Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy have eight movie reviews for you including two from their fest coverage the past year. Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane star in a Sundance fave (Between the Temples) and a game of cat-and-mouse between a serial killer and their prey that debuted at Fantastic Fest in 2023 (Strange Darling). Also on tap are three life…

Send us a Text Message. Well, this "wild ride" of comic book-to-film adaptations officially concludes with this episode. In Part Three, we take an in-depth look at the MCU and its interconnected storylines, explore Warner Brothers' response with the creation of Wonder Woman, and even give you a sneak peek into the 2025 world of Superman. We hope yo…

Peter Sobczynski joins Erik Childress again to talk physical media. This week you can go an early, personal work from Martha Coolidge and the debut western from Robert Benton. They talk thrillers that were ultimately remade with Amber Heard and Josh Hartnett plus the baffling dark comedy from Danny DeVito. Generational favorites range from an anima…

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy have ten reviews this week including going back into the archive to check out a new version of an infamous epic (Caligula: The Ultimate Cut). Jean Reno gets a special visitor (My Penguin Friend) and a mother must protect her child from a creature and Devon Sawa (Consumed). Eliot Page is reluctant to return home afte…

Couldn't be more thrilled to share the latest conversation I had with one of my favorite returning guests, actor/writer/director Keith Gordon who may remember as Arnie from John Carpenter's Christine. He's been on several times in the past to not only talk about his films and his career but particular movies he thinks you should seek out from a par…

Send us a Text Message. After last week’s comic book-style cliffhanger in part one, Mike swoops in to continue his comic book-to-movie adaptation anthology, covering the years 1998-2008. He kicks off with Wesley Snipes in Blade, explores the film births of X-Men, Spider-Man, and Iron Man, and does a deep dive into the darker evolution of the Batman…

Lots on the Blu-ray front this week and Peter Sobczynski joins Erik Childress to talk you through it. Criterion has a clean sweep nine-time Oscar winner in 4K and Arrow has something for the Sam Worthington fans out there. They talk fondly of a dark Seth Rogen effort and a much lighter comedy with violence that has given Rachel McAdams a line deliv…

After a three-week hiatus involving vacations and other commitments, Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy are back on the weekly movie review stint. Naturally they begin with a film they reviewed at Sundance eight months ago but with good reason for reminder cause the title says it all (Good One). Steve looks at a film about Samuel Beckett (Dance First…

Send us a Text Message. Mike wraps up the summer of cinema by kicking off the first episode of his three-part series exploring the history of comic books and their adaptation to cinema over the past 75 years. He delves into the evolution of superhero filmed serials from the 1940s, progressing to the big screen adaptations of iconic characters like …

Films are getting the 4K upgrade this week on the physical media show. Peter Sobczynski joins Erik Childress to talk about why Orson Welles made his fourth film along with the great fun of Run Lola Run. Perhaps the craziest tales are reserved for what became and almost became of one of Chuck Norris’ mid-80s Cannon fodder. There’s also a little Gucc…

On a special episode of the podcast, comic book expert Erik Laws returns to join Erik Childress to discuss the much ballyhooed release of Marvel’s team-up of Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman meant to correct past sins and hopefully plug the creative and success leak of their recent output. Does the film live up to its promise? Are the stakes there or…

Send us a Text Message. Mike talks with Beth (from our Marketing department) about her and her book club's experience with the Colleen Hoover novel "It Ends With Us." They discuss the delicate subject matter presented in the book and the forthcoming movie adaptation. Join us for early screenings of the film, held on Wednesday 8/7 at 7pm at our Belo…

This week in physical media expands the gauntlet between masterpieces, greatness, exploitation and outright garbage. In other words, Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski have a little something for everyone. They include a film from the ‘60s that was lost until the ‘90s, one of the first films from Jonathan Demme, one of the last films of Howard Haw…

Get it on, bang a gong, get it on! Patrick Ripoll (of 96 Greers) joins me once again, returning to discuss two horror films that left me a bit perplexed. About six years ago, I asked Patrick to come back on to review David Gordon Green's Halloween along with the Suspiria remake simply because I wanted to hear his thoughts. Upon walking out of both …

Send us a Text Message. In this episode, Mike reassures Tori (our Facilities Manager) that she doesn't need an extensive knowledge of the Marvel universe to enjoy the new Deadpool film. He explains that viewers can still be entertained, satisfied, and understand the film's premise without having been to Xavier's Institute for an education. However,…

Send us a Text Message. Mike and Erik Childress (Chicago Film Critics Association, Rotten Tomatoes) talk throwback/classic films that are scheduled through the end of 2024 in our CLASSIC CINEMAS Critic's Classics series, now showing at our Elk Grove VIllage location. This in-depth episode covers Flash Gordon, the 4K restoration of One False Move, I…

