Smile Politely. Speak Directly. Champaign-Urbana's Alternative Daily

The man who dressed up as a minotaur for Halloween. (I'm sorry I didn't get your name buddy. If you know this guy, let me know.) It's not everyday you get to see a person on stilts walking down Domer Dr.

In conjunction with the University of Illinois, Greg Boardman’s Art Theatre will host the 4th Annual Tournees French Film Festival and as with similar programs in the past, the slate is filled with an eclectic mixture of films that will appeal to a wide variety of viewers. While the notion of seeing a foreign film may be as appetizing as eating broccoli to some, the collection of films here sports accessible eye-opening films that effortlessly break through cultural barriers.

There are six different movies on a revolving schedule throughout the week of Oct. 31 — Nov. 6. A visit to the festival web page provides all the information patrons need regarding when each film will be screened and ticket prices. What follows is a thumbnail guide to the fest.

Click the jump for the guide.

In order to be liked and admired as a smart-ass, one must put in the time and effort: Step up your vocabulary, read more than one subtitle at a time, pick an author to loathe, pick one to love. The intent of this column is to put you on that path and to help you avoid the bear traps in the ditch. Step One: Get a Library Card.

You Can’t Go Home Again

Weighing in at 720 pages, this posthumous doorstop by Thomas Wolfe took three renewals from the library to get through. By the last quarter-inch, I was no longer interested in any semblance of a continuous story line, just a flagging determination to finish what I’d begun two months prior.

Then tomorrow, Klein will be on Focus 580 on WILL-AM at 10 a.m., followed by a book signing at the Illini Union Bookstore at noon. Completing her whirlwind tour, Klein will take part in a roundtable discussion at 2 p.m. in Room 210 of the Illini Union.

More than any other holiday, with the debatable exception of Christmas, the Halloween experience is very much defined by the films we associate with it. The Halloween season lasts for about a week — it's one of those "it's that time already?" holidays — but it's almost required that during that week you watch at least a couple horror movies. After the costumes and the trick-or-treating have gone, it's the horror films that make Halloween, “Halloween.”

So what are you going to watch this week, when you realize there's no way The Shining, The Exorcist and, if you're of my generation, Hocus Pocus are still on the shelf at your local video store? Let me tell you.

The School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, will present video and performance artist, Ben Coonley (and perhaps his talking toy pony) tonight at the Krannert Art Museum. Coonley hails from Brooklyn and uses comic pedagogical styles and direct audience address to explore aspects of media culture and film history. Now what exactly does that mean? Read the interview below to find out.

Smile Politely: Have you ever been to C-U before? Is there any particular place you'd like to revisit?

Ben Coonley: No, I've never been here before, but I feel a distant personal connection to C-U. My grandfather taught at the UI for a few semesters between 1949–51, so my mom spent a couple of her early years here. They moved away because my grandfather got a job overseas. But if they hadn't moved, this could have been my ancestral home. I also loved the band the Poster Children when I was in high school/college.

About four years ago, Michael Moore crafted another addition to his filmmaking collection to little response. The film was called Captain Mike Across America, which premiered in the Toronto International Film Festival in 2007.

The film itself is basically a documentary on Moore's tour across America in 2004 to bring more votes out of the youth of America. He referred to his tour as "Slacker Uprising." Now, Slacker Uprising, is the title of the newly edited version of Captain Mike Across America, which can be legally downloaded on the website for free.

"We are going to tell you how to start your own business!" Kessler says. "We are going to consolidate all the information that it's taken us two years to learn onto one handout. And, most importantly, Zach is really really hot. The guy's got a great beard. And he loves freshmen."

After the jump, more wisdom from Kessler.

The atmosphere in the Savoy Theater before I viewed W. could be likened to that of the Colosseum during the Roman empire, clamoring with an audience that seemed more than a little eager for the vicarious thrill of violence in watching our current president ripped to shreds and its subsequent bloody aftermath. In such respects, one would be left disappointed as W. presents a fairly balanced and historically accurate account of the life thus far of George W. Bush and the events surrounding him that helped to forge one of the unlikeliest of political destinies.

No, it's not really a motel. It is, however, a barn-like structure (actually, more like a garage) with the smell of manure in the air. The farm animals live close enough, but the South Farms are also home to many students in the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois — a section of the area functions as studio space and is where some intermediate and advanced art classes are held.

Tomorrow, Thursday Oct. 23 from 7-9 p.m., the three-year MFA program students are hosting an open house event at their studios on the South Farms. The event will showcase work in-progress by the graduate students in various media: painting, sculpture, new media, metals and photography.

For directions and more information on who is participating in the event, check out the South Farms website.

