Movie Madness

Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski take you through the latest and greatest of physical media this week. They include the works of Samuel Fuller and David Lean. The horror month continues with a bizarre cult musical from the director of the Saw sequels, obscure folk horror with John Hurt, Alan Bates (and Tim Curry), a 90s vampire tale, some Eli Roth awfulness, Russell Crowe on a vespa and the fou...

Not since 2022 have Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy had a non-festival show where they reviewed 14 new films. But they did it again this week. Erik starts with a trio of documentaries including one on the growing concerns of a global food shortage (World Without Cows), then Dolph Lundgren looks back on his life after a potentially fatal diagnosis (Dolph: Unbreakable) and an incredible look at a c...

It’s not a loaded week for physical media but Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski still have plenty to say about some new releases. Which is not to entirely dismiss an obscure sci-fi thriller about black diaspora rescued from obscurity by Criterion nor Shout Factory’s of a 1980s Hong Kong series. But much of the discussion is dedicated to the 40th Anniversary of Frank Oz’s comedic horror musical a...

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy have the latest movie reviews for you as well as catching up on some titles from earlier including Steve checking in on Forgotten Island and Erik finally getting to Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie. There are more documentaries this week including more people going mountain climbing (The Last First: Winter K2) and a family’s attempt to get their daught...

Erik Childress & Peter Sobczynski are back on physical media duty this week featuring some of Peter’s favorites and maybe some of his least favorites. Not going to tell you which. But it’s a show filled with the work of Leos Carax plus bizarre musicals ranging from the life of Jesus to Steve Martin getting very serious very quickly. We’ve got Frank Sinatra, Bette Davis, Samuel L. Jackson and a...

Erik Childress & Steve Prokopy return from the festivals in Toronto and Austin to come back to the world of the present releases. Erik looks at a pair of documentaries focused on the changing rivers of Texas (Deep in the Heart 2: Texas Rivers) and the career of one of the most famous models (Twiggy). Steve checks in with a horror title that says it all from Fantastic Fest (Bloody Tennis) and w...

Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski return to catch you up on the world of physical media. This week you can get two very acclaimed films from just last year on behalf of Criterion. There’s a WWI thriller from John Ford and a story from the same era about a guy who really, really likes buildings. A Re-Animator sequel gets an upgrade as does a bizarre 3-D sci-fi film from the ‘60s and an even weird...

The fall festival season is in full bloom and Erik Childress will be covering the Toronto International Film Festival for his 23rd year. Before he arrives though, there are ten films he wants to put on your radar if you are attending and can fit into your schedule. Otherwise, remember them in the future for when they hopefully find distribution. They include music documentaries of well-known singe...

Just because Erik Childress is headed to the Toronto Film Festival doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have you covered in the physical media department while he’s gone. Peter Sobczynski and him go over two weeks worth of releases including Sidney Lumet’s incredible debut and Jon Favreau’s as well. There is also Mike Nichols’ final film as well as one of the great (if not greatest) film noirs of all-time...

A week before Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy take some festival trips, they have nine reviews for you over Labor Day weekend. Ten, in fact, is they catch up on one of the 193 shark movies to come out this year (The Devil’s Mouth). Then they get to this week with a music concert (Katy Perry: The Lifetimes Tour - Live From Paris) and another songwriter creating a new album in the face of tremendou...

Some new titles in physical media this week and a few to catch up with from last week, Erik Childress & Peter Sobczynski have you covered. They include a couple of monumental documentaries from Barbara Kopple and the history of Ozploitation is lovingly told in its own doc. Val Kilmer dons the mask(s) of a classic character while Jude Law and Ed Harris snipe at one another. Danny Boyle’s origin...

August concludes with a slew of reviews from Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy. Once again they urge you all to go see the movie that Warner Bros. tried to destroy forever (Coyote vs. Acme) and remind you about a couple they saw from Sundance this year (Idiots, Buddy). They also have the tale of a boy trying to find out what those bruises are on his mom (If I Tell You). Rebel Wilson’s directorial d...

There is so much physical media this week that Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski moved some of it to next week’s show. (You can still get them now.) Regardless there is still plenty to talk about this week including a French adaptation of a Jim Thompson novel and the debut feature from James Gray. Another of the Broadway Melody films has been released along with more film noir from Kino and the...

