Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy clear out August with reviews of nine new films starting with an assist from show regular Sergio Mims when they all reviewed the new John Boyega bank robbery tale (Breaking). It’s not Avatar but water plays a big part this week with a Dead Calm-like tale of lies on a boat (Into the Deep), more noir homage from Neil LaBute when a guy trying to stay out of trouble sees Diane Kruger in a lake (Out of the Blue) and the duo try to figure out if the new shark attack film is trying to be bad or just straight is (Maneater). Steve reviews a new film from The Squid and the Whale’s Owen Klein (Funny Pages) and Erik is flat baffled by whatever the hell the new Kevin Hart/Mark Wahlberg film is trying to be (Me Time). Sylvester Stallone is a superhero in isolation (Samaritan), Nathalie Emmanuel discovers some creepy ancestors in her bloodline (The Invitation) and, finally, George Miller returns with his first film in seven years. Is Three Thousand Years of Longing all that they wished for?

The summer season may be winding down but Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy found 11 movies to talk about this week. They revisit their thoughts on the bizarre Alison Brie/Aubrey Plaza Italy film from SXSW (Spin Me Round). Steve checks out a couple of documentaries about Indigenous leaders trying to take back the Amazon rainforest (The Territory) and one on the career of musical artist, Courtney Barnett (Anonymous Club). Erik looks at a struggling married couple on a yacht to nowhere (Get Away If You Can) and a whole town that experiences the effects of drinking horny water (Love In Kilneery). Steve has Emile Hirsch and Kate Bosworth isolated for cash prizes (The Immaculate Room) and the pair look at another two-hander involving Ryan Kwanten, J.K. Simmons’ voice through a glory hole and the end of the world (Glorious). Lili Rinehart stars in a gutless Sliding Doors scenario (Look Both Ways) and a mentally challenged Stephan James tries to solve the death of his sister (Delia’s Gone). Isabelle Fuhrmann returns to the role of the con artist who looks like a child (Orphan: First Kill) and Idris Elba tries to protect his daughters in the Cujo for Lions tale (Beast).

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy look at nine new movies this week and not only are most of them only available in theaters at the moment but nearly all of them have women leading the way in front of or behind the camera. One of those is a documentary about the effect pandemic had on theaters – for the better (Back to the Drive-In). There are two very different films about teenage female bonding (Medusa, Summering). Pleasure robots try to take back their rights (Wifelike) and a 30 year-old wishes she was a 70 year-old Diane Keaton (Mack & Rita). Further crimes are created when Aubrey Plaza fights back against student debt with credit card fraud (Emily the Criminal) while Jamie Foxx and Dave Franco team up to battle a female vampire (Day Shift). Finally, two best friends get trapped atop a 2,000 foot radio tower (Fall) and a group of supposed Gen-Z friends get trapped with a murderer during a hurricane (Bodies Bodies Bodies).

There are eight movies to talk about this week and Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy have seen them all. There is love for two films from this year’s Chicago Critics Film Festival including Patton Oswalt catfishing his own son (I Love My Dad) and Dale Dickey looking to kindle an old friendship with Wes Studi (A Love Song). There is a new animated film on Apple+ (Luck) and a documentary about the Father of Claymation (Claydream). Ron Howard turns a story that got the doc treatment last year about the Thailand cave rescue into a feature (Thirteen Lives) and stand-up comic Jo Koy stars in a film based on his life (Easter Sunday). The Predator franchise springs to new life in the 18th century (Prey) and Brad Pitt takes on a locomotive full of assassins (Bullet Train). There’s a lot of love this week but there are some targets as well.

