Calendar: May 26-June 1, 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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MILESTONES | Happy Birthday to You!
5/26: Lana Hinshaw-Klann (photojournalist, WBBM Channel 2 (CBS), Chicago, IL)
5/30: Cameron Counts (owner, Cam’s Comics, Fairfield, IL)
6/1: William Pace (faculty associate of digital media production, Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ)
6/1: Bill Yauch (owner, RiellyBoy Productions, Urbana, IL)
FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said
It’s a “women’s voices loud and clear” edition of the Report this week. First, you’ve most likely heard by now, tra la, that THE VOICE on NBC-TV has proclaimed the Sacramento, CA-based singer and Paxton native Gina Miles the winner of their 23rd season as of the finale aired on Monday, May 22; this follows one year and one day after Los Angeles-based singer and Bloomington-Normal native Leah Marlene placed third in the competition on AMERICAN IDOL’s season 20 on ABC-TV. And then, the NPR affiliate based at Illinois State University of Normal, WGLT-FM, recently interviewed rising novelist T. J. Newman about her second thriller, Drowning, which will be released on Tuesday, May 30, by Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster with its adaptation rights already secured by Warner Brothers. An alumnus of neighboring Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington and a resident of Phoenix, AZ, Neuman parlayed her previous career as a flight attendant into a hit hardcover, Falling, which S&S published two summers ago and is in active development as a feature film by Universal Studios. Finally, Alexis den Boggende of Downright Creepy showed some appreciation for John Isberg’s FINAL SUMMER in a review posted on Saturday, May 13, one of several votes of confidence to appear online in recent months for the retro slasher produced in Champaign and Vermilion counties. Continuing the film’s select appearances in anticipation of a formal release, Isberg and crew member Paul Benson will attend a show at Smodcastle Cinemas in Atlantic Highlands, NJ, owned in part by indie film stalwart Kevin Smith (CLERKS III), this Friday, May 26, hot on the heels of the film’s runs at PanicFest of Kansas City, MO, and Crimson Screen Horror Film Festival of Columbia, SC; FINAL SUMMER won a “best cinematography” trophy at the latter.
CONFIDENTIAL ALMANAC | Dates in Film Culture History
15 Years Ago … May 2008: Seeking a sense of Midwest authenticity on a modest studio budget, prolific film and television director Steven Soderbergh chooses to capture footage for the corporate intrigue caper THE INFORMANT! in and around Decatur, Illinois, the real-life location of the primary events dramatized in the movie. Beginning with little fanfare around Thursday, May 1, the production moves back and forth between Decatur and outlying towns such as Moweaqua and Forsyth with a cast that includes Scott Bakula, Joel McHale, Melanie Lynksey, Ann Cusack, Tony Hale, and star Matt Damon, attracting helpful and appreciative locals along the way. After spending two-and-a-half weeks in Macon County, the crew moves on to nearby Springfield and then St. Louis before making brief stops in far-reaching places like California, Hawaii, and France. Based on the book The Informant: A True Story by Kurt Eichenwald and adapted by screenwriter Scott Z. Burns, THE INFORMANT! retells the unbelievable episode involving Mark Whitacre, a former senior executive at the agricultural manufacturing giant Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. of Decatur, who agreed to wear a wire over several years in the early Nineties to help the FBI investigate his employer’s alleged price-fixing attempts. Even though the findings proved to be accurate and wide-reaching, ADM and its global brethren did not suffer much in the courts or marketplace; Whitacre earned his own prison time for inexplicably embezzling millions of dollars from the company while playing the part of a law enforcement mole. Warner Bros. originally announced distribution of THE INFORMANT! for the following spring through their specialty label, Warner Independent Pictures, but would eventually settle for a wide release of the Participant Media/Groundswell Productions film under the WB shield on September 18, 2009, in North America. It is the last Hollywood narrative feature to shoot in central Illinois to date. As reported on 3/16/08, 12/22/08, 9/26/09 at CUBlog. [R]
LOCAL FILMS & EVENTS | Support Your Media Storytellers
@ Julees Shooting Star Tavern, Westville, IL
Neon Street Productions presents SHUTEYE* short film premiere (5/26, 9 p.m. & 12 a.m.)