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy have seven new reviews for this week, including an early one that is a call to arms. Steve goes solo this week on a documentary about tornado chasers (Never Stop Chasing), a bizarre sci-fi film featuring Noomi Rapace (Hot Spot) and the sixth film in a still very profitable horror franchise (Insidious: Out of the Further). The duo also look at Willem Dafoe as a form...

Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski have the latest and greatest in physical media this week which includes a few personal favorites as well as not one, but two of the films they lobbied for on their “Why Is This Not On Blu-Ray?” shows. (TWIST: There are actually three – even without the songs.) The show includes a cameo from Odysseus from over a decade ago, one of John Ford’s lesser efforts and a...

It is a busy, wild week at the movies as Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy review 11 of the best and worst of them in quite the divide in the lineup. They replay their thoughts on a recovery drama from Sundance (Union County). A kidnapped woman is told she is infected with something deadly (Hellcat). Kids took a road trip believing their band is going to open for Green Day (Nimrods) while Kristen S...

Physical media certainly has a theme this week with a number of interesting couplings and the music they make between them. Speaking of interesting couplings, Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski are your guide through it all. They include a little Martin & Lewis, Rock Hudson & Claudia Cardinale and even Lana Turner & Ricardo Montalban. ¿Quién Es Más Macho? There is J-horror and modern...

After a week off the Friday reviews are back in what looks to be a jam-packed August. Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy do a little catch-up to get Steve’s thoughts on the new Spider-Man and Erik’s on the dumped M3GAN universe film (Soulm8te). They have a pair of documentaries to talk about including the latest from the great Penny Lane about an owl that escaped from the Central Park Zoo (Wild Insi...

The beginning of each month always seems to be slow for physical media but Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski have some choice titles for you, especially if you ever wanted to see James Cagney and Mickey Rooney do Shakespeare. A couple hit comedies from Universal get a 4K upgrade as does one of Christopher Nolan’s favorite movies. You can also see the Todd Haynes film that helped put Julianne Moo...

Be sure to check out Erik’s Weekly Box Office Column  – At Rotten Tomatoes Critics’ Classics Series  – At Elk Grove Cinema in Elk Grove Village, IL Chicago Screening Schedule  - All the films coming to theaters and streaming Physical Media Schedule  - Click & Buy upcoming titles for your library. (Direct purchases help the Movie Madness podcast with a few pennies.) Erik’s Linktree  - Where you...

Time for another special episode as Erik Childress is joined by comic book expert, Erik Laws, to break down the latest entry in the Tom Holland Spider-Man Universe. After perhaps reaching a peak with No Way Home, the series has a new director and an opportunity to rebuild in more ways than one. The dynamic Erik duo discuss what works and what doesn’t work about the film. What is The Punisher’s rol...

A bit of a super-sized week of physical media (box sets will do that to you) but one worthy of appreciation and curiosity. Thankfully there are a number of very economical (in length) classics from the film noir era to appreciate. If you don’t already know one of the big plot twists of the ’70s sci-fi era you get your chance. You get one of the best films from the respective careers of Mario Bava...

In a week where Hollywood studios have cleared the deck in the wake of The Odyssey, Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy still have a bunch of reviews for you. They revisit one of the year’s best protest documentaries from Sundance (Everybody to Kenmure Street). Steve talks about seeing the musical on stage that was filmed for cinema (Hadestown: The Musical). Yorgos Lanthimos’ co-writer crafts another...

Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski take you through another week of physical media. Criterion has you covered from Mike Mills to Nagisa Ôshima. Butch and Sundance make na early appearance alongside Barbara Stanwyck. Giancarlo Giannini tries to solve some giallo murders, Ray Harryhausen takes you to an island of monsters or you can travel to one with Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney. Ray Liotta is a...

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy only have three movie reviews for you this week. But in their own rights they are all massive accomplishments. They begin with a new 4K Restoration of Ross McElwee’s landmark “Meditation on the Possibility of Romantic Love In the South During an Era of Nuclear Weapons Proliferation” (Sherman’s March). Fast-forward 40 years and they also discuss McElwee’s new docume...