Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy have seven movie reviews for you this week. They include a scientist’s connection to a tree (Silent Friend) and a woman discovering the horrifying truth of a new diet pill (Saccharine). Sacha Baron Cohen wakes up in a world run by women (Ladies First) and Boots Riley puts shoplifters against the fashion industry (I Love Boosters). André Øvredal gives us the horror film version of Lost In America when “van life” meets a demonic entity (Passenger). John Krasinski’s Tom Clancy series returns with a stand-alone film (Jack Ryan: Ghost War) as does the world of Star Wars with its two breakout characters from the small screen (The Mandalorian and Grogu).

1:40 - Silent Friend

9:35 - Ladies First

22:38 - I Love Boosters

30:08 - Saccharine

38:39 - Jack Ryan: Ghost War

53:19 - Passenger

1:09:01 - The Mandalorian and Grogu

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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.

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Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski take you through another week of physical media starting with Lawrence Kasdan’s sexy directorial debut getting an upgrade. Peter discovers a 1932 crime drama worthy of a blind buy. Hollywood is front and center in films from Peter Bogdanovich and Martin Ritt. Two of the best teenage films of the 21st century are here ranging from cheerleading to lycanthropy. Provocateurs get in front of a microphone in films from Oliver Stone and Adam Rifkin. They also take a look back at two box office misfires from major filmmakers including Robert Zemeckis’ breathtaking version on Man On Wire and the Wachowski’s Matrix follow-up that has developed quite the following over the years.

1:10 - Criterion (Body Heat (4K))

16:39 - Sony (Nickelodeon, The Front (4K), The Dark Backward, The Walk (4K))

1:00:52 - Kino (Night World, Swashbuckler, Talk Radio)

1:29:42 - Lionsgate (Ginger Snaps 4K)

1:42:13 - Universal (Bring It On (7-Movie Collection))

1:49:13 - Warner (The Conjuring Universe, Speed Racer (4K))

2:04:12 – New TV on Blu-ray (Fallout (Season 2) (4K), Looney Tunes Cartoons (The Complete Series), Snowpiercer (The Complete Series))

2:05:28 - New Theatrical Titles On Blu-ray (Avatar: Fire & Ash (4K), Arco (4K), Scarlet (4K), The Bride! (2026) (4K), Sirat, The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist, The Napa Boys, Reminders of Him)

2:07:56 – New Blu-ray Announcements

CLICK ON THE FILMS TO RENT OR PURCHASE AND HELP OUT THE MOVIE MADNESS PODCAST OR BUY FROM MOVIEZYNG

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.

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Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy return from the Chicago Critics Film Festival with nine new reviews this week including a string of documentaries. Steve looks at a partnership designed to bring some care back to healthcare (The Chaplain & The Doctor) and actor Ben Mackenzie laying waste to the scam of crypto (Everyone Is Lying To You for Money). Erik looks at a tragic 2022 accident that may not have been an accident (The Crash) and Steve joins in on the life and career of a comedy legend (Marty, Life Is Short). The guy behind the guy that is Vladimir Putin is examined in a new film by Oliver Assayas (The Wizard of the Kremlin) and a middle-aged mouse believes the corporate-driven world he lives in is not what it seems (Decorado). Two sisters go on a revenge trip against the father who scarred them (Is God Is) and a pair of mercenaries plot to extract a power broker in the latest film from Guy Richie (In the Grey). Finally, a guy tries to get his best friend to love him and it may not go as you might expect (Obsession).

3:24 - The Chaplain & the Doctor

10:04 - The Crash

16:47 - Everyone Is Lying To You for Money

29:04 - Marty, Life Is Short

42:44 - The Wizard of the Kremlin

53:30 - Decorado

1:00:25 - Is God Is

1:07:15 - In the Grey

1:20:33 - Obsession

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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.

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Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski were off last week at the Chicago Critics Film Festival but return to catch you up on the world of physical media. There are serial killers played by Matt Dillon and another stopped by Charles Bronson. Criterion puts out more Kurosawa and there’s a documentary on George Stevens as well. A Disney animated film from the ‘50s gets the upgrade as does a sci-fi film from the era. A comedy classic and one of the great baseball films celebrate their 15th anniversaries. The pair look back at the lasting power of David Fincher’s adaptation of male insecurity and culminate with one of the great action films of the 1980s and the TV series it spawned in its wake.

