Calendar: March 24-30, 2023
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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PASSINGS | You Will Be Missed
3/11: Michael Wiese, 75 (publisher, Michael Wiese Productions, Studio City, CA)
FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said
It’s “former local resident achievement week” here in the Report. Numerous media outlets are marking the debut appearance of Paxton native and Sacramento, CA, transplant Gina Miles this past Monday, March 20, on the NBC-TV competition show THE VOICE, where she sang the Katy Perry song “The One that Got Away” and impressed judges with her potential. On the big screen, East Peoria native Zach Scheerer will play a featured role in the fall Lionsgate release, THE RE-EDUCATION OF MOLLY SINGER, which stars Britt Robertson of THE ROOKIE as a lawyer who goes undercover at her alma mater. And, the New York Times recently interviewed Chicago’s Jessica Steinrock, the CEO of a firm that trains and accredits professionals who work with performers on set and the stage to navigate racier material, Intimacy Directors & Coordinators; she graduated with both a masters and Ph.D. in theater from the University of Illinois in Urbana. Finally, following an article in Variety about how Illinois is growing on-site television and film commerce through tax credits and other incentives, it was announced that 2022 was the state’s most lucrative year ever for production-based revenue. This may be a sign that local residents can achieve their entertainment dreams while remaining residents in the Land of Lincoln. Possibly. Could be!
CONFIDENTIAL ALMANAC | Dates in Film Culture History
50 Years Ago … Wednesday, March 28, 1973: Movie-loving students at the University of Illinois set up a booth at the Illini Union to sell copies of their brand-new journal, MacGuffin, according to the Daily Illini on this same date. Originated by two juniors enrolled in Liberal Arts & Sciences, Barry Sabath and Todd Harrison, the 24-page debut edition is an impressive effort by undergraduate writers to fashion their own forum for critical thinking about the cinema. Film directors whose work is analyzed in the issue include Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, Sam Peckinpah, and D.W. Griffith, while faculty helping them reach this milestone include professors Robert Carringer, as an advisor, and Edwin Jahiel, who compiled the “Film Focus” campus calendar appearing in the back of the issue. Staff would publish five additional numbers by the spring of 1975 before dissolving MacGuffin due to monetary woes; some continued with careers in media after graduating from UIUC including Sabath, an instructor at the American Film Institute and previously a Hollywood producer, and Chip Shields, a former school teacher and recent biographer (as Charles J. Shields) of literary giants Harper Lee and Kurt Vonnegut. The title MacGuffin comes from a term famously described in elusive language by Alfred Hitchcock. Essentially, it is a storytelling device that sets a narrative in motion even if it has no true meaning or bearing on the outcome of the narrative. [R]
50 Years Ago … Wednesday, March 28, 1973: “102 minutes of thud-filled excitement” fills the Auditorium on the University of Illinois Main Quad at both 8 and 10 p.m. as the student group Cinemaguild premieres their first feature-length production, SHOT. Written and directed by Mitch Brown and produced by Nate Kohn, both graduate students at UIUC, the film is an arch riff on tough police procedurals of the day such as THE FRENCH CONNECTION. Theater majors Richard Watt and Charles Russell star as Midwestern officers playing fast and loose with etiquette as they tail a wild-eyed and goateed drug dealer played by Frank Himes, their adventures ranging from Campustown and downtown Champaign to the Urbana fairgrounds and outlying areas. With a cast and crew filled out by students except for the occasional adult actor or helicopter pilot, SHOT is scheduled for several more shows in the hopes that Cinemaguild can break even on their reported $15,000 investment. Tongue-in-cheek advertising in the Daily Illini has stoked interest in the premiere, such as an impressive two-page spread already touting the “Best Picture of 1973” after last night’s Oscar win for 1972 by THE GODFATHER. DI reporters have provided as much coverage as those ads for the film, which began production before Thanksgiving according to an article run on January 4, and would soon foreshadow the slide into limbo of both Cinemaguild and SHOT itself, which received a token VHS release nearly 15 years later through Sony in the United States and on various other labels worldwide. [R]
NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area
@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4, 65, ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA, COCAINE BEAR, CREED III, EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE, FULL RIVER RED (in Mandarin), JESUS REVOLUTION, SCREAM VI, SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS (3/24 on), Studio Ghibli Fest: MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO 35th anniversary (3/26, 4 & 7 p.m., 3/27, 3/29, 7 p.m., English dub; 3/28, 7 p.m., in Japanese w/English sub), DASARA (in Telugu or Hindi) (3/29 on), BHOLAA (in Hindi), DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES (3/30 on)
@ Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illini Union Board presents “Spring 2023 Weekend Films” feat. I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY; (3/24-3/25, 7 p.m., free w/i-card)
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4, 65, ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA, AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER* (3-D), CHAMPIONS*, COCAINE BEAR, CREED III, JESUS REVOLUTION, PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH, SCREAM VI, SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS (3/24 on), A SNOWY DAY IN OAKLAND (3/24-3/26, 3/28, 12 p.m.), Studio Ghibli Fest: MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO 35th anniversary (3/25, 3/26, 3/28, 3 p.m., in Japanese w/English sub; 3/27, 3/29, 7 p.m., English dub), THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (3/26, 3 & 7 p.m.; 3/29, 7 p.m.), SANTIAGO: THE CAMINO WITHIN (religious documentary) (3/28, 7 p.m.), DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES, HIS ONLY SON (faith film) (3/30 on) *single shows daily
@ Redbox, Champaign-Urbana, IL
BABYLON, LEFT BEHIND: RISE OF THE ANTICHRIST, M3GAN, more! (3/21 on) Online rentals
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
No movies this week!
