Movie Madness

Eight reviews this week from Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy run the gamut from good documentaries to surprisingly-not-so-bad to shockingly awful. Where do all of these films fit in? How do you feel about an action film from the director of Underwater with this name (Land of Bad) or the rookie secret service agent trying to save the President with this one (Air Force One Down)? Ewan McGregor takes a road trip with his addicted daughter (Bleeding Love) and Lily Sullivan stumbles upon an alien conspiracy (Monolith). Those documentaries include a scary one about Christian Nationalism (God & Country) and a more inspiring one about the history of black astronauts (The Space Race). Finally in theaters this weekend comes another musical biopic (Bob Marley: One Love) and another Sony Spider-Man adjacent comic book tale (Madame Web) that have their own set of problems. 0:00 - Intro 1:37 - Land of Bad 9:20 - Air Force One Down 16:28 - Bleeding Love 22:48 - God & Country 29:35 - Monolith 36:25 – The Spa

Peter Sobczynski again joins Erik Childress to tell you what’s available in physical media this week. You can stock up on your French auteurs, Eric Rohmer and Jean-Luc Godard. There are lions and Cagneys and Willy’s, oh my! They go through the good and mediocre in the pricey new 4K set from Sony and Peter offers his two cents on his choice for the best film of 2023. Plus nobody puts Kevin Bacon in the corner as both recall their experiences with the film that tried to stop him from dancing. 0:00 - Intro 0:59 – Criterion (Eric Rohmer’s Tales of Four Seasons) 6:39 – Kino (Godard Cinema and Trailer of a Film That Will Never Exist: Phony Wars, Madame DuBarry, Blood on the Sun, Man-Eater of Kumaon, Let's Dance) 22:20 – Paramount (Footloose 4K) 32:01 – Shout! Factory (Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny, Willy’s Wonderland) 40:56 – Sony (Columbia Classics Collection: Volume 4) 54:30 - New Theatrical Titles & TV on Blu-ray 1:02:39 – New Blu-ray Announcements

Seven new films get reviews from Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy this week. They include a new mistaken identity rom-com with Camila Mendes (Upgraded) and another story of a novelist plunged into a murderous plot (Ghostwritten). A teenage girl comes of age in the time of Terry Schiavo (Suncoast) while a trio of friends discover the harsher realities of growing up while on vacation in an award-winner from Cannes (How To Have Sex). Also for the second week in a row there is a Wim Wenders film, this time up for an Oscar (Perfect Days). A group of ancient nomads encounter an evil force (Out of Darkness) while our reviews are forced to encounter the latest and, perhaps, worst screenplay from Oscar-winner Diablo Cody (Lisa Frankenstein).   0:00 - Intro 1:49 - Upgraded 14:40 - Ghostwritten 19:48 - Suncoast 30:30 - Perfect Days 39:33 - How To Have Sex 49:46 - Out of Darkness 55:23 - Lisa Frankenstein 1:08:41 - Outro

Getting you caught up on the latest and greatest (and sometimes not-so-great) in blu-rays, Peter Sobczynski and Erik Childress run the gamut this week. They include Billy Wilder doing Agatha Christie and George Segal doing Michael Crichton. A film from the late Norman Jewison and a reimagining of the late Adrienne Shelley’s final film. Plus in maybe the biggest swing, going over arguably Robert Altman’s finest film and then diving into the career of Uwe Boll. 0:00 - Intro 1:15 – Criterion (McCabe and Mrs Miller) 8:55 – Kino (The Big Country, Witness for the Prosecution, The Thomas Crown Affair, Burnt Offerings) 29:10 - Massacre Video (Bloodrayne 4K) 41:12 – Shout Factory (Funeral Home, The Terminal Man) 47:29 – Decal (Waitress: The Musical) 54:18 – New Blu-ray Announcements 56:56 - Outro

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy return to the weekly beat of reviews with seven new titles this week. They include a new 3-D documentary from Wim Wenders (Anselm) and another with the master of giallo (Dario Argento Panico). Leah McKendrick writes, directs and freezes her eggs (Scrambled) plus you can learn all about the making of We Are The World (The Greatest Night In Pop). A pair of streamers serve up animation with an all-Asian cast (The Tiger’s Apprentice) and Charlie Kaufman adapts an anxiety-driven children’s book (Orion and the Dark). Finally, it is time to learn who the real agent….shhhh….we’re not supposed to say (Argylle). 0:00 - Intro 1:44 - Anselm 7:51 - The Tiger's Apprentice 13:44 - Dario Argento Panico 19:55 – The Greatest Night in Pop 37:21 - Scrambled 46:01 - Orion and the Dark 57:25 – Argylle 1:13:09 - Outro

