Calendar: June 9-15, 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!
6/10: Allen Richards (publisher, B-Independent.com)
FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said
So, this Report is not the Report we were going to run. That will appear next week. What I concocted to run in its place isn’t a Report, it’s an article. Erg. So, that will appear as its own thing in the next few weeks. The final Report is a bridge between last week’s Report, in which we talked about the independently produced series PEORIA, and the newly-minted article, which will go over a few other serial stories being made at the same time PEORIA was launched that didn’t quite clear the runway. So, here are a few television factoids I had set aside that we might as well have some fun with.
The Canadian series FIRST WAVE, broadcast in the United States by the former Sci-Fi Channel in the late 1990s and 2000s, depicted a trip to Normal by its heroes, who are trying to stop an alien invasion allegedly forecast in the prophecies of Nostradamus. In “Normal, Illinois,” the 13th episode of the show’s second season, fugitive Cade Foster (Sebastian Spence) and scientist “Crazy” Eddie (Rob LaBelle) visit the B-N upon learning of the mysterious deaths of several teenage boys as they became aroused with their girlfriends. It’s due to a sinister experiment, all right, and it was filmed in Vancouver in 1999 with nondescript settings that suggest “Midwest” and the occasional sign tricked out to include “Normal.” You can take your chances on YouTube to watch FIRST WAVE since it seems to not be streaming on any legitimate platform, although Plex TV apparently licenses it and provides a handy episode guide.
Sharing a similar premise of unassuming-looking heroes who travel around America in a retro vehicle to battle fantastical evil, yet on a grander scale and to a much greater pop-culture end, is SUPERNATURAL. In season eight, as the mythology of Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) had been greatly expanded, they meet their time-traveling grandfather Henry (Gil McKinney) who himself is a demon hunter as part of a secret society. During a flashback in episode 12 from 2013, “As Time Goes By,” we see Henry join his brethren, the Men of Letters, for a meeting in 1958 Normal that turns disastrous; amusing is the atmospheric back-alley London feel of the setting even though, of course, this episode was produced in Vancouver like most of the long-running CW hit. Still, Henry’s story is affecting.
For one more that’s not really like the others, we have the short-lived Netflix show THE PRINCE OF PEORIA, which I learned about when I first started reading up on PEORIA. It seems that creators Devin Bunje and Nick Stanton picked Peoria out of a Midwestern hat as the home of robotics-loving teen Teddy (Theodore Barnes) and his mother Regina (Cynthia Kaye McWilliams), who runs a bowling alley. They become a host family to an exchange student, Emil (Gavin Lewis), and Teddy soon finds out that he is a prince from the (fictional) British Isles country of Buronia. The duo become unlikely friends in the two seasons premiered in 2018 and 2019 and, while establishing shots were filmed in the River City for this production, the set-bound shenanigans were staged at the Sunset Gower Studios of Hollywood. Netflix shared to YouTube the first episode, squarely in the vein of Nickelodeon or Disney sitcoms for tweens.
