Posts Tagged ‘movie’

Oak Park Arms presents its popular series “You Be the Critic” at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 9, at the Oak Park Arms, 408 S. Oak Park Ave. The 1996 film, “A Family Thing,” will be viewed and reviewed with radio announcer Dan Kane.

This drama was written by Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson and directed by Richard Pearce. It stars Robert Duvall, James Earl Jones, Irma P. Hall and Michael Beach.

When the mother of a Scotch-Irish American Southerner, Earl Pilcher (Duvall), dies, she leaves behind a letter explaining how he is not her biological son but the son of a Black American maid who was raped by Earl’s (white) father and who died in childbirth.

The letter prompts Earl to visit his half-brother in Chicago, Raymond Murdoch (Jones). Ray blames the death their mother on Earl’s father and wants nothing to do with Earl when he shows up. As Earl is preparing to leave town his car is high jacked by street thugs, and he ends up in the hospital with nothing but Ray’s contact information in his pocket.

Ray, a veteran Chicago police officer, begrudgingly lets Earl recover in his home as the hospital is too crowded. It is there that Earl meets his Aunt T. (Hall), a loving and blind woman who eventually persuades the family to accept Earl and helps them all heal old wounds.

The Oak Park Arms is a rental retirement community which provides independent and assisted living apartments and a full schedule of activities and services. Furnished apartments are also available for a short-term stay – a weekend, a week, a month or longer.

The event is free and open to the public. Call Jill Wagner at 708-386-4040.

Oak Park Arms presents its popular series “You Be the Critic” at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 11, at the Oak Park Arms, 408 S. Oak Park Ave. The film “Call Northside 777” will be viewed and reviewed with radio announcer Dan Kane.

The movie is set in Chicago in 1932. An officer is murdered inside a speakeasy, and two men are quickly arrested and sentenced to 99 years imprisonment.

After the mother of one prisoner, Frank Wiecek, puts out an ad 11 years later offering $5,000 in exchange for information on the true killers, a Chicago Times reporter is assigned to write a story on the case. Although he believes the prisoners to be guilty, the reporter’s opinion begins to change as the story develops.

He is met with increased police resistance followed by political pressure to end a story that may embarrass the administration. Despite the government’s insistence, Wiecek eventually is proved innocent.

Directed by Henry Hathaway and starring James Stewart, Richard Conte and Lee J. Cobb, this documentary-style film noir was the first movie filmed in Chicago. It received mostly positive reviews both when it was originally released and when it was released again on DVD in 2004.

The Oak Park Arms is a rental retirement community which provides independent and assisted living apartments and a full schedule of activities and services. Furnished apartments are also available for a short-term stay – a weekend, a week, a month or longer.

The event is free and open to the public. Call Jill Wagner at 708-386-4040.

The Oak Park Arms hosts a popular monthly movie series titled, “View and Review: You Be the Critic” at the retirement community located at 408 S. Oak Park Ave. Hosted by radio announcer Dan Kane and offered to the public at no cost, “Windy City Films” is the theme of the 2013 movie selections.

Chicago’s history of filmmaking is almost as old as the films themselves. Before the rise of Hollywood, Chicago was the central hub for the motion picture industry. In 1895 the first motion picture camera was manufactured, and just two years later former magician William Selig was producing and showing films in Chicago.

Chicago quickly became a leader in the industry in the early 1900s with innovative trailblazers and an interested and supportive public.

Each month at “You be the Critic” a different movie filmed in the Windy City between 1947 and 2000 will be featured and discussed.

“Dan has planned an extraordinary line-up of films,” said Desi Vasquez, social programming director at the Oak Park Arms. “It’s an enjoyable way to learn about Chicago’s movie industry.”

All films are shown at 3:30 p.m. on the first or second Friday of every month in the Terrace Room. The line-up for the year includes:

•    Jan. 11: “Call Northside 777” starring James Steward
•    Feb. 8: “Cooley High” with Glynn Turman and Garret Morris
•    March 8: “Medium Cool” starring Robert Forster and Verna Bloom
•    April 5: “Ordinary People,” Robert Redford’s directorial debut
•    May 10: “Sixteen Candles” starring Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall and Michael Schoeffling
•    June 14: “The Father Clements Story” with Louis Gossett Jr., Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Carroll O’Connor
•    July 12: “The Breakfast Club” directed by John Hughes
•    Aug. 9: “A Family Thing” starring Robert Duvall and James Earl Jones
•    Sept. 6: “The Package” directed by Chicago native Andrew Davis
•    Oct. 4: “Backdraft” starring Kurt Russell and William Baldwin
•    Nov. 8: “The Fugitive” starring Harrison Ford and directed by Andrew Davis
•    Dec. 6: “Return to Me” with David Duchovny and Minnie Driver

“Following each film, Dan leads a discussion that occasionally morphs into a spirited debate,” Vasquez said. “It’s all in good fun.”

The Oak Park Arms is a rental retirement community which provides independent and assisted living apartments and a full schedule of activities and services. Furnished apartments are also available for a short-term stay – a weekend, a week, a month or longer.

See one, or see them all. Each movie is free and open to the public. For more information contact Jill Wagner at 708-386-4040.

Oak Park Arms presents its popular series “You Be the Critic” at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 14, at the Oak Park Arms, 408 S. Oak Park Ave. The 2003 British Romantic Comedy film “Love Actually” will be viewed and reviewed with radio announcer Dan Kane.

With over a dozen main characters, the movie follows eight couples that are all at different stages of relationships and dealing with different relationship issues. Some couples are right for each other, some are not. The audience is taken along for the ride as each couple navigates a unique set of challenging waters.

Filmed in London during Christmastime, the characters are all linked in one way or another. The plot depicts the sometimes tricky situations of life and love.

The majority of the cast was comprised of British actors. Although the film was well received in Britain, it was given mixed reviews in the U.S. Regardless, it received several nominations, including Best Screenplay and Best Motion Picture and won an Empire Award for Best British Film.

The Oak Park Arms is a rental retirement community which provides independent and assisted living apartments and a full schedule of activities and services. Furnished apartments are also available for a short-term stay – a weekend, a week, a month or longer.

The event is free and open to the public. Call Jill Wagner at 708-386-4040.