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).

It’s the first new physical media roundup of 2026 with Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski. They include Jim Jarmusch’s love-it-or-hate-it western and Val Kilmer’s Native American murder mystery. They debate the volcano movies of 1997 and remind everyone of Kevin Spacey’s alien movie. One of the great, seemingly forgotten, Stephen King adaptations gets an upgrade as does perhaps the best Steven Seagal film and another of John Woo’s classics. A lot of great action and horror to start the new year.

The movie year of 2026 begins in earnest this week on the podcast with Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy looking at ten films, some of which are expansions of 2025 releases. There’s a Harry/Sally-like rom-com (People We Meet on Vacation). Steve checks out a documentary of a famed writer and Holocaust survivor (Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire), plus a pair of true stories with Lucy Liu caring for her schizophrenic son (Rosemead) and the tale of an emergency call from a six-year-old trapped in a car in Gaza (The Voice of Hind Rajab). The true stories continue with Kristen Stewart’s harrowing directorial debut of a woman plagued with memories of sexual abuse (The Chronology of Water), Gus Van Sant’s latest about a 1977 hostage situation (Dead Man’s Wire) and Ralph Fiennes tries to get people to sing during WWI (The Choral). Two varying apocalypses occur with Daisy Ridley discovering that the victims of a catastrophic explosion are only mostly dead while Gerard Butler and his family have to leave their bunker (Greenland 2: Migration). With all that horror this week, the show wraps up with some chimpanzee terror (Primate).

A yearly tradition continues with Erik Childress and Peter Sobczynski carried over from our time with the late, great Sergio Mims as they ask the question that is the very title of these episodes. Both Erik and Peter have selected 10 titles each of films that are still languishing only on DVD and not in a higher-grade format (at least not in North America.) They include classic modern comedies of the ‘80s and ‘90s, a heist film, and one of the earliest appearances of a beloved comedian and the song that became their staple, not to mention a film based on an album. How about movies from some of the great independent voices of cinema, a coming-of-age film, an animated film nearly canceled by the Russians, and a thriller about a simple plan that turns into a conspiracy all leading up to one of the timeliest calls for a film you can imagine. Are you listening Criterion, studios and all the rights holders? Let’s give these films the releases they deserve and continue to preserve physical media.

As we always do to kick off the new year we take one more look at last year. Focused primarily on the positive (with maybe a couple parting shots), Steve Prokopy once again joins Erik Childress to countdown their top ten films along with their runners-up. They are once again overjoyed to continue their yearly tradition and welcome Collin Souter of the Christmas Movies Actually podcast to join them with his list. A lot of great films for everyone to catch up with plus shout-outs of more movies with a number of specialized categories where we honor everything from laughs to music, our best surprises and a few disappointments. May 2026 be even better.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).