Episode 623: Scorched Earth, Crushed Souls & Ripped Faces
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).
2:29 - Elie Wiesel: Soul On Fire
8:46 - People We Meet on Vacation
22:39 - Rosemead
28:52 - The Chronology of Water
41:02 - The Voice of Hind Rajab
47:52 - Dead Man's Wire
59:59 - The Choral
1:09:46 - We Bury the Dead
1:18:39 - Greenland 2: Migration
1:25:41 - Primate
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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.
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