Calendar: November 19-25, 2021
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 Minyard Baxley (owner, The Cinema Gallery, Urbana, IL)
11/22: Holly Rushakoff (director of communications, College of Media, UIUC, Urbana, IL)
PASSINGS | You Will Be Missed
10/27: Michael Laughlin, 82 (director, STRANGE BEHAVIOR & STRANGE INVADERS)
FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said
Since we’re winding down the Report for the winter, I might as well scoop out older candy from the Halloween pail to see what we have to chew on today. Former film director, writer, and producer Michael Laughlin has passed away in Hawai’i, according to The Hollywood Reporter; his modest list of credits include the early Eighties genre riffs, STRANGE BEHAVIOR and STRANGE INVADERS, both set in Illinois despite being produced outside the United States and presumably drawn to a degree from his upbringing in the Bloomington-Normal area. Thanks to a social media comment by CUBlog friend Daniel Griffith, I learned the STRANGE pair’s distant cousin, SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, has finally received a Blu-ray release nearly 20 years after its last DVD issue; introduced in late September as a “Disney Movie Club” exclusive, the disc apparently offers no extras and a barely-improved transfer of the divisive Ray Bradbury adaptation, also set in Illinois but during the early 20th century. And finally, while visiting Momkoke in assisted living, we happened to have a horror marathon on television that led to the 2018 rejiggering of HALLOWEEN directed by David Gordon Green, memorably sulky as a much younger filmmaker when he was a guest of Roger Ebert’s Overlooked Film Festival in support of GEORGE WASHINGTON in 2002. Since my mother has always liked Jamie Lee Curtis, we left it on and I finally witnessed the University of Illinois reference uttered by the psychiatrist Dr. Sartain (Haluk Bilginer) in the opening sequence with Michael Myers (Nick Castle) at a sanitarium. The various timelines of the series famously involve Myers being drawn to his hometown, the fictional Haddonfield, Illinois; this iteration was filmed mainly in South Carolina, which follows the tradition of staging his rampages elsewhere. Boooooo.
LOCAL FILMS & EVENTS | Support Your Media Storytellers
BAKING UP LOVE* U.S. Blu-ray/DVD release: Tuesday, 11/16, Nationwide via Echo Bridge Acquisition Corp./SP Releasing, LLC, Los Angeles, CA/Gemelli Films, Brookhaven, NY
NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area
@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE, KING RICHARD, CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG, DUNE, ETERNALS, LAST NIGHT IN SOHO, NO TIME TO DIE, RON’S GONE WRONG, SOORYAVANSHI, VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE (11/19 on), BELFAST, ENCANTO (11/23 on), HOUSE OF GUCCI, RESIDENT EVIL: WELCOME TO RACCOON CITY (11/24 on), ANTIM: THE FINAL TRUTH (11/25 on)
@ Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illini Union Board presents “Fall 2021 Weekend Films” feat. THE SUICIDE SQUAD, Pine Lounge, 1st floor (11/19-11/20, 7 p.m.; free w/i-card)
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE, KING RICHARD, BELFAST, CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG, DUNE, ETERNALS, THE FRENCH DISPATCH, MY HERO ACADEMIA: WORLD HEROES’ MISSION (animé), NO TIME TO DIE, VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE (11/19 on), GINTAMA THE VERY FINAL (animé; 11/21, 3 & 7 p.m.; 11/22, 7 p.m.), HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE (11/21, 3 & 7 p.m.; 11/24, 7 p.m.), ENCANTO, HOUSE OF GUCCI, RESIDENT EVIL: WELCOME TO RACCOON CITY (11/23 on)
@ Redbox, Champaign-Urbana, IL
13 MINUTES, CANDYMAN, NEVER BACK DOWN: REVOLT, PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND, more! (11/16 on) Online rentals
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
The News-Gazette Film Series presents MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (11/21, 1 & 7 p.m.)
