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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 2\/12: Gela Rediger (producer, Camp Nostalgic Studios, Champaign-Urbana, IL) \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n FIELD REPORT DU HQ | From Wherever It May Be Said<\/strong><\/p>\n Since PROJECT DOROTHY<\/strong><\/a><\/span> arrived at MFHQ Deux<\/strong> in the mail today, it is logical that our newest Report<\/strong> will buck the recent trend of horror film coverage and instead focus on science fiction arcana. Oddity number one: we didn\u2019t realize until following a few algorithm-driven links appearing in our feeds due to the fictional January \u201cbirthday\u201d of the HAL-9000<\/strong> computer from 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY<\/strong> that Urbana<\/strong> was once home to a company named HAL Communications Corp.<\/strong>, founded in 1966 by University of Illinois<\/strong> graduate students as HAL Devices<\/strong> for the purpose of making amateur radio gear. Now owned by the Australian company Barrett Communications<\/strong> and headquartered in New York<\/strong> state<\/a><\/span>, HAL develops modem technology along with related software and, yes, has relied on legal means to untangle confusion due to the coincidental acronym as told by co-founder Bill Henry<\/strong> in this article<\/a><\/span>; the last-known local address for HAL, according to Google<\/strong>, is 1201 W. Kenyon Road<\/strong> in north Urbana, currently the location of Campus Ink Printing<\/strong>, and the \u201calmost the same\u201d street number is not lost on us. Hmmmmmmm<\/em>.<\/p>\n Our second oddity is a postscript we didn\u2019t have room to share in our previous Report<\/strong> where we told you about relevant movies available to watch on Tubi<\/strong><\/a><\/span>. Web searches have simply confirmed what we suspected \u2013 Bert I. Gordon<\/strong>\u2019s giant locust thriller BEGINNING OF THE END<\/strong>, the one filmed in California<\/strong> that fakes Illinois<\/strong> to endearingly funny effect, is not officially available \u201cas is\u201d on streaming or physical media at all<\/em>. You can either chortle through the infamous END<\/strong>-isode of MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000<\/strong>, search for bootlegs on YouTube<\/strong> and Daily Motion<\/strong>, or buy (sometimes pricey) copies on eBay<\/strong>. Considering that Olive Films<\/strong> and Kino Lorber<\/strong> have licensed Republic Pictures<\/strong> titles by the bucketload from Paramount<\/strong> in recent times, how did <\/em>END<\/strong> fall through the cracks? The answer is on the back sleeves of old VHS and DVD copies \u2013 Republic only distributed the flick, so its chain of ownership leads elsewhere. As we detailed in our Almanac<\/strong> entry<\/a><\/span>, an independent outfit named AB-PT Pictures<\/strong> made END<\/strong> and its double-bill partner, THE UNEARTHLY<\/strong>, and the rights for both have rested for decades with the Peter Rodgers Organization<\/strong><\/a><\/span>, a distributor of vintage films and programs to syndication and home video. If you need more magnified big bug in your high-definition viewing diet, encourage your favorite labels to contact PRO. If acridid clarity is not<\/em> a concern, then feel free to dig on this Groovie Movie right here<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n ~~~~~<\/p>\n ~~~~~<\/p>\n The final oddity in this Report<\/strong> concerns a more plausible end-of-the-world scenario. Wishful-thinking headlines have been appearing on numerous entertainment sites for the last year-and-a-half that are bent on speculating if or when a Kathryn Bigelow<\/strong> film called AURORA<\/strong> will go into production for Netflix<\/strong><\/a><\/span>. Thinking it might be a gun violence drama due to Bigelow\u2019s last effort, DETROIT<\/strong>, and that \u201cAurora\u201d is possibly Aurora, Illinois<\/strong>, location of a senseless killing spree at a manufacturing plant in 2019, we looked into it. (Coincidental to the timing of this post, the five-year anniversary of that tragedy is on this coming Thursday, February 15<\/strong>. Please think of them.