1:36 - Criterion (Stray Dog (4K))

5:04 - Warner Archive (George Stevens: A Filmmaker’s Journey)

7:41 - Universal (It Came from Outer Space (4K), Bridesmaids (4K))

19:04 - Cult Epics (Girls 4K)

22:51 - Disney (Alice In Wonderland (1951) (4K), Fight Club (4K Steelbook))

37:44 - Sony (Moneyball (4K))

46:48 - Kino (Bend of the River, 10 to Midnight (4K), A Kiss Before Dying (1991), Charli XCX: Alone Together)

1:12:03 - Arrow (Blue Thunder (4K))

1:26:35 - New TV on Blu-Ray) (Blue Thunder (The Complete Series), IT: Welcome to Derry (The Complete First Season), Gilmore Girls: The Complete Series)

1:28:04 - New Theatrical Titles On Blu-ray (Wuthering Heights (2026) 4K, GOAT (4K), Dracula, Obex, Solo Mio, Mistress Dispeller, I Can Only Imagine 2, Youngblood (2025), Twinless)

1:29:49 - New Blu-ray Announcements

CLICK ON THE FILMS TO RENT OR PURCHASE AND HELP OUT THE MOVIE MADNESS PODCAST OR BUY FROM MOVIEZYNG

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.

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Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy will be at the Music Box Theatre handling the Chicago Critics Film Festival this week, but they managed to squeeze in seven reviews for movies you can see (after you attend the fest.) They include the latest from RZA behind the camera (One Spoon of Chocolate). Erik looks at a family on a road trip after behind evicted (Omaha) and another family with a troubled son seen through the eyes of their daughter (Blue Heron). Steve sees Adam Scott haunted by old secrets and possibly a witch (Hokum). Andy Serkis does a new animated adaptation of George Orwell’s other classic (Animal Farm). Renny Harlin returns to planes and sharks (Deep Water) and the whole team returns to the journalistic side of fashion (The Devil Wears Prada 2).

4:19 - One Spoon of Chocolate

11:58 - Omaha

19:05 - Hokum

27:35 - Blue Heron

33:15 - Animal Farm

46:09 - Deep Water

58:53 - The Devil Wears Prada 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.

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A lot of collections this week in physical media which Erik Childress & Peter Sobczynski guide you through again. They include a trio of films from John Singleton as well as the works of Jess Franco and the weird legacy of one Andy Milligan. There are also films from Lucio Fulci and Olivier Assayas. Nancy Meyers figures in twice in the conversation including a title from our most recent Why Is This Not On Blu-ray show (WE GOT ONE!). We’ve also got Abbott, Costello and DeVito and how a Paul W.S. Anderson figures into the early part of Erik’s career. But if you haven’t seen this week’s Joe Dante title or shown it to the loved ones in your life, do yourself a favor.

5:16 - Criterion (John Singleton’s Hood Trilogy (4K))

20:32 - Kino (Hold That Ghost (4K), Throw Momma From the Train (4K))

35:18 - Warner Archive (Private Benjamin)

44:52 - Sony (Something’s Gotta Give)

56:51 - Severin (Gutter Auteur: The Lost Legacy of Andy Milligan, Jess Franco: From Bangkok to Bullets, Voices from Beyond 4K, Suzzanna: Empress of Darkness)

1:24:06 - Vinegar Syndrome (Office Killer 4K)

1:30:18 - IFC (Boarding Gate, The Novice)

1:40:51 - Arrow (Soldier (4K), Innerspace (4K))

2:11:43 - New Theatrical Titles On Blu-ray (Dust Bunny (4K), Highest 2 Lowest 4K, Grafted, Cold Storage (4K), American Sweatshop, Dracula)

2:15:56 - New Blu-ray Announcements

CLICK ON THE FILMS TO RENT OR PURCHASE AND HELP OUT THE MOVIE MADNESS PODCAST OR BUY FROM MOVIEZYNG

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.

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There’s no slowing down this week on the show as Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy have nine reviews for you. They include a documentary on a female punk band (Pretty Ugly: The Story of the Lunachicks) and the Tourettes film that the BAFTAs just loved (I Swear). A woman on holiday decides if she wants to hook up with Charli XCX again (Erupcja), Anthony Mackie fights for the women of Arabia (Desert Warrior) and Aaron Taylor-Johnson must deal with a WWII bomb found in London (Fuze). Charlize Theron is hunted through the wilderness by Taron Egerton (Apex) while Jason Segel & Samara Weaving’s plans to kill each other get interrupted (Over Your Dead Body). Anne Hathaway’s singer needs a dress in the new film from David Lowery (Mother Mary) and the King of Pop gets part of a biopic from Antoine Fuqua and the Jackson estate (Michael).