CONFIDENTIAL ALMANAC | Dates in Film Culture History
15 Years Ago … June 2008: The first meeting of Champaign Movie Makers is hosted in the home of Janice Rutherford of Urbana and organized by her guest Johnny Robinson, an independent film creator and college instructor from Rochester, New York. Intending to live in Champaign-Urbana full time by next year, Robinson sees the need for a welcoming and constructive space where community members could get to know each other better and grow their skills on shared projects, basing CMM on his previous activities in Rochester and Syracuse. He already has plans underway for his first locally-made film, a dramatic piece called CELESTE ABOVE, and it will employ the talents of club members. Since then, CMM has amassed hundreds of followers on Facebook and retains dozens of regular attendees at its monthly gatherings, which have moved among a variety of larger locations such as Shatterglass Studios, SoDo Theatre, the WILL-TV television studio, and the Champaign Public Library, with its greatest notoriety coming as a facilitator of the annual Pens to Lens Screenwriting Competition + Gala. As reported on 9/9/08, 10/14/08 at CUBlog. [R]
NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area
@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS, ABOUT MY FATHER, THE BOOGEYMAN, FAST X, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3, THE LITTLE MERMAID, THE MACHINE, SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (animation), THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE (animation) (6/9 on), MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU (animation) (6/10, 6/14, 12 p.m.), Studio Ghibli Fest: KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE (6/11, 4 p.m., English dub; 6/11, 6/12, 6/14, 7 p.m., in Japanese with English subs), THE BLACKENING, ELEMENTAL, THE FLASH (6/15 on)
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS, ABOUT MY FATHER, THE BOOGEYMAN, FAST X, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3, THE LITTLE MERMAID, THE MACHINE, SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (animation), THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE (animation), YOU HURT MY FEELINGS* (6/9 on), UFC 289: Amanda Nunes vs. Irene Aldana, more (mixed martial arts) (6/10, 9 p.m., simulcast), TWILIGHT (6/11, 3 & 7 p.m.; 6/14, 7 p.m.), HAIRSPRAY 35th anniversary (6/11, 4 & 7 p.m.; 6/14, 7 p.m.), Studio Ghibli Fest: KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE (6/11, 4 & 7 p.m., English dub; 6/12, 6/14, 7 p.m., in Japanese with English subs), THE LEGO MOVIE 2, HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 3 (6/13-6/15, 10 a.m.), ELEMENTAL, THE FLASH (6/15 on) *single shows daily
@ Main Quad, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illini Union Board presents “Summer Films on the Quad” feat. ARE YOU THERE, GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET. (6/15, 9 p.m., free)
@ Redbox, Champaign-Urbana, IL
ASSASSIN CLUB, MAFIA MAMMA, RENFIELD, more! (6/6 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
TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS, THE BOOGEYMAN, THE LITTLE MERMAID (6/8-6/11)
@ The Fischer Theatre, Danville, IL
AMERICAN GRAFFITI (6/15, 7 p.m.)
@ The Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in, Gibson City, IL
“National Drive-in Day Celebration” feat. SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (animation), THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE (animation) (Screen 1), GREASE, THE LITTLE MERMAID (Screen 2) (6/9-10), SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (animation) (Screen 1), THE LITTLE MERMAID (Screen 2) (6/11-6/14)
@ The Little Lorraine, Hoopeston, IL
“Breakfast & a Movie” feat. BOLT (6/9-6/10, 10 a.m.), private parties and “Family Movie Packs” continue
@ The Lincoln Square Theater, Decatur, IL
FORD V FERRARI (6/15, 7:30 p.m.)
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL
THUNDERBALL (6/9-6/11), GOLDFINGER (6/10-6/11), WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (6/12, 1 p.m.; 6/14), CEFCU and WGLT-FM present “Highway 309 Live” concert feat. Jaimee Harris, emily the band (6/13, 6:30 p.m.)
@ The Onarga Theatre, Onarga, IL
No movies this week.
@ The Princess Theatre, Leroy, IL
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 (6/9-6/11)
@ The Route 66 Drive-in Theater, Springfield, IL
THE LITTLE MERMAID, THE BOOGEYMAN (Screen 1), SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (animation), FAST X (Screen 2) (6/9-6/11, 6/14-6/15)
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
9/13-9/17
30th Chicago Underground Film Festival, Chicago, IL
9/21-10/8
41st Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival, Chicago, IL
10/5-10/15
32nd Heartland International Film Festival, Indianapolis, IN
NEW! 10/11-10/22
59th Chicago International Film Festival, Chicago, IL
NEW! 11/3-11/3
22nd Route 66 Film Festival, Springfield, IL (virtual)
11/9-11/19
32nd Whitaker St Louis International Film Festival, St. Louis, MO
NEW! 12/2
Krampusnacht Freeky Film Festival*
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
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.
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
Illini Union Board presents “Summer Films on the Quad”
@ Main Quad, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 9 p.m. Thursdays, free
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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