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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

74:07

Episode 636: Everybody’s Taken By The Brain Attack

Movie Madness ·

2026/03/06

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy have seven movie reviews for you this week including a remake of a 40-year old hockey film (Youngblood). A reckless young man is held captive like a dog (Heel) and a woman is held captive like a child (Dolly) while Milla Jovovich goes on the offensive to rescue her daughter from sex traffickers (Protector). Alan Ritchson faces off against an alien presence (War Machine). Pixar’s latest has a girl who becomes a beaver (Hoppers) and Maggie Gyllenhaal offers her brand

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77:13

Episode 635: Blast Off With Christopher Lee & Asia...

Movie Madness ·

2026/03/02

This week in physical media with Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski they look at one of the rarely talked about Coen Bros. films, John Ford basically doing Red Dust again and Herschell Gordon Lewis’ film about a Chicago garage band. There’s also the Karate Kid series continuation, a Sundance short that became a Sundance film plus a whole bunch of Christopher Lee and Asia Argento.1:52 - Criterion (The Man Who Wasn’t There)13:15 - Warner Archive (Mogambo)20:58 - AGFA (Blast-Off Girls)29:40 - Sony

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83:04

Episode 634: What’s Your Favorite…Oh Never Mind

Movie Madness ·

2026/02/27

It is a pretty substandard week for movies. Even moreso than usual. But Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy power through and may find at least one worth your time. Could it be the story of a serial killer and possession (The Mannequin)? Or how about the one with Ving Rhames training a wannabe female boxer to become…a manager (Uppercut)? There’s a documentary about Paul McCartney after leaving The Beatles (Man on the Run) and Jessica Chastain in a toxic relationship with an immigrant (Dreams). Priyana

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134:21

Episode 633: I’m Mad As Hell And I’m Going To T.A.G. You

Movie Madness ·

2026/02/23

Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski take you through another week in physical media and it’s a pretty great week. You can get one of Scorsese’s first, Richard Pryor’s last concert film and even some early Matt LeBlanc. Peter shows some fondness for Lori Petty’s bizarre comic book adaptation and even a little Troma. One of Erik’s “Why is this not on blu-ray” choices gets its debut courtesy of Synapse. 20 years before Jurassic Park there was the original Michael Crichton amusement park. The pair

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68:06

Episode 632: All You Need Is A Little Kill And A Lot...

Movie Madness ·

2026/02/20

Disney & 20th Century Studios did not want them to see Psycho Killer this week, but Erik Childress & Steve Prokopy still have six films to talk about. Steve delves into Baz Luhrmann’s lost footage film (EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert). A woman seeks to constantly avenge her daughter (Redux Redux), two Game of Thrones stars reunite for some folk horror (The Dreadful) and would you believe there’s another zombie outbreak (This Is Not A Test). Harry Melling enters into a domme relationship with

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99:14

Episode 631: When The Legend Becomes Fact…

Movie Madness ·

2026/02/16

A trend certainly develops along this week’s path of physical media with Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski. It is a week that offers musicals from Ernst Lubitsch, a double (or, actually, triple) dose of Van Damme and one of the craziest sci-fi horror films you will ever see. But it is also a week about truth and liberties. They go from the music side of the aisle in biopics about Benny Goodman and Jim Morrison. Diane Keaton takes you into the various depictions and mysteries of the afterlife

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87:52

Episode 630: You’ve Got Red On You

Movie Madness ·

2026/02/13

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy are back on the review beat with eight new titles this week. They include another video game adaptation (The Mortuary Assistant), Juliette Lewis becomes a chair (By Design) while an actual goat tries to become one (GOAT). The world is in trouble with green alien fungus (Cold Storage) as well as AI in Gore Verbinski’s first film in nine years (Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die). Chris Hemsworth is feeling the heat as a thief from Mark Ruffalo and Halle Berry (Crime 101)

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49:00

Episode 629: Sunday Is For Lovers…And Yakuza?

Movie Madness ·

2026/02/09

A lot of rescheduling leaves not a lot to talk about this week in physical media but Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski still power through. They include one of the most inventive (and expensive) comedies of all-time, a Johnnie To action film, Viggo Mortensen in one of his first starring roles. Finally, you have the cable staple that was the first pairing of Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner that in more ways than one led to the title of this week’s episode.3:10 - Criterion (Playtime (4K))17:06 -

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113:54

Episode 628: The Sundance Film Festival 2026 (aka...

Movie Madness ·

2026/02/05

Sundance is leaving Park City and after attending since 2003, Erik Childress looks ahead to the festival’s move to Boulder in 2027. But before then its; one last dance in Utah as Steve Prokopy and him countdown over 30 films they saw at the festival. New films from Olivia Wilde, Gregg Araki and Macon Blair. Ethan Hawke continues his roll with one of the best and biggest films while John Turturro gets one of the great roles of his career. Some of the best documentaries about Salman Rushdie, Marianne

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135:14

Episode 627: Before They Were Remakes (And After)

Movie Madness ·

2026/02/02

After a brief hiatus for Sundance we are back to get you caught up on this week’s physical media. Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski look at a pair of enjoyable larks in the careers of John Woo and Jonathan Demme. There is the fun hangout movie that was just celebrated at the film festival where it had its premiere as well as one of the early Rolling Stones concert films. SXSW premiered one of the great twisted films about capitalistic depravity and Arrow does it justice here. There is also some

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124:58

Episode 626: The Fabulous Stains Falls Mainly On The...