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy returned to Park City in-person for the first time since 2020 and they brought back a lot of reviews. 18 films are discussed on the show including the latest works from Steven Soderbergh, the Zellner Bros. and the makers of Saint Frances. Jesse Eisenberg delivers his sophomore Sundance effort and it resulted in one of the bigger deals of the fest, though Erik offers his thoughts on the biggest sale. There is praise for Saoirse Ronan, Andre Holland, Carol Kane and Jason Schwartzman and less so for a title that speaks for itself. Documentaries that make you cry were in full effect as were ones that will raise your anxiety. There was something for everyone this fest and hopefully you will get to see them soon. 0:00 - Intro 4:38 - Ghostlight 9:40 - Sasquatch Sunset 16:19 - My Old Ass 22:40 - It’s What’s Inside 26:18 - The Outrun 32:46 - A Real Pain 40:38 - Presence 47:36 - Exhibiting Forgiveness 54:17 – Between the Temples 1:00:44 - Daughters 1:04:11 – Ibelin 1:11:42

Peter Sobczynski helps Erik Childress get caught up with a few weeks of Blu-ray releases. They include what may be John Sayles’ finest film along with one of the better Nicolas Cage movies that nearly got buried. There are movies with submarines and others with serial killers and stalkers plus a genuine animated gem you may have missed. One of the best film noirs musicals, post-Vietnam films are available this week along with the Marx Bros. and Rodney Dangerfield as an animated dog. (It’s not the gem.) Peter takes you into the world of Chantal Akerman and Coffin Joe while Arnold Schwarzenegger gets the 4K upgrade for both his comedy and one of his most iconic roles. 0:00 - Intro 2:25 – Criterion (Lone Star, Chantal Akerman Masterpieces 1968-1978, Trainspotting) 18:21 – Vinegar Syndrome (Red Rock West) 27:19 – Kino (Scarlet Street, The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming, Run Silent Run Deep, Coming Home, Kindergarten Cop) 51:48 – Arrow (The Conan Chronicles, Murphy’s War, Inside the Mind of Coff

A tradition that has gone absent for too long on the podcast has been this show that began with Sergio Mims and Erik Childress on WHPK Radio Chicago and continued on here. Films that has still yet to get the upgrade treatment on physical media and every time a new one emerges you can hear Sergio screaming down “WE GOT ONE!”  We are finally continuing what we started, Sergio, with Peter Sobczynski stepping in to offer his half of 20 titles that still remain dormant on DVD or no physical media whatsoever. Erik and Peter serve up their choices which include films about baseball, politics, journalism and murder. There’s a sci-fi musical and a concert film, true-life tragedies and even farces, satires and other films to laugh at. There is truly something here for everyone and it is time these films receive the upgrade they deserve.

The first new reviews of 2024 are here, even as a few late 2023 titles sneak into the mix. 13 in all starting with Anthony Hopkins, this time not as C.S. Lewis (Freud’s Last Session) and Renny Harlin dialing up some action with Aaron Eckhart (The Bricklayer). An Elvis, a Spock and a monkey go on a strange journey (He Went That Way) while Kaley Cuoco goes on a familiar one as another domesticated assassin (Role Play). MST3K’s Jonah Ray tries to get ahead of his neighbor (Destroy All Neighbors) and Kevin Hart leads a team through the air on a gold heist (Lift). Steve checks out the scary swimming pool (Night Swim) while J.A. Bayona revisits the real life horror of the Andes plane crash (Society of the Snow). Director Steve McQueen connects WWII to the pandemic (Occupied City) and Jake Johnson is forced to connect with someone or die (Self Reliance). Jason Statham burns phishing scammers (The Beekeeper), LaKeith Stanfield tries to one-up Jesus as the Messiah (The Book of Clarence) and a 20-year-old teen classic

The first Blu-ray show of 2024 with Peter Sobczynski and Erik Childress has got a little of everything. From Bob Hope to Brigitte Bardot and Chuck Norris to Charles Bronson. The directorial debuts of Andrew Davis and the Coen Bros. gets an upgrade as do the trilogies of Satyajit Ray and Park Chan-Wook (at least the second part of his.) Plus does Eddie Murphy’s stand-up hold up and how much is there to remember about Varsity Blues? 0:00 - Intro 2:34 - Criterion (Blood Simple 4K, Apu Trilogy 4K) 12:19 - Decal (Oldboy 4K) 16:49 - Paramount (Varsity Blues 4K, Raw) 36:32 - MGM (Romantic Comedy) 44:27 - Freestyle (Stony Island) 52:47 - Shout Factory (Forced Vengeance, St. Ives, Telefon) 1:09:28 - Kino (Road to Hong Kong, Split Image, Please Not Now) 1:25:08 - RLJE (Suitable Flesh) 1:26:40 - Universal (The Holdovers) 1:29:04 – New Blu-ray Announcements 1:31:59 - Outro

