Movie Madness

James Laczkowski James Laczkowski

Episode 263: Remember The Tooth

It’s Blu-ray time again on the podcast. Erik Childress and Sergio Mims concentrate on just a few studios but a lot of titles including films from a silent film comedian. Sergio goes over some recent musicals released by Warner Archive as well as an Errol Flynn war film. If you ever wanted to see Strother Martin in a horror film, Arrow Video has one for you along with a couple of new 4K titles. One from Dario Argento is there for your Halloween viewing and the other is there to re-evaluate David Lynch’s version of the adaptation being hyperbolized to a fault. Is the 1984 Dune as bad as its reputation or does a new sheen make its visuals as impressive as people believe the 2021 version to be?

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James Laczkowski James Laczkowski

Episode 262: By Will Alone, Dune Is Set In Motion

You want movie reviews? You get them here as Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy give you the standard they love to hit with ten reviews, including revisiting the emotional powerhouse from SXSW (Introducing, Selma Blair), another documentary about the January 6th insurrection (Four Hours at the Capitol) and even another about one of the legendary makeup artists (Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Tom Savini). They catch up on some festival horror films they did not get to on the shows from Sundance & SXSW (Broadcast Signal Intrusion, Knocking) and another trying to blend vampires with Michael Mann (Night Teeth). Families are given another theatrical offering (Ron’s Gone Wrong) while adults who like quirk with their historical tales can try Benedict Cumberbatch painting cats (The Electrical Life of Louis Wain) and the latest from Wes Anderson (The French Dispatch). Finally, it all comes down to the film fans of Frank Herbert have been waiting for over 55 years (after initially waiting 19) as Denis Villeneuve’s Dune hits the big screen (and HBO MAX). Is it worth the wait and the vast improvement over David Lynch’s version that everyone hoped it would be? The guys each have a lot to say about it.

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James Laczkowski James Laczkowski

Episode 261: The Last Duel But Not The Last Halloween

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy return for the weekly movie reviews with the lighter lineup but no less lively a discussion. They look at the various scenes of a writer’s marriage in Mia Hansen-Love’s Bergman Island and the history of a legendary band in Todd Haynes’ documentary, The Velvet Underground. Bobcat Goldthwait and Dana Gould go on with their comedy tour after a bad car accident in the documentary, Joy Ride. Ridley Scott began his career with The Duellists and now brings us the historical, if still timely, drama The Last Duel. And if its lively discussion you seek, the duo breakdown the failure of David Gordon Green’s sequel, Halloween Kills.

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James Laczkowski James Laczkowski

Episode 260: Moment By Moment – Catching Up On Blu-rays

Erik Childress and Sergio Mims have a lot of Blu-ray releases to catch-up on and they begin here with the latest from their friends at Indicator, Paramount, Warner Bros. and Kino. They discuss the confusion over the ending to Jagged Edge, the legacies of both Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Mommie Dearest. They also go through an array of titles from Kino including films from Billy Wilder and Cecil B. DeMille as well as a pair of new commentary tracks that Sergio has contributed and are available now.

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James Laczkowski James Laczkowski

Episode 259: October Is Actually Some Time To Die

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy continue to show why you can’t do this on the radio when they take the time to review another ten movies available this week including revisiting a film they disagreed on from Sundance this year (Mass). With Jason Reitman’s reboot just a month away, Erik takes a look at a documentary about the original (Cleanin’ Up the Town: Remembering Ghostbusters). He also discusses Jason Sudeikis and Evangeline Lilly as a star-crossed couple thrust into a film noir plot (South of Heaven). Being October, there is plenty of horror and the guys split duties on the latest from Amazon’s Blumhouse releases (The Manor, Madres), go through another anthology from Shudder (V/H/S 94), and a Netflix slasher film from the director of the Creep films (There’s Someone Inside Your House). There are also variations of horror seen in a couple’s tragedy answered with a miracle (Lamb) and the remarkable true life story of the trapped Thai soccer team told by the divers themselves (The Rescue). Plus there is this little James Bond film you may have waited a couple years for that Steve gets his chance to weigh in on (No Time To Die).

