Movie Madness

Come for the killer pants, stay for the most anticipated four-hour director’s cut miniseries chapter play of 2021. Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy review seven new titles on the show this week including Chris Smith’s documentary about the college admissions scandal (Operation Varsity Blues), Benedict Cumberbatch as a reluctant spy (The Courier) and Johnny Depp trying to solve the murder of the Notorious B.I.G. (City of Lies). But that’s not all as we have those blue jeans that want to kill you (Slaxx), A psychological thriller about a young woman looking for her birth parents (Rose Plays Julie) plus Joel McHale and Kerry Bishe as the perfect couple (Happily). But it is all leading up to the big reveal of Zack Snyder’s Justice League and whether or not it leaps the not-so-tall order of improving upon the theatrical cut.   0:00 - Intro 2:25 - Slaxx 8:13 - Rose Plays Julie 14:38 – The Courier 25:03 - Operation Varsity Blues 38:52 - City of Lies 50:46 – Happily 1:03:17 – Zack Snyder’s Justice League 1:37:22 – Outro

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit erikthemovieman.substack.com

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It’s a shorter-than-usual review week here on the show and the takes from Erik Childress & Steve Prokopy go from the highs to the absolute lows. These days that usually means Bruce Willis and he is joined by Frank Grillo in the sci-fi effort, Cosmic Sin.  Jennifer Garner won’t say no to her kids in Yes Day, a sleep study turns nightmarish in Come True and living moment-by-moment becomes a nightmare for Anthony Hopkins in The Father. The duo also look at the Discovery Plus documentary, My Beautiful Stutter, Victoria Justice in the erotic drama, Trust, and Tilda Swinton is a one-woman show in Pedro Almodovar’s short film, The Human Voice.   5:54 – Cosmic Sin 17:47 – Yes Day 31:42 – Come True 41:20 – The Father 53:24 – My Beautiful Stutter 1:02:10 – Trust 1:09:01 – The Human Voice

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit erikthemovieman.substack.com

From the files of the Bad Mutha Film Show on WHPK Radio in Chicago, Sergio Mims and Erik Childress do their annual rundown of predictions for the Academy Award nominations. Well, Erik predicts and Sergio listens as he goes into why he is not caring about this year’s event. They also decry the Academy’s decision to extend the eligibility period and then look forward on the latest news about the return of movie theaters.   1:42 – Erik’s Oscar Predictions 24:27 - Why Sergio Doesn’t Care About the Oscars This Year 48:28 – Are We Getting Close To Theaters Re-Opening? 1:23:08 – Outro   And be sure to catch up on some potential Oscar nominees Borat Subsequent Moviefilm First Cow The Mauritanian Minari Never Rarely Sometimes Always News of the World One Night in Miami Promising Young Woman Sound of Metal  

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit erikthemovieman.substack.com

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this week’s movie review episode. Erik Childress & Steve Prokopy get into some old, some new and a lot of overdue. There’s a documentary about stray animals (Stray), a restored documentary from 1972 with Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland (F.T.A.), a horror film about a deranged hairdresser (The Stylist) and the true story of an Asian basketball player (Boogie). They also check out the long-gestating sci-fi films from Doug Liman (Chaos Walking) and Joe Carnahan (Boss Level) as well as a new high school rebellion tale directed by Amy Poehler (Moxie). Not to be forgotten, Disney’s latest, Raya and the Last Dragon, is reviewed and then the duo dig into if Eddie Murphy’s Coming 2 America, should be forgotten.   (Disclaimer: Something happened during editing that makes the conversation very bass-heavy. It was cleaned up as best as possible and can be understood but adjust your volumes accordingly.)   0:00 – Intro 2:33 – The Stylist 11:34 – Boss Level 23:57 – Chaos Walking 42:47 – Moxie 1:00:00 – Raya and the Last Dragon 1:15:01 – Coming 2 America 1:36:44 – F.T.A. 1:43:06 – Stray 1:46:06 – Boogie

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit erikthemovieman.substack.com

On this week’s movie review show, Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy get into the ambition of the opioid takes with Andrew Jarecki’s Traffic-like, Crisis, as well as the Russo Brothers’ war-and-drug epic, Cherry, with Tom Holland. Lee Daniels takes another slap at ambition singing the blues with The United States vs. Billie Holiday. Another Billie has the beginning of her career examined in the documentary, Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry. Julie Delpy writes, directs and stars in the tragic family drama with a twist, My Zoe, and Jewish tradition collides with all-night horror in The Vigil. But the duo save their biggest discussion to date over the new HBO docuseries from Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering which examines the heart-shaking case of Allen v. Farrow.   0:00 - Intro 1:35 - Night of the Kings 4:48 - Crisis 17:13 – Cherry 32:34 – My Zoe 47:40 – The Vigil 59:24 – Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry 1:19:35 – The United States vs. Billie Holiday 1:34:10 – Allen v. Farrow 2:21:04 - Outro

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit erikthemovieman.substack.com