On our annual show, Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy make their choices for the standout films of 2023. They are joined once again by Collin Souter of the Christmas Movies Actually podcast to unveil his list as well. Their top 20 is punctuated with a lot of titles you are going to want to remember as they have. What are the ten films that found a spot on all three of their full lists and the four that each made their top tens? Stick until the end to hear their choices in a number of specialty categories that helped make the year so memorable. 0:00 - Intro 3:24 - #20-16 8:59 - #15-11 29:36 - #10-5 54:51 - #5-1 1:25:26 – Special Film Category Shout-Outs 2:05:53 - Outro

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy close out 2023 with 11 reviews of the season’s most anticipated films and award season hopefuls. Steve checks out the latest crime comedy from Francois Ozon (The Crime is Mine) while families can check out the latest animated work from Illumination (Migration). Jeffrey Wright is a professor tired of stereotypical depictions of black life in literature (American Fiction) and now there is a feature version of the musical version of Alice Walker’s novel (The Color Purple). Sports play a central role in films from directors George Clooney (The Boys in the Boat), Sean Durkin (The Iron Claw) and Michael Mann (Ferrari) while Bradley Cooper can’t help but get in on the biopic trend (Maestro). Can a new rom-com with Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell loosen things up (Anyone But You) or will pure fantasy need to be satisfied by the likes of Zack Snyder (Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire) and James Wan closing out the DC Extended Universe (Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom)? 0:00 - Intro

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy play a little catchup this week after being off the previous. This week’s review show includes a pair of documentaries about classic bands (Immediate Family) and a legendary filmmaker (Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer). Erik checks in a wintry monster movie (A Creature Was Stirring) and Steve looks at a filmed stage musical (Waitress: The Musical) and another Dumas adaptation (The Three Musketeers: D’artagnan). It’s the end of the year so it must mean apocalyptic disaster with a pair of films (Concrete Utopia, Leave the World Behind). Mark Wahlberg is another secret killer with a homelife (The Family Plan) which will not be mistaken for two of this year’s award contenders about being outside the walls of Auschwitz (The Zone of Interest) and Emma Stone breaking down the walls of womanhood (Poor Things). Finally, families have their choice between Hayao Miyazaki (The Boy and the Heron), Aardman Studios (Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget) and the origins of a candy maker (Wonka). 0

The last physical media show of 2023 is here just in time to get your last minute Christmas gifts. They include some wonderful stuff for families including one of the great short films of all time, the animation of Masaaki Yuasa and Shaun the Sheep plus one of the best versions of Pinocchio. One of Spike Lee’s early films gets the 4K upgrade as does films from Walter Hill, David Cronenberg and arguably the best of John Woo’s American resume. Peter Sobczynski and Erik Childress look at the end of the ‘80s 3-D era, a trio of horror titles throughout the decades and a remote-dropper musical. They also look at a trio of mysteries including an ‘80s cult classic, Peter Falk in all his complete ‘70s glory and the ultimate one from the ‘60s brought to vivid life by Oliver Stone in the ‘90s that is one of the must-owns to end out the year. 0:00 - Intro 1:08 – Criterion (The Red Balloon, Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio 4K) 10:06 - Warner Archive(The Great Ziegfeld) 13:53 – Sony (School Daze 4K) 17:12 – VCI (Horrors

Sony removed over 1,200 titles from their PlayStation store now gone from your library if you purchased them. That doesn’t happen with physical media and, as always, Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski have got you covered. You can get Terrence Malick in 4K and one of the crazier Christmas noirs you’ve ever seen. The Coreys and Stephen King are also in 4K not to mention upgrades for James Cameron and Steven Spielberg. Indiana Jones goes for one final ride and you can also discover the origins of the Star Wars Holiday Special. Plus, Peter and Erik debate the merits of both Point Break and Young Guns now getting their own 4K upgrades.   0:00 - Intro 1:14 - Criterion (Blast of Silence, Days of Heaven) 15:02 – Arrow (The Day of the Locust) 25:24 – Sony (Stand By Me 4K Steelbook) 33:34 – Shout Factory (Silver Bullet, Point Break) 50:55 – Paramount (Titanic) 1:02:35 – Warner Bros. (The Color Purple) 1:12:57 – Lions Gate (Young Guns) 1:25:07 – Kino (Tokyo Pop) 1:31:20 – Allied (A Disturbance in the Force

