Another light week for physical media but a fun one – especially for those nostalgic for the early ‘90s. Peter Sobczynski joins Erik Childress to talk about Criterion’s upgrade of a multi-part French masterpiece from the ‘80s. They share thoughts on The Most Dangerous Game riff that got snakebit by real-world tragedies and Covid. Goldie Hawn and Ch…

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy have eight movie reviews this week including revisiting one of their favorites from Sundance, a twisted alternate version of Cinderella (The Ugly Stepsister). Steve looks at another cabin-in-the-woods-horror (Call of the Void), a documentary about drummers (Count Me In) and Catherine Deneuve as Beradette Chirac (The…

It’s been a little light out there for titles in physical media world but this week has no shortage of interesting ones and Peter Sobczynski joins Erik Childress to talk you through them. They include one of Wong-Kar Wai’s most remembered films and John Sayles’ foray into studio filmmaking in the ‘80s. John Wayne goes to war and then later goofs of…

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy have seven movies to talk about this week. They range from a documentary about one of the music world’s most talked about relationships (One to One: John & Yoko) and an animated story of Jesus told through the mouth of Dickens (The King of Kings). The Michaels – Cera & Angarano – go on a road trip (Sacramento) and S…

Another light week for physical media but Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski have you covered with one of the greatest comedies of all time and one of Peter Sellers’ overlooked gems. There is film noir, a sorority massacre and a pair of films covered on The Friendship Dilemma podcast. They include Ryan Reynolds in the friend zone with Amy Smart an…

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy have reviews of eight new movies this week. They revisit one of the best films they saw at Sundance this year (The Ballad of Wallis Island) while Erik handles this week’s latest video game adaptation (A Minecraft Movie). Public domain puts Steamboat Willie into horror (Screamboat) and how do they like dem apple on d…

If you missed a number of recent films in theaters then this is really the Blu-ray week for you. Beyond those, Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski still have some titles for you to consider if you can’t get enough of Nicholas Hoult in vampire films or you really like those new digital shorts on SNL. There’s also the tale of graverobbers that took t…

Blu-rays, 4Ks, physical media galore this week as Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski guide you through another week. They include upgrades of a great Gene Hackman film and another from Alan Rudolph by Criterion. There’s early work from Rudolph Valentino and the late George Armitage. Horror goes from brain-inhabiting slugs to a black mamba, child m…

Erik Childress & Steve Prokopy have nine movies for you this week. It all starts by hitting the way back machine for their 2023 review of a Sundance film delayed by the controversy over its star (Magazine Dreams). There is also an apocalyptic musical fantasy (O’Dessa) and Bill Skarsgard is trapped in Anthony Hopkins’ fancy car (Locked). Sci-fi goes…

Erik Childress has been traveling to Austin for over 20 years for the annual South by Southwest Film Festival. He is back to tell you all about 19 films that he saw this year. Among the films you can see soon are the return of Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively to the world of simple favor. Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega trying to survive the revenge of a …

Peter Sobczynski joins Erik Childress again to get you caught up on a couple weeks of new physical media. They include drama from Charlie Chaplin and Michael Mann’s feature debut. Godzilla returns as does the creepy Roger Corman sci-fi of the early ‘80s. Renny Harlin brings the sharks, Skippy from Family Ties battles a heavy metal killer and Peter …

Movie reviews continue on the show with seven new releases this week. Steve Prokopy looks at the chaos of a young woman and her Zambian family (On Becoming a Guinea Fowl) while Samara Weaving plays a pop star dealing with a stalker (Borderline). John Malkovich is another pop star whom Ayo Edebiri discovers may be part of a cult (Opus). Daffy Duck a…

Physical media never takes a week off but sometimes they sleep in a little. Such as this light week that has Peter Sobczynski and Erik Childress starting off with a stone-cold classic thriller from Criterion upgraded to 4K. Kino has more film noir, a double feature with Agatha Christie AND Bert I. Gordon plus the terrifying presence of Klaus Kinski…

Another light week of releases, but are any of them good? Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy talk you through five of them including a documentary on a better person in charge of the Washington Post (Becoming Katharine Graham). Ed Harris factors into two releases this week including a woman manifestsing her PTSD through her fellow soldier (My Dead Fr…

Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski run down titles you can get on physical media this week and, not gonna lie, there’s a lot of baggage. There’s the Mick Jagger film that say on the shelf for two years along with Lindsay Lohan’s collaboration with Paul Schrader and William Friedkin’s infamous Al Pacino murder mystery set within the gay community. …

It’s a light week for movies so Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy work with what they have with four titles that you may or may not want to work with. They include a new Chicago horror film from director Mickey Keating (Invader). Daisy Ridley is a window washer who goes from pane to McClane when eco-terrorists take over her building (Cleaner). Chris…

