Posts filed under 'movies'
October 29th, 2009
The 2005 documentary, “The Real Dirt on Farmer John,” featuring John Peterson, owner of Angelic Organics in Caldeonia, will be presented Saturday and Tuesday at Film Streams’ Ruth Sokolof Theater in Omaha, Neb.
The film is one of eight documentaries in the American Stories film series presented with the Nebraska Humanities Council and Federation of State Humanities Councils. It is part of a series presented with the 2009 National Humanities Conference in Omaha. The Illinois Humanities Council submitted the film for consideration.
From a story I wrote in April 2006: Peterson “embraced the ’60s and ’70s, and his friends flocked to the farm with all their flamboyant artistic expressions. Some neighbors thought he was wacky and wrongly believed worse, like he was a drug king and ritualistic killing was going on down on the farm.
“The farm debt crisis of the ’80s cost him all but 22 acres. He was depressed and went to Mexico to find himself. After his return, he started farming organically on the property and now owns and operates ecologically friendly Angelic Organics. It’s a Community Supported Agriculture farm in which about 1,200 consumers, mostly from the Chicago and Rockford areas, are invested in the expenses of producing food.”
Tell here in Comments what you like about going to Angelic Organics.
Jan. 19, 2006
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Alan Leon/Rockford Register Star
Director Taggart Siegel (left) and Bob Bowen talk about Siegel’s film “The Real Dirt on Farmer John” during the Beloit International Film Festival launch party at ABC World Headquarters. |
October 2nd, 2009
Elisabeth von Trapp, granddaughter of the real-life “Sound of Music” Maria and Baron von Trapp, will return to Rockford to perform at 7 p.m. Oct. 22 at First Lutheran Church in Rockford, 225 S. Third St.
It benefits Lutheran Social Services of Illinois programs. Tickets are $15, and a reception with a meet-and-greet for Von Tropp will be after the concert.
815-962-4279 or ralmmail@aol.com
Vote for your favorite song from "The Sound of Music."
August 7th, 2009
I lived in Harvard for more than 20 years, and I remember when writer and director John Hughes, known for hit movies including “Home Alone,” ” The Breakfast Club,” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” moved around 1990 to the countryside in Harvard way off Hebron Road.
It was so far off Hebron Road and surrounded by so many trees that I couldn’t see any buildings on the property when I’d pass by, taking my youngest daughter to a friend’s house nearby. This Northwest Herald story says there was a house, guest house and stable. But every time we passed by with a different friend of hers in the car, we’d always point out, “That’s where the director (correction: it should be writer) of ‘Home Alone’ lives.”
Hughes died of a heart attack Thursday at age 59 while visiting family in New York.
July 2nd, 2009
A video where girl group KSM covers Cheap Trick’s “I Want You To Want Me” is being used in promotion spots for a new ABC Family channel show, “10 Things I Hate About You.” It debuts at 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 7 (Comcast 25).
The show is a half-hour high school series directed by Gil Junger, who also directed the 1999 film by the same name, which provided Heath Ledger’s breakout role. “I Want You To Want Me” was featured in the movie.
(KSM with ‘10 Things’ cast. J-14.com)
According to the ABC Family Web site: Rockford-based power-pop quartet “Cheap Trick released a studio version in 1977, but it was the live take from their 1979 concert album, “At Budokan,” that made it a huge hit. It’s been covered a lot; even Lindsay Lohan did a version in 2005.”
June 29th, 2009
Talk about dodging bullets, and infamous ones at that.
Al Petzke of Rockford was 7 years old when he narrowly missed being shot up by — who he believes then and still does — was John Dillinger and his gang in South Bend, Ind.
(Al Petzke, photo provided)
Dillinger, the subject of “Public Enemies” starring Johnny Depp and opening Wednesday, and his gang had allegedly just robbed the Merchants National Bank on June 30, 1934. It was less than a month before Dillinger was shot dead in Chicago by police.
Petzke and his father had just entered the Cloud Brothers appliance store to buy a replacement part for the family’s wringer washing machine. Al’s mom washed clothes to make money during the Depression.
They heard sirens, exited the store, then quickly went back inside the vestibule of the store when they saw the gang driving Studebakers and the cops rounding the corner. “They went by in a hurry,” Petzke, 82, told me after reading my June 25 column about a car housed at Historic Auto Attractions in Roscoe used by the Dillinger gang in a robbery. The Studebaker is expected to be seen in “Public Enemies.”
