'Missy and the Maxinator' to open Jan. 5
'Maxinator' attack!
Former Schaumburg resident Daniel J. Lynch's new indie movie "Missy and the Maxinator" - shot at Conant High School in Hoffman Estates - finally comes to the silver screen after more than three years in production. Scores of local residents appear in the film, which charts the mysterious disappearance of kids, and how a student named Max must use superpowers to save them. Free admission, but get tickets at maxinator-movie.com.
Facts: 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 5, at the South Barrington 30 Theaters, 175 Studio Drive, South Barrington
Master of suspense
Join me and film scholar/novelist Raymond Benson as we explore the works and life of Alfred Hitchcock, the "master of suspense." It's part of Dann and Raymond's Movie Club, with clips from "Psycho," "North by Northwest," "Rear Window," "The Birds" and "Vertigo." Free. Call (847) 985-4000 or go to www.stdl.org.
Facts: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 8, at the Schaumburg Township District Library, 130 S. Roselle Road, Schaumburg
'Timecrimes'
Spanish filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo's trippy time-travel thriller whisks a middle-aged man (Karra Elejalde) into his immediate past after he runs into an unconscious naked woman and a scissors-wielding nut job wearing a bloody bandage over his face. Vigalondo constructs a provocative intellectual puzzle in chronology, even though some of the "surprises" should be obvious to genre fans. Imagine "Back to the Future II" as a mind-gouging terror tale. In Spanish with subtitles. Rated R for nudity and language. 99 minutes. Starts Friday at the Music Box Theatre, Chicago