Movie Roundup: Coming Attractions
- The local film DIMENSION is screening tomorrow at the prestigious Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose. In the film, three lonely residents of a Chicago neighborhood are divinely granted a wish. But it comes with a condition: they can only change exactly three inches about themselves. The movie was shot in Chicago during the summer of 2005, and it's one of only fourteen movies in competition in the festival's Maverick Narrative Category. Let's hope a Chicago screening is on the horizon.
- On Saturday, the really cool Intuit Center concludes their ELUSIVE Evidence series of film screenings about extraterrestrials with John Carpenter's cult classic They Live. And 80's WWF wrestler "Rowdy" Roddy Piper plays a drifter who stumbles upon a weird set of sunglasses; when he dons them he's able to see the truth: evil aliens have disguised themselves as businessmen and politicians, keeping the earth's population docile through the use of subliminal messages. This flick has always been a favorite of ours, fondly remembered from countless Saturday afternoon showings on a local low-powered UHF channel. The Intuit Gallery is at 756 N. Milwaukee Ave.; the show begins at 2 p.m., and admission is free (donation suggested).
Saturday night at Chicago Filmmakers you can see what Dick's Staff Shot. (Get your minds out of the gutter!) "The Nixon White House Staff Super-8 Films" consists of ultrarare "home movies" from the Nixon Administration! The footage was shot by Tricky Dick's staffers between 1969 and 1974 and later confiscated from John Erlichman's office by the FBI. Included are scenes from a performance of the musical 1776; Nixon visiting a Washington Redskins football practice; and appearances by Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, Indira Ghandi, Bob Hope, and Pat Boone. Admission is $8; more info at the Chicago Filmmakers site.- Did you know that since 2004, Lake County has had its own film festival? We sure didn't until we came across their great website. This year's fest runs from March 8-12 at venues in Grayslake and Libertyville. Among the dozens of films are the wacky comedy A Great Disturbance, about three nerdy fans and their trip to a Star Wars convention in Indianapolis, and the drama Midlothia, which follows a "love rectangle" among the residents of a small Texas town.