It’s physical media time with Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski guiding you through this week’s releases which includes a pair of late indie staples from the ‘80s now in 4K. There’s a pair of John Candy comedies from the same decade, Burt Reynolds directing a comedy about suicide and one about the life of Frances Farmer. Pick your poison in Richa…

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy return to regular reviewing duties this week and they put a nine-spot on the board. There are a pair of documentaries involving Sly Stone (Sly Lives) and the Zep (Becoming Led Zeppelin). The director of Saint Frances & Ghostlight shows the horror of being a doctor (Rounding) while a young woman involved in one night…

The next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is here and so is comic book expert Erik Laws to talk with Erik Childress on how it plays out. Does it follow through on some of the ideas raised by The Falcon and the Winter Soldier or is it merely just continuing a story most many have forgotten about? Laws fills in the blanks left by the treatment …

Erik Childress & Peter Sobczynski bring you this week’s physical media roundup which includes a great upgrade for the family involving a cat and a mouse. Horror fans get some 4K upgrades from four different decades. Film Noir gets several different takes including through the mind of Woody Allen. A legendary black filmmaker championed over the year…

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy return after more than a week in Park City plus virtual screenings for this year’s Sundance Film Festival and they are here to talk about 15 of their favorite films. They include a pair of body horror films about the terror of living happily ever after. There is also the horror of being a parent especially if you li…

After some time off for Sundance, Movie Madness returns to get you caught up on the latest and greatest in Blu-rays. Erik Childress talks to Peter Sobczynski about a couple 4K upgrades from Criterion for Paul Thomas Anderson and Anthony Mann. There are rom-coms with Cary Grant and Clark Gable while Al Pacino tries to find love with possibly a seria…

Some great titles in physical media this week and Erik Childress is joined by Peter Sobczynski to convince you to pick them up. They include a great modern con artist noir from Criterion and a lost film from Paul Bartel. The ‘70s bring us some sexploitation horror and Sherlock Holmes hunts Jack the Ripper while the ’80s gave us one of the most uniq…

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy look at eight new movies this week including a unique documentary that combines a video game with Shakespeare (Grand Theft Hamlet). Julia Stiles makes her directorial debut with a romantic weepie (Wish You Were Here) and a locksmith goes on a wild evening (Night Call). Scott Eastwood and Willa Fitzgerald play spies …

The final pieces are in place as BAFTA and the Producers/Writers Guilds have unveiled their nominations. That means its time to give it a whirl at what the final Oscar lists are going to look like. Just how much did the BAFTAs influence the acting categories. Did the Writer’s Guild really make a difference in predicting screenplays when half of the…

Physical media is still here in 2025! Like every other year. Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski are back to run through the new releases with you. They include a pair of upgraded Kurosawas and Richard Pryor examining his life. John Turturro directs a musical, William Shatner does a horror film in Esperanto and the pair share some fondness for John…

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy are back to start 2025 with reviews…of a lot of 2024 movies. Albeit ones opening wider across the country now. But there are also some brand new releases including documentaries on a film that never was (George A. Romero’s Resident Evil) and the songwriter who never wins an Oscar (Diane Warren: Relentless). Then a f…

An annual tradition that goes back to the days of WHPK Radio at the University of Chicago where Erik Childress joined Sergio Mims to discuss all things movies and certainly physical media, Erik is now joined by Peter Sobczynski for it to endure. Each of them has chosen ten films that to this day remain only on DVD (or not at all) that they believe …

Oscar voting has begun and the week before the unveiling of the nominations is jam-packed with implications. Various guilds to impact the Best Picture race from Producers to Directors to Writers. All that on top of the Screen Actors Guild announcement and how the BAFTA shortlists put the best case scenarios forwards for many in the acting categorie…

What better way to kickoff 2025 than a look back at the some of the greatness of 2024. On this annual show, Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy invite back Collin Souter so they can condense the entire year into the absolute best in their individual opinions. Only three films cracked all of their lists so there is a wide swath of analysis in a year th…

On the final show of 2024, Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy check out eight new movies that include a Danish serial killer from 1919 (The Girl with the Needle) and Nicole Kidman as a CEO who enters into an affair with an intern (Babygirl). Tyler Perry tells the story of undelivered mail during wartime (The Six Triple Eight) and the Sega Genesis her…

There will not be a lot of movement in the rankings through the end of the year. Not until we get into January when many of the major guilds and BAFTA add to the chorus of voices this awards season. So on this episode we look at why its unfortunate we have to consider the Critics Choice Association as one of those voices. For better or worse the nu…

One last physical media show for 2024 and still time to get those last-minute Christmas gifts. Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski take you through a bundle that includes two of the all-time masterpieces by John Ford and Francis Ford Coppola. Land is very much in the conversation from films by Ron Howard and Michael Winterbottom. There are aliens i…