Some great titles to put into your physical media library this week and Peter Sobczynski is here with Erik Childress to help guide you through them. It all begins with one of the great films of the 1980s that put Tom Cruise on the path to stardom. Tom Hanks missed an Oscar nom but delivered one of his best performances for Paul Greengrass and Ang L…

Before each of them take their respective vacations, Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy have nine movies for you to check out or throw away. They include Guy Pearce in a Lee Tamahori film about warring Maori tribes (The Convert) and Baltasar Kormákur decades-spanning romantic saga (Touch). Documentaries cover the range of the career of one of our gre…

Send us a Text Message. Mike sits down with Chris Johnson to chat about the mid-summer 2024 movie slate. Mike continues to mine excitement for "the scariest movie in a long, long time..." 'Long Legs.' After seeing the early screenings, they then dig into a review of their next, must-see summer recommendation 'Fly Me to the Moon.' They talk about so…

Peter Sobczynski has the rundown on this week’s physical media with Erik Childress. Leading the way are French classics by Jean-Pierre Melville and Patrice Leconte. They talk about the controversies surrounding Todd Solondz third feature and the strange hiatus of director Robert Butler. 4K tries to clean-up a second helping of the Ghoulies and a Th…

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy do not skimp this week serving up 11 new reviews for you. Erik looks at Paul Raci as a spiritual guru who may have achieved a new kind of grief transcendence (The Secret Art of Human Flight) while Emma Roberts does Legally Blonde Goes To NASA (Space Cadet). Steve has a film about the Eichmann trial (June Zero) and t…

Send us a Text Message. Mike and Jim discuss the wonderful continuation of summer studio releases with a deeper focus on some scary selections: including their shared experience of seeing Mia Goth in 'MaXXXine' and Mike's first look at Nicholas Cage in 'Long Legs.' Don't listen to this one in the dark!…

For this excursion into something besides movies, in case you didn't know, I once hosted Voices & Visions and I would recruit friend and Austin-based journalist Dan Solomon to go back 20 years to talk about a year in music - an art form that I love every bit much as film. For this summer tradition, my guests and I curate a new list of ten favorite …

There is not a lot to add to your physical media collection this week. But what there is you will want to get your hands on. Peter Sobczynski joins Erik Childress to talk about the tortured history of one of Sam Peckinpah’s greatest westerns. Music stars in movies gets a little sillier with Weird Al Yankovic and Madonna. Silliness gets raised to an…

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy have eight movie reviews for you this week. They include a new film about religious fanaticism from the filmmakers behind Goodnight Mommy and The Lodge (The Devil’s Bath) plus a documentary about the horrific legacy of a questionable John Wayne film (The Conqueror: Hollywood Fallout). A Sundance film from 2023 with …

Send us a Text Message. Mike has an in-depth discussion with cinephile Kyle Johnson about his preview screenings of ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ and Kevin Costner’s ‘Horizon: An American Saga, Part I’.By Classic Cinemas

A pretty solid week for new Blu-ray and 4K arrivals that Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski talk you through. They include, arguably, David Lynch’s best film and the consequences if you choose an ice dancing show over it. Orson Welles’ first foray into cinematic Shakespeare as well as a special collection of the cavalcade of films released in the …

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy have seven films for you to hear about this week. Two you heard about before when June Squibb went into action mode on a phishing scam at Sundance (Thelma) and Rachel Sennott nannies a teenage girl (I Used To Be Funny). Still funny are the queer comedians featured in a new Netflix doc (Outstanding: A Comedy Revoluti…

Once again, the format has changed a little for an experiment. Not quite a magic trick if you will, but Erik and I hope to "incept" you with our collaborative ranking of a director's filmography (not a draft, repeat not a draft). Last time Erik Childress was on to talk Christopher Nolan, it was way back in 2011 - the very first year of this podcast…

Send us a Text Message. Mike & Jim discuss Jim’s preview screening of the new film ‘The Bikeriders’, a Jeff Nichols written and directed project which has some amazing local Illinois connections. Mike also lists his top 3.5 favorite films, and argues for others that might be on your list. They also discuss an opportunity to see Mission Impossible 2…

A lot of great titles for your physical media library and Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski are here to guide you through it. They include the debut films from the Wachowskis and Jeff Nichols. Plenty of noir to go around this week courtesy of Kino, Paul Schrader and a look at the new 4K Chinatown package. They discuss some of the Robocop follow-u…

