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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 6\/18: Perry C. Morris (vice president, Champaign County History Museum, Champaign, IL)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said<\/strong><\/p>\n Seems the theme for the next week on CUBlog<\/span><\/strong> is \u201cold movie business,\u201d so let\u2019s get down to it. Late on Thursday, June 1<\/strong>, the day we ran our obituary feature<\/a><\/span>, I was scrolling on my phone when I happened upon a post from Champaign Underground<\/strong><\/a><\/span>, the long-running archive of live performance video founded by the musician Kristen Johns<\/strong>, that piqued my interest. As part of our article, I paid tribute to the prairie educator and conservationist David Monk<\/strong>, making mention of his role in a 1995 video called MELVIN\u2019S DISCONTENT<\/strong>. I remember seeing it once on a VHS cassette graciously lent to me by Mark Rubel<\/strong> of Pogo Studios<\/strong>. And suddenly \u2026 there<\/em> is MELVIN<\/strong>, thanks to Johns\u2019 efforts to have it restored from materials lent to her by Mark and Nancy Rubel<\/strong>, Matt<\/strong> and Debbie Stewart<\/strong>, and Lana Wildman<\/strong>, widow of its director, Hugh Moore<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Of course, I watched MELVIN<\/strong> right away.<\/a><\/span> The 22-minute analog odyssey of a poor schlub named Melvin, played by the guitarist John \u201cCatfish\u201d Evans<\/strong>, to find both employment and meaning in the grand scheme is of a very dry humor and peculiar dialogue, yet it was nice to see it again. Familiar faces on screen include Paul Faber<\/strong> of Mabel\u2019s<\/strong> nightclub and the late singer-songwriter R. M. \u201cPopeye\u201d Curtsinger<\/strong>. Johns also provides a credits crawl in the video description on YouTube<\/strong> for the armchair historians wanting to know who was involved in filming this lovely curiosity at various locations in the C-U as well as those who aided in the rescue effort. Good on Mark Johns, Shannon Swords<\/strong>, and others for helping out.<\/p>\n ~~~~~<\/p>\n ~~~~~<\/p>\n I was scrolling yet again, late last night in MFHQ Deux<\/strong>, to skim the upcoming home video releases listed at Oldies.com<\/strong>. It\u2019s an occasional habit and I\u2019m always hoping to find at least one surprise. I can therefore confirm that an upgrade is on the way<\/a><\/span> for Robert Bartel<\/strong>\u2019s durable music history documentary, GEORGE HARRISON: A BEATLE IN BENTON, ILLINOIS<\/strong>, through MVD Visual<\/strong>. Issued previously in 2005 and 2016 by the same label, a revised version of the film with a platter of extras<\/a><\/span> is set for DVD release on Tuesday, September 26<\/strong>, which falls on the 60th anniversary of the young George Harrison<\/strong>\u2019s first trip to the United States<\/strong> with his brother Peter<\/strong> to visit their sister Louise<\/strong>, an expatriate living in Benton<\/strong> who did her best to promote The Beatles<\/strong>\u2019 music in southern Illinois<\/a><\/span>. Beatlemania<\/strong> would break loose in America a few months later.<\/p>\n As for BENTON<\/strong> \u2013 I saw it once many years ago like MELVIN<\/strong>, but as a rental \u2013 it\u2019s about the localized lore that was born from Harrison\u2019s holiday in 1963 as much as it is the efforts of Beatles super-fan Bartel to save Louise\u2019s former house from the wrecking ball. And, not unlike another rock doc from and about our region, R. C. Raycraft<\/strong>\u2019s INCIDENT AT KICKAPOO CREEK<\/strong>, this one has been revised and reissued like clockwork since the Nineties. (Presumably, the 2023 edition will replace older versions you can find on various VOD and AVOD sites.) The Springfield<\/strong>-based playwright and producer is regularly featured in the press to tell his story, like in this congenial interview with Mark McDonald<\/strong> of WSEC-TV<\/strong> from 2018<\/a><\/span> that often circles back to Bartel and his wife Janice<\/strong>\u2019s shared love for each other and of The Beatles, and it inevitably points to the documentary.