Movie Madness

It is a pretty substandard week for movies. Even moreso than usual. But Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy power through and may find at least one worth your time. Could it be the story of a serial killer and possession (The Mannequin)? Or how about the one with Ving Rhames training a wannabe female boxer to become…a manager (Uppercut)? There’s a documentary about Paul McCartney after leaving The Beatles (Man on the Run) and Jessica Chastain in a toxic relationship with an immigrant (Dreams). Priyana Chopra has to fight off pirate Karl Urban (The Bluff) and the director of WALL-E explores death and aging over tens of thousands of years (In the Blink of an Eye). Finally, Ghostface AND Neve Campbell return in the horror franchise celebrating its 30th Anniversary (Scream 7).

1:04 - The Mannequin

6:28 - Man on the Run

14:40 - Uppercut

22:20 - Dreams

31:30 - The Bluff

40:52 - In the Blink of an Eye

53:54 - Scream 7

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.

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 Peter Sobczynski take you through another week in physical media and it’s a pretty great week. You can get one of Scorsese’s first, Richard Pryor’s last concert film and even some early Matt LeBlanc. Peter shows some fondness for Lori Petty’s bizarre comic book adaptation and even a little Troma. One of Erik’s “Why is this not on blu-ray” choices gets its debut courtesy of Synapse. 20 years before Jurassic Park there was the original Michael Crichton amusement park. The pair debate the legacy of a “prescient” media satire with the late, great Robert Duvall. Finally, not only can you get perhaps the best Tarzan film ever made but John Boorman’s incredible telling of the King Arthur legend gets what will be amongst the great upgrades of the year.

3:35 - Criterion (Network (4K))

21:26 - Warner Archive (Tarzan and His Mate)

33:03 - Severin (The Ghost (4K), Retribution, Lookin Italian)

49:15 - Cinematographe (Boxcar Bertha 4K)

59:43 - Synapse (T.A.G. The Assassination Game)

1:09:50 - Sony (Richard Pryor: Here and Now (4K))

1:15:19 - Vinegar Syndrome (Tank Girl (4K), Terror Firmer (4K))

1:36:11 - Arrow (Westworld (4K), Excalibur (4K))

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.

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

Disney & 20th Century Studios did not want them to see Psycho Killer this week, but Erik Childress & Steve Prokopy still have six films to talk about. Steve delves into Baz Luhrmann’s lost footage film (EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert). A woman seeks to constantly avenge her daughter (Redux Redux), two Game of Thrones stars reunite for some folk horror (The Dreadful) and would you believe there’s another zombie outbreak (This Is Not A Test). Harry Melling enters into a domme relationship with Alexander Skarsgard (Pillion) while Glen Powell tries to eliminate a family tree in order to receive his inheritance (How To Make a Killing).

1:16 - EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert

9:56 - Redux Redux

19:45 - The Dreadful

29:43 - This Is Not A Test

40:27 - Pillion

52:54 - How To Make a Killing

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.

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

A trend certainly develops along this week’s path of physical media with Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski. It is a week that offers musicals from Ernst Lubitsch, a double (or, actually, triple) dose of Van Damme and one of the craziest sci-fi horror films you will ever see. But it is also a week about truth and liberties. They go from the music side of the aisle in biopics about Benny Goodman and Jim Morrison. Diane Keaton takes you into the various depictions and mysteries of the afterlife. There is also another Tale of the Christ setting the record for the most Oscars for over 40 years as well as Ron Howard’s Oscar-winning Best Picture. Finally there is the journalism of today with Jake Gyllenhaal and perhaps the greatest film about the profession celebrating its 50th anniversary.

1:18 - Criterion (Eclipse Series 8: Lubitsch Musicals, Cloud (4K))

10:57 - WB (Ben-Hur (4K), All the President’s Men (4K))

30:12 - Shout (Nightcrawler (4K))

36:47 - Universal (A Beautiful Mind (4K), The Benny Goodman Story)

50:06 - Lionsgate (The Doors 4K)

1:01:02 - Arrow (The Visitor (1979) (4K))

1:10:55 - MVD (Double Impact (4K), Knock Off (4K))

1:24:15 - Lightyear (Heaven (1987))

1:32:19 - New TV & Theatrical Titles On Blu-ray (Dexter: Resurrection (Season One), Predator: Badlands (4K), Sisu: Road to Revenge (4K), Now You See Me, Now You Don’t (4K), Rental Family, Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 (4K), Deathstalker (2025), Silent Night, Deadly Night (2025) (4K), Song Sung Blue, Regretting You, The Carpenter’s Son)

1:37:37 - 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.

