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Erik Childress

Tomatometer-approved critic
Biography:

Erik Childress got his start as a film critic on the Jonathon Brandmeier show back in 1998 and for over 20 years wrote for eFilmCritic, was a weekly guest on Chicago’s WGN Radio with Nick Digilio (continuing now as The Nick D Podcast) and co-hosted the Bad Mutha Film Show with Sergio Mims on WHPK Radio. Currently he is the host of the Movie Madness podcast, co-host of The Friendship Dilemma podcast and produces the Critic’s Classics series at Elk Grove Cinema. On television he has been featured since 2011 on the Movies & Money segment on Business First AM and writes the weekly box office column for Rotten Tomatoes. He is on the board of the Chicago Film Critics Association and is the founder, a producer and programmer of the annual Chicago Critics Film Festival that began in 2013.

Favorites:

Back to the Future, JFK, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, E.T., Jaws, Aliens, Broadcast News, The Right Stuff, Goodfellas, Die Hard, The Prestige, Flash Gordon

Location:

Elk Grove Village, IL (Chicago)

Official Website:

https://erikthemovieman.substack.com/

Reviews

Movies TV Shows
The Incomer (2026) 94% 3/4 EDIT “A fanciful yarn in the vein of Local Hero with wonderful work from Gayle Rankin and Grant O’Rourke as the abandoned siblings caught between grown-up responsibility and adolescent discovery with Domhnall Gleeson very funny as the bewildered catalyst.” – Movie Madness Podcast Feb 10, 2026 Full Review The Weight (2026) 96% 4/4 EDIT “Padraic McKinley’s unimpeachably entertaining debut is an adventure that has the tension of Sorcerer with a touch of Southern Comfort led by a never-more-confident Ethan Hawke who just continues to roll through perfectly chosen projects. ” – Movie Madness Podcast Feb 9, 2026 Full Review The Only Living Pickpocket in New York (2026) 100% 3.5/4 EDIT “Noah Segan evokes a classical ‘70s vibe for his analog protagonist and wisely does not cheat the audience on the journey he puts him on, perfectly embodied by John Turturro in another stellar turn with great support from Buscemi, Esposito and Maslany” – Movie Madness Podcast Feb 9, 2026 Full Review Broken English (2025) 94% 3.5/4 EDIT “A refreshingly unique approach to the music biopic which through interviews, footage, debate and live performances gives agency back to the icon that is Marianne Faithfull.” – Movie Madness Podcast Feb 9, 2026 Full Review Cookie Queens (2026) 100% 3/4 EDIT “On the surface there is a very sweet film about its subjects going through the yearly tradition of selling girl scout cookies. Underneath is a saddening realization that this is their intro to the disheartening tradition of working class capitalism. ” – Movie Madness Podcast Feb 9, 2026 Full Review The Invite (2026) 90% 3.5/4 EDIT “Olivia Wilde does great work on screen while opening up the corners of the confined space to give the theatrical setting room to breathe as the walls slowly close in on the central couple. Huge laughs and great work from Rogen, Norton and Cruz as well.” – Movie Madness Podcast Feb 8, 2026 Full Review Marty Supreme (2025) 93% 3.5/4 EDIT “Imagine if Forrest Gump was a prick, only instead of randomly bumping into history he sought out to become history through a series of deceptions and little con jobs. The hero America deserves, everyone.” – Movie Madness Podcast Jan 20, 2026 Full Review The Rip (2026) 79% 3/4 EDIT “Carnahan directs the hell out of this picture setting up a tense squeeze and never pulling back with the ever-committed Damon & Affleck who appear personally determined to assure us this is not just another throwaway streaming release.” – Movie Madness Podcast Jan 20, 2026 Full Review 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026) 92% 3/4 EDIT “Like the Mad Max world and even Romero’s Dead films this series has not been afraid to explore more than just the hook that audiences come to expect. Nia DaCosta continues that streak with bleak nihilism and calming beauty.” – Movie Madness Podcast Jan 20, 2026 Full Review All You Need Is Kill (2025) 83% 2/4 EDIT “When the film moves away from the purposely repetitive action beats that the animation stales pretty quickly, the focus on Rita as an individual going through an existential crisis of meaning is momentarily interesting, but its merely a moment.” – Movie Madness Podcast Jan 20, 2026 Full Review Standout: The Ben Kjar Story (2025) 100% 3.5/4 EDIT “The first half-hour of this documentary is enough of an arc for a classic Hollywood underdog tale. But there is no