4:38 - Pretty Ugly: The Story of the Lunachicks

11:56 - I Swear

20:04 - Erupcja

33:15 - Desert Warrior

42:59 - Fuze

54:02 - Apex

1:06:46 - Over Your Dead Body

1:18:11 - Mother Mary

1:35:23 - Michael

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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.

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It’s another week of physical media and Erik Childress is joined again by Peter Sobczynski to take you through a selection of Universal classics featuring W.C. Fields. There is also an all-star cast crime-and-court film, Johnny Depp as a book detective and even some original J-horror. There is also Lee Marvin defining the role of Donald Westlake’s anti-hero Parker, Michelle Pfeiffer, the Bridges brothers and a couple pianos and, of all things, the signature Brian Bosworth action film.

5:02 - Criterion (Point Blank (4K))

20:48 - Universal (Million Dollar Legs, International House, Mississippi)

Imprint (The Fabulous Baker Boys)

Kino (The House of Seven Corpses (4K), Stone Cold (4K))

Warner Bros. (Sleepers (4K))

Lions Gate (The Ninth Gate 4K)

Arrow (The Eye (4K))

NEW (Send Help (4K), 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (4K), Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (4K), Die My Love (4K), Primate, Shelter 4K, The Strangers: Chapter 3, Christy)

CLICK ON THE FILMS TO RENT OR PURCHASE AND HELP OUT THE MOVIE MADNESS PODCAST OR BUY FROM MOVIEZYNG

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.

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Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy fly solo on most of the movies this week, but they still have nine titles to talk about. Lena Headey discovers she may have created the bullet that killed her son (Ballistic). A strange friendship develops between two disparate young men when one tries to maybe stop the other from committing a school shooting (Our Hero, Balthazar). Barbie Ferreira plays a music critic who gets involved with the band she is covering (Mile End Kicks). The latest comedy from Peter Farrelly has Mark Wahlberg and Paul Walter Hauser as the creators of a very unusual condom (Balls Up). Keanu Reeves is a Hollywood star trying to prevent an embarrassing video from getting out (Outcome). There’s a documentary about the creator of Saturday Night Live (Lorne). Bob Odenkirk is in action mode again taking on a whole town in the latest from Ben Wheatley (Normal). Steven Soderbergh’s latest has Ian McKellen as an artist who hires a forger to finish his paintings (The Christophers). Finally, the director of Evil Dead Rise gets his name above the familiar title of his even more familiar horror film. (Lee Cronin’s The Mummy).

1:20 - Ballistic

10:12 - Balls Up

20:46 - Outcome

32:17 - Mile End Kicks

43:25 - Our Hero, Balthazar

53:34 - Lorne

1:03:16 - Normal

1:16:33 - The Christophers

1:24:40 - Lee Cronin’s The Mummy

CLICK ON THE FILMS TO RENT OR PURCHASE AND HELP OUT THE MOVIE MADNESS PODCAST OR BUY FROM MOVIEZYNG

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.

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Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski have a lot to say about this week’s batch of physical media. Maybe not as much as the most successful franchise entry amongst them, but certainly about Ernst Lubitsch’s romantic comedy about thieves in love. Most definitely about Monty Python’s religious-skewering masterpiece. But there is also the troubled transports carrying George Kennedy and the out-of-control one that ranks as one of the great action films of the 1980s. An obscure, hard-to-find comedy about UFO seekers is the first of two Fred Ward headliners this week which leads into two films the guys have some fondness for including Orion’s attempt at an American James Bond and one of the very first masked do-gooders.

4:29 - Criterion (Trouble in Paradise (1932) (4K), Monty Python’s Life of Brian (4K))

22:57 - Universal (Meet the Fockers (4K))

29:46 - Kino (Death Ship (4K), Runaway Train (4K), UFOria 4K, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (4K), The Phantom (4K))

1:41:12 - More New Titles (Becoming Led Zeppelin, Hearts of Darkness: The Making of the Final Friday, Midwinter Break)

1:42:31 - New Blu-ray Announcements

CLICK ON THE FILMS TO RENT OR PURCHASE AND HELP OUT THE MOVIE MADNESS PODCAST OR BUY FROM MOVIEZYNG

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.

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