<\/p>\n ~~~~~<\/p>\n ~~~~~<\/p>\n Finally, while scrolling Google<\/strong> results to try and pinpoint when exactly the anti-censorship critic and true crime writer Hart D. Fisher<\/strong> creeped out the UI Campustown<\/strong> with the filming of his underground horror feature, THE GARBAGE MAN<\/strong>, I made a nice find. The back issues of The Daily Illini<\/span><\/strong> student newspaper that are available for reading and research<\/a><\/span> through the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections<\/strong> have been manna for Ye Ed<\/strong>, in particular to learn about film culture at the University of Illinois<\/strong> in the Sixties and Seventies, and the set has ranged from the earliest available copies dated 1874 to the end of 1975. For the last number of years, the run stopped there. It turns out I was able to identify the GARBAGE<\/strong> time frame \u2013 July 1993, which we\u2019ll discuss in an upcoming Almanac<\/strong> \u2013 because they have finally<\/em> added 20 more years\u2019 worth of the DI<\/span>, from 1992 to 2010, but where<\/em> are 1976 to 1991? Keep scanning, please!<\/p>\n In December 2022, Fisher appeared on the \u201cNight Terrors<\/strong>\u201d podcast with Ash Hamilton<\/strong><\/a><\/span> of Horror-fix.com<\/strong> to talk about the unauthorized and altered use of his Jeffrey Dahmer<\/strong> indie comics in the hit Netflix<\/strong> miniseries, DAHMER<\/strong>, produced by Ryan Murphy<\/strong> of AMERICAN HORROR STORY<\/strong> fame. At the time, Fisher was running a campaign to fund a collected volume of those comics for his fans and to \u201cset the record straight\u201d about their very nature; one perk for pledging was a disc or download of THE GARBAGE MAN<\/strong>, which otherwise resides exclusively on Fisher\u2019s free American Horrors<\/strong> streaming service<\/a><\/span>. I\u2019ll admit the \u201dmost dangerous man in comics\u201d is a very engaging speaker. Go listen to it if you have the interest.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n NOW PLAYING | Champaign-Urbana Area<\/strong><\/p>\n @ AMC Champaign 13, Champaign, IL<\/strong> @ Phoenix Savoy 16 + IMAX, Savoy, IL<\/strong> @ Main Quad, Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL<\/strong><\/p>\n
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\nTHE BLACKENING, ELEMENTAL (animation), THE FLASH, THE BOOGEYMAN, FAST X*, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3, THE LITTLE MERMAID, SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (animation), TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS (6\/16 on), PAW PATROL: THE MOVIE (animation) (6\/17, 6\/21, 12 p.m.), ASTEROID CITY, NO HARD FEELINGS (6\/22 on) *single shows daily<\/p>\n
\nTHE BLACKENING, ELEMENTAL (animation), THE FLASH, THE BOOGEYMAN, FAST X*, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3, THE LITTLE MERMAID, SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (animation), THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE (animation), TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS (6\/16 on), BACK TO THE FUTURE (6\/18, 3 & 7 p.m.; 6\/21, 7 p.m.), LYLE LYLE CROCODILE, SPACE JAM: A NEW LEGACY (6\/20-6\/22, 10 a.m.), THE MACHINE (6\/20, 6\/21, 4 p.m.), BETWEEN MERCY AND ME (faith film) (6\/20, 7 p.m.), MAD HEIDI (6\/21, 7 p.m.), ASTEROID CITY, NO HARD FEELINGS (6\/22 on)<\/p>\n
\nIllini Union Board presents \u201cSummer Films on the Quad\u201d feat. SCREAM VI (6\/22, 9 p.m., free)<\/p>\n