need for another movie since this one already accomplishes all the emotional beats that Ben’s story deserves.” – Movie Madness Podcast Jan 16, 2026 Full Review The Chronology of Water (2025) 90% 3.5/4 EDIT “Kirsten Stewart’s tough, confident debut as a filmmaker envelops us in the cycle of abuse of this woman whose varying attempts to escape it through accomplishment and less rewarding vices and makes for a breathless experience.” – Movie Madness Podcast Jan 14, 2026 Full Review People We Meet on Vacation (2026) 76% 2.5/4 EDIT “When the story abandons its clear influences and dopey concoctions to keep two attractive people from announcing they are attracted to one another it does open up for moments that occasionally feel real for the situation. Just not enough.” – Movie Madness Podcast Jan 12, 2026 Full Review Dead Man's Wire (2025) 91% 2/4 EDIT “The details of the incident itself are particularly underwhelming so the screenplay supplements with side characters instead of truly digging into the socioeconomic issues that led to it or a more complete portrait of the instigator’s life.” – Movie Madness Podcast Jan 10, 2026 Full Review Primate (2025) 79% 3/4 EDIT “The special effects are very effective so when Ben is on screen his sheer presence represents an unpredictable force that lives up to the age-old wisdom that pet chimps will eventually rip your face off.” – Movie Madness Podcast Jan 10, 2026 Full Review Ella McCay (2025) 23% 3.5/4 EDIT “Despite what you may have heard, James L. Brooks doesn’t miss and has crafted another funny, witty and lovely film anchored by Emma Mackey’s terrific performance. Ignore the hate and enjoy.” – Movie Madness Podcast Jan 9, 2026 Full Review Five Nights at Freddy's 2 (2025) 16% 0.5/4 EDIT “If you felt the first film failed to deliver its one job of creating animatronic robot pizza place mayhem and replace most of its running time with manufactured trauma horror, rest easy because the second film delivers even less.” – Movie Madness Podcast Jan 8, 2026 Full Review The Merchants of Joy (2025) EDIT “There have been so many lovely Santa-based documentaries about Christmas that it is about time we had one dedicated to the (competitive) world of tree sellers dedicated to putting a bow on your enjoyment of the season – as well as self-preservation.” – Movie Madness Podcast Jan 7, 2026 Full Review Dust Bunny (2025) 85% 3.5/4 EDIT “Pushing Daisies meets The Professional aptly describes Bryan Fuller’s feature debut but its imagination & production design are just part of this cinematic dessert sprinkled with a fun script and great work from Mikkelsen, Sloan, Weaver and Dastmalchian” – Movie Madness Podcast Jan 5, 2026 Full Review Hamnet (2025) 87% 3.5/4 EDIT “The confluence between art and healing has been represented well on film lately but the build up to Jessie Buckley’s reaction to the climactic creation is likely to provide every viewer a moment of catharsis for themselves.” – Movie Madness Podcast Jan 4, 2026 Full Review The Stringer: The Man Who Took the Photo (2025) 92% 3.5/4 EDIT “A fascinating journalistic mystery offering another instance of bad actors trying to distort the history of America’s involvement in Vietnam.” – Movie Madness Podcast Jan 3, 2026 Full Review Silent Night, Deadly Night (2025) 77% 1.5/4 EDIT “Goodbye deranged killer Santa who outraged parents in 1984. Hello guy who was once hypnotized by Michael Myers and now by robbing shotgun Santa created by someone who watched Bill Paxton’s Frailty a lot.” – Movie Madness Podcast Jan 3, 2026 Full Review Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025) 66% 1.5/4 EDIT “If you have not been on board with the Avatar universe since the beginning there is nothing here that will make you care any further about it. If you HAVE subscribed to Pandora, even you may admit the story is getting thinner.” – Movie Madness Podcast Jan 2, 2026 Full Review Song Sung Blue (2025) 78% 3/4 EDIT “The film does right by the 2008 documentary, the real-life couple and the music with terrific, natural performances by Jackman and Hudson while Craig Brewer’s script never lets the story’s twists and turns feel like emotional cliches.” – Movie Madness Podcast Jan 1, 2026 Full Review The Housemaid (2025) 74% 1/4 EDIT “Despite a real commitment from Amanda Seyfried, the film is stuck in the limbo between trashy and deadly serious and just ends up as straight trash that completely brushes off the horrific fate one puts into motion for another as a good, sensible plan.” – Movie Madness Podcast Dec 31, 2025 Full Review
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