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy have no anxiety reviewing eight movies this week. Especially when one is a replay of a movie they raved about at Sundance and won the Audience Award at their Chicago Critics Film Festival this year (Ghostlight). But Steve also talks about Jude Law and Alicia Vikander in a story about Henry VIII (Firebrand) as well a…

Send us a Text Message. With the premiere of Disney•Pixar's "Inside Out 2" just days away... Mike does a deep dive with some new pals, Jim and Beth (from the Classic Cinemas Marketing team) about being able to see the extended preview of the film at CinemaCon a few weeks back. They also discuss some upcoming films including "Tuesday" (Julia Louis-D…

It is a bit on the lackluster side of physical media releases this week but there are a few gems to get your wallets involved. Peter Sobczynski and Erik Childress talk about the final film from Rainer Werner Fassbinder and the final appearance of Alec Guinness. As series with four entries goes there is more love for Shrek than Species. The T&A teen…

On this six-movie week, Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy go back two years to revisit a Dakota Johnson comedy that debuted at Sundance in 2022 (Am I OK?). Erik goes back a couple of weeks to look at the true story of a Chinese immigrant turned eye surgeon (Sight). There are sharks in the Siene (Under Paris) and young women are getting whacked aroun…

Send us a Text Message. Mike shares the airwaves with fellow podcaster, movie reviewer, Michael Bay enthusiast, and general RIDE OR DIE companion, Diego Crespo @thediegocrespo from the Waffle Press. Mike and Diego dissect this week’s action blockbuster from Columbia Pictures - BAD BOYS: RIDE OR DIE!By Classic Cinemas

It may be a light week on the physical media front but that’s also less money to spend and there is some choice stuff discussed by Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski. They include Terry Gilliam’s seemingly impossible adaptation of a Hunter S. Thompson novel, more Johnny Depp in animated form, the tale of the first black regiment in the Civil War a…

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy get back into their reviewing ways with 10 new films this week. They include documentaries about an infamous movie app (Moviepass, Moviecrash), a filmmaker and his unfinished projects (Flipside) and the career of a bonafide genius (Jim Henson: Idea Man). Steve looks at a story of a 19th century Jewish boy raised as …

Send us a Text Message. Mike sits down with Chris Johnson (CEO, CPE) to discuss our premium large format theatre auditoriums and what makes our XQ PLFs so special an offering. Part movie-lover battonage, part full-on nerd tech talk...this podcast covers every aspect of why our theatre auditoriums are built and designed to such exacting specs, and w…

Peter Sobczynski returns to talk new Blu-rays with Erik Childress. This week includes the debut feature from Karyn Kusama and one of last year’s Oscar winners from Criterion. Arrow has some Guillermo Del Toro in 4K and Severin has a whole slew of Italian horror being upgraded. They talk about one of the films to get the rare “F” from Cinemascore an…

Six movies in theaters and on streaming are reviewed by Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy this week. They include a pair of documentaries about one of the greatest bands of all-time (The Beach Boys) and the death-defying pilots of the Air Force (The Blue Angels). The Monday-hating cat who loves lasagna gets the animated treatment (The Garfield Movie…

The latest and greatest of Blu-rays this week have Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski disagreeing on the films of Joe Carnahan. There are two Val Kilmer projects; one certainly better than the other (though it did produce a great John Frankenheimer story) as well as some early horror from Bob Clark and a more recent one from Osgood Perkins getting…

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy look at seven films this week. They include the latest directorial effort from Ethan Hawke (Wildcat) and the hilarious feature debut from Pamela Adlon (Babes). Horror gets a Danish sequel 30 years later (Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever) and Renny Harlin starts a new trilogy in the home invasion series (The Strangers:…

Send us a Text Message. Mike sits down to discuss the latest George Miller masterpiece and gets into some serious behind the scenes motivation for the creative process on how the movie came to exist in the first place. This is a 'DO NOT MISS' episode and according to Mike a 'DO NOT MISS' movie. See it at most CLASSIC CINEMAS this week!…

Send us a Text Message. Episode 7, "The Star Trek Series," needs a bit of a disclaimer — this is a HARD CORE Star Trek nerd-out sesh, in the best way possible. Mike sits down with Special Ops manager (and fellow Star Trek junky) Randy Pollock to discuss the most memorable points of the Star Trek films in Elk Grove Village's upcoming Star Trek film …

This week certainly has the latest and the greatest in Blu-rays. Depending on who you ask of course. If you inquire with Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski you will certainly here about one of the greatest westerns of all-time (Erik’s favorite) as well as a film that deserves to be among the very best of Sidney Lumet’s career. Michael Powell direc…