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PODCAST

Movie Madness

Movie Madness is a weekly podcast hosted by Chicago film critic Erik Childress presenting movie reviews, interviews, film festival coverage, DVDs, awards, box office and much more! erikthemovieman.substack.com

tv & film visual arts

All Episodes

59:27

Episode 376: Angry Marked Men

Movie Madness ·

2023/04/20

We take another look at Blu-rays this week with Peter Sobczynski who along with Erik Childress do not have a lot of nice things to say about some recent theatrical offerings coming to physical media. But there are kind words to be found. Just not for William Goldman. However on the positive front there is a terrific everyday kind of thriller about being a working mom and some choice offerings from Kino with Irene Dunne, Buster Crabbe, Lon Chaney and Basil Rathbone. Plus new 4K offerings from

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01:00:45

Episode 375: F For Feeling

Movie Madness ·

2023/04/11

Peter Sobczynski returns to get you up to speed on what to add to your physical media collection. You may want to skip some of the bad horror on the show but there are also war movies and westerns featuring Steve McQueen, Gary Cooper and Bob Newhart! There’s a musical from Jacques Revette, a film from Patrice Leconte and a new 4K edition of one of Terry Gilliam’s best. Peter also certainly wants you to know about a film with Lea Seydoux that flew under the radar at the end of last year and that he

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02:17:58

Episode 374: Plumbers, Pipes and Hot Air

Movie Madness ·

2023/04/08

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy cover another dozen films for you this week. Or at least 11 films and one powerful docuseries they revisit from Sundance (Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields). The films include a pair of crime capers (One Day as a Lion, The Innocent), an action film with one of the John Wick henchmen (The Fist of the Condor) and a documentary about the Child’s Play franchise (Living With Chucky). There is also a bizarro Cast Away Lifetime-esque romance (One True Loves), a bizarre comedy

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01:07:25

Episode 373: It’s a Big Easy Midnight Run

Movie Madness ·

2023/04/05

Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski look at this week’s Blu-ray releases including a rather dour but excellent film with Damian Lewis and a flavorful, sexy, pulpy thriller making its debut on Blu. Peter recalls one of the weirder titles in Kino’s new Film Noir collection and they also go through the run of Star Trek’s Next Generation films as well as Jon Hamm as the new Fletch. A trio of new 4K’s from Warner Bros. gives us some of the best from Humphrey Bogart, James Dean and Paul Newman. Finally,

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02:02:44

Episode 372: (Dis)Honor Among Gamers

Movie Madness ·

2023/04/01

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy discuss 13 movies this week. Well, Erik listens a lot as Steve saw a lot this week including a religious documentary (In Viaggio: The Travels of Pope Francis), Bruce Willis in a virtual Possessor remake (Assassin), Thomas Haden Church looking for aliens (Acidman) and horror films based around sound (The Unheard) and as little sound as possible (Enys Men). Steve also tackles the bizarre Casablanca Records biopic (Spinning Gold) and the latest bizarro from Quentin

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01:25:19

Episode 371: Leaving You Breathless (And Probably...

Movie Madness ·

2023/03/29

Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski look at this week’s new Blu-ray releases and it is quite the deep dive into eclectic taste. Criterion has one of the early films of a pioneering female director. Terrorists are trying to blow up the Super Bowl, kids battle aliens, a teenager searches for her mom and Natasha Lyonne goes up against Vincent Gallo. There are films with John Barrymore and Van Heflin, Parker Posey’s first starring vehicle, a stylized actioner that could have been The Boys but figured

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55:48

Episode 370: John Wick Explodes People. ‘Nuff Said?

Movie Madness ·

2023/03/25

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy have a shortened week of movie reviews focusing on just five for the time being. They include a dark fable starring Adèle Exarchopoulos (The Five Devils) and a documentary on a European rock tour that had implications back home (What the Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat and Tears). Zach Braff directs Florence Pugh in a tale of addition (A Good Person) and Sally Hawkins goes looking for Richard III (The Lost King). Finally, Keanu Reeves is back in the rare franchise

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01:37:17

Episode 369: Streets of Dragonfire

Movie Madness ·

2023/03/23

Catching you up on the latest in Blu-rays, Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski look at offerings from John Woo, David Lynch, Bob Hope, Laurence Olivier and Dario Argento. That is just for starters. Peter gets to weigh in on some of his least favorite films from 2022 and one that pleasantly surprised him in 2023. They look back on a new edition from softcore master, Zalman King, as well as a barrage of new 4K releases that include a real gem from horror maestro, Wes Craven, working a bit outside his

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01:43:29

Episode 368: SHAZAM!!! OK, Don’t Scream!

Movie Madness ·

2023/03/18

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy return to catch you up on two weeks of movies including Alec Baldwin and Anne Heche in a disaster film (Supercell) and a new animated film on Netflix (The Magician’s Elephant). One of the Farrelly Bros. reunited with Woody Harrelson coaching an intellectually-challenged basketball team (Champions) and Kiernan Shipka grows up with an intellectually-challenged parent (Wildflower). Adam Driver is stranded on a planet with dinosaurs (65) and Willem Dafoe is an art thief

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01:29:24

Episode 367: The Running Man and the Reverse Cyrano

Movie Madness ·

2023/03/09

Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski are back to get you caught up on your physical media and it runs the gamut from the 1930s up until the Oscars this weekend including one Oscar for Joan Crawford and another hopefully for Sarah Polley. There is also Greta Garbo, Susan Hayward and Shirley Temple. A film about making the perfect man and another teen comedy about hoping to romance the perfect woman. Sony has some 4K editions of late ‘90s action and the pair fondly remember some 1980s Schwarzenegger

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44:53

Episode 366: The 2023 SXSW Film Festival (Curtain...

