Movie Madness

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy are back on the review beat this weekend with eight new releases, many of them from the festival circuit. Horror comes in the form of sleepwalking for a couple (Sleep), for the woman that came before Rosemary (Apartment 7A) and creatures after a silent Samara Weaving (Azrael). Joseph Gordon-Levitt investigates a potential murder for Shailene Woodley (Killer Heat). Will Ferrell accompanies his newly transitioned friend on a road trip (Will & Harper) while Kate Winslet is the war photographer who captured the Holocaust (Lee). The director of How To Train Your Dragon has another heartwarming adventure (The Wild Robot) and the one who brought us The Godfather, The Conversation and Apocalypse Now finally delivers his passion project and the duo make no apologies for the final effort.

0:00 - Intro

4:29 - Sleep

12:47 - Apartment 7A

23:08 - Azrael

33:49 - Killer Heat

41:39 - Will & Harper

52:53 - Lee

59:16 - The Wild Robot

1:09:22 – Megalopolis

1:28:06 - Outro

It’s a 4K-packed week with classics of the genuine and cult variety with Peter Sobczynski catching you up on the week’s physical media releases. There are titles from the emerging queer cinema of the ‘90s as well as, arguably, the best of the Todd Solondz oeuvre. There will be little argument about the best of British comedies and Peter makes one for what he considers may be the finest final film of any directorial career. Sidney Lumet does Agatha Christie justice and John Carpenter remakes a sci-fi classic. There is Woody Allen, Bob Hope and Elisabeth Shue facing off against a chimpanzee. Finally, Brian DePalma gets an upgrade on one of his most underappreciated, albeit controversial, films. 

0:00 - Intro

1:08 – Criterion (Happiness 4K, Gregg Araki Teen Apocalypse Trilogy 4K)

27:08 – Mediabook (Go Fish 4K)

33:42 – Paramount (Stardust 4K)

38:44 – Kino (My Favorite Spy, The Ladykillers 4K, Murder on the Orient Express 4K, Link 4K)

1:11:16 - Warner Archive (Journey Into Fear, Conflict, A Prairie Home Companion)

1:29:51 – Shout Factory (Village of the Damned 4K)

1:37:25 – MGM (A Midsummer’s Night Sex Comedy, September)

1:52:04 – Sony (Body Double 4K)

2:12:43 – New TV & Theatrical Blu-ray Releases

2:19:33 – New Blu-ray Announcements

2:22:09 - Outro

Erik Childress spent six days at this year’s Toronto Film Festival and is here to dish on a bunch of the films he saw. They include the latest works from Francis Ford Coppola, Pedro Almodovar, Ron Howard and Sean Baker. Films about the aging plight of women in entertainment with Demi Moore, Elisabeth Moss and Pamela Anderson run the gamut from great to dismal. The Vatican and religion have their share of bad guys too. Erik splits his votes on a pair of relationship dramas as well as films about Press Your Luck and Saturday Night Live. Nicole Kidman and Amy Adams handle their unsatisfying home lives in wildly different manners. Plus, the latest Stephen King adaptation from Mike Flanagan wins both the festival’s Audience Award as well as Erik’s heart. All this and more on a recap of this year’s fest.

0:00 - Intro

2:21 – The Luckiest Man In America

8:09 - The Substance

15:24 - The Last Showgirl

19:28 - The Life of Chuck

25:28 - We Live in Time

28:22 - Anora

34:06 - Eden

38:41 - Nightbitch

44:36 - Shell

46:54 - Conclave

50:22 - All of You

53:35 - Heretic

1:00:16 - Friendship

1:02:51 - The Room Next Door

1:05:01 - Relay

1:09:18 - The Assessment

1:13:53 - Saturday Night

1:22:02 - Megalopolis

1:29:20 - Babygirl

1:33:38 - Riff Raff

1:37:05 - Outro

Peter Sobczynski returns to catch you up on a couple weeks of physical media releases with Erik Childress. They include one of the great British crime thrillers with Bob Hoskins. They dive into the Friday the 13th and Riddick series while highlighting an even better ‘80s horror film. One of the great stand-up concerts ever filmed gets the 4K upgrade and a new film noir set highlights one of the inspirations for Top Secret. Peter highlights an overlooked Scorsese and goes Doomsday on Neil Marshall. One of the films featured in It Came From Hollywood gets the Blu-ray treatment as does the infamous Caligula whose history is documented this week as well.

0:00 - Intro

1:40 – Criterion (The Long Good Friday 4K)

9:02 - Arrow (Torso 4K, Friday the 13th 4K, The Chronicles of Riddick 4K)

38:01 - Sony (Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip 4K)

47:33 - Shout (The Stepfather 4K, Clockwatchers, Doomsday, The Strangers 4K, Man of the Year)

1:17:33 - Kino (Film Noir XXI, Two Weeks in September, Rolling Vengeance)

1:39:40 – Paramount (Bringing Out the Dead 4K)

1:51:45 - Warner Archive (Black Belt Jones)

1:59:22 – Drafthouse (Caligula 4K)

2:11:16 – New TV & Theatrical Titles On Blu-ray

2:15:20 – New Blu-ray Announcements

Erik Childress returns to the Toronto Film Festival this week and he has some films worthy of putting on your schedule if you are attending or to keep an eye out for the future. He also has a schedule in place that he walks through letting you know what he plans on seeing day-by-day providing a little preview of both the daily grind of a festival and even more films that caught his eye and may catch yours as well.

