Movie Madness
It’s a funny week for physical media. In that there are some tremendously funny movies in the mix but also some landmarks to put in your library. Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski guide you through the work of Charles Burnett and the singular film by Kerry Conran. They take you through the multiple versions of a Ridley Scott epic, perhaps the best of the Musketeers films and the weird backstory of an SNL sequel. Warner Archive has a couple of biopics named after songs as well as Al Pacino’s Oscar-winning role. A collection of Audie Murphy titles are followed up with a conversation of one...
info_outlineMovie Madness
Memorial Day weekend offers a variety of options, some of them even good both in theaters and at home. Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy are here to talk you through nine of them. They include Cate Blanchett as a nun who may have discovered the second coming (The New Boy) and another film about resurrecting the dead (The Surrender). A musician you may have missed gets the documentary treatment (Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted), Netflix returns to the world of R.L. Stine (Fear Street: Prom Queen) and a writer may or may not find romance on a retreat (Jane Austen Wrecked My Life). Guy Ritchie...
info_outlineMovie Madness
This week in physical media may be appealing to the cults out there. Whichever you belong to, Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski are here to guide you towards your particular following. Perhaps you are in the Richard E. Grant & Bruce Robinson cult. Or stay on that side of the pond with an Oscar-winning musical and a film that was the Bridgerton of its time in the way it uses music. Maybe you’re in the late Friday the 13th cult and enjoy its post-Paramount days. Or you have a taste for a marathon of Blaxploitation. Whether you love movie doggies or mutated bears, its best to just avoid...
info_outlineMovie Madness
Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy return to the review beat after a couple weeks off at the Chicago Critics Film Festival. Erik looks at a bunch of influencers terrorized by feral dogs (A Breed Apart) and the story that inspired a cult body horror film (The Darkside of Society). Steve looks at an influential moment for the hearing impaired (Deaf President Now) and The Weeknd’s self-indulgent vanity project (Hurry Up Tomorrow). They also offer thoughts on a pair of films chosen for their festival including the strange transformation of a woman in an arranged marriage (Sister Midnight) and Tim...
info_outlineMovie Madness
After a week off for The Chicago Critics Film Festival, Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski return to get you up to date on the latest in physical media world. They include one of the great musicals and a landmark in 60s cinema. Disney upgrades one of their animated hits before its live-action counterpart hits theater. See the film Robert Zemeckis made in-between shooting Cast Away. There is plenty of sleaze thanks to Pete Walker and Wings Hauser and a reunion of Robert DeNiro and Meryl Streep. There is disaster sci-fi and upgrades for two of the all-time great horror films, one of them you...
info_outlineMovie Madness
Marvel is hoping for both a critical and financial reboot with their latest summer opener and Erik Childress is joined once again by comic book expert, Erik Laws, to discuss. Laws delves into the history of the Thunderbolts and various incarnations in the comics. They talk about what they enjoyed about the film as well as elements that fell flat. A lot of credit goes to a pair of key performances in the film as Marvel banks on audiences responding to themes of alienation and depression in place of just the usual comic book action. Is that enough to make the film a cut above the post-Endgame...
info_outlineMovie Madness
After weeks of light lineups in the physical media world, the end of April explores with a variety of titles that Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski are here to guide you through. They include Sean Baker bookends from Criterion, blaxploitation and films from Russ Meyer. You got journeys to the Bermuda triangle and the gates of hell not to mention bullets and betrayal. Bill Murray enters the army and Michael Keaton goes to rehab. Plus Clint Eastwood has a trio of his films get the 4K upgrade. 1:52 - Criterion (, , ) 18:09 – Warner Archive (, , ) 33:23 - Arrow () 36:53 - Grindhouse...
info_outlineMovie Madness
Before taking off for the upcoming Chicago Critics Film Festival (May 2-8) which they program, Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy review nine movies this week. They include the latest from Francois Ozon (When Fall Is Coming) and a Jim Henson-like fantasy from A24 (The Legend of Ochi). Jack Quaid and Jeffrey Dean Morgan make for unique investigators of a kidnapping (Neighborhood Watch) and a new video game adaptation is decidedly less unique (Until Dawn). Daisy Edgar-Jones and Jacob Elordi have secrets in the 1950s (On Swift Horses) and we take a trip through the careers of one of the most famous...
info_outlineMovie Madness
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 Chevy Chase try to prevent the assassination of the pope. No, not that one. One of the late Val Kilmer’s most iconic performances gets the 4K upgrade. The duo also share their fondness for one of the most entertaining comic thriller team-ups...
info_outlineMovie Madness
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 President’s Wife). Erik looks at Severance’s Britt Lower as a lonely librarian (Darkest Miriam) and Steve checks out the four-year art project of a group of squatters (Secret Mall Apartment). Ang Lee’s landmark LBGTQ film gets a 21st century...
info_outlineErik Childress and Steve Prokopy return to the review beat after a couple weeks off at the Chicago Critics Film Festival. Erik looks at a bunch of influencers terrorized by feral dogs (A Breed Apart) and the story that inspired a cult body horror film (The Darkside of Society). Steve looks at an influential moment for the hearing impaired (Deaf President Now) and The Weeknd’s self-indulgent vanity project (Hurry Up Tomorrow). They also offer thoughts on a pair of films chosen for their festival including the strange transformation of a woman in an arranged marriage (Sister Midnight) and Tim Robinson trying to get a little too close to Paul Rudd (Friendship). Finally its been 14 years since Death has come-a-callin’. Could Final Destination: Bloodlines be the best of the franchise?
1:32 – A Breed Apart
9:28 - Deaf President Now!
15:23 – The Darkside of Society
22:58 - Hurry Up Tomorrow
33:37 - Sister Midnight
41:11 - Friendship
54:59 - Final Destination: Bloodlines
1:07:03 - Outro