Movie Madness ·

2023/03/08

For the better part of the last 20 years covering film festivals, I used to do a preview piece for eFilmCritic about South by Southwest called “10 Films To See.” Now that the site is no more I am bringing it to the Movie Madness podcast and offering those attending my suggestions to get on their schedule. They include a number of terrific documentaries about television and music, films where women take control, scary (and hopeful) films about technology and THE horror film to see where one of our

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01:12:37

Episode 365: Can You Take Me Lower?

Movie Madness ·

2023/03/04

The weekly movie reviews come at you quick this week with five new titles. Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy have opinions on all five including an uncomfortable tale of grooming that was chosen for the Chicago Critics Film Festival in 2022 (Palm Trees and Power Lines). Michael Shannon pretends to be an infamous author (A Little White Lie) and Stephen King’s evil kids get a prequel of sorts (Children of the Corn). Guy Ritchie is is inexplicably back with another action comedy (Operation Fortune:

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01:37:36

Episode 364: An Adventure 27 Years In The Making

Movie Madness ·

2023/03/01

Some great new blu-rays this week to bulk up your physical media collections, especially in 4K. Criterion delivers one of the seminal comedies of the 1980s, Denzel Washington wins another Oscar and Peter Sobczynski reveals which film he would be happy to see win an Oscar this year. Francis Ford Coppola finally puts out an authentic cut, Indiana Jones gets an origin story and Dustin Hoffman has an awful time in the dentist chair. A pair of horror classics get their due in 4K and if you missing Rocky

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01:11:35

Episode 363: Jesus Freaks And A Lot Of Cocaine

Movie Madness ·

2023/02/27

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy look at six new movies this week. They include an acclaimed film from Ireland you may have heard about on our best-of-2022 show (The Quiet Girl) and a feature version of Idris Elba’s BBC series (Luther: The Fallen Sun). The star of Sex Education brings the author of Wuthering Heights to life (Emily) and hippies become Jesus freaks (Jesus Revolution). Finally, David Harbour is a silent apparition in a new family’s home (We Have a Ghost) and you may have heard the one

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01:06:44

Episode 362: Dazed, Confused And In Love With Emma...

Movie Madness ·

2023/02/21

Find out what you can get on Blu-ray this week with an update from Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski. They take a remembrance on the first time each of them saw Dazed and Confused, now in a new edition from Criterion. Blue Underground has a pair of Jess Franco titles newly minted in 4K. Jean Reno hunts a serial killer, Dean Stockwell is a werewolf and Steve McQueen magnificently fights Eli Wallach and throws a car from the Marina Towers in Chicago. There is also Catherine Deneuve’s only Oscar

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01:04:27

Episode 361: Small Men And Such Tiny Little Men

Movie Madness ·

2023/02/18

The weekly movie edition goes lite this week as Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy look over five new movies. They include one of the best horror films Steve saw at a film festival last year (Huesera: The Bone Woman) and a darkly comic thriller about proving one’s manliness that is one of the best films of the early year (The Integrity of Joseph Chambers). Steve looks at the second film from a quickly rising filmmaker (Of An Age) and the pair look at a detective yarn from an older master (Marlowe)

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01:57:19

Episode 360: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Movie Madness ·

2023/02/17

Comic book expert, Erik Laws, returns to talk with Erik Childress about the third Ant-Man film and the beginning of Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Phase 4 did not close out well by either of their standards so they were certainly in the mood for a good palette cleanser. Unfortunately, this one did not go down nearly as smoothly as the previous films with Paul Rudd. They wonder if Kevin Feige has checked himself out more than imagined and why the latest entries have been so bad at melding

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01:00:15

Episode 359: Truffaut, Redford and The Fabelmans

Movie Madness ·

2023/02/15

Peter Sobczynski returns for an update on the Blu-ray scene with Erik Childress. Between cylindrical objects in the sky and noxious chemicals causing evacuations you might think Kino was marketing its collection of new Francois Truffaut films. Criterion puts out what may be the definitive version of a Shakespeare classic and Shout Factory has your martial arts covered. There are also more recent standouts of Asian cinema, a Rolling Stones concert and a tribute to a favorite movie of Peter’s father

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01:33:10

Episode 358: Everybody’s Last Anniversary Dance

Movie Madness ·

2023/02/12

Seven new movies and a modern classic release this week. Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy are here to tell you what to check out, if anything. They reflect a bit on James Cameron’s Titanic back in theaters for its 25th anniversary and then Erik tackles a new romcom with shades of a film in its 23rd anniversary (At Midnight). Steve looks at a pair of horror films about getting lost in the desert (The Outwaters) and getting lost in religion (Consecration). Then its back to “romcoms” including a long

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01:15:46

Episode 357: The Wonderfully Weird With Campbell &...

Movie Madness ·

2023/02/08

There’s a little something for everyone this week on the Blu-ray scene. Especially if you like it weird. Peter Sobczynski joins Erik Childress again to talk about Criterion’s release of one of the landmarks of international cinema. Barbara Hershey takes on apartheid and Rory Calhoun explores as Marco Polo. Peter chimes in on the Black Panther sequel while there are also new 4K releases of an Oscar-winning musical and a charming zombie romcom. Then it gets weirder with a campy sequel getting its own

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