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
@ The Avon Theater, Decatur, IL
THE LOST KING, CHAMPIONS, SCREAM VI (3/24-3/25)
@ The Fischer Theatre, Danville, IL
“Tolkien Reading Day” feat. LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (3/25, 10 a.m.), THE TWO TOWERS (3/25, 1:30 p.m.), and THE RETURN OF THE KING (3/25, 5 p.m.)
NOW OPEN! @ The Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in, Gibson City, IL
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4 (Screen 1), SCREAM VI (Screen 2) (3/24-3/25)
@ The Little Lorraine, Hoopeston, IL
Private parties and “Family Movie Packs” this week.
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL
THE LOST KING (3/24-3/26), Illinois State University presents “Red Note New Music Festival” feat. Utari Duo (live performance) (3/26, 8 p.m.), SMOKING CAUSES COUGHING! (3/30)
@ The Onarga Theatre, Onarga, IL
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4 (3/24-3/26)
@ The Princess Theatre, Leroy, IL
CREED III (3/24-3/26)
NOW PLAYING | Midwest
@ Chicago Filmmakers, Chicago, IL
33rd Onion City Experimental Film Festival (3/30-4/2)
For detailed and curated listings of Chicago-area film presentations and related events, please visit the fine folks at Cine-File and subscribe to their definitive “Cine-List” weekly blast.
COMING SOON | Area-wide Events
4/13-4/20
25th annual Wisconsin Film Festival, Madison, WI
4/19-4/22
23nd Roger Ebert’s Film Festival*
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
4/27-4/30
Foxtail Film Festival (student films)*
@ Normal Theater, Normal, IL
NEW! 4/28
UIUC Film Festival (student films)*
@ Spurlock Museum, UIUC, Urbana, IL
5/6
DESPERATE SOULS* world premiere
@ The Princess Theater, LeRoy, IL, 4 p.m.
COMMUNITY & CAMPUS SERIES | Champaign-Urbana area
“The Arthouse Experience Film Series” curated by Sanford Hess and sponsored by Illinois Public Media
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 7 p.m.
4/26: LET THE RIGHT ONE IN; 5/31: THE TWO POPES; 6/14: MULHOLLAND DRIVE; 7/12: BARAKA
Illini Radio Group presents “Rewind 92.5 Movie Series”/“Mix 94.5 Throwback Thursdays”*
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 7 p.m.
4/27: GHOSTBUSTERS (1984); 5/18: BEETLEJUICE; 6/29: RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK; 7/27: TOP GUN
Illini Union Board presents “Spring 2023 Weekend Films”
@ Pine Lounge, 1st floor, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 7 p.m. Fri. & Sat, free w/i-card
3/31-4/1: BABYLON; 4/7-4/8: PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH; 4/14-4/15: KNOCK AT THE CABIN; 4/21-4/22: ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA; 4/28-4/29: COCAINE BEAR
The News-Gazette Film Series
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 1 & 7 p.m.
4/29: FANTASIA; 5/20: TOPPER; 6/17: ENTER THE DRAGON; 7/15: I LOVE LUCY: THE MOVIE
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Compiled by Jason Pankoke.
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