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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

102:01

Episode 597: Big, Bold Love, Lies & Death

Movie Madness ·

2025/09/26

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy play a little catch-up this week but also replay their early review of Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, opening this week in case any of you missed it. Before that though they talk about a tribute to an iconic cult film celebrating its 50th anniversary (Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror). Gabriel Byrne reexamines his troubled life (Death of a Ladies Man) while Renny Harlin delivers the sequel to his horror reboot (The Strangers: Chapter Two)

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90:00

Episode 596: Zombies, Nazis & Disney

Movie Madness ·

2025/09/22

This week in physical media definitely has a type and Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski are here to let you know what to buy (or choose not to buy) this week. They include a trio of titles from Criterion including a recent Oscar winner. There is everything from Tsui Hark to Dolly Parton plus a dive into the creation of a sequel to one of the best and most successful comedies ever. Variations of zombies are created by Tom Savini, Danny Boyle and Tim Burton. Plus it is a helluva week for a

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100:47

Episode 595: Viva la Revolución

Movie Madness ·

2025/09/19

No one is being silenced on this podcast and we are keeping free speech going by reviewing 11 films this week. Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy go back to last year’s Fantastic Fest to revisit Alexandre O. Phillippe’s latest essay on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Chain Reactions). Mike Figgis goes behind the scenes of Francis Ford Coppola’s passion project (Megadoc) and there’s another documentary on a filmmaker who would probably be making ones for the Trump Administration today (Riefenstahl). In

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119:32

Episode 594: Smell The Glaive

Movie Madness ·

2025/09/15

This week in physical media certainly plays to the cult audiences that embraced them. That may not include an inspirational Ron Howard sports movie or the unnecessary remakes on the pile but Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski talk you through an early Lizzie Borden film and one of the craziest near-lost crime films of the ‘70s. There is fun stuff too from the film that launched the film careers of Bill Murray and Ivan Reitman to one of the greatest comedies and mockumentaries of all-time. Even

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75:30

Episode 593: A Fine Line Between Stupid & Clever

Movie Madness ·

2025/09/12

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy are back on the review beat with seven new films this week. Steve looks at a documentary about model and photographer Bunny Yeager (Naked Ambition) as well as the conclusion of everyone’s beloved big house (Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale). Corey Hawkins deals with a mysterious offer from Willem Dafoe (The Man In My Basement) and Dev Patel gets put through the folk horror wringer (Rabbit Trap). The film which opened this year’s Chicago Critics Film Festival is one of

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124:34

Episode 592: Highs, Lows and Dicks (Private & Public)

Movie Madness ·

2025/09/01

Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski look ahead in the world of physical media and reveal what you can add to your library this week and next. For those who have seen Spike Lee’s remake, Highest 2 Lowest, Crtierion offers up the Kurosawa original in OK. You may have been issued it when you first bought your DVD player but now you can get the TV sci-fi adaptation with a unique stake in box office history. Universal has upgraded a pair of Best Actress-winning biopics and Warner upgrades a horror

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129:22

Episode 591: We’re Gonna Need A Bigger Podcast

Movie Madness ·

2025/08/29

It is Labor Day weekend, the unofficial end of summer, and just before festival and awards season begins, Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy serve up 12 films to review and talk about. The wayback machine gets set to 2023 when they first reviewed the absolutely lovely new film with David Strathairn and Jane Levy from Sundance now in theaters (A Little Prayer). The machine goes back even further to reminisce upon Prince’s concert film (Sign O’ The Times) and the 50th anniversary Steven Spielberg’s

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103:22

Episode 590: Buy These Blu-rays Or We Will Taunt You...

Movie Madness ·

2025/08/25

Physical media is serving up a smorgasbord of films with reevaluations and those that have found their audiences over the year. They include a pair of LBGTQ films hovering around their 20th anniversaries. Horror remakes, prequels and sequel adjacent films as well a package of hard-to-find Larry Cohen projects. Martin Scorsese went to bat for a 1952 paranoia that was spoofed on MST3K while Quentin Tarantino found inspiration in the first of Shout Factory’s remastered Asian action releases. Michael

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92:38

Episode 589: Ethan, Don’t. Just…Don’t!

Movie Madness ·

2025/08/22

The summer continues to wind down but Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy still have eight reviews for you this week. Steve takes a look at one of the most successful films of all-time, outside of the United States (Ne Zha 2) as well as a Sophie Turner thriller the studio apparently wanted nobody to see or even hear about (Trust) while Erik looks at the new romance from Lasse Hallstrom (The Map That Leads To You). Then its time for Samara Weaving as a getaway driver (Eenie Meanie) and Riz Ahmed

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105:02

Episode 588: 15,000 Cars, Suddenly, By Magic

Movie Madness ·

2025/08/18

This week in physical media with Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski they look at everything from Italian neo-realism to blaxploitation. There is also James Stewart and his invisible rabbit, Jane Austen and her lovelorn sisters plus a little Jess Franco. One of Leslie Nielsen’s lesser known parodies is discussed along with the Coneheads feature and one of Adam Sandler’s most beloved characters. Erik goes to bat for what he feels is an underappreciated Ron Howard film and Peter goes into the bizarro

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114:28

Episode 587: Call Me Sometime When You Have No Class

Movie Madness ·

2025/08/15

It is another epic review week on the show with Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy tackling 11 films. They range from a documentary about comedians navigating their worst condition (Anxiety Club) to an animated film about horny dogs (Fixed). A black family deals with the aftermath of an intruder in their home (The Knife) while a toxic dead mother intrudes on the bodies of her wife and son (Went Up The Hill) not to mention the widowed rancher trying to keep her family and business together (East of

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87:18

Episode 586: Let’s Get Some F#!$in’ FRENCH Toast!