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Sergio Mims returns to catch-up with Erik Childress on a number of the latest on the Blu-ray scene. They reminisce about a classic from Danny Kaye and the childhood memories of the Buck Rogers TV series. Erik defends the Cameron Crowe film that was lambasted in Toronto years ago. Sergio takes us through a collection of classic musicals from Warner Archive as well as his appreciation of a William Lustig film and, of course, there’s more Peppard. Love is an understatement though when they both praise the recent 4K releases of a comic book film Sergio loves, a sword-and-sorcery film Erik does as well as the enduring B-movie strength of the original Tremors.   4:07 - Elizabethtown 14:11 – Love Story 18:20 – The Court Jester 24:28 – Vigilante 33:32 – Three Films by Luis Bunuel 39:50 – Minding the Gap 48:34 – Rough Night in Jericho 54:34 – Beach Red 1:02:09 – Ingagi 1:03:50 – Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: The Complete Series 1:08:04 – The Train 1:15:094 – After the Thin Man 1:20:08 – Tex Avery’s Screwball Classics Vol. 2 1:21:30 – Room for One More 1:23:15 – Mister Roberts 1:26:05 – The Harvey Girls 1:31:03 – Good News 1:33:03 – The Pajama Game 1:41:03 – Blade 4K 1:43:22 – The Beastmaster 4K 1:57:24 – Tremors 4K

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit erikthemovieman.substack.com

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The latest from Netflix, Disney Plus and more are focused on this week’s movie review episode with Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy. They look at the latest film from the director of First Girl I Loved (The Violent Heart), a new version of a Noel Coward play (Blithe Spirit), the adventures of a superhuman squirrel or at least the humans around it (Flora & Ulysses) and what happens when a woman falls in love with a carnival ride (Jumbo). Steve checks out films delving into the profitability of treatment centers (Body Brokers) and the rabbit hole of the dark web (Silk Road) while both of them try to figure out who is worth rooting for in the ironically-titled, I Care a Lot.   2:00 - The Violent Heart 14:53 – Jumbo 23:15 – Flora & Ulysses 38:24 – Blithe Spirit 49:52 – I Care a Lot 1:05:15 – Body Brokers 1:14:24 – Silk Road

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit erikthemovieman.substack.com

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy are back with reviews of the movies you don’t need a festival to see even if that’s where many of this week’s titles originated. They talk about one of the best from last year’s Sundance (Minari) and a trio from this year’s (Judas and the Black Messiah, Land, The World To Come). A remnant of the 2019 Toronto Film Festival is a horrific take on being a true believer (Saint Maud). There is another edition to the Groundhog Day Cinematic Universe (The Map of Tiny Perfect Things) and one to the Guantanamo Bay C.U. (The Mauritanian). Erik reviews a unique sci-fi film that was scheduled to play at last year’s canceled SXSW Festival (Lapsis) as well as the self-owning documentary, There Is No “I” In Threesome while Steve reviews Steve Zahn in the family drama, Cowboys. Finally, they take a trip with Kristen Wiig, Annie Mumolo and Jamie Dornan in the wild comedy, Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar.

0:00 – Intro & Why We Are Not Reviewing Willy’s Wonderland 2:55 - The Map of Tiny Perfect Things 15:39 – The Mauritanian 30:02 – Saint Maud 43:32 – Minari 53:49 – Land 1:04:54 – Judas and the Black Messiah 1:16:33 – Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar 1:30:30– Cowboys 1:36:43 - Lapsis 1:42:51 – The World To Come 1:50:00 – There Is No “I” In Threesome

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit erikthemovieman.substack.com

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The rundown from this year’s Sundance festival continues with Steve Prokopy who shares his praise of Edgar Wright’s documentary. But he also shares his thoughts on the starring vehicle for Clifton Collins, Jr., the new film from Zoe Lister-Jones and Daryl Wein as well as Jarrod Carmichael’s directorial debut. It doesn’t end there as they discuss whether the Nicolas Cage/Sian Sono effort lived up to expectations, a new film about the porn industry and have a profound disagreement over Fran Kranz’s film about a reconciliation over a school shooting that wowed many but not one of them. It’s all part of the Sundance experience and the pair bring it home for the year.   0:00 - Intro 9:13 – Ailey 13:02 – Pleasure 22:39 – How It Ends 31:05 – Jockey 44:27 – Ma Belle My Beauty 48:42 – Prisoners of the Ghostland 58:09 – Mass 1:10:59 – Together Together 1:19:01 – On the Count of Three 1:26:59 – Playing with Sharks 1:32:44 – The Sparks Brothers 1:40:13 – Outro

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit erikthemovieman.substack.com

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

An annual tradition on WHPK Radio’s Bad Mutha Film Show with Sergio Mims is checking in with Erik Childress on the films he saw at the Sundance Film Festival. This year the fest was held virtually giving Sergio the opportunity to see some films himself. So they look in on some of the best films that Erik saw (along with some of the worst) including new documentaries about Sesame Street, Rita Moreno, Alvin Ailey and the band Sparks by Edgar Wright. They debate Rebecca Hall’s adaptation of the novel, Passing, and share praise for the Fred Hampton story, Judas and the Black Messiah. Erik is asked to convince Sergio that the big opening night award winner, CODA, is deserving of the response it received. There are also films about werewolves, video nasties, and a family in a literal hole. But they save the best for last, a film about the greatest concert you may not know ever existed.   4:34 – My Name is Pauli Murray 7:41 – First Date 11:40 – Mother Schmuckers 14:07 – Wild Indian 16:34 – John and the Hole 20:58 – Violation 23:24 -  The Most Beautiful Boy in the World 38:13 – Censor 42:27 – Passing 1:03:01 – Ailey 1:09:25 – Eight for Silver 1:16:15 – Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided To Go For It 1:27:20 – Flee 1:29:25 – Coda 1:42:53 – Street Gang 1:48:59 – The Sparks Brothers 1:58:26 – Judas and the Black Messiah 2:21:14 – Summer of Soul 2:32:08 - Outro

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit erikthemovieman.substack.com

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.