult German actress Marianne Sägebrecht (Bagdad CAFÈ).

Based on the bestselling novel of the same name by François Lelord, the script is written by Maria von Heland, Chelsom and Tinker Lindsay. The film is a German/Canadian co-production produced by Judy Tossell for Egoli Tossell Film and Christine Haebler for Screen Siren Pictures, with Jens Meurer and Trish Dolman executive producing.

Acclaimed Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård ( Marvel's The Avengers , The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ) has joined the cast of Peter Chelsom's drama comedy Hector and the Search for Happiness , it was announced today by The Solution Entertainment Group.s (.The Solution.) founders and partners, Lisa Wilson and Myles Nestel, and producers Judy Tossell of Egoli Tossell Film and Christine Haebler of Screen Siren Pictures. Skarsgård joins the previously announced Simon Pegg, Rosamund Pike and Oscar winner Christopher Plummer. Also appearing in a cameo will be cult German actress Marianne Sägebrecht. Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by François Lelord, the script is written by Maria von Heland, Chelsom and Tinker Lindsay. The film is a German/Canadian co-production...

Bagdad Cafe Dir. Percy Adlon (1987) The results are always interesting when a European director wrestles with classic Americana (Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas comes to mind, of course), and in Bagdad Cafe, the German director Percy Adlon finds a ton of inspiration in the wide-open, dusty spaces of the Mojave Desert. The film begins with a defiantly odd opening - a huband and wife (the zaftig, fabulous Marianne Sagebrecht) fight in German, stuck somewhere in the desert on the way to Las Vegas. She leaves their car, suitcase in hand, uptight and lacquered in her Marlene Deitrich eyebrows and red red lipstick, and takes refuge in a dilapidated roadside truck-stop cafe and motel. And ever so slowly, Jasmin's arrival (and ability to clean and do magic tricks) changes the lives of these desert denizens: Cch Pounder (Avatar), who's the sharp-tongued owner Brenda, and a free-spirited Jack Palance (his role in...