GireWire

Boris Karloff’s daughter Sara, 70, and Lon Chaney Jr.’s grandson Ron, 54, where scheduled to appear at screenings of the seminal Universal Studio monster movies “Frankenstein” (1931) and “The Wolfman” (1941).

The screenings scheduled for Friday, October 23 and Sunday, October 25 at the Hollywood Palms theater in Naperville and Saturday, October 24 at the Hollywood Boulevard theater in Woodridge have been canceled according to postings on the theater’s websites.

See atriptothemovies.com for details.

The 26th annual Chicago International Children’s Film Festival continues through Nov. 1 at Facets Multimedia, 1517 W. Fullerton Ave., Chicago. (Read more…)

Go to cicff.org for details.

Facets Multimedia
1517 W. Fullerton Ave.
Chicago

The Illinois International Film Festival runs Friday, October 23 through Sunday, October 25 at the Arcada Theater, 105 E. Main St., St. Charles. One Friday night film, “Michael Morlock’s Supernatural World,” was directed by Elgin filmmaker John W. Norton . (His “Not Another B Movie” played at last month’s Elgin Film Festival.) Tickets can be purchased only at the theater. (Read more…)

Go to illinoisinternationalfilmfestival.com for details.

Cost: $10.00 for Fest pass (includes all screenings)

Arcada Theater
105 E. Main St.
St. Charles

Little Max (Max Records) says a tearful goodbye to his pals in Spike Jonze’s “Where the Wild Things Are.”

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The problem with filmmakers taking an extremely short children’s story and expanding it into a full-length feature film is that they’re taking an extremely short children’s story and expanding it into a full-length feature film.

Bo Welch tried it to disastrous effect in “The Cat in the Hat,” based on the Dr. Seuss classic, starring an irritating Mike Myers in the title role.

Ron Howard fared a little better in another bloated Seussian adaptation, “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas,” saved by cutesy-poo Who makeup and Jim Carrey’s over-wrenched Grinch portrayal.

Now Maurice Sendak’s beloved 1963 children’s book “Where the Wild Things Are” comes to the silver screen under the direction of Spike Jonze, whose previous work on two quirky Charlie Kaufman screenplays (“Adaptation” and “Being John Malkovich”) more than qualifies him to handle the darker edges of fantasy. (Sendak reportedly selected Jonze to direct this film after viewing “Being John Malkovich.”)

Jonze’s “Wild Things” possesses a lot of darker edges and deep crevices, more than you might remember in Sendak’s original, 338-word tale of a punished, rebellious child with a fervid imagination. (Read more…)

A sociopathic avenger (Gerard Butler) examines evidence from an investigator (Jamie Foxx) in “Law Abiding Citizen.”

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Take Charles Bronson’s vigilante architect from Michael Winner’s semi-classic “Death Wish” and mix him with Tobin Bell’s insanely creative sociopath Jigsaw from the “Saw” movies, you’d roughly have the anti-hero of F. Gary Gray’s conscience-slapping, MENSA-powered thriller “Law Abiding Citizen.”

Actually, “Law Abiding Citizen” is just as much of a tragedy as a conventional thriller. The two men butting legal and moral heads in this crime drama are neither all heroes nor all villains, but flawed fathers wrestling with their consciences.

In the case of the very flawed Clyde Shelton, played by Mr. Beefcake himself, Gerard Butler, his conscience loses big time.

In a nail-biting prologue, two thugs invade Shelton’s home. They stab him, kill his wife and little girl.

When the killers are arrested and enter the legal system, hotshot Assistant D.A. Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx), anxious to preserve his impressive 97 percent conviction rate, cuts a deal with Shelton’s assailant, Clarence Darby (Christian Stolte), to finger his accomplice, Rupert Ames (Josh Stewart), for the fatal attacks.

Shelton can’t believe the man who killed his wife and daughter will be free in a few short years.

“This is just how the justice system works,” Rice explains. (Read more…)

It’s more than its cliched title would suggest. In fact, it’s the best basketball sports doc since “Hoop Dreams.”

