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 stand-up comedy (Is This Thing On?) while Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson get together to perform Neil Diamond tunes (Song Sung Blue). Sydney Sweeney goes to work for Amanda Seyfried’s off-kilter family (The Housemaid) and Timothee Chalamat hustles his way to ping pong glory (Marty Supreme). Finally, James Cameron is back with the third of his Pandora films. Please let there not be a fourth (Avatar: Fire and Ash). We will return Jan. 2 with our choices for the best of the year with Collin Souter.

3:42 - Cover-Up

12:00 - The Plague

20:01 - The Secret Agent

31:07 - Is This Thing On?

45:47 - Song Sung Blue

1:00:00 - No Other Choice

1:09:17 - The Housemaid

1:24:03 - Marty Supreme

1:39:30 - Avatar: Fire and Ash

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Erik’s Weekly Box Office Column – At Rotten Tomatoes

Critics’ Classics Series – At Elk Grove Cinema in Elk Grove Village, IL

Chicago Screening Schedule - All the films coming to theaters and streaming

Physical Media Schedule - Click & Buy upcoming titles for your library.

(Direct purchases help the Movie Madness podcast with a few pennies.)

Erik’s Linktree - Where you can follow Erik and his work anywhere and everywhere.

The Movie Madness Podcast has been recognized by Million Podcasts as one of the Top 100 Best Movie Review Podcasts as well as in the Top 60 Film Festival Podcasts and Top 100 Cinephile Podcasts. MillionPodcasts is an intelligently curated, all-in-one podcast database for discovering and contacting podcast hosts and producers in your niche perfect for PR pitches and collaborations.

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 finally comes home…if you can get it. For those who need to laugh, four of the classic Pink Panther films have been upgraded. And for the kid in all of us that we could all get in touch with these holidays, the original Turtles in a Half-Shell get a box set, Tim Burton’s timeless debut with Pee-Wee Herman and everyone’s favorite talking pig are all here for you. All this plus our thoughts on the tragic murder of Rob Reiner.

1:40 - A Tribute to Rob Reiner

5:44 - Criterion (Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (4K), David Byrne’s American Utopia (4K))

17:44 - Warner Archive (On Borrowed Time)

23:14 – Warner Bros. (Boogie Nights (4K))

34:00 - Shout Factory (Rabid (1977) (4K), Leaving Las Vegas (4K), Perfect Blue (4K), Cloud Atlas (4K))

1:07:51 - Kino (Scars of Dracula (4K), Walking Tall (2004) (4K), The Pink Panther (1963) (4K), A Shot in the Dark (4K), The Pink Panther Strikes Again (4K), Revenge of the Pink Panther (4K), Babe (4K), Babe: Pig in the City (4K))

2:15:52 - Arrow (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Trilogy (4K))

2:36:02 - Vinegar Syndrome (The Movie Orgy)

2:48:38 - New TV & Theatrical Titles On Blu-ray (Wally Gator: The Complete Series, Lippy the Lion & Hardy Har Har: The Complete Series, Monk: The Complete Series, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, Black Phone 2 (4K), Bugonia (4K), Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point, Good Night, and Good Luck: Live from Broadway, Hot Spring Shark Attack, Thank You Very Much)

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Be sure to check out

Erik’s Weekly Box Office Column – At Rotten Tomatoes

Critics’ Classics Series – At Elk Grove Cinema in Elk Grove Village, IL

Chicago Screening Schedule - All the films coming to theaters and streaming

Physical Media Schedule - Click & Buy upcoming titles for your library.

(Direct purchases help the Movie Madness podcast with a few pennies.)

Erik’s Linktree - Where you can follow Erik and his work anywhere and everywhere.

The Movie Madness Podcast has been recognized by Million Podcasts as one of the Top 100 Best Movie Review Podcasts as well as in the Top 60 Film Festival Podcasts and Top 100 Cinephile Podcasts. MillionPodcasts is an intelligently curated, all-in-one podcast database for discovering and contacting podcast hosts and producers in your niche perfect for PR pitches and collaborations.