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 on the review beat with eight new titles this week. They include another video game adaptation (The Mortuary Assistant), Juliette Lewis becomes a chair (By Design) while an actual goat tries to become one (GOAT). The world is in trouble with green alien fungus (Cold Storage) as well as AI in Gore Verbinski’s first film in nine years (Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die). Chris Hemsworth is feeling the heat as a thief from Mark Ruffalo and Halle Berry (Crime 101). The director of Blackberry returns what possibly could be the funniest film of 2026 (Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie) while Emerald Fennell returns with what definitely won’t be. Depending on your definition of “funny.” (“Wuthering Heights”)

1:15 - By Design

8:35 - The Mortuary Assistant

15:22 - GOAT

21:39 - Cold Storage

32:48 - Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die

45:04 - Crime 101

1:00:57 - Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie

1:13:43 - “Wuthering Heights”

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

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.

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

A lot of rescheduling leaves not a lot to talk about this week in physical media but Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski still power through. They include one of the most inventive (and expensive) comedies of all-time, a Johnnie To action film, Viggo Mortensen in one of his first starring roles. Finally, you have the cable staple that was the first pairing of Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner that in more ways than one led to the title of this week’s episode.

3:10 - Criterion (Playtime (4K))

17:06 - Alliance (Hanky Panky)

30:10 - Shout (The Big Heat (1988) (4K))

34:17 - Arrow (American Yakuza)

44:27 – New Theatrical Title On Blu-ray (Nuremberg)

45:59 - New Blu-ray Announcements

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

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

Sundance is leaving Park City and after attending since 2003, Erik Childress looks ahead to the festival’s move to Boulder in 2027. But before then its; one last dance in Utah as Steve Prokopy and him countdown over 30 films they saw at the festival. New films from Olivia Wilde, Gregg Araki and Macon Blair. Ethan Hawke continues his roll with one of the best and biggest films while John Turturro gets one of the great roles of his career. Some of the best documentaries about Salman Rushdie, Marianne Faithfull, rescues, justice and girl scout cookies plus the first from John Wilson. All this and more in their wrap-up of this year’s festival.

4:10 – When a Witness Recants

9:32 – The Weight

16:41 – The Only Living Pickpocket In New York

23:54 – The Invite

28:32 – I Want Your Sex

35:21 – Broken English

40:21 – Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie

45:32 – Everybody to Kenmure Street

51:21 – The Shitheads

56:41 – Josephine

1:05:52 – The History of Concrete

1:11:34 – Cookie Queens

1:14:32 – Union County

1:19:33 – Bedford Park

1:22:44 – Wicker

1:27:49 – The Incomer

1:32:55 – Big Girls Don’t Cry

1:37:09 - Hanging By A Wire

1:41:03 - More Titles From Steve & Erik (Paralyzed By Hope: The Maria Bamford Story, Buddy, Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass, Antiheroine, Frank & Louis, How To Divorce During the War, Jane Elliott Against the World, The Musical, Run Amok, Once Upon a Time In Harlem, Time and Water, If I Go Will You Miss Me, The Gallerist, Ha-Chan Shake Your Booty, The Moment, Queen of Chess)

1:52:09 – Thoughts on 2027

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

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SIGN UP FOR AUDIBLE

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.

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.

After a brief hiatus for Sundance we are back to get you caught up on this week’s physical media. Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski look at a pair of enjoyable larks in the careers of John Woo and Jonathan Demme. There is the fun hangout movie that was just celebrated at the film festival where it had its premiere as well as one of the early Rolling Stones concert films. SXSW premiered one of the great twisted films about capitalistic depravity and Arrow does it justice here. There is also some twisted Dario Argento and a kid trying to hook up with Nicole Kidman. But this week is full of original films that were eventually remade including a western written by Elmore Leonard, the film which won William Hurt his Oscar, a Clark Gable film that he made twice, a dynamite thriller on a train, Charles Bronson as a cultured killer. Not but last least a classic rom-com that was remade that the guys have some very different opinions about.