Kristopher Belman’s impressive film traces basketball phenom LeBron James and his teammates from their humble beginnings in an Akron, Ohio, gym to their amazing national high school championship nine years later, coached all along by one of the players’ fathers.

Heartwarming and triumphant, the doc doesn’t shy away from the negative impact of publicity and how it pulls James away from his peers, and for a while, threatens to trip up their potential for sports greatness. (Read more…) Rated: PG. 102 minutes.

Opens Friday, October 16 at the River East 21 and the Century Centre in Chicago, the CineArts 6 in Evanston and other select locations.

“The Damned United” is not a romance, but it’s still a real love story. It’s between legendary, egomaniacal soccer coach Brian Clough (Michael Sheen) and his quiet assistant, talent spotter Peter Taylor (Timothy Spall) whose invisible but crucial support is only appreciated after the arrogant Clough drives him away.

Clough spent a whole 44 days as coach of the super team Leeds United, and can’t stand it that previous coach Don Revie (Colm Meaney, a dead ringer for the real guy) is practically worshipped by sports fans. All the actors inhabit their roles with perfection, and Tom Hooper’s direction (from a deft script by Peter “Frost/Nixon” Morgan) captures a modern retelling of the story of the prideful Icarus. (Read more…) Rated: R (language). 97 minutes.

Opens Friday, October 16 at Pipers Alley in Chicago.

Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 drama introduced modern Japanese cinema and changed the vocabulary of the movies around the world. This story about the tenuous nature of perception – a rape and murder are interpreted differently by four witnesses – has probably been remade and ripped-off as much as “Psycho.” A restored version of Kurosawa’s classic opens Friday October 16 at the Music Box in Chicago. (Read more…) Rated: NR (mature audiences only). 88 minutes.

Opens Friday, October 16 at the Music Box in Chicago.

In a perfect world, this anthology film would receive 10 separate reviews of the 10 short stories told by 10 directors, each given two days to shoot and one week to edit his/her segment.

“New York, I Love You” is the second HD-shot film in the so-called “Cities of Love” franchise that began with 2006’s much better “Paris, je t’aime.” Here, New York residents become a blurry mix of indistinct types. (Read more…) Rated: R (language and sexual content). 110 minutes.

Starts Friday, October 16 in selected theaters.

Ernest Borgnine won the Oscar for playing the lead character in 1956’s “Marty,” but people remember him mostly as the cop married to Stella Stevens in the pivotal 1972 disaster thriller “The Poseidon Adventure.”

Borgnine will introduce both films in person! Bo Hopkins, who starred with Borgnine in Sam Peckinpah’s masterpiece “The Wild Bunch,” will also host the films with Q&A and autograph sessions one hour prior to each film showing.

Cool blonde actress (and mother of Melanie Griffith) Tippi Hedren will swing by the Hollywood Palms to introduce her 1963 Alfred Hitchcock classic “The Birds” showing twice on Saturday, October 17 at 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m.

Elliott Gould and Sally Kellerman, the original Trapper John and Hot Lips Houlihan from the 1970 anti-war black comedy “M*A*S*H,” will introduce Robert Altman’s masterpiece for two showings on Sunday, October 18 at 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. (Read more…)

Go to hollywoodpalmscinema.com for details.

Cost: $12.00 per showing.

Friday, October 16 at 7:30 p.m. ‘Marty’ hosted by Ernest Borgnine and Bo Hopkins
Friday, October 16 at 9:00 p.m. ‘The Poseidon Adventure’ hosted by Ernest Borgnine and Bo Hopkins
Saturday, October 17 at 7:30 p.m. ‘The Birds’ hosted by Tippi Hedren
Saturday, October 17 at 10:00 p.m. ‘The Birds’ hosted by Tippi Hedren
Sunday, October 18 at 6:00 p.m. ‘M*A*S*H’ hosted by Elliott Gould and Sally Kellerman
Sunday, October 18 at 8:00 p.m. ‘M*A*S*H’ hosted by Elliott Gould and Sally Kellerman
Hollywood Palms Cinema
352 South Route 59
Naperville