Themes develop within this week’s movie reviews. Funny how that happens without even trying sometimes but Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy wade through seven movies this week. It all begins with an emotionally unsettling film they have been championing since Sundance featuring another knockout performance by Rebecca Hall and a never creepier Tim Roth (Resurrection). Steve checks out Juliette Binoche as a trucker who gets involved in child trafficking (Paradise Highway) while Erik covers Angourie Rice as an overachieving high schooler trying to sabotage her competition (Honor Society). Zoey Deutsch is an underachieving photo editor who tries to manipulate a fresh grief hashtag in a new satire (Not Okay) and Katie Holmes and Jim Sturgess are forced to white-people-problem their way through the start of the Covid pandemic (Alone Together). Steve also looks at the new animated effort from the other comic book studio (DC League of Super Pets). Finally, the pair heap praise upon the writing/directing effort from B.J. Novak that is certainly one of the strongest surprises of the year.

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy have the weekly movie reviews for you. A light week of just five movies, but the streamers should be happy. Mostly. Whether or not you head out to theaters for the big one is up to you. But they check on a couple films from Shudder including some horror from the Netherlands (Moloch) and a documentary on cult performance metal artists (This is Gwar). Erik weighs in on Ethan Hawke’s six-part docuseries on the careers and marriage of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward on HBO MAX (The Last Movie Stars). The duo review the latest algorithmic concoction from Netflix and the Russo Brothers (The Gray Man). Then, finally, they tell you whether Jordan Peele has gone 3-for-3 with his horror films or if his latest is an overstuffed, undersold bag of ideas (Nope).

Sergio Mims returns to the show to look at what is new out there in Blu-ray land. Along with Erik Childress they discuss some tremendous new 4K titles from Sony and Criterion. Erik makes the case for two other great crime tales on 4K that Sergio has just been so-so on. Sergio goes to bat for a new restoration of a film that was featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 and clearly believes was unfair. They also talk a new release of an early Richard Donner film and run through a cadre of new-to-Blu-ray titles from the ever-expanding Imprint that they believe is becoming one of the great companies delivering special edition physical media.

Real life trumps fiction this week on the movie review edition of the podcast. Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy discuss seven new movies including revisiting two of the best documentaries from the festival circuit this year. One involves the continued struggles of gun control after another tragedy (Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down) and another chronicles the relationship of two volcano researchers up close and personal (Fire of Love). Steve looks at the horrors of healing with Alice Krige (She Will) and Erik finds another kind of horror in concealing a life-threatening diagnosis (Don’t Make Me Go). Lesley Manville goes off in search of a Dior dress she desperately wants (Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris) and Dakota Johnson goes to Jane Austen land hoping to reclaim the love of her life while talking to us (Persuasion). Finally, the duo looks to find an answer to Where The Crawdads Sing and discover that they could not care less.

This year’s Tribeca Film Festival contained a number of noteworthy documentaries and some new features by rising filmmakers. Erik Childress is joined by Peter Sobczynski to discuss 16 of these films. They include real-life tales about embattled journalists, the effect of COVID on family businesses, historical heroes and modern-day athletes. There are also the latest films from filmmakers such as Travis Stevens (Jakob’s Wife), Alex Thompson (Saint Frances), Alexandre O. Philippe (Memory: The Origins of Alien) and Robert Machoian (The Killing of Two Lovers) as well as upcoming talents like Daniel Antebi, Sophie Gilbert and Alexandria Trewhitt. Erik also sets up a little preview of the upcoming month-long Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal taking place in July and into August.

Erik Childress and Steve Prokopy bring you the weekly movie reviews. Seven new films including a pair of music documentaries focused on a pair of Nick Cave albums (This Much I Know To Be True) and one of the most singular songs ever recorded – in many different ways (Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song). A couple goes off on a self-help retreat in the woods in a new horror film (The Summoned) and Claire Denis put another couple played by Juliette Binoche and Vincent Lindon through the ringer when a lusty ex is thrown into the equation (Both Sides of the Blade). Abducted In Plain Sight director Skye Borgman documents another tale of an evil predator and the people who were destroyed by him (Girl in the Picture). The co-director of Moana and Big Hero 6 delivers a Moby Dick-like tale that helps restores one of our duo’s faith in recent animated films (The Sea Beast). Finally all faith is destroyed in the latest Marvel entry as Erik and Steve agree it to be one of the worst, if not THE worst, in their Cinematic Universe (Thor: Love and Thunder).