2:16 - Criterion (3:10 to Yuma (1957) (4K), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) (4K), House Party (4K), Birth (4K))

31:44 - Warner Archive (Red Dust, The Narrow Margin)

41:10 - Shout (Once a Thief (4K))

51:14 - Vinegar Syndrome (Married to the Mob 4K, The Stendhal Syndrome 4K)

1:09:33 - Arrow (Cheap Thrills)

1:17:37 - Universal (Fifty Shades Trilogy 4K, Marry Me (4K))

1:29:52 - Kino (Hold That Blonde, The Mechanic 4K, Sabrina (1995), The Hi-Lo Country, Let’s Spend the Night Together 4K)

2:09:35 – New Theatrical Titles On Blu-ray (Hung Up On a Dream: The Zombies, Blue Moon, The Thing with Feathers)

2:11:41 – New Blu-ray Announcements!

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

USE COUPON “MOVIEMADNESS” TO GET 10% OFF ALL DUBBY PRODUCTS

SIGN UP FOR AUDIBLE

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.

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

Another week in physical media with Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski and it is a loaded one. Criterion offers up some classic Errol Flynn and the final film of legend John Huston. You can also check out the first directorial effort of John Milius and one of the many men-in-a-car films of David Ayer. Speaking of vehicles, you can hear about one of the great chase sequences of the 1980s or the one that has some MF snakes in it. There’s a history lesson in Ma and Pa Kettle plus the great Woody Woodpecker, a trio of Agatha Christie mysteries and a punk rock gem still worthy of discovery.

2:09 - Criterion (Captain Blood (4K), The Dead (4K))

19:52 - MGM (A Matter of Time, Dillinger)

32:44 - Universal (Woody Woodpecker and Friends Golden Age Collection (1941-1972), Ma and Pa Kettle: Complete Comedy Collection)

47:10 - Fun City (Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains (4K))

1:02:24 - Arrow (Snakes on a Plane (4K))

1:13:37 - Shout (End of Watch (4K))

1:19:30 - Kino (Man in a Cocked Hat, The Flesh and Blood Show, Diva (4K), Death on the Nile (1978) (4K), The Mirror Crack’d (4K), Evil Under the Sun (4K))

1:56:47 - New TV & Theatrical Titles On Blu-ray (Doctor Who: Tom Baker (Season 2), Lucifer: The Complete Series, One Battle After Another (4K), Wicked: For Good (4K), Roofman (4K), Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, Fackham Hall, Hunting Season, Keeper (4K))

2:02:49 – New Blu-ray Announcements

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

USE COUPON “MOVIEMADNESS” TO GET 10% OFF ALL DUBBY PRODUCTS

SIGN UP FOR AUDIBLE

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.

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

Before heading off to Sundance next week, Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy bring you ten new movie reviews. Erik looks at the anime adaptation of the text that inspired Edge of Tomorrow (All You Need Is Kill) and a Palestinian epic of family and loss that people need to see (All That’s Left of You) while Steve checks out the latest film about family from the Dardenne Brothers (Young Mothers). On the documentary side there is the tale of a wrestler who was born with Crouzon’s Syndrome (Standout: The Ben Kjar Story) and a two-parter on HBO Max about one of the absolute legends of comedy (Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!). Jodie Foster takes the lead again as a psychiatrist investigating her patient’s death (A Private Life) and Amanda Seyfried leads with music as part of a shaky religious sect (The Testament of Ann Lee). Bad cops are at the center of the new film from the director of Lowlife (Night Patrol) and Matt Damon & Ben Affleck may also be at the center of Joe Carnahan’s latest thriller (The Rip). Finally, Ralph Fiennes and Jack O’Connell approach the rage virus in vastly different ways in the continuation of the apocalyptic series (28 Years Later: The Bone Temple).

1:44 - All You Need Is Kill

8:36 - Young Mothers

14:02 - All That’s Left Of You

21:01 - Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!

36:40 - Standout: The Ben Kjar Story

43:40 - A Private Life

51:35 - Night Patrol

1:03:01 - The Testament of Ann Lee

1:12:34 - The Rip

1:25:02 - 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

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

SIGN UP FOR AUDIBLE

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.

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.