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 Classic Village Mall 6, Danville, IL
GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE, KING RICHARD, CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG, ETERNALS (11/19 on)
@ AMC Peru Mall 8, Peru, IL
GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE, KING RICHARD, CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG, ETERNALS, VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE (11/19 on)
@ The Avon Theater, Decatur, IL
THE LAST DUEL, CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG, OLD HENRY (11/19-11/21)
@ The Fischer Theatre, Danville, IL
No movies this week!
@ The Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in, Gibson City, IL
“Hot Chocolate and Holiday Movie Weekend” feat. HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS (Screen 1), NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION (Screen 2) (11/19-11/20)
@ The Little Lorraine, Hoopeston, IL
Private rentals for the week.
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL
THE FRENCH DISPATCH (11/19-11/21), RAD (11/19-11/20)
BACK OPEN! @ The Onarga Theatre, Onarga, IL
GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE (11/19-11/21)
@ The Princess Theatre, Leroy, IL
RON’S GONE WRONG (11/19-11/21)
@ Streator Eagle 6, Streator, IL
GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE, KING RICHARD, CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG, ETERNALS, THE FRENCH DISPATCH (11/19 on), ENCANTO, RESIDENT EVIL: WELCOME TO RACCOON CITY (11/23 on)
@ VIP Lincoln Grand 6, Lincoln, IL
GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE, KING RICHARD, CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG, ETERNALS, NO TIME TO DIE, RON’S GONE WRONG (11/19 on), ENCANTO (11/23 on)
@ VIP Roxy Cinemas, Ottawa, IL
GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE, KING RICHARD, CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG, ETERNALS, NO TIME TO DIE (11/19 on), ENCANTO (11/23 on)
NOW PLAYING | Midwest
@ The Tivoli Theatre, etc. + virtual, St. Louis, MO
30th annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival (through 11/21) Information
[https://cinemastlouis.org/sliff/festival-home]
For detailed and curated listings of Chicago-area film presentations and related events, as well as cancellations and postponements due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, please visit the fine folks at Cine-File and subscribe to their definitive “Cine-List” weekly blast.
COMING SOON | Area-wide Events
12/4
Kramupusnacht Freeky Film Festival
@ Champaign, IL (virtual event)
4/7-4/17, 2022
24th annual Wisconsin Film Festival
@ University of Wisconsin, etc., Madison, WI
4/8-4/10, 2022
Dead in Decatur presents “The Art of Fear”
@ Heroic Age Art Center, Mt. Zion, IL
4/20-4/23, 2022
22nd Roger Ebert’s Film Festival
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
COMMUNITY & CAMPUS SERIES | Champaign-Urbana area
“The Arthouse Experience Film Series” curated by Sanford Hess
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 7 p.m.
12/6: COLD WAR; 1/19/22: WILD TALES; 2/23/22: ADAPTATION; 3/23/22: THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS; 4/6/22: BIG NIGHT; 5/25/22: EIGHTH GRADE; 6/1/22: THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI: to be rescheduled: THE ARTIST
Illini Radio Group presents “Rewind 92.5 Film Series”/“Mix 94.5 Throwback Thursdays”*
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 7 p.m.
12/5: THE PRINCESS BRIDE; 1/13/22: CLUELESS*; 1/20/22: SAY ANYTHING; 2/2/22: GROUNDHOG DAY; 3/21/22: ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK; 4/4/22: FACE/OFF; 5/23/22: MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME; 6/30/22: WAYNE’S WORLD; 7/14/22: STARSHIP TROOPERS
Illini Union Board presents “Fall 2021 Weekend Films”
@ Pine Lounge, 1st floor, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 7 p.m. Fri. & Sat, free w/i-card
11/19-11/20: THE SUICIDE SQUAD; 12/3-12/4: JUNGLE CRUISE
The News-Gazette Film Series
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 1 & 7 p.m.
11/21: MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS; 12/11: IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE; 1/22/22: ALL ABOUT EVE; 2/19/22: IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT; 4/30/22: DUCK SOUP; 6/25/22: HIGH NOON; 7/29/22: TOP HAT
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Compiled by Jason Pankoke.
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“Calendar du C-U”
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