Calendar: June 23-29, 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!
6/27: Eric Spudic (actor, NIGHT OF THE TOMMYKNOCKERS, Gravitas Ventures, Cleveland, OH)
6/27: Joe Sherlock (writer/director, ODDER NOGGINS, Skullface Astronaut, Corvallis, OR)
PASSINGS | You Will Be Missed
6/4: Floyd Bundy, 79 (actor, DOGS IN QUICKSAND, Shut Up and Do It Productions, Champaign, IL)
FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said
I fear that it’s “oh, the horror” week here at MFHQ Deux, so that will inform our sinewy Report. Up first is news from the rising character actor Bishop Stevens, a transplant to St. Louis and former professional wrestler, who sent out a release on Monday, June 5, about an upcoming film in which he’ll play the starring role. THE BATON ROUGE SERIAL KILLER, a story based on real events involving the late death row inmate Derrick Todd Lee, is scripted by Stevens with the true crime author E. J. Hammon and producer B. J. Mezek, and is billed as the first screen biopic about an African-American serial killer. Attached to direct and produce is Eric Hector, who runs Heroic Age Studios of Mt. Zion with Tim Lynn, and the release implies this may be made in the Decatur area even with the Louisiana origins of Lee’s life and murderous spree. As the announcement came as a surprise, we’ll presumably get some clarity on the details at Stevens’ Facebook account as things progress. He recently appeared in LOCKDOWN from Lionsgate, GIRL ON THE THIRD FLOOR from Dark Sky Films, SLICE from A24, and the Champaign-filmed Armageddon opus REVEALER from RLJE Films, while Heroic Age is long overdue in completing their dark fantasy TRICK AND TREATS with Loren Ledesma, Malcolm McDowell, Gary Busey, and Bishop.
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Suburban author and filmmaker S. J. Hermann has taken to central Illinois, it seems. Part or all of his last three genre exercises have been shot in the smaller towns between us, the current example being a Sixties-set shocker called ATTACK OF THE CORN ZOMBIES for which his label, Acrostar Films, is busy raising finishing funds up until next Friday, June 30. The bloody mayhem of CORN ZOMBIES was staged in Farmer City and Dewey in the first half of May and plenty of set pictures adorn their Facebook group, which is very active with fans and supporters who help with their needs. They plan to return before the cameras in late 2023 with “an extremely dark psychological drama.” Prior to that, their modern Gothic love story DESPERATE SOULS was just released on physical media, is scheduled to premiere at the Princess Theater of LeRoy in August, and will presumably debut on the same streaming and VOD services where one can find their quickie confection from last year, IT CAME FROM SOMEWHERE, an ode to 1950s sci-fi from the same specialized Petri dish as the work of Larry Blamire (THE LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA) and Christopher R. Mihm (ANNIHILATE ALL HUMANS!). It’s peachy keen, I’ll give IT that.
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Back to Normal, tra la, filmmaker Paul A. Brooks announced that his woodsy thriller, HUNTING FOR THE HAG from Into the Night Motion Pictures, will receive its big-city debut on Wednesday, August 9, at the venerable Music Box Theater in Chicago. Showtime is 7 p.m. for the flick, premiered at the Normal Theater last month and produced in the Pontiac area. To close, we’ve seen the first social media prompts from C-U filmmaker John Isberg of Front 76 Films that FINAL SUMMER PART II is apparently on the way with details forthcoming in the fall after FINAL SUMMER debuts on internet platforms. Up next for Isberg and his Workshop Films Collective friends, however, is a segment for Ash Hamilton’s anthology, F’D: TALES FROM THE END TIMES, which will crew up and be cast in the coming weeks for production in our region. All this sanguinary screen action just goes to show that it’s the grue that holds us together!
NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area
@ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL
ASTEROID CITY, NO HARD FEELINGS, THE BLACKENING, THE BOOGEYMAN, ELEMENTAL (animation), THE FLASH, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3, THE LITTLE MERMAID, SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (animation), TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS (6/23 on), PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH (animation) (6/24, 6/28, 12 p.m.), INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY, RUBY GILLMAN – TEENAGE KRAKEN, SATYAPREM KI KATHA (in Hindu with English sub) (6/29 on)
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL
ASTEROID CITY, NO HARD FEELINGS, THE BLACKENING, THE BOOGEYMAN, ELEMENTAL (animation), THE FLASH, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3, THE LITTLE MERMAID, SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (animation), TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS (6/23 on), DIRTY DANCING (6/25, 3 & 7 p.m.; 6/28, 7 p.m.), THE ROOM “Celebration” (6/27, 7 p.m.), INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY, RUBY GILLMAN – TEENAGE KRAKEN (6/29 on)
@ Main Quad, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL
Illini Union Board presents “Summer Films on the Quad” feat. PAINT (6/29, 9 p.m., free)
@ Redbox, Champaign-Urbana, IL
POLITE SOCIETY, THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE, more! (6/20 on) Online rentals
@ The Virginia Theatre, Champaign, IL
Illini Radio Group presents “Rewind 92.5 Movie Series” feat. SCHOOL OF ROCK (6/29, 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
ELEMENTAL (animation), THE FLASH, TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS (6/22-6/25)
@ The Fischer Theatre, Danville, IL
LOVING VINCENT (animation) (6/23, 7 p.m.; 6/24, 2 & 7 p.m.; 6/25, 2 p.m.), TOP GUN (6/29, 7 p.m.)
@ The Harvest Moon Twin Drive-in, Gibson City, IL
ELEMENTAL (animation) (Screen 1), THE FLASH (Screen 2) (6/22-6/28), INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY (Screen 1), ELEMENTAL (animation) (Screen 2) (6/29)
@ The Little Lorraine, Hoopeston, IL
Private parties and “Family Movie Packs”
@ The Normal Theater, Normal, IL
No movies during “Make Music Normal” outdoor concerts in downtown Normal (6/23-6/24, all day, free to attend), THE WICKER MAN (6/25), HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS (6/26, 6/28), YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (6/29)
@ The Onarga Theatre, Onarga, IL
ELEMENTAL (animation) (6/23-6/25)
@ The Princess Theatre, Leroy, IL
BOOK CLUB: THE NEXT CHAPTER (6/23-6/25)
@ The Route 66 Drive-in Theater, Springfield, IL
TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS, THE FLASH (Screen 1), ELEMENTAL (animation), THE LITTLE MERMAID (6/23-6/25, 6/28-6/29)
NOW PLAYING | Midwest
@ Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, IL
The Midwest Film Festival presents “Analog Film Night” in collaboration with Cinema-Luz Collective and the Chicago Film Society (6/26, 6:30 p.m. reception, 7:30 p.m. screening)
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
NEW! 7/23-7/25
Champaign Movie Makers* 48 Hour Film Contest
@ Lincoln Square Mall (starting point), Urbana, IL, Information
NEW! 7/28
Champaign Movie Makers* 48 Hour Film Fest
@ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL, 8:30 p.m.
NEW! 8/9
HUNTING FOR THE HAG* screening
@ Music Box Theatre, Chicago, IL, 7 p.m.
8/19
DESPERATE SOULS* downstate premiere
@ The Princess Theater, LeRoy, IL, time TBD
NEW! 9/9
Dark History and Horror Convention
@ The Orpheum Theater, Champaign, IL, 11 a.m.-8 p.m.
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
9/23
Route 66 Film Festival presents “Get Your Flicks on Route 66” showcase
@ Hoogland Center for the Arts, Springfield, IL, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., free
9/26
DVD release: GEORGE HARRISON: A BEATLE IN BENTON, ILLINOIS* 60th anniversary edition
+ MVD Visual, Pottstown, PA
10/5-10/15
32nd Heartland International Film Festival, Indianapolis, IN
10/2
SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE Live in Concert
@ State Farm Center, UIUC, Urbana, IL, 7 p.m.
10/11-10/22
59th Chicago International Film Festival, Chicago, IL
NEW! 10/28
Small Press Fest 2023
@ Lincoln Square Mall, Urbana, IL, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
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
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.
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
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.
7/15: I LOVE LUCY: THE MOVIE
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Compiled by Jason Pankoke.
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