Calendar: November 18-24, 2016
Our movie and media Calendar appears every Friday/Saturday on C-U Blogfidential and caters to the downstate region anchored by Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA.
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MILESTONES | Happy Birthday to You!
11/19: Carolyn Baxley (proprietor, The Cinema Gallery)
11/21: Melissa Merli (arts reporter, The News-Gazette)
11/24: Shauna Miller (actress, HOLLY)
CONFIDENTIAL ALMANAC | Dates in Film Culture History
20 Years Ago … Tuesday, November 19, 1996: The Normal Theater in downtown Normal, IL, offers two shows of the Italian drama IL POSTINO (THE POSTMAN), directed by Michael Radford and nominated for the “Best Picture” Academy Award earlier in the year. IL POSTINO is the first Normal presentation sponsored by Beyond Normal Films, a month-old society founded by Colleen Farlee and Charline Watts that plans to actively select and screen quality international cinema for the Bloomington-Normal public. A “BNF pick” has played the Normal nearly every month since, while the Farlee Film Festival provides audiences with a three-week-long fix of notable imports once every few months. The non-profit organization also hosts member-only gatherings and supports movie-related community projects.
100 Years Ago … Friday, November 24, 1916: Forrest James Ackerman is born in Los Angeles, CA, to William and Carroll Ackerman. Apart from working odd jobs, attending college in Berkeley, and serving in the army during World War II, he would spend decades at the forefront of science fiction and Golden Age Hollywood fandom with his seminal contribution coming over a quarter century (1958-1983) as creator and editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine. After final years filled with health and legal issues, Ackerman passed away in his Los Angeles apartment on Thursday, December 4, 2008, at age 92, preceded by his wife and companion Wendayne in 1990. Although no overt connection between “Forry” and Champaign-Urbana, IL, has been identified, his sense of wonder and innate love for divulging pop culture arcana did heavily inspire a budding Champaign writer to begin publishing his own titles.
FLICKER OF THE WEEK | Suggestions in Full-Motion Arts
Ah, holiday seasons, those reoccurring stretches of time each year when new cinema pickings can range from a veritable cornucopia to lookalike lumps of coal. In the next 10 days, multiplexes and family-friendly locations will be offering an expected mix – one big-budget fantasy (FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM), one Disney animation (MOANA), one wartime epic of the Brad Pitt persuasion (ALLIED), one Old Hollywood period drama (RULES DON’T APPLY), one too-late sequel that nobody in the real world asked for (BAD SANTA 2), and the remainder – but we encourage you to look past the obvious for nonstandard fare. BILLY FLYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK (Film4/TriStar Pictures), the newest high-concept drama from ace filmmaker and University of Illinois favorite Ang Lee, stars Joe Alwyn as a young soldier receiving a hero’s welcome in the United States who flashes back to his overseas experiences in Iraq, attempting to justify its dangerous and compromised reality versus the home-grown perception of what takes place during modern combat. Based on the novel by Ben Fountain and also starring Kristin Stewart, Garrett Hedlund, and Chris Tucker, BILLY FLYNN receives limited tours of duty at both the Goodrich 16 in Savoy and Carmike 13 in Champaign starting today, Fri., 11/18, neither of which will truly demonstrate Lee’s technical ambitions; this production is reportedly the first to be photographed in 3-D, 4k resolution, and 120 frames per second, affecting a hyperreal sensation that can theoretically immerse an audience more fully than standard projection. If this doesn’t enlist your attention, then maybe LOVING (Focus Features) directed by naturalistic storyteller and “Ebertfest” favorite Jeff Nichols will appeal to you; Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga play real-life couple Richard and Mildred Loving, whose union in 1950s Virginia lands them in jail before they fight back and sue the state, thereby enacting a challenge against laws prohibiting interracial marriage that makes waves all the way to the Supreme Court. The Art-Theater Co-op opens LOVING next Weds., 11/23, after an abbreviated run of MOONLIGHT (A24 Films) ends on Tues., 11/22; be sure to savor the poetic coming-of-age triptych brought to the screen by Barry Jenkins, a Florida State University film graduate and favorite FSU ex-classmate of Colleen Cook, before it moonlights elsewhere. “FOW” is hereby fin.
NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area
@ The Art Theater Co-op, Champaign, IL
MOONLIGHT (11/18-11/22), LOVING (11/23 on)
@ Carmike 13, Champaign, IL
BLEED FOR THIS, THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN, FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM, ALMOST CHRISTMAS, DOCTOR STRANGE, HACKSAW RIDGE, SHUT IN, TROLLS (11/18 on), ARRIVAL, BILLY FLYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK (11/18-11/21), ALLIED, BAD SANTA 2, MOANA, RULES DON’T APPLY (11/22 on)
@ Family Video, Champaign-Urbana, IL
FINDING DORY, CARDBOARD BOXER, ARMY OF ONE, DIRTY 30, CHRISTMAS EVE, REIGN OF ASSASSINS, BLOOD IN THE WATER, GAME OF THRONES (s6), BETTER CALL SAUL (s2), more! (11/15 on)
@ Goodrich Savoy 16, Savoy, IL
BILLY FLYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK, BLEED FOR THIS, THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN, FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM, MOONLIGHT, ALMOST CHRISTMAS, ARRIVAL, DOCTOR STRANGE, HACKSAW RIDGE, JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK, SHUT IN, TROLLS (11/18 on), A CHRISTMAS STORY (11/20, 11/23), ALLIED, BAD SANTA 2, MOANA, RULES DON’T APPLY (11/22 on)
Events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Additional “Now Playing” and “Coming Soon” listings appear after the jump!
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NOW PLAYING | The Cities Beyond
@ AMC Village Mall 6, Danville, IL
FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM, ALMOST CHRISTMAS, DOCTOR STRANGE, HACKSAW RIDGE, TROLLS (11/18 on)
@ The Avon Theater, Decatur, IL
FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM (11/18 on), HACKSAW RIDGE, TROLLS (11/18-11/21), MOANA (11/22 on), ALLIED (11/23 on)
@ The Lincoln Grand 8, Lincoln, IL
FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM, ALMOST CHRISTMAS, DOCTOR STRANGE, HACKSAW RIDGE, SHUT IN, TROLLS (11/18 on)
@ The Little Lorraine, Hoopeston, IL
FINDING DORY (11/18-11/20)
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL
THE STUDENT AND MR. HENRI (11/18, 11/20), PREDATOR (11/18), FINDING DORY, THE BEATLES: EIGHT DAYS A WEEK – THE TOURING YEARS (11/19)
@ The Onarga Theatre, Onarga, IL
FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM (11/17-11/20, 11/23)
@ The Princess Theatre, Leroy, IL
JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK (11/18-11/20), FREE BIRDS (11/19, 11 a.m., free)
@ Route 66 Twin Drive-In, Springfield, IL
Closed for the season!
NOW PLAYING | Midwest
@ Centerbrook Drive-In, Martinsville, IN
Closed for the season!
COMING SOON | Area-wide Events
2/21/17-2/26/17
39th annual Big Muddy Film Festival
@ Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL
3/30/17-4/6/17
19th annual Wisconsin Film Festival, Madison, WI
4/19/17-4/23/17
19th annual Roger Ebert’s Film Festival
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
COMMUNITY & CAMPUS SERIES | Champaign-Urbana area
Illini Union Board Presents “Weekend Films at the Union”
@ Pine Lounge, Main Level, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 7 p.m., free w/i-card
12/2, 12/3: THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN; 12/9, 12/10: QUEEN OF KATWE
UPDATE! The News-Gazette Film Series
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 1 & 7 p.m.
11/26: HARVEY; 12/12-12/17: “The Best Christmas Movies Ever!” feat. THE BISHOP’S WIFE, THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER, MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE; 1/21/17: DRACULA; 2/4/17: SWING TIME; 3/25/17: THE GENERAL; 4/15/17: DUCK SOUP; 5/27/17: CITIZEN KANE; 6/24/17: HIGH NOON; 7/22/17: THE GOLD RUSH; 8/26/17: THE WIZARD OF OZ
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Compiled by Jason Pankoke.
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