Awards season is upon us and both Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy are preparing their Chicago ballots. But is there anything amongst the seven new titles this week that will fit? There are a pair of documentaries from the legendary Frederick Wiseman (Menus Plaisirs – Les Troisgros) and about a tumultuous year in the life of award-winning musician Jon Baptiste (American Symphony). Steve has some words for an apocalyptic horror film (Everyone Will Burn) and Erik wishes that title applied to the latest body-switch comedy with Jennifer Garner (Family Switch). Do family holiday comedies get any better when you add Eddie Murphy battling the 12 Days of Christmas (Candy Cane Lane) or how about when John Woo takes dialogue away from his gunplay (Silent Night)? Finally the latest in the ultimate kaiju arrives from Toho Studios (Godzilla Minus One). Where does it rank within the series?   0:00 - Intro 1:42 - Menus Plaisirs – Les Troisgros 10:50 - American Symphony 23:47 - Everyone Will Burn 29:52 - Family Switch

Black Friday is gone but maybe Cyber Monday will extend to add these titles to your shopping list or your personal library. Peter Sobczynski joins Erik Childress to talk about remastered films from Bernardo Bertolucci, Michael Mann and an ‘80s cult classic from Fred Dekker and Shane Black. There are films with early roles for Annette Bening, Theresa Russell and a campy sci-fi classic with Jane Fonda. We’ve got a Peppard alert! Plus maybe one of the better horror anthologies, one of the better straight-to-video sequels and, without debate, one of the funniest films of all-time getting the 4K upgrade. 0:00 - Intro 2:17 - Arrow Films (Barbarella (4K), Blackhat (4K), Tremors 2: Aftershocks (4K)) 27:57 - RaroVideo (The Conformist) 30:58 - Kino (The Emerald Forest, The Last Tycoon, The Carpetbaggers, Valmont, The Monster Squad (4K)) 1:00:13 - Shout! Factory (Death Wish (NEW) (4K), Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (4K)) 1:20:18 - Paramount (The Naked Gun (4K)) 1:31:16 – New Theatrical and TV Titles 1:34:5

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy take you into the Thanksgiving holiday with six new reviews. They include a Melissa McCarthy Christmas film from the writer of Love Actually (Genie) and a documentary about one of the most infamous Christmas presents ever (Billion Dollar Babies: The True Story of the Cabbage Patch Kids). There are two new animated films including one from Disney (Wish) and another from Adam Sandler (Leo). Which do you think is the better one? Then Oscar-winner Emerald Fennell follows up Promising Young Woman with another sociopathic narrative (Saltburn) and Ridley Scott unveils his edited-down version of a big man-baby general (Napoleon). 0:00 - Intro 1:18 - Genie 11:44 - Billion Dollar Babies: The True Story of the Cabbage Patch Kids 26:46 - Leo   37:28 - Saltburn 51:24 - Wish 1:04:57 - Napoleon 1:20:04 – Preview of Next Week / Outro

Just in time to bulk up your holiday shopping lists there are some choice selections being released this week on Blu-ray from the classic to the pure nostalgic. Peter Sobczynski and Erik Childress guide you through it. Criterion has got some Scorsese and Chabrol while Kino goes Burt Reynolds and a bizarro ‘80s Christmas tale. Speaking of Scorsese, there’s another Lily Gladstone performance to check out from this year and Lions Gate releases two of their franchise players from the theaters as well. Erik and Peter go through the history of the Police Academy series while the same studio releases a complete set of a terrific sci-fi series Erik caught up with this year. For the moms (and lovers of all things love) there’s a classic Christmas romcom debuting in 4K and for the Dads (when they are done with Burt) Harrison Ford gets the 4K treatment on the run and Christopher Nolan’s latest is here for your stocking stuffers. 0:00 - Intro 1:40 - Criterion (Mean Streets (4K), La Ceremonie) 14:33 - Music Box (The U

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy have nine new reviews on this episode. They include documentaries about the tragedy of a Harry Potter stunt double (David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived) and another about a forgotten woman’s sexuality activist (The Disappearance of Shere Hite). There’s a feature about the unsung architect of the March on Washington (Rustin) and another from Taika Waititi about the World Cup team that lost 31-0 (Next Goal Wins). The comedy trio from Saturday Night Live craft their first feature (Please Don't Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain), Eli Roth crafts a feature out of his Grindhouse trailer (Thanksgiving) and The fuzzy-haired musical creatures are back for their third film (Trolls Band Together). Todd Haynes, Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore team up for a squirmy tale ripped from the tabloids (May December) and may the odds be ever in your favor for a new franchise prequel (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes). 0:00 - Intro David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived 11:42