Episode 616: Christmas Means Trees, Existential Crises & Pizza Robots episode artwork

EPISODE · Dec 5, 2025 · 1H 46M

Episode 616: Christmas Means Trees, Existential Crises & Pizza Robots

from Movie Madness · host Erik Childress

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).4:00 - Steve Schapiro: Being Everywhere10:23 - The New Yorker At 10017:53 - The Merchants of Joy25:16 - Man Finds Tape34:29 - Hunting Season40:17 - Oh. What. Fun.49:22 - 100 Nights of Hero1:01:09 - Merrily We Roll Along1:08:09 - Five Nights at Freddy’s 21:19:38 - Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair1:29:26 - Jay KellyCLICK ON THE FILMS TO RENT OR PURCHASE AND HELP OUT THE MOVIE MADNESS PODCASTSIGN UP FOR AUDIBLEBe sure to check outErik’s Weekly Box Office Column – At Rotten TomatoesCritics’ Classics Series – At Elk Grove Cinema in Elk Grove Village, ILChicago Screening Schedule - All the films coming to theaters and streamingPhysical Media Schedule - Click & Buy upcoming titles for your library.(Direct purchases help the Movie Madness podcast with a few pennies.)Erik’s Linktree - Where you can follow Erik and his work anywhere and everywhere.The Movie Madness Podcast has been recognized by Million Podcasts as one of the Top 100 Best Movie Review Podcasts as well as in the Top 60 Film Festival Podcasts and Top 100 Cinephile Podcasts. MillionPodcasts is an intelligently curated, all-in-one podcast database for discovering and contacting podcast hosts and producers in your niche perfect for PR pitches and collaborations. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit erikthemovieman.substack.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Episode 616: Christmas Means Trees, Existential Crises & Pizza Robots

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