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 Night). The creator of Pushing Daisies and Hannibal makes his debut about a girl who hires a hitman to take care of the monster under her bed (Dust Bunny). Finally, the legendary James L. Brooks’ returns with his first film in 15 years and the guys have very different takes on it.

1:38 - The King of Color

9:09 - Silent Night, Deadly Night

18:46 - Scarlet

26:02 - Influencers

36:59 - Dust Bunny

45:36 - Ella McCay

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Erik’s Weekly Box Office Column – At Rotten Tomatoes

Critics’ Classics Series – At Elk Grove Cinema in Elk Grove Village, IL

Chicago Screening Schedule - All the films coming to theaters and streaming

Physical Media Schedule - Click & Buy upcoming titles for your library.

(Direct purchases help the Movie Madness podcast with a few pennies.)

Erik’s Linktree - Where you can follow Erik and his work anywhere and everywhere.

The Movie Madness Podcast has been recognized by Million Podcasts as one of the Top 100 Best Movie Review Podcasts as well as in the Top 60 Film Festival Podcasts and Top 100 Cinephile Podcasts. MillionPodcasts is an intelligently curated, all-in-one podcast database for discovering and contacting podcast hosts and producers in your niche perfect for PR pitches and collaborations.

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 film that makes Tarantino lash out on The Hunger Games. There are grandiose collections from the Shaw Brothers and the first name of mainstreamed erotica. Plus of pair of upgrade for Steven Spielberg from one of his glorious double-film years.

1:45 - Criterion (I Know Where I’m Going! (4K), Salaam Bombay! (4K))

9:34 - Film Masters (Lady of Burlesque)

12:24 - Kino (Dead of Night (4K), Dan Curtis’ Gothic Tales)

18:33 - Arrow (Shawscope (Volume Four))

26:47 - Radiance (O.C. and Stiggs)

39:41 - Sony (Awakenings (4K), Anaconda (4K Steelbook))

56:07 - Lionsgate (Hearts of Darkness (4K), Dogma (25th Anniversary) (4K), Battle Royale 4K)

1:25:17 - Paramount (Minority Report (4K), Catch Me If You Can (4K))

1:45:06 - Severin (Saga Erotica: The Emmanuelle Collection 4K)

2:06:52 - New Theatrical Titles On Blu-ray (Good Fortune (4K), I’m Still Here, The Strangers: Chapter 2, Beast of War, Dead of Winter (2025), Rabbit Trap, A Savage Art, London Calling)

2:09:33 - New Blu-ray Announcements

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Be sure to check out

Erik’s Weekly Box Office Column – At Rotten Tomatoes

Critics’ Classics Series – At Elk Grove Cinema in Elk Grove Village, IL

Chicago Screening Schedule - All the films coming to theaters and streaming

Physical Media Schedule - Click & Buy upcoming titles for your library.

(Direct purchases help the Movie Madness podcast with a few pennies.)

Erik’s Linktree - Where you can follow Erik and his work anywhere and everywhere.

The Movie Madness Podcast has been recognized by Million Podcasts as one of the Top 100 Best Movie Review Podcasts as well as in the Top 60 Film Festival Podcasts and Top 100 Cinephile Podcasts. MillionPodcasts is an intelligently curated, all-in-one podcast database for discovering and contacting podcast hosts and producers in your niche perfect for PR pitches and collaborations.

