Calendar: January 6-12, 2017
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.
~~~~~
MILESTONES | Happy Birthday to You!
1/12: Damian Duffy (adapter/letterer, Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation)
FLICKER OF THE WEEK | Suggestions in Full-Motion Arts
Shall we bellow in wizened tones our best bets into your ears, dearest listeners? A MONSTER CALLS (Focus Features) looks to be the kind of metaphorical fantasy not often attempted these days, let alone released nationwide as it will be today, Fri., 1/6; directed by stylist J.A. Bayona, the story follows an English preteen named Conor (Lewis MacDougall) who learns to trust a sprawling tree creature (voiced by Liam Neeson) and its stories to help him deal with the terminal illness of his single mother (Felicity Jones) and struggles in the schoolyard. It plays the Carmike 13 and Goodrich Savoy 16 as you’d expect, while the latter picks up bonus points for booking the Japanese anime classic PRINCESS MONONOKE (GKIDS/Fathom Events) for a 20th anniversary showcase on Mon., 1/9, 7 p.m.; this adventure, following the travails of a young warrior woman who must protect her forest terrain and its panoply of nature spirits and gods from the encroachment of civilized man, is possibly as good an entry point as SPIRITED AWAY for introducing your older-than-sixth-grade children to the world of Hayao Miyazaki. We also cross our fingers that HIDDEN FIGURES (20th Century Fox) is as good a movie as it is an obvious (if needed) rallying cry to give the unsung women of color in American history their due; Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Butler, and Janelle Monaé play mathematicians whose calculations help NASA launch our first astronauts into space. Kevin Costner, Jim Parsons, and Kirsten Dunst also appear in the true-to-life drama, directed by Theodore Melfi and opening today at the aforementioned ‘plexes. To conclude, you must accept the fact we’d be stumping hard for this if we lived in 1997 and not 2017; the days when hip and/or gleefully questionable genre titles of old could make for highly entertaining and well-attended film festivals in Champaign-Urbana are long gone. Compare that wild line-up with any recent film series put on by the Art, Virginia, Normal, et al. The truth hurts us a little bit, anyway. “FOW” is hereby fin.
NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area
@ The Art Theater Co-op, Champaign, IL
LION (1/6 on), MOONLIGHT (1/6-1/7, 1/11-1/12)
@ Carmike 13, Champaign, IL
HIDDEN FIGURES, LA LA LAND, A MONSTER CALLS, UNDERWORLD: BLOOD WARS, ASSASSIN’S CREED, FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM, FENCES, MOANA, OFFICE CHRISTMAS PARTY, PASSENGERS, ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY, SING, WHY HIM? (1/6 on)
@ Family Video, Champaign-Urbana, IL
BLAIR WITCH, MIDDLE SCHOOL, DENIAL, ACE THE CASE, OPERATION AVALANCHE, THE GIRL, MISSISSIPPI MURDER, X-RATED, SLEEPY HOLLOW (s3), more! (1/3 on)
@ Goodrich Savoy 16, Savoy, IL
FENCES, HIDDEN FIGURES, LION, A MONSTER CALLS, UNDERWORLD: BLOOD WARS, ASSASSIN’S CREED, COLLATERAL BEAUTY, FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM, LA LA LAND, MANCHESTER BY THE SEA, MOANA, PASSENGERS, ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY, SING, WHY HIM? (1/6 on), The Metropolitan Opera: Nabucco (1/7, simulcast; 1/11, recorded), BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S (1/8, 1/11), “The Bowden Dynasty” college football event (1/8, simulcast), PRINCESS MONONOKE 20th Anniversary (1/9, dubbed)
Events featuring locally produced movies are marked with an asterisk (*). Additional “Now Playing” and “Coming Soon” listings appear after the jump!
~~~~~
NOW PLAYING | The Cities Beyond
@ AMC Parkway 8 Theatre, Springfield, IL
Molly Schlich Independent | International Film Series
MUSTANG (1/8, 1/10)
@ AMC Village Mall 6, Danville, IL
HIDDEN FIGURES, FENCES, PASSENGERS, ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY, SING, WHY HIM? (1/6 on)
@ The Avon Theater, Decatur, IL
HIDDEN FIGURES, LA LA LAND, ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY (1/6 on), PATRIOTS DAY (1/12)
@ The Lincoln Grand 8, Lincoln, IL
FENCES, HIDDEN FIGURES, UNDERWORLD: BLOOD WARS, MANCHESTER BY THE SEA, PASSENGERS, ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY, SING (1/6 on), WHY HIM? (1/6-1/11), PATRIOTS DAY (1/12)
@ The Little Lorraine, Hoopeston, IL
SULLY (1/6-1/8), Miss Hoopeston crowning ceremony (1/7, 3 p.m.)
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL
THE LADYKILLERS (1955; 1/6, 1/8), THE HANDMAIDEN (1/7), the Normal Humor Comedy Hour (1/9), MOONLIGHT (1/12)
@ The Onarga Theatre, Onarga, IL
ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY (1/6-1/8, 1/11)
@ The Princess Theatre, Leroy, IL
ALLIED (1/6-1/8)
COMING SOON | Area-wide Events
NEW! 1/17
Champaign Movie Makers meeting
@ SoDo Theatre, Champaign, IL, 7 p.m., free
2/21-2/26
39th annual Big Muddy Film Festival
@ Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL
3/30-4/6
19th annual Wisconsin Film Festival, Madison, WI
4/19-4/23
19th annual Roger Ebert’s Film Festival
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
COMMUNITY & CAMPUS SERIES | Champaign-Urbana area
The News-Gazette Film Series
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 1 & 7 p.m.
1/21: DRACULA; 2/4: SWING TIME; 3/25: THE GENERAL; 4/15: DUCK SOUP; 5/27: CITIZEN KANE; 6/24: HIGH NOON; 7/22: THE GOLD RUSH; 8/26: THE WIZARD OF OZ
NEW! Springfield Art Association presents
The Molly Schlich Independent | International Film Series 2017
@ AMC Parkway 8 Theatre, Springfield, IL, 1 & 4 p.m. Sundays and 7 p.m. Tuesdays.
1/8, 1/10: MUSTANG; 1/15, 1/17: A MAN CALLED OVE; 1/22, 1/24: THE INNOCENTS; 1/29, 1/31: RADICAL GRACE; 2/5, 2/7: MISS HOKUSAI; 2/12, 2/14: DHEEPAN; 2/19, 2/21: DON’T THINK TWICE; 2/26, 2/28: THE BEATLES: EIGHT DAYS A WEEK – THE TOURING YEARS
~~~~~
Compiled by Jason Pankoke.
~~~~~
“Calendar du C-U”
© 2017 Jason Pankoke/C-U Blogfidential