Cool Beyond Yule

By Rob Christopher in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 13, 2007 6:29PM

We love us some Xmas movies; but frankly there are plenty of swell, non-Holiday movie events coming up as well:

-- The new Will Smith flick I Am Legend opens. Big deal, right? Well, if you're a fan of the Richard Matheson novel or of the previous cinematic incarnations like we are, then yes it is. To sweeten the deal we've just learned that a six-minute prologue for The Dark Knight will be shown beforehand, but only at the Navy Pier IMAX screenings. And as we all know, there's gonna be a lot of Chicago locations on view. Five'll get ya ten that there's an exploding hospital somewhere in the teaser.

-- The Siskel hosts a special screening on Sunday of treasures from the George Eastman House film archive. "Pioneers of Animation" will include appearances from the first cartoon stars, like Colonel Heezaliar, Mutt and Jeff, Felix the Cat, and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Archivist Jim Healy will sketch in some background on animators like Paul Terry, Walter Lanz, Max and Dave Fleischer and Friz Freleng and there'll be live piano accompaniment by David Drazin. The restored 35mm prints should look pretty fantastic.

-- What would we do if our country was invaded? Filmmakers Steve Connors and Molly Bingham will be at Facets tomorrow and Saturday for screenings of their new documentary Meeting Resistance, which profiles several members of the Iraqi insurgency. The filmmakers spent over a year in Iraq, gaining enough trust to be able to follow and interview such disparate individuals as a professor, a teacher, an imam and a wife, all of whom have decided to violently resist the American occupation. The film is sure to be both eye-opening and disturbing. It might be Christmastime here, but life goes on elsewhere.

Walter Lantz pic via Film Reference