<\/a><\/span>) AURORA<\/strong> is written by the Hollywood<\/strong> veteran David Koepp<\/strong>, who has scripted, produced, and\/or directed dozens of features<\/a><\/span>, and based on his second novel that was published in 2022 by HarperCollins<\/strong><\/a><\/span>; it instead depicts the aftermath of a solar storm that knocks out electricity worldwide. A single mother and her son living in Aurora, which seems to have been chosen by Koepp as an archetypal Midwestern city and little else<\/a><\/span>, venture out west to confront her estranged brother, a billionaire recluse who could make a difference for many in the chaos. We\u2019ll believe AURORA<\/strong> is burning brightly when we read the casting and production launch reports in the legitimate trades.<\/p>\n Want a few bonus talking points to impress your friends and neighbors with? In the background, Ye Ed<\/strong> has been selectively building his physical media collection for future viewing and reviewing, including titles that are now part of our archives du C-U. This will soon include a pair of Blu-rays coming from the Australia<\/strong>-based label Imprint Films<\/strong>, a division of Via Vision Entertainment<\/strong>. One is STRANGE INVADERS<\/strong><\/a><\/span>, the Michael Laughlin\/Bill Condon<\/strong> sci-fi homage from 1983 that is set in Illinois but filmed in Canada<\/strong>, which stars Paul Le Mat<\/strong> and Nancy Allen<\/strong> as a college professor and tabloid reporter who investigate a forgotten rural town that is inhabited by extraterrestrials in human disguise; this disc of the Orion Pictures<\/strong> cult favorite is different from the movie-only Blu issued in the US only last month by Sandpiper Pictures<\/strong>. The other is LET\u2019S GET HARRY<\/strong><\/a><\/span>, a \u201clet\u2019s rescue our friend from a drug cartel in South America<\/strong>\u201d yarn that was partly filmed in Aurora at a manufacturing plant (hrm<\/em>) while yours truly was in his freshman year of high school on the other side of town, which stars Mark Harmon, Gary Busey, Glenn Frey, Robert Duvall<\/strong>, and Rick Rossovich<\/strong>. Barely released in 1986 by TriStar Pictures<\/strong> and directed by the immortal “Alan Smithee” (in this case, Stuart Rosenberg<\/strong>), it has been equally barely available in the US since the VHS and LaserDisc era. Improbably, Imprint will make both of these films available in their home country on the same day, Wednesday, March 27<\/strong>, but if one knows exactly<\/em> where to look<\/a><\/span> on this side of the globe\u2026<\/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> @ Illini Union, UIUC, Urbana, IL<\/strong>
\n2\/13: Steven Bentz (director, The Virginia Theatre, Champaign Park District, Champaign, IL)<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nDUNE (re-release), LISA FRANKENSTEIN, OUT OF DARKNESS (with English sub), PEGASUS 2 (in Mandarin with English sub), TURNING RED (animation) (first US release), ANYONE BUT YOU, ARGYLLE, THE BEEKEEPER, THE CHOSEN: S4, Ep. 1-3 (faith programming), MEAN GIRLS, MIGRATION (animation), SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (animation), WONKA, THE ZONE OF INTEREST (in German with English sub) (2\/9 on), THE MOVIE EMPEROR (with English and Chinese subtitles) (2\/10 on), AX Cinema Nights: PAPRIKA (anim\u00e9) (2\/11, 2:30 p.m., English dub), BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE, MADAME WEB, THE TASTE OF THINGS (2\/14 on), THE CHOSEN: S4, Ep. 4-6 (faith programming), LAND OF BAD (2\/15 on)<\/p>\n
\nDUNE (re-release, IMAX), LISA FRANKENSTEIN, AMERICAN FICTION, ANYONE BUT YOU, ARGYLLE, THE BEEKEEPER, THE BOYS IN THE BOAT, THE BOY AND THE HERON (anim\u00e9) (in Japanese with English sub or English dub), THE CHOSEN: S4, Ep. 1-3 (faith programming), MEAN GIRLS, MIGRATION (animation), NIGHT SWIM, POOR THINGS, WONKA (2\/9 on), AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM, THE IRON CLAW*, OPPENHEIMER* (2\/9-2\/13), CASABLANCA (2\/11, 12, 3 & 7 p.m.; 2\/17, 7 p.m.), GLORIA GAYNOR: I WILL SURVIVE (music documentary) (2\/13, 4 & 7 p.m.), BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE, MADAME WEB, (2\/14 on) *single screenings daily<\/p>\n
\nIllini Union Board presents \u201cSpring 2024 Weekend Films\u201d feat. FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY\u2019S, Pine Lounge, 1st floor (2\/9-2\/10, 7 p.m.; free w\/i-card)<\/p>\n