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James Laczkowski James Laczkowski

Episode 258: Time To Talk Some Bond

An episode two years in the making. Or 15. Or nearly 60, depending on if you want to start with the beginning of the James Bond franchise, the stay of the Daniel Craig era or when his final outing as 007 was supposed to come out. It is finally time for No Time To Die and Bond expert, Sergio Mims, joins Erik Childress to do a full dive into the series. They talk Connery, Moore, Dalton, Brosnan and even Lazenby. Their early experiences with the movies and before that, the books, are discussed. What is the Bond film that purists hate but at least one of them has a fondness for? Ultimately it is all sprinkled in to the discussion of the 25th Bond film, their full reaction to it (with spoilers) and whether or not it was a worthy finale to Craig’s arc.

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James Laczkowski James Laczkowski

Episode 257: The 2021 Toronto International Film Festival

Continuing the recent trend of covering major film festivals virtually, Erik Childress is once again joined by Sergio Mims who gets to add the discussion with a lot more movies. They wade through a lineup that included a number of music documentaries ranging from rock to jazz, a pair of stunning crime docs about real-life standoffs with police in the 1970s and even one for the foodies. They discuss some of the worst films they saw which gives Erik the opportunity to weigh in on The Eyes of Tammy Faye. But there is plenty of room for positivity as well as they reveal their favorite films from the fest as well.

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James Laczkowski James Laczkowski

Episode 256: Get Outta My Past, Get Into My Car

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy hit the magic number again this week. Ten movie reviews for your curiosity including a trio of horror films to kick off October (Bingo Hell, Black As Night, No One Gets Out Alive). For lighter fare you can choose between Danielle McDonald wanting to become an opera singer (Falling for Figaro) or a pair of sisters trying to comically rescue their grandmother from a nursing home at the beginning of the pandemic (Stop and Go). Dan Stevens plays a robot trying to be the perfect companion in Germany’s official entry for the Oscars (I’m Your Man). The animated version of Charles Addams’ macabre household are back (The Addams Family 2) as are those from the Sopranos clan in a live-action prequel (The Many Saints of Newark) and also Tom Hardy’s anti-hero version of the Spider-Man nemesis (Venom: Let There Be Carnage). But can any of them compare to the experience of Julia Ducournau Palme d’Or winning film that takes its audience on one wild ride (Titane).

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James Laczkowski James Laczkowski

Episode 255: Mysteries, Suicides and Songs

Another eight movies are on the docket for Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy this week. They include documentaries about the young star of Luchino Visconti’s Death in Venice (The Most Beautiful Boy in the World) and a non-binary black activist (My Name Is Pauli Murray). Ben Whishaw snaps, takes to the streets and goes on a crime spree (Surge) and Freida Pinto tries to solve a mystery happening under her own roof (Intrusion). Tom Skerritt goes off on a journey after a cancer diagnosis to potentially end his life (East of the Mountains) while Melissa McCarthy tries to go on with life after a tragedy (The Starling). Jake Gyllenhaal attempts to solve a crisis as a police dispatcher in Antoine Fuqua’s remake of a recent acclaimed Danish thriller (The Guilty) and, finally, Erik and Steve try to answer the question that so many are asking about Dear Evan Hansen. Why?

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James Laczkowski James Laczkowski

Episode 254: Macho, Macho Men (And Tammy Faye)

Eight new films are reviewed on the show by Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy. They include two documentaries that take us out of this world (The Wonderful: Stories from the Space Station) and out of the mind of singer St. Vincent (The Nowhere Inn). Steve discusses an immigration romance (Blue Bayou) and both look at Aubrey Plaza’s attempt to revive a publishing house with Michael Caine’s surly author (Best Sellers). Steve also has his eyes on a biopic of the infamous televangelists (The Eyes of Tammy Faye) and then it’s Macho Man time with Nicolas Cage on the hunt for Sofia Boutella (Prisoners of the Ghostland), Gerard Butler with a contract out on Frank Grillo (Copshop) and Clint Eastwood showing quien es mas macho (Cry Macho).

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