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy continue to wade into December’s offerings with nine new films on the slate. They include the directorial debut of Jack Huston (Day of the Fight) and Eva Green leading a team of female operatives against ISIS (Dirty Angels). The director of The Act of Killing does an apocalyptic musical (The End) while the daughter …

We continue our march through awards season madness as we look at a fresh batch of nominations and announcements that have started to part the clouds a little on how its all playing out. Thanks to LA, Chicago and even lesser on-the-level groups like the Golden Globes and the National Board of Review (whose statistics can nevertheless not be entirel…

The Movie Madness Podcast presents this bonus extension of the show with a dive into the 2024-25 awards season. A breakdown of the various groups with their victories and nominations in an effort to present an ongoing State-of-the-Race up until the final Oscar nominations on Jan. 17, 2025. Statistics, commentary and a running scoreboard are in stor…

Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski continue to add to your Christmas carts with a variety of great gift ideas for the movie lovers in your life. They talk about the Coen Bros. big Oscar winner and Fellini’s most beloved film now both in 4K. Peter goes to bat for Abel Ferrara’s vampire tale and a Henry James adaptation from this year. Erik talks th…

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy have nine films to talk about this week. They include Kyle Mooney’s take on the computer glitch of 1999 (Y2K) and what happens when a supermoon infects the world (Werewolves). Ralph Fiennes completes Homer’s odyssey (The Return) while Nick Frost just wants to take his family on vacation to see a scary Swedish tradit…

Black Friday and Cyber Monday may be gone but the physical media buying season is in full effect for the movie lovers in your life. Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski go through the week’s offerings. Sure they include the infamous later films of Ed Wood have been unearthed along with a “Reefer Madness for the Sexual Revolution” plus a goofy Michae…

It’s Thanksgiving week and the pickings are slim on the movie front. But Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy may have something for you to watch with the family. Hint that it involves a pair of music documentaries focusing on the arrival of Liverpool’s finest to the States (Beatles ’64) to the soothing sounds of the ‘70s and ‘80s (Yacht Rock: A Dockum…

Just in time for Black Friday, Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski takes you through a swath of new physical media and collections. They include two of the best films in the careers of Peter Bogdanovich and Guillermo Del Toro (and yes the best from Rob Cohen too.) There’s a pair of underrated films from the great William Friedkin and martial arts c…

It’s the week before Thanksgiving and there are some heavy-hitters in theaters and trio of new Netflix titles for those stay-at-home viewers. Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy cover eight movies for you this week including a fascinating documentary on a woman who may have crafted the soundtrack to your life (The World According to Allee Willis) and …

Christmas stockings should be filled with what is on the physical media slate this week. Erik Childress is joined by Peter Sobczynski to take you through everything including Barbra Streisand’s big Oscar win and one of the great adaptations of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel. Great things come in threes including Clint Eastwood and the works of Z…

Mid-November and kind of a mid-week for releases, but Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy do have five reviews for you including a pair of documentaries on two icons in the film and music world (Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes, Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley). They look at the latest from Andrea Arnold (Bird) and try to look at t…

A lot of good stuff on the physical media beat for those starting to make their Christmas lists. Peter Sobczynski joins Erik Childress to guide you through the lot which includes gangster and samurai classics from Criterion. There’s also a trio of 1980s puberty-starters and a reevaluation of the fourth Body Snatchers adaptation. You can also get ne…

It’s a nine-movie week on the show with Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy looking at a historical atrocity (Stockholm Bloodbath), WWII through the eyes of a boy (Blitz) and Pierce Brosnan as a 92 year-old veteran trying to atone for D-Day (The Last Rifleman). A 70+ year old is sent undercover in a money laundering scam – or is he? – in a documentary…

Halloween is over, which means Christmas is creepin’ upon us so who better to start making your shopping lists with than Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski on this week’s physical media show. They include a pair of Christmas films including a perennial classic and a more modern one with a Wham twist. The king of the monsters has its origin upgrade…

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy return for a little crossover show including new titles this week and a recap of films from this year’s Chicago International Film Festival; some of which you can see right now. Reviews this week include a documentary on a legendary composer (Music By John Williams), one of the best animated films of the year (Memoi…

The horror month of physical media closes out Halloween with a couple choice titles, though the horror-adjacent ones may be even better. Peter Sobczynski joins Erik Childress to talk a trio of film noir and a giallo film with Audrey Hepburn and James Mason. One of the great heist movies is here along with an all-timer true crime film from David Fin…

We are still in the month of horror and Peter Sobczynski joins Erik Childress to talk about all the horrific and supernatural offerings getting upgrades this month. Not to mention Harmony Korine and Rob Lowe as a hockey player. But moving on from that the pair discuss the Hellraiser series and their lack of enthusiasm for even M. Night Shyamalan’s …