Movie Madness ·

2025/08/11

This week in physical media with Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski they look at a staple of Egyptian film noir as well as a noir box that features an early version of Gatsby. There’s a double feature with Sylvia Sidney and a double dip of Sleepaway Camp. Hear about the horror film that Peter despises as well as the better one also getting the 4K upgrade. The Poseidon Adventure gets a modern remake and Oliver Stone does his 9/11 film. Erik also proves to be a bit fonder of the trio of anniversaries

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115:11

Episode 585: Choose Your Weapon And Draw

Movie Madness ·

2025/08/09

Lots of movies this week on the show. 11 of them to be precise with full reviews from Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy. Steve flies solo with Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan back in the wrong bodies (Freakier Friday) plus a new serial killer thriller (Strange Harvest) and a documentary focusing on the fandom of Eminem (Stans). Erik looks at a story of young sisters trying to avoid being separated after their mom dies (What We Hide). There’s an actual music documentary about an artist taken too

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76:57

Episode 584: Are You Ready For Your Close-Up?

Movie Madness ·

2025/08/04

It is a light week for physical media but that does not mean there aren’t some heavy hitters. Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski are here to catch you up including a pair of grim anti-war films from Kon Ichikawa. There is a whole new batch of martial arts films from the Shaw Brothers. Peter Weir’s dad-movie maritime epic gets an upgrade as does a great starring vehicle for David Dastmalchian. They talk about Sam Peckinpah’s song-inspired Hal Needham film and the 40th anniversary of a John Cusack

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139:32

Episode 583: Breakthrough Comedies and MST4K

Movie Madness ·

2025/07/28

Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski guide you through a wacky week of physical media. It includes the breakthrough comedies from Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler. Eddie Murphy makes his first foray into fantasy and Norm MacDonald gets three versions of his first starring role. A cinephile incel turns to murder. Meanwhile, Pulp Fiction gets a spinoff and Diabolik gets three. There is blaxploitation, Elaine May, Jon Cryer going back to school and Fu Manchu. Find out who Cliff Twemlow is and what William

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84:42

Episode 582: First Steps and Big Swings

Movie Madness ·

2025/07/25

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy review seven movies for you this week. They include a documentary about one of the most famous journalists of her time (Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything). Erik check out Hell in the Pacific meets the Creature from the Black Lagoon (Monster Island) while Steve looks at a new romantic thriller from Michael Winterbottom (Shoshana). They catch up on a quirky relationship comedy they saw at Sundance (Oh, Hi!). Pete Davidson goes the horror route with a mysterious

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129:56

Episode 581: The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Movie Madness ·

2025/07/23

Just a few weeks after their incredible disappointment with James Gunn’s Superman (which they briefly revisit), Erik Childress and comic book expert Erik Laws dive back into comic book cinema with Marvel’s latest attempt to do justice to the Fantastic Four. After two films by Tim Story and the infamous disasters of 2015 and the shelved Roger Corman version of the ‘90s, the foursome has never endeared itself to Childress but the results may surprise you. They delve into the creation and treatment of

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119:14

Episode 580: Your French Fries Are Drowning And Stuff

Movie Madness ·

2025/07/21

Physical media offers a lot of pleasures this week. Do Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski feel guilty about any of them? Certainly not of Jack Nicholson’s collaboration with Mike Nichols or one of their “Why Is This Not On Blu-ray” titles getting the 4K treatment. There’s a little history of the nudie plus Bertolucci does a family film. An MST3K selection may not be worth all the skewering though neither was Joe Dante’s snakebit summer effort from 1998. All that plus Larry Cohen’s grossly satirical

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86:15

Episode 579: I Know What You Did Last Pandemic

Movie Madness ·

2025/07/18

Seven new movies are available in theaters and on streaming this week. At least the seven reviewed by Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy this week. They include the latest thriller from Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cloud) and the latest wannabe thriller starring Bella Thorne (Saint Clare). TV pioneer Shari Lewis finally gets her own documentary (Shari & Lamb Chop) while a cinema-loving young woman gets a chance to mingle with the people she thought she dreamt about (Finally Dawn). Embeth Davidtz makes his

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87:16

Episode 578: Battle Beyond The Frailty

Movie Madness ·

2025/07/14

Physical media serves up some classics as well as some that deserve more modern classic status. Peter Sobczynski may disagree with some of them but he joins Erik Childress again this week to bring you the latest and greatest. They include a restored series from Francois Truffaut as well as some oddities involving Fred MacMurray and the “involvement” of The Three Stooges. There are sequels for Robocop and the Ghoulies as well as some more WWII hijinks for Brad Pitt. One of the great westerns of

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