Robert Altman biographer Patrick McGilligan called Corn’s-A-Poppin’ (1955) “one of the worst movies ever made”; Kian Bergstrom of Cine-File declares, “I love no musical in the world more than [Corn’s-A-Poppin’].” You can decide for yourself on Monday when Music Box presents the Chicago premiere of a new restoration of the movie, which Altman cowrote when he was still cranking out 16-millimeter industrials in Kansas City. Our feature story on the restoration project is here, along with recommended reviews for Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case, a documentary about the Chinese dissident; The Illumination, Krzysztof Zanussi’s 1973 drama about a physics student in search of enlightenment; The Rover, an Australian thriller starring Guy Pearce and directed by David Michod (Animal Kingdom); and To Kill This Love, a 1972 Polish drama screening at Gene Siskel Film Center as part of the ongoing series Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema.
Check out the issue for new reviews of: Blumenthal, a comedy about a neurotic upper-class Jewish family in New York City; Brave Miss World, which profiles human-rights activist and former beauty queen Linor Abargil; Half of a Yellow Sun, a drama set amid the Nigerian Civil War and starring Thandie Newton and Chiwetel Ejiofor; Jersey Boys, Clint Eastwood’s screen adaptation of the beloved boomer-nostalgia musical; Lucky Them, starring Toni Colette as a Seattle rock journalist whose boss persuades her to track down a legendary singer-songwriter; The Pin, a Canadian drama about two Jewish teens hiding out in a barn during the Nazi occupation of Lithuania; and Think Like a Man Too, a sequel to the hit 2012 romantic comedy.
And don’t forget these special events: Music Box presents the Chicago Jewish Film Festival (including Blumenthal and The Pin, above), through Sunday (with repeat screenings of some films next weekend at Century 12 and CineArts 6 in Evanston); Facets Cinematheque presents the Facets Indigenous Film Festival: Brazil, Friday through Sunday; Northwest Chicago Film Society hosts New Adventures in 28mm at Northwestern University Annie May Swift Hall next Wednesday; and Nightingale screens Kevin B. Lee’s Transformers: The Premake tonight at 8 PM.
