Reel life: Harold Ramis film festival starts Sunday in Woodstock
Critic's notebook
• Chicago's great, late comedian Harold Ramis gets his own festival when “A Tribute To Harold Ramis” begins at 1 p.m. Sunday, March 13, with a screening of “Ghostbusters” at the Woodstock Theatre, 209 Main St., Woodstock.
Next up will be “Stripes” at 7 p.m. Monday, March 14, followed by “National Lampoon's Animal House” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 15. All three movies will be from digitally remastered prints. Tickets cost $6.
No, nobody forgot “Groundhog Day,” Ramis' comedy masterpiece actually filmed in Woodstock. That movie — shown every year as part of the town's Groundhog Day observance — will be recognized by the unveiling of a secret “special memento” Ramis reportedly left for the community. Ramis died in 2014.
Go to classiccinemas.com.
• The ninth annual Geneva Film Festival continues through Saturday, March 12, at four locations: the Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva, the Geneva City Hall, 25N Coworking and Playhouse 38. Go to genevafilmfestival.org for a full schedule and ticket purchases.
• The Chicago Film Critics Association this week announced its first wave of titles for the upcoming Chicago Critics Film Festival, May 20 to 26 at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave., Chicago.
Christophe Gans' “Beauty and the Beast” and Andrew Neel's “Goat” lead the fest's first tier. Go to chicagofilmcritics.org.
• Longtime readers of this column know that I occasionally go on a rant about Hollywood's five most overused visual crutches passed around from movie to movie: 1) fireworks 2) large electric fans 3) strip shows 4) amusement parks/rides and 5) brightly colored balloons.
Most movies contain at least one of these crutches; many films combine two or more. But I never thought that Terrence Malick, king of the anti-Hollywood indies, would plug all five of them into his new drama “Knight of Cups,” opening this weekend. I doubt the inclusion of these overutilized devices will result in greater popularity.