Half film festival, half "film clinic," Home Movie Day was put together in 2003 by a group of film archivists who wanted to do something to encourage people not to get rid of their home movies. They saw a trend emerging where people would have the contents of their old family film reels transferred to videotape or DVD, then throw the old films away. Because these newer methods are not as reliable or long lasting as actual film, they were worried that there would soon be a huge gap in our cultural record. Home Movies are important for many reasons beyond family sentimentality: they portray what life was like in America (or elsewhere) for that brief second in time. Therefore, they are a great resource to historians, documentarians, film directors, costume designers, and other Hollywood types.

There are more details about this event after the jump.

I absolutely, positively love autumn. I don't dress up for Halloween anymore. But I look forward to the little things: picking out a pumpkin on the vine at Curtis Orchard, drinking apple cider, eating massive amounts of apple donuts, watching my husband do all the yard work, walking out of my way to step on piles of leaves, watching The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and going to as many haunted houses as possible. Know of any good ones this year?

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist is like rediscovering a mix CD from an old boyfriend or girlfriend in the back of your closet-sweet, sentimental and somehow brimming with the possibilities of love, unhampered as yet by the pragmatism and subsequent cynicism of “adult” relationships.

Based on the 2006 novel of the same name by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan and directed by Peter Sollett, a large part of the success of the film is due to the sheer likability of its stars.

If you're not familiar with Royte, Garbage Land, or her new book, Bottlemania, which addresses the bottled-water craze, stop out and meet her or at least check out an interview with her after the jump.

The special features section of popular DVDs has become a place for a film's creators to advance an argument for the quality of their film. The behind-the-scenes features and exclusive interviews are little more than propaganda, insisting sometimes despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary that the film you have purchased or rented is worth your time and money.

Steven Spielberg does more than his share of evading, equivocating and fibbing on the new Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls disc. In the special features Spielberg doesn't seem to realize what he's admitting when he tells the story of how George Lucas approached him with the idea of "Indiana Jones vs. Aliens" in the mid-nineties. According to Spielberg, he didn't like the idea, and dismissed it entirely after enjoying the alien-based Independence Day. He was done with the franchise: "There's a reason I had Indy ride off into the sunset at the end of the third film," he admits.

The first time I walked into the Lorraine Theatre in Hoopeston, I was impressed by the huge building, the old marquee, the façade on the outside of the building…and then I walked into one of the twin doors leading into the auditorium. I was blown away. How in the world has a theater like this survived in Smalltown, Illinois? Barely, by the stories the theater tells. Over her 86 years, the Lorraine has escaped the fate of so many single-screen movie houses: defamation of its beauty, twinning, and demolishment. It stands as a time capsule from days gone by, when crowds of hundreds used to pack its gigantic auditorium and settle in its balcony. She has suffered from dwindling attendance, with her most previous owner having no understanding of the locale in Hoopeston, but now faces a promising future with new ownership. Perhaps the lonely Lorraine has been finally discovered by someone who will love her like she deserves.

The Lorraine’s new owner, Joshua Caudle, spoke with me about Hoopeston’s beloved movie theater and what we can look forward to in her future.

Click the jump to read the interview.

After the jump, Jasper Pierce volunteered his ideas on being overworked and underappreciated, his book's roots in Champaign-Urbana, and the potential for revolution in the United States. Stick around and check it out.

Whether you’ve seen none or a hundred westerns, chances are the conventions of the genre are rattling around somewhere in your consciousness. Images of dusty cow-towns, duels at high noon on Main Street and marauding, savage injuns’ (the genre’s term, not mine) are part and parcel of films of this kind and they are ingrained in our national consciousness like the pledge of allegiance and grandma’s apple pie. It’s obvious from his latest directorial effort, Appaloosa, that Ed Harris knows these tropes like the back of his hand, as those mentioned above and many more pop up, all rendered with a loving sense of nostalgia for bygone days. His has a romantic vision of the West and while there are those that may object to the film’s simplicity, there are enough variations on these themes to make it worthwhile.

Editor's note: Chuck Koplinski wrote a review for The Visitor on May 30 and the link is embedded in the film's title below.

Area filmgoers are in a for a treat as character actor Richard Jenkins will be appearing at the Normal Theater to introduce the film, The Visitor, a moving film that has garnered well-earned critical acclaim and is a timely examination of the United States’ immigration policy and our country’s place in the world. Jenkins, a graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University, will be on hand to discuss the film and take questions afterwards, as will his co-star in the movie, Danai Jekesai Gurira.

You may think differently if you’re one of those sex addicts who gets satisfaction in seeing flashes of 60+ year old women in the nude, or holding onto the panties of the members of your Sex Anonymous meetings that you sneak off to the bathroom with.

But unless you fall within those parameters, the darkness of Choke isn’t worth sitting through for that very tiny glimpse of light that is the film’s conclusion.

Instead of seeing Choke, just order late night Cinemax. You’ll get the same poor acting, cheesy writing, but definitely more pleasure.