Chicago Outdoor Film Festival

The schedule for the Chicago Outdoor Film Festival at Butler Field, Grant Park, 100 S. Lake Shore Drive from July 15-Aug. 26 is:


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July 15: "All About Eve"; 8:57 p.m. -- Richard Roeper opening
July 22: "The Odd Couple"; 8:51 p.m. -- College night

July 29: "The Blues Brothers"; 8:44 p.m.

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Aug. 5: "The Day the Earth Stood Still"; 8:35 p.m.

Aug. 12: "Touch of Evil"; 8:25 p.m. -- Director's cut

Aug. 19: "An Affair to Remember"; 8:15 p.m.

Aug. 26: "Grease"; 8:03 p.m.

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I'm excited for this to start. I've always wanted to go to one of these outdoor film festivals in Chicago, which has been showing movies since 2000, but have never had the chance. Best part - it's FREE, and happens every Tuesday for seven weeks.

For this year's classic movie picks, I've seen "All About Eve," "The Blues Brothers," "An Affair to Remember," and "Grease." I'd say all of them were good, and worth watching. "All About Eve" is a best picture winner, and boasts a famous movie line: "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night." This was actually voted as the #9 movie quote by the American Film Institute. I got around to watching "An Affair to Remember" after obsessively watching "Sleepless in Seattle" a few years back. "Sleepless in Seattle" has a scene where actress Rita Wilson dramatically relates how "An Affair to Remember" is such a moving story, much to actor Tom Hank's chagrin as he watches tears stream down her face. Every time I watched Rita's performance, I remembered thinking I wanted to see that movie. I finally did.

Lastly, "The Blues Brothers" and "Grease" are simply classics that I think every person of my generation has to have seen. Looks like a good line-up this year. I especially want to to see "The Odd Couple," as I have heard about it repeatedly. Richard Roeper will introduce the first screening ("All About Eve") to open the Film Festival, beginning at 8:15 p.m.