0:00 - Intro

1:20 – Shook

3:26 – Shepherds

5:29 – Mr. K

10:19 – Matt and Mara

14:38 - Do I Know You From Somewhere

19:18 – Day-by-Day Schedule Plan

38:10 - Outro

Peter Sobczynski returns to offer up some of this week’s Blu-ray offerings with Erik Childress. They include Alex Cox’s cult classic debut, the role that Gregory Peck was not crazy about and one of the enduring baseball classics getting an upgrade. There is also Brigitte Bardot, Margot Robbie and a Woman from a Lucky McKee film that you do not want to mess with. Speaking of which there is also a ghostly horror film worth rediscovering and the ‘80s ick fest involving Michael Caine and his best friend’s daughter.

0:00 - Intro

0:54 - Criterion (Repo Man 4K)

10:31 - Sony (A League of their Own 4K)

19:11 - WB (Focus 4K)

24:03 – Kino (Naughty Girl)

28:04 – Sandpiper (Blame It on Rio, Moby Dick (1956), Lady in White)

56:29 – Arrow (The Woman/Offspring 4K)

1:06:12 – Shout (The Amityville Horror (2005) 4K, The Boy 4K)

1:19:56 – New Blu-ray Announcements

The Movie Madness Podcast is celebrating its 500th episode with a conversation 20 years in the making. Erik Childress has had many conversations with his guest over the years, but this one is a look back at where Nick Digilio and him were in their lives in 2004 when they, respectively, named Sideways and Garden State as their favorite films of that year. They talk about why those films were so personal to them, almost exactly ten years apart in their respective ages, at the time and if revisiting them two decades later is the same experience. The conversation veers into personal struggles, “manic pixie dream girls”, lost opportunities and soundtracks.

As the summer ends with a bit of a whimper, Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy delve into eight films and try to find something worth your time. The director of Backcountry goes back into the woods with Missy Peregrym to face a different threat (Out Come the Wolves) while the filmmakers behind Howards End and The Remains of the Day get a documentary in their honor (Merchant Ivory). Tyrese Gibson gets caught up in a heist during the Rodney King riots (1992) and Lee Daniels takes Andra Day through an exorcism (The Deliverance). Naomie Harris and Natalie Dormer plot a murder (The Wasp) and Casey Affleck tries to keep his sanity in space (Slingshot). Finally, John Cho discovers a new AI is dangerous (AfrAId) and Dennis Quaid and the director of 3 Ninjas: High Noon At Mega Mountain give Republicans a greatest hits tale about their God (Reagan).

0:00 - Intro

1:18 - Out Come the Wolves

13:10 - Merchant Ivory

21:01 - 1992

32:49 – The Deliverance

43:06 – The Wasp

54:05 - Slingshot

1:07:20 - Afraid

1:16:53 – Reagan

1:34:27 - Outro

Pretty big week on the physical media front as Peter Sobczynski joins Erik Childress to spark your blu-ray budget. It’s always a cause for celebration when Albert Brooks can go from DVD straight to 4K and Criterion has a pair of his films for you. Not to mention an upgrade on a film that Brooks should have been nominated for. Robert Rodriguez’s Mariachi films also get the upgrade as does one of Robert Altman’s less-discussed ‘70s crime films. There are arcane French narratives, an early Philip Kaufmann film, one of Jean Claude Van Damme’s better efforts and a barrage of eco-horror the likes of which you have never seen or may even want to see. Yeah, you want to see them.

0:00 - Intro

1:00 – Criterion (Real Life 4K, Mother 4K)

27:21 - Sony (Drive 4K)

34:20 - Vinegar Syndrome (Reptilicus 4K, Thieves Like Us 4K)

48:21 – Arrow (Mexico Trilogy 4K)

1:02:24 – Shout Factory (Poltergeist II 4K)

1:07:57 – Kino (Last Year At Marienbad 4K, Alphaville 4K, The White Dawn, Frogs, Kingdom of the Spiders, Squirm, Food of the Gods, Empire of the Ants, Sudden Death 4K)

1:51:04 – New Theatrical & TV Titles On Blu-ray

1:56:13 – New Blu-ray Announcements

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 lifelong friends and the hardships they endure over a lifetime (The Supremes At Earl’s All-You-Can Eat) while a small town turns to crime over a pile of money (Greedy People). The Adams Family is back with their latest horror offering (Hell Hole) while John Woo remakes one of his all-time classics (The Killer) and Bill Skarsgard steps into the role made infamous by Brandon Lee (The Crow). Finally, Zoe Kravitz makes her directorial debut with an island party that some will want to forget (Blink Twice). 

0:00 - Intro

1:27 - Between the Temples

11:00 - Strange Darling

21:28 – The Supremes At Earl's All-You-Can Eat

31:48 - Greedy People

44:01 - Hell Hole

53:49 – The Killer

1:05:42 – The Crow

1:19:00 - Blink Twice

1:33:30 - Outro