Movie Madness ·

2026/01/19

Another week in physical media with Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski and it is a loaded one. Criterion offers up some classic Errol Flynn and the final film of legend John Huston. You can also check out the first directorial effort of John Milius and one of the many men-in-a-car films of David Ayer. Speaking of vehicles, you can hear about one of the great chase sequences of the 1980s or the one that has some MF snakes in it. There’s a history lesson in Ma and Pa Kettle plus the great Woody

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99:23

Episode 625: Comedy Is When ICE Falls Into An Open Sewer

Movie Madness ·

2026/01/16

Before heading off to Sundance next week, Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy bring you ten new movie reviews. Erik looks at the anime adaptation of the text that inspired Edge of Tomorrow (All You Need Is Kill) and a Palestinian epic of family and loss that people need to see (All That’s Left of You) while Steve checks out the latest film about family from the Dardenne Brothers (Young Mothers). On the documentary side there is the tale of a wrestler who was born with Crouzon’s Syndrome (Standout: The

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87:01

Episode 624: You Shot Up My Battleship

Movie Madness ·

2026/01/12

Impact-Site-Verification: 1897387360It’s the first new physical media roundup of 2026 with Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski. They include Jim Jarmusch’s love-it-or-hate-it western and Val Kilmer’s Native American murder mystery. They debate the volcano movies of 1997 and remind everyone of Kevin Spacey’s alien movie. One of the great, seemingly forgotten, Stephen King adaptations gets an upgrade as does perhaps the best Steven Seagal film and another of John Woo’s classics. A lot of great action

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99:05

Episode 623: Scorched Earth, Crushed Souls & Ripped...

Movie Madness ·

2026/01/09

The movie year of 2026 begins in earnest this week on the podcast with Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy looking at ten films, some of which are expansions of 2025 releases. There’s a Harry/Sally-like rom-com (People We Meet on Vacation). Steve checks out a documentary of a famed writer and Holocaust survivor (Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire), plus a pair of true stories with Lucy Liu caring for her schizophrenic son (Rosemead) and the tale of an emergency call from a six-year-old trapped in a car in Gaza

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172:54

Episode 622: Why Is This Not On Blu-ray? 2026

Movie Madness ·

2026/01/06

A yearly tradition continues with Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski carried over from our time with the late, great Sergio Mims as they ask the question that is the very title of these episodes. Both Erik and Peter have selected 10 titles each of films that are still languishing only on DVD and not in a higher-grade format (at least not in North America.) They include classic modern comedies of the ‘80s and ‘90s, a heist film, and one of the earliest appearances of a beloved comedian and the song

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115:12

Episode 621: The Best Films of 2025

Movie Madness ·

2026/01/02

As we always do to kick off the new year we take one more look at last year. Focused primarily on the positive (with maybe a couple parting shots), Steve Prokopy once again joins Erik Childress to countdown their top ten films along with their runners-up. They are once again overjoyed to continue their yearly tradition and welcome Collin Souter of the Christmas Movies Actually podcast to join them with his list. A lot of great films for everyone to catch up with plus shout-outs of more movies with a

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116:28

Episode 620: James Cameron Blue Himself Again

Movie Madness ·

2025/12/19

On the final Movie Madness episode for 2025, Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy review nine movies for the holidays. They include a documentary about Seymour Hersh breaking the stories on human rights atrocities (Cover-Up) while Wagner Moura is up against political turmoil in Brazil (The Secret Agent). Even water polo has bullies as it turns out (The Plague) and the job market becomes actual murder in the latest from Chan Wook-Park (No Other Choice). Will Arnett separates from Laura Dern and tries

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171:59

Episode 619: That’ll Do For The Year In Blu

Movie Madness ·

2025/12/15

Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski close out the year in physical media with a lot of suggestions for your Christmas baskets. For the more adventurous who don’t mind a little darkness with their holidays you have Paul Thomas Anderson’s adult film industry epic and the booze-filled trip through sin city that won Nicolas Cage his Oscar. There is sci-fi anime, David Cronenberg’s tale of infection and the Wachowskis’ epic journey of conspiracy and souls. Joe Dante’s sprawling dare of a film experience

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68:29

Episode 618: Will You Take The Ella McCay Challenge?

Movie Madness ·

2025/12/12

As we approach the end of the year, Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy still have six reviews for this week. They include a documentary about the inventor of Pantone (The King of Color) as well as Mamoru Hosoda’s anime about a princess avenging her father’s death (Scarlet). The Ripley-like influencer from a 2022 thriller is on the prowl again (Influencers) as is the guy from the ‘80s who dressed like Santa Claus and killed a bunch of people but this time with a derivative twist (Silent Night, Deadly

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132:49

Episode 617: You Pre-What Now?

Movie Madness ·

2025/12/09

Just a few weeks until Christmas and there is plenty of physical media to fit under the tree as Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski’s roundup this week’s selections. They include a little Powell and Pressburger and some Oscar nominees from Penny Marshall and Mira Nair. There is some more from Dan Curtis, a giant snake and one of Robert Altman’s more obscure oddities. Lionsgate alone has one of the great making of documentaries of all time, Kevin Smith’s hilarious riff on religion and faith plus the

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642 results

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