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy kick off December with 11 reviews for you. On the photography and journalism side Steve has a pair of documentaries to talk about (Steve Schapiro: Being Everywhere, The New Yorker At 100) while Erik looks at the story of Christmas Tree sellers (The Merchants of Joy). There is a horror film about the trail of an infamous piece of footage (Man Finds Tape) as well as survivalist Mel Gibson protecting a woman from the cartel after her (Hunting Season). Michelle Pfeiffer goes for mom of the year during Christmas (Oh. What. Fun.) while Dangerous Liaisons meets a fairy tale setting (100 Nights of Hero). An infamous stage musical gets a filmed revival on film (Merrily We Roll Along) and Quentin Tarantino’s multi-volume martial arts epic gets pieced together as one (Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair). Finally the animatronic pizza place characters from the video game are back (Five Nights at Freddy’s 2) and George Clooney is a moviestar going through a three-quarter life crisis (Jay Kelly).

4:00 - Steve Schapiro: Being Everywhere

10:23 - The New Yorker At 100

17:53 - The Merchants of Joy

25:16 - Man Finds Tape

34:29 - Hunting Season

40:17 - Oh. What. Fun.

49:22 - 100 Nights of Hero

1:01:09 - Merrily We Roll Along

1:08:09 - Five Nights at Freddy’s 2

1:19:38 - Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair

1:29:26 - Jay Kelly

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Be sure to check out

Erik’s Weekly Box Office Column – At Rotten Tomatoes

Critics’ Classics Series – At Elk Grove Cinema in Elk Grove Village, IL

Chicago Screening Schedule - All the films coming to theaters and streaming

Physical Media Schedule - Click & Buy upcoming titles for your library.

(Direct purchases help the Movie Madness podcast with a few pennies.)

Erik’s Linktree - Where you can follow Erik and his work anywhere and everywhere.

The Movie Madness Podcast has been recognized by Million Podcasts as one of the Top 100 Best Movie Review Podcasts as well as in the Top 60 Film Festival Podcasts and Top 100 Cinephile Podcasts. MillionPodcasts is an intelligently curated, all-in-one podcast database for discovering and contacting podcast hosts and producers in your niche perfect for PR pitches and collaborations.

Black Friday may be behind us but December has so much to gift your loved ones. Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski have some great new suggestions this week on physical media. Parents have a chance to introduce their kids to the entire collection of Tom & Jerry while dad can revisit their ‘80s memories of Heather Thomas and Kim Cattrall. Speaking of which, Lucinda Dickey’s legendary mix of Flashdance and ninjas gets the 4K upgrade as does one of John Woo’s masterpieces and one of the greatest comedies of all-time.

4:19 - Criterion (His Girl Friday (4K))

15:45 - Warner Archive (Tom And Jerry: The Golden Era Anthology (1940-1958))

22:35 - Arrow (The House with Laughing Windows (4K), Wild Style (4K))

32:47 - Sandpiper (Zapped, Mannequin)

47:24 - Kino (Ninja Trilogy 4K)

1:01:24 - Shout Factory (The Killer (4K))

1:15:37 - New Theatrical Titles On Blu-ray (Chain Reactions, Code 3, Diciannove)

1:16:57 - New Blu-ray Announcements

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Be sure to check out

Erik’s Weekly Box Office Column – At Rotten Tomatoes

Critics’ Classics Series – At Elk Grove Cinema in Elk Grove Village, IL

Chicago Screening Schedule - All the films coming to theaters and streaming

Physical Media Schedule - Click & Buy upcoming titles for your library.

(Direct purchases help the Movie Madness podcast with a few pennies.)

Erik’s Linktree - Where you can follow Erik and his work anywhere and everywhere.

The Movie Madness Podcast has been recognized by Million Podcasts as one of the Top 100 Best Movie Review Podcasts as well as in the Top 60 Film Festival Podcasts and Top 100 Cinephile Podcasts. MillionPodcasts is an intelligently curated, all-in-one podcast database for discovering and contacting podcast hosts and producers in your niche perfect for PR pitches and collaborations.