“We kept hearing this ‘pop, pop, pop,’” Petzke said. “We just wanted to make sure they did not hit us. I just hung on to my dad.”
When the shooting was over, father and son and store staff gathered outside. Bullet holes were found in a sign outside the store. The story about the bank robbery allegedly by the Dillinger crew was a big deal the next day in the South Bend Tribune, he said.
“I’m lucky I didn’t pee in my pants,” said Petzke, who moved to Rockford in 1953 and was an engineering director for WTVO-17 for 44 years.
April 1st, 2009
The $2.50 extra cost for the 3-D experience at ShowPlace 16 in Rockford lasted about five weeks. The cost now is $3.50 extra, in addition to the ticket price of the show.
The experience started with the release of “Coraline” on Feb. 20. The extra price for the experience was bumped up a buck starting for last Friday’s release of “Monsters vs. Aliens.”
Barry Tester, advertising manager for Kerasotes Theatres, which owns the movie theaters in Rockford and Machesney Park, said today he could not say why the price increased. Those who could comment were out of town at a convention, he said.
February 6th, 2009
“The Stoning of Soraya M.,” an as-yet-unreleased movie produced by Stephen McEveety, will be shown both Thursday, Feb. 19, and Saturday, Feb. 21, at Wilson Theatre at Beloit College as part of the Beloit International Film Festival.
The Thursday showing originally was slated to be shown at 7:30 p.m. at LaCasa Grande, but has been moved to the larger venue, a 300-seat theater. The Feb. 21 showing is at 5 p.m. Tickets cost $7.
January 26th, 2009
I can’t wait to see the yet-to-be-released “The Stoning of Soraya M.” next month at the Beloit International Film Festival, and I bet hundreds of women in local book clubs share my interest.
Understanding women and their lack of rights in the Middle East is a central theme for popular books area book clubs and their members have been reading, including “A Thousand Splendid Suns,” “Kabul Beauty School,” “Three Cups of Tea.”
And I think it will be intriguing listening to “Braveheart” and “The Passion of the Christ” producer Stephen McEveety talk at the festival about the making of “The Stoning of Soraya M.”
If you’ve read any of the above books or others about women in the Middle East, share your comments here.
At last week’s revealing of the 150 or so films that will be shown, Dr. Steve Fass tossed out a few of his favorites. He helped select the movies for the festival. Among his likes: “The Amatuers,” a comedy about down-on-their-luckers trying to produce an adult film; “Four Minutes,” about a German piano prodigy and murder; “The Violin,” about a peasant man who tutors and supports a guerilla movement; “El Bola,” about a young boy raised in a violent environment; “Waveriders,” about surfers in Ireland.
January 20th, 2009
Hollywood says ‘cut’ to lavish paychecks
Producer J.J. Abrams agreed not to take any money upfront to get “Morning Glory” made.
Because of the faltering economy and falling DVD revenue, the studios are chipping away at the generous financial deals long enjoyed by the most established stars and filmmakers, according to this LA Times story.
July 17th, 2008
Everybody’s talking about Heath Ledger’s portrayal of The Joker in “The Dark Knight” Batman movie opening at 12:01 a.m. Friday.
His menacing clown face sure is creepy. One thing I’ve noticed is that if you ask most any teenage girl one thing they’re scared of, they’ll say “clowns.” Maybe it’s cool to say that, or they can’t think of anything else to say. But there is a word to describe an irrational fear of clowns: coulrophobia.
In the Rockford area this Halloween time, there’ll be creepy clowns like the ones that spooked thrill-seekers at the Trail of Screams the past few years.
But Trail of Screams in Rockford is no more. Ann Naber, owner, said she couldn’t negotiate a deal with the YMCA’s Camp Winnebago this year. But Trail of Screams will open in early October for the scare season again at Camp McCormick in Stillman Valley, and the group will offer a new site in a barn at 6512 Manchester Road, South Beloit. The latter is being called Screamatorium.
Naber said she’s scared of clowns, too. Maybe one scared her as a kid, she said. Johnny Depp had nightmares of clowns as a child. And who wasn’t terrified of serial killer John Wayne Gacy dressed as a clown.
What creeps you out about clowns? What are some of your favorite clown Web sites. Check this video out that compares the three Jokers in Batman movies, of course, in their clown makeup[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/rh6C0Z03Yx0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
