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Our movie and media Calendar appears every Friday\/Saturday on <\/em>C-U Blogfidential<\/span><\/strong> and caters to the downstate region anchored by Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, USA.<\/em><\/p>\n ~~~~~<\/p>\n MILESTONES | Happy Birthday to You!<\/strong><\/p>\n 11\/19: Carolyn Minyard Baxley (owner, The Cinema Gallery, Urbana, IL) \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n PASSINGS | You Will Be Missed<\/strong><\/p>\n 10\/27: Michael Laughlin, 82 (director, STRANGE BEHAVIOR & STRANGE INVADERS)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said<\/strong><\/p>\n Since we\u2019re winding down the Report<\/strong> for the winter, I might as well scoop out older candy from the Halloween<\/strong> pail to see what we have to chew on today. Former film director, writer, and producer Michael Laughlin<\/strong> has passed away in Hawai\u2019i<\/strong>, according to The Hollywood Reporter<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/span>; his modest list of credits include the early Eighties genre riffs, STRANGE BEHAVIOR<\/strong> and STRANGE INVADERS<\/strong>, both set in Illinois<\/strong> despite being produced outside the United States<\/strong> and presumably drawn to a degree from his upbringing in the Bloomington-Normal<\/strong> area<\/a><\/span>. Thanks to a social media comment by CUBlog<\/span><\/strong> friend Daniel Griffith<\/strong>, I learned the STRANGE<\/strong> pair\u2019s distant cousin, SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES<\/strong>, has finally received a Blu-ray release<\/a><\/span> nearly 20 years after its last DVD issue; introduced in late September as a \u201cDisney Movie Club<\/strong>\u201d exclusive, the disc apparently offers no extras and a barely-improved transfer<\/a><\/span> of the divisive Ray Bradbury<\/strong> adaptation, also set in Illinois but during the early 20th century. And finally, while visiting Momkoke<\/strong> in assisted living, we happened to have a horror marathon on television that led to the 2018 rejiggering of HALLOWEEN<\/strong> directed by David Gordon Green<\/strong>, memorably sulky as a much younger filmmaker when he was a guest of Roger Ebert\u2019s Overlooked Film Festival<\/strong> in support of GEORGE WASHINGTON<\/strong> in 2002<\/a><\/span>. Since my mother has always liked Jamie Lee Curtis<\/strong>, we left it on and I finally witnessed the University of Illinois<\/strong> reference uttered by the psychiatrist Dr. Sartain (Haluk Bilginer<\/strong>) in the opening sequence with Michael Myers (Nick Castle<\/strong>) at a sanitarium. The various timelines of the series famously involve Myers being drawn to his hometown, the fictional Haddonfield, Illinois; this iteration was filmed mainly in South Carolina<\/strong>, which follows the tradition of staging his rampages elsewhere<\/a><\/span>. Boooooo<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n LOCAL FILMS & EVENTS | Support Your Media Storytellers<\/strong><\/p>\n BAKING UP LOVE* U.S. Blu-ray\/DVD release:<\/strong> Tuesday, 11\/16, Nationwide via Echo Bridge Acquisition Corp.\/SP Releasing, LLC, Los Angeles, CA\/Gemelli Films, Brookhaven, NY<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area<\/strong><\/p>\n @ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL<\/strong> @ Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL<\/strong> @ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL<\/strong>
\n11\/22: Holly Rushakoff (director of communications, College of Media, UIUC, Urbana, IL)<\/p>\n
\nGHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE, KING RICHARD, CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG, DUNE, ETERNALS, LAST NIGHT IN SOHO, NO TIME TO DIE, RON\u2019S GONE WRONG, SOORYAVANSHI, VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE (11\/19 on), BELFAST, ENCANTO (11\/23 on), HOUSE OF GUCCI, RESIDENT EVIL: WELCOME TO RACCOON CITY (11\/24 on), ANTIM: THE FINAL TRUTH (11\/25 on)<\/p>\n
\nIllini Union Board presents \u201cFall 2021 Weekend Films\u201d feat. THE SUICIDE SQUAD, Pine Lounge, 1st floor (11\/19-11\/20, 7 p.m.; free w\/i-card)<\/p>\n
\nGHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE, KING RICHARD, BELFAST, CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG, DUNE, ETERNALS, THE FRENCH DISPATCH, MY HERO ACADEMIA: WORLD HEROES\u2019 MISSION (anim\u00e9), NO TIME TO DIE, VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE (11\/19 on), GINTAMA THE VERY FINAL (anim\u00e9; 11\/21, 3 & 7 p.m.; 11\/22, 7 p.m.), HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER\u2019S STONE (11\/21, 3 & 7 p.m.; 11\/24, 7 p.m.), ENCANTO, HOUSE OF GUCCI, RESIDENT EVIL: WELCOME TO RACCOON CITY (11\/23 on)<\/p>\n