It’s Thanksgiving week and there are movies to see. Some great ones too and seven of them are covered this week by Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy. Shih-Ching Tsou, a producer of Sean Baker’s films, returns behind the camera with a unique family drama on Netflix (Left-Handed Girl) where you can also see a fascinating journalistic mystery about the Vietnam War (The Stringer: The Man Who Took The Photo). Brendan Fraser takes on a unique acting challenge in Japan (Rental Family) while Miles Teller & Elizabeth Olsen die and must figure out if they want to spend the afterlife with each other (Eternity). Chloe Zhao delivers the emotional wringer of the year (Hamnet) while Rian Johnson gives us the third chapter of his fantastic Knives Out series (Wake Up Dead Man). Finally it’s been nine years by Disney takes us back to the animal world for another timely mystery (Zootopia 2).

3:46 - Left-Handed Girl

10:32 - Rental Family

22:23 - The Stringer: The Man Who Took The Photo

31:42 - Eternity

45:43 - Hamnet

58:50 - Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

1:13:02 - Zootopia 2

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Be sure to check out

Erik’s Weekly Box Office Column – At Rotten Tomatoes

Critics’ Classics Series – At Elk Grove Cinema in Elk Grove Village, IL

Chicago Screening Schedule - All the films coming to theaters and streaming

Physical Media Schedule - Click & Buy upcoming titles for your library.

(Direct purchases help the Movie Madness podcast with a few pennies.)

Erik’s Linktree - Where you can follow Erik and his work anywhere and everywhere.

The Movie Madness Podcast has been recognized by Million Podcasts as one of the Top 100 Best Movie Review Podcasts as well as in the Top 60 Film Festival Podcasts and Top 100 Cinephile Podcasts. MillionPodcasts is an intelligently curated, all-in-one podcast database for discovering and contacting podcast hosts and producers in your niche perfect for PR pitches and collaborations.

Just in time for Black Friday week, Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski get you caught up on this week’s collection of physical media. There’s no less than four classic Abbott and Costello titles and five Death Wish films. One of the great Jane Austen adaptation celebrates its 20th anniversary in 4K. Sean Penn battles his criminal father, Christopher Walken, while William Powell and Myrna Loy team up again outside of the Thin Man films. The sword and sandals are represented twice in the ‘80s from The Barbarian Brothers (and Eva LaRue) plus the Don Coscarelli film that may be the living embodiment of the perfect cable movie. Finally, the duo lead off with a deep dive into Stanley Kubrick’s final film, the perfect Christmas movie for everyone.

3:56 - Criterion (Eyes Wide Shut (4K))

25:37 - Warner Archive (I Love You Again)

31:11 - Kino (Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (4K), Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (4K), Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (4K), Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (4K), Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks (4K), The Death Wish Collection, The Barbarians)

1:15:12 - Shout Factory (The Beastmaster (4K))

1:26:34 - Cinematographe (At Close Range (4K))

1:35:34 - Universal (Pride and Prejudice (4K))

1:44:42 – New Theatrical Titles On Blu-Ray (The Long Walk (4K), The Conjuring: Last Rites (4K), Primitive War (4K), Anemone (4K), Coyotes, The Roses, Bone Lake, Eleanor the Great, Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie)

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Be sure to check out

Erik’s Weekly Box Office Column – At Rotten Tomatoes

Critics’ Classics Series – At Elk Grove Cinema in Elk Grove Village, IL

Chicago Screening Schedule - All the films coming to theaters and streaming

Physical Media Schedule - Click & Buy upcoming titles for your library.

(Direct purchases help the Movie Madness podcast with a few pennies.)

Erik’s Linktree - Where you can follow Erik and his work anywhere and everywhere.

The Movie Madness Podcast has been recognized by Million Podcasts as one of the Top 100 Best Movie Review Podcasts as well as in the Top 60 Film Festival Podcasts and Top 100 Cinephile Podcasts. MillionPodcasts is an intelligently curated, all-in-one podcast database for discovering and contacting podcast hosts and producers in your niche perfect for PR pitches and collaborations.

