Calendar: March 22-28, 2024
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!
3/22: JC Culp (multimedia artist, Unpopular Arts, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada)
3/26: Jack Snyder (co-producer, 57 SECONDS, The Avenue, Los Angeles, CA)
FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said
We’ll consider this short Report a prelude to next week’s Report, in which we’ll talk about the implications of drawing film productions and their dollars to Champaign-Urbana(-Rantoul, let’s be honest). Related to a degree, your humble editor happens to be putting together an order this week at Oldies.com that is one-half movies of the C-U and beyond. In the process of adding and subtracting items to his shopping cart and doing oodles of extra searches to really make sure he’s finding everything he wants to pick up, Ye Ed decided to click on a “Hot Deals!” button and, in the hundred or so discounted titles on the page (out of tens of thousands stocked by the merchant), what would appear but the Jay Bennett biography, WHERE ARE YOU, JAY BENNETT? If you are a fan or friend of the late studio wünderkind from Urbana who passed away 15 years ago this April, you might want to score a copy or copies of the two-disc Blu-ray release from What Were We Thinking Films and MVD Visual while they cost only $5.30 each. Yes, $5.30. Click here for the product page if you’re interested. Some of you may also be interested in the other relevant documentary found by Ye Ed on a hunch. April Wright’s well-received look at the post-pandemic health of America’s drive-in industry, BACK TO THE DRIVE-IN, was released on DVD by Uncork’d Entertainment back on February 6 with little fanfare; the film includes a trip to the Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in of Gibson City, which opened back up for business this weekend with the GHOSTBUSTERS and KUNG FU PANDA sequels. You can park a copy of DRIVE-IN in your home library for a reasonable $14.
NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area
@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE, IMMACULATE, LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL, LUCA (animation) (first US release), THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MAGICAL NEGROES, ARTHUR THE KING, CABRINI (faith film), DUNE: PART TWO, IMAGINARY, KUNG FU PANDA 4 (animation), LOVE LIES BLEEDING, ONE LIFE* (3/22 on), AMC “Scream Unseen” (mystery movie) (3/25, 7 p.m.), WINNIE-THE-POOH: BLOOD AND HONEY II* (2/26-2/28), GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE, IN THE LAND OF SAINTS AND SINNERS, TILLU SQUARE (in Telugu with English Sub) (3/28 on) *single screenings daily
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE, IMMACULATE, LOVE LIES BLEEDING, LUCA (animation) (first US release), THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MAGICAL NEGROES, ARTHUR THE KING, BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE, CABRINI (faith film), DUNE: PART TWO, IMAGINARY, KUNG FU PANDA 4 (animation), ONE LIFE (3/22 on), KNOX GOES AWAY (3/22-3/23, 3/25-3/28), The Metropolitan Opera: Roméo Et Juliette (3/23, 11:55 a.m., simulcast; 3/27, 1 & 6:30 p.m., recorded), RASCAL DOES NOT DREAM double feature (animé) (3/24, 2 p.m., English dub; 3/25, 7 p.m., in Japanese with English sub), HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN (3/24, 3 & 7 p.m.; 3/27, 7 p.m.), WINNIE-THE-POOH: BLOOD AND HONEY II* (2/26-2/28), THE CHOSEN: S4, Ep. 1-3 (faith programming) (3/28, 7 p.m.), GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE (3/28 on) *single screenings daily
@ Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illini Union Board presents “Spring 2024 Weekend Films” feat. ANYONE BUT YOU, Pine Lounge, 1st floor (3/22-3/23, 7 p.m.; free w/i-card)
@ Redbox (streaming), Champaign-Urbana, IL
Follow the link to view the hottest new releases! (3/19 on) Online rentals
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
Illini Radio Group presents “Rewind 92.5 Movie Series” feat. THE FALL GUY pre-release screening (3/26, 7 p.m., free)
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
AMERICAN DREAMER, CABRINI (faith film), KUNG FU PANDA 4 (animation) (3/22-3/23)
@ The Fischer Theatre, Danville, IL
MIGRATION (animation) (3/23, 2 p.m.)
BACK OPEN! @ The Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in, Gibson City, IL
GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE (Screen 1), KUNG FU PANDA 4 (animation) (Screen 2) (3/22-3/23)
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL
GLITTER & DOOM (3/22-3/24), CHINATOWN (3/26), ENNIO (documentary) (3/28)
@ The Onarga Theatre, Onarga, IL
GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE (3/22-3/24)
@ The Princess Theatre, Leroy, IL
BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE (3/22-3/24)
NOW PLAYING | Midwest
@ The Gene Siskel Film Center, SAIC, Chicago, IL
Midwest Film Festival presents “Global Kaleidoscope Night” (3/25, 6:30 p.m. networking, 7:30 p.m. program)
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
4/4-4/11
26th annual Wisconsin Film Festival, Madison, WI
4/4-4/14
34th Onion City Experimental Film Festival, Chicago, IL
4/5
“Friday Forum” feat. Prof. Jay Rosenstein about IN WHOSE HONOR?
@ University YMCA, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 12 p.m.
4/17-4/20
24th Roger Ebert’s Film Festival* (25th anniversary edition)
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
4/25-4/28
2nd annual Foxtail Film Festival*
@ Normal Theater, etc., Normal, IL
4/26
UIUC Student Film Festival*
@ Spurlock Museum for World Cultures, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 7 p.m.
8/31-9/1
10th anniversary Dark History & Horror Con
@ Orpheum Champaign (The Orpheum Theater), Champaign, IL
11/1-11/2
23rd Route 66 Film Festival*
@ Hoogland Center for the Arts, Springfield, IL
COMMUNITY & CAMPUS SERIES | Champaign-Urbana area
Chambana Film Spring 2024 screening series
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL, 4 p.m.
3/31: QWERTY (free); 4/28: TRAPPED BALLOON; 5/26: BIKE VESSEL
Illini Radio Group presents “Rewind 92.5 Movie Series”/“Mix 94.5 Throwback Thursdays”*
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 7 p.m.
4/25: PITCH PERFECT*; 5/23: FAME (1980); 6/27: HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE*; 7/11: GREASE “sing-a-long” edition
Illinois Public Media presents “The Arthouse Experience Film Series”
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 7 p.m.
4/26: AMÉLIE; 5/24: FREE SOLO; 7/5: STOP MAKING SENSE
Illini Union Board presents “Spring 2024 Weekend Films”
@ Pine Lounge, 1st floor, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 7 p.m. Fri. & Sat, free w/i-card
3/29-3/30: THE COLOR PURPLE; 4/5-4/6: FERRARI; 4/12-4/13: THE BOYS IN THE BOAT; 4/19-4/20: WONKA; 4/26-4/27: THE BOOK OF CLARENCE; 5/3-5/4: THE IRON CLAW
The News-Gazette Film Series
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 1 & 7 p.m.
4/13: THE THIRD MAN
Roger Ebert Center for Film Studies events
@ Spurlock Museum of World Cultures, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 7 p.m. (unless noted otherwise)
4/4: PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE screening curated by Ebert Fellows; 4/16-4/17: Roger Ebert Symposium, “Representations and Their Critics”
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Compiled by Jason Pankoke.
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