@ Dublin Pub, Springfield, IL
Central Illinois Film Commission* meeting (6/1, 7 p.m., last one until September)
NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area
@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
ABOUT MY FATHER, KANDAHAR, THE LITTLE MERMAID, THE MACHINE, THE WRATH OF BECKY, YOU HURT MY FEELINGS, FAST X, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3, JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4*, THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE (animation) (5/26 on), THE LAND BEFORE TIME (animation) (5/27, 5/31, 12 p.m.), SHIN KAMEN RIDER (in Japanese w/English sub) (5/31, 7 p.m.), THE ANGRY BLACK GIRL AND HER MONSTER (5/31, 8 p.m.), THE BOOGEYMAN, SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (animation) (6/1 on) *single shows daily
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
ABOUT MY FATHER, KANDAHAR, THE LITTLE MERMAID, THE MACHINE, YOU HURT MY FEELINGS, EVIL DEAD RISE, FAST X, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3, THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE (animation) (5/26 on), ARE YOU THERE, GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET., BOOK CLUB: THE NEXT CHAPTER (5/27 on), Fathom Events presents “Tomorrow x Together World Tour [Act: Sweet Mirage] in L.A.” (concert performance) (5/28, 3 p.m., simulcast), ENTER THE DRAGON (5/28, 3 & 7 p.m.; 5/31, 7 p.m.), Children’s matinees: PETER RABBIT 2: THE RUNAWAY and SMALLFOOT (animation) (5/30-6/1, 10 a.m.), SHIN KAMEN RIDER (in Japanese w/English sub) (5/31, 7 p.m.), THE BOOGEYMAN, SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (animation) (6/1 on)
@ Main Quad, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illini Union Board presents “Summer Films on the Quad” feat. CREED III (6/1, 9 p.m., free)
@ Redbox, Champaign-Urbana, IL
ASSASSIN, CREED III, SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS, more! (5/23 on) Online rentals
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
Illinois Public Media presents “The Arthouse Experience Film Series” feat. THE TWO POPES (5/31, 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
@ The Avon Theater, Decatur, IL
THE LITTLE MERMAID, FAST X (5/25-5/28)
@ The Fischer Theatre, Danville, IL
A MAN CALLED OTTO (5/26, 7 p.m.)
@ The Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in, Gibson City, IL
THE LITTLE MERMAID (Screen 1), FAST X (Screen 2) (5/26-5/31), SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (animation) (Screen 1), THE LITTLE MERMAID (Screen 2) (6/1)
@ The Little Lorraine, Hoopeston, IL
Private parties and “Family Movie Packs” this week.
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL
JOYLAND (5/26-5/28, 6/1)
@ The Onarga Theatre, Onarga, IL
FAST X (5/26-5/28)
@ The Princess Theatre, Leroy, IL
ARE YOU THERE, GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET. (5/26-5/28)
@ The Route 66 Drive-in Theater, Springfield, IL
THE LITTLE MERMAID, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 (Screen 1), FAST X, KNOCK AT THE CABIN (Screen 2) (5/26-5/29, 5/31-6/1)
NOW PLAYING | Midwest
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
8/19
DESPERATE SOULS* downstate premiere
@ The Princess Theater, LeRoy, IL, time TBD
COMMUNITY & CAMPUS SERIES | Champaign-Urbana area
UPDATE! “The Arthouse Experience Film Series” curated by Sanford Hess and sponsored by Illinois Public Media
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 7 p.m.
6/30: MAMA BEARS; 7/12: MULHOLLAND DRIVE
Illini Radio Group presents “Rewind 92.5 Movie Series”/“Mix 94.5 Throwback Thursdays”*
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 7 p.m.
6/29: RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK; 7/27: TOP GUN
NEW! Illini Union Board presents “Summer Films on the Quad”
@ Main Quad, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 9 p.m. Thursdays, free
6/1: CREED III; 6/8: DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES; 6/15: ARE YOU THERE, GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET.; 6/22: SCREAM VI; 6/29: PAINT; 7/6: RENFIELD; 7/13: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3; 7/20: THE SUPER MARIO BROTHERS MOVIE; 7/27: AIR; 8/3: FAST X; 8/10: THE LITTLE MERMAID
The News-Gazette Film Series
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL, 1 & 7 p.m.
6/17: ENTER THE DRAGON; 7/15: I LOVE LUCY: THE MOVIE
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Compiled by Jason Pankoke.
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