The world of movies is moving into the awards season. Sunday evening the Golden Globes gets things rolling toward Oscar night. The Artist leads the contenders with six nominations. This silent film has charmed critics, including our own Chris Busch and is the Oscar frontrunner. We'll alert you of films you may want to see by Oscar time, February 26.

The Los Angeles Times predicts Martin Scorsese's Hugo will win the Golden Globes Best Picture Drama. I hope so because we're hoping to bring Hugo 3-D to the wonderful State Theatre in Washington (photo by Craig Swift). As said before, Hugo 3-D's a diamond of a film which may be getting away before you’ve had a chance to experience it in 3-D, as it must be, to be fully appreciated. [Click on "Read more" below.]

Friday night is free film night at the Fairfield Public Library. For "contractual reasons" they cannot tell you the film's title- but we can. It's The Music Never Stopped starring the wonderful character actor J.K. Simmons as "an overly critical father who gets a unique opportunity to reconnect with his estranged son, if he can only embrace the music that once divided them in this uplifting family drama inspired by Dr. Oliver Sacks' case study "The Last Hippie." It's a "Touching story about the emotional uplift of music, the tenderizing of a family member's heart, and a father-son reconciliation like nothing you've ever seen before; one of the best films of 2011. - Spirituality And Practice "This is the kind of warm, uncluttered, feel-good film that you take your parents to see, and I absolutely mean that in a good way." - Film.com There's free organic popcorn and you're welcome to bring in your own street-legal bottled drink. Say "Hi" and "Thank-you" to the delightful Jan Carey, who volunteer's her time to show these films and pop the popcorn. She'll gladly take your suggestions for future films. Fairfield Library Director Rebecca Huggins will join us on the show to talk about the film, the new music display now available at the library and more.

Also hear about new theater and DVD releases, what we've seen and more. We're The Filmosophers Movie Talk show, with Chris Busch and Bruce Miller: "Where we give our filmosophy of the movies and have filmosophical discussions" Friday over lunch, at 12:30 Central. Live stream @kruufm.com

"Caesar is home" - Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

Happy spring, film fans. We know the blockbuster movie season is on it's way. We're seeing more and more releases every week, some 14 or more today. Unfortunately the one we've anticipated the most- Sucker Punch from 300 director Zach Synder is "getting KO'd by the critics. It's technically impressive and loaded with eye-catching images, but without characters or a plot to support them, all of Sucker Punch's visual thrills are for naught." - RottonTomatoes.com The good news is Cedar Rapids has come to Fairfield!

There's a very good film out we mentioned last week, Win-Win from the director that made the small gems Station Agent and The Visitor (starring Richard Jenkins). "Rich, wonderful characters and strong performances populate Win Win, with writer/director Thomas McCarthy continuing to emerge as a great American humanist." - RT.

We'll talk about Fairfield's new independent movie theater- Stage Door Cinema. Visit StageDoorCinema.com

Hear about other new theater releases, box office results and films we've seen. Junior film fan Shane Miller is on spring break so he'll join us in the studio. We're The Filmosophers, with Chris Busch and Bruce Miller, "where we give our filmosophy of the movies and have filmosophical discussions." Friday at 12:30.

Fairfield First! publisher, filmmaker and entrepreneur Burt Chojnowski will join Bruce in the KRUU studio Friday. The movie awards season culminates Sunday evening with the presentation of the Oscars. We'll talk about the event and make our predictions. Chris Busch is in New York and we hope he gets us his picks. ("Picks"? Sounds like March Madness to me...) We're excited to inform you The King's Speech opens at the Co-Ed Theatre in Fairfield Friday. It has been my pick for the Best Picture Oscar for several weeks. If you haven't seen it, now's an excellent opportunity. If you enjoyed it once, I suggest it's even better the second time. The emotional connection flows more freely and the now familiar path these characters take is even more rewarding.

The primary Best Picture competition is The Social Network.  This excellent film is available on DVD. So you can make your own comparisons. What a delight for film fans! It's all good and it doesn't really matter anyhow. (click Read More to continue)

The Filmosophers have so much to discuss this week, and so little time. David Patterson will join us to talk about the Fairfield Film Expo. David is on the board of the Film Expo, Producer of the Production Workshop, a Director, playwright, actor and more. Also hear about the box office, new theater and DVD releases and the Oscar nominations. We've seen some interesting films we're excited to review, including The King's Speech, my (our?) choice for Oscar's Best Picture of the year. Also- Nowhere Boy, a chronicle of John Lennon's childhood; The Cutting Edge: The Magic Of Movie Editing, "Editing is visual poetry"- George Lucas. (click Read More to continue)

School is out Friday which means Filmosopher's junior reviewer Shane Miller will join Chris and I in the studio. Shane and Dad are excited to talk about our Hayao Miyazaki festival experience. We've recently seen Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro and Howl's Moving Castle. As mentioned last week, we saw Princess Mononoke (DVD available at the FF Library) first and expressed deep admiration for what is ostensibly an animated adventure film which makes "a statement on the ecological devastation brought on by human advancement". Filmosophically it is so much more: a visually beautiful, magically resonant, spiritually profound epic journey of desire versus conscious awareness. -click "Read More" to continue-

Friday, we're honored to welcome back returning co-host Burt Chojnowski. Randy West, Executive/Artistic Director of WOB will be our guest, because you know what? He's not only an exquisite talent of live theatre, but also loves the movies.

We had planned to talk about Clint Eastwood's new film Hereafter, but projector problems forced Randy into seeing RED instead. There are some well known actors in RED (Retired Extremely Dangerous), including Helen Mirren, and we'll hear from Randy about it.

Hereafter was our Filmosophical film of the week last Friday, before we even saw it. Burt and I will opine on that pick, after watching it this week. The critics are divided on Hereafter almost right down the middle. [Click on read more below to continue.]

Friday is a big day for film fans, locally and nationally. We're thrilled to tell you that Winter's Bone starts Friday at the Co-Ed Theatre in Fairfield. Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone led the U.S. Dramatic Competition at Sundance, taking both the grand jury prize and a special jury prize for screenwriting. “Bone follows an Ozark Mountain girl who hacks through dangerous social terrain as she hunts down her missing father while trying to keep her family intact."  Be aware, this is not a sweet little indie film. "Intense, immersive and in control, Winter's Bone has an art house soul inside a B picture body, and that proves to be a potent combination indeed." -Kenneth Turan, L.A. Times [click Read More]

"Get Low" at the Co-Ed Theatre Friday is highly recommended! 

I saw it over Labor Day weekend at the iconic Hi-Pointe Theatre in St Louis (with a new screen and digital projector- wonderful experience).

Now, The Filmosophers are delightfully surprised to see it showing in Fairfield.

Bravo Co-Ed Theatre!

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The Fairfield Film Festival "is a 5 months long series of events, mainly of the screenings of documentary movies at the Sondheim Center." It opens this Friday night with Burzynski: The Movie directed by Eric Merola. Burzynski "is the compelling story of  pioneering medical doctor and PhD biochemist Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski, who has discovered the genetic mechanism to cure most human cancers. This timely, eye-opening documentary takes the audience through the treacherous, yet victorious, 14-year journey that both Dr. Burzynski and his patients have had to endure in order to obtain FDA-approved clinical trials of Antineoplastons."  Eric Merola and Fairfield Film Festival Director Anya Petrova will join us in the studio to talk about Burzynski  and the film festival. [Click on "Read More" below to continue...]