Eight movies are reviewed this week with Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy including a little catch-up from our previous week off. Steve checks out a Minka Kelly rom-com (Champagne Problems) and a film that owes a lot to the world of Euro-spy films (Reflection in a Dead Diamond). Speaking of which Mark Wahlberg’s Morgan family is back for their own European intrigue (The Family Plan 2) while a documentary charts the business angle that is thriving from school children being in actual danger (Thoughts & Prayers) and Josh O’Connor tries to pick up the pieces after a wildfire (Rebuilding). There is the invincible hero who fought Nazis now on the run from the Soviets (Sisu: Road to Revenge) while Glen Powell has to survive 30 days to win a billion dollars in the re-adaptation of Stephen King’s novel (The Running Man). Finally, the witches of Oz return to complete their story with a giant thud. (Wicked: For Good)

6:40 - Champagne Problems

13:45 - Thoughts & Prayers

21:06 - Reflection in a Dead Diamond

27:11 - The Family Plan 2

38:50 - Rebuilding

48:19 - Sisu: Road to Revenge

57:11 - The Running Man

1:11:09 - Wicked: For Good

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Be sure to check out

Erik’s Weekly Box Office Column – At Rotten Tomatoes

Critics’ Classics Series – At Elk Grove Cinema in Elk Grove Village, IL

Chicago Screening Schedule - All the films coming to theaters and streaming

Physical Media Schedule - Click & Buy upcoming titles for your library.

(Direct purchases help the Movie Madness podcast with a few pennies.)

Erik’s Linktree - Where you can follow Erik and his work anywhere and everywhere.

The Movie Madness Podcast has been recognized by Million Podcasts as one of the Top 100 Best Movie Review Podcasts as well as in the Top 60 Film Festival Podcasts and Top 100 Cinephile Podcasts. MillionPodcasts is an intelligently curated, all-in-one podcast database for discovering and contacting podcast hosts and producers in your niche perfect for PR pitches and collaborations.

It’s a week in physical media that would make current Secretary of Transportation, Sean “I can’t guarantee safety” Duffy, blush. Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski take you through a week that includes the film that sent The Color Purple home empty, one of the Mars movies of 2000-01 and a decade-old adaptation of a Broadway smash. There’s also another prestige Oscar winner from Merchant Ivory, the Marx Brothers go to the circus and Simon Pegg & Nick Frost pay tribute to science fiction. One of John Woo’s most memorable films gets an upgrade in a new set and if you want to see one of the films they were making during Scorsese’s The Aviator, Criterion has you covered.

3:50 - Criterion (Hell’s Angels (4K), El (4K))

18:30 - Warner Archive (At the Circus, The Bride Came C.O.D.)

32:07 - Kino (The Gracie Allen Murder Case, Howards End (4K), Paul (4K))

54:00 - Universal (Out of Africa (4K))

1:02:43 - Arrow (Red Planet (4K))

1:11:54 - Sony (Rent (4K))

1:17:31 - Shout (A Better Tomorrow Trilogy (4K))

1:30:18 – New Theatrical Titles On Blu-ray (Splitsville, Universal Language, I’m ‘George Lucas’: A Connor Ratliff Story, Secret Mall Apartment, Riefenstahl)

1:35:06 - New Blu-ray Announcements

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Be sure to check out

Erik’s Weekly Box Office Column – At Rotten Tomatoes

Critics’ Classics Series – At Elk Grove Cinema in Elk Grove Village, IL

Chicago Screening Schedule - All the films coming to theaters and streaming

Physical Media Schedule - Click & Buy upcoming titles for your library.

(Direct purchases help the Movie Madness podcast with a few pennies.)

Erik’s Linktree - Where you can follow Erik and his work anywhere and everywhere.

The Movie Madness Podcast has been recognized by Million Podcasts as one of the Top 100 Best Movie Review Podcasts as well as in the Top 60 Film Festival Podcasts and Top 100 Cinephile Podcasts. MillionPodcasts is an intelligently curated, all-in-one podcast database for discovering and contacting podcast hosts and producers in your niche perfect for PR pitches and collaborations.