The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 41

GO! MOVIES THE PANTAGRAPH Your weekly guide to things to do, whether staying in or' going out. THURSDAY, November 24, 2005 WHERE TO GOl Boys are back The Oak Ridge Boys aren't lighting up the country charts like they did in their heyday, but they still draw a crowd on the concert circuit. Their current tour takes Harry's back Wizardly world takes a dark turn as Potter series, heroes mature. Page D3 them close to Auditorium -at the of I- Tuesday. The WIk 7:30 p.m.

with ticket Ik mm 1 prices ranging from $34 to $43. Call (800) 2076-6960. Center stage A bigger venue, also nearby, awaits one of rock's most respected and popular acts the very next day. The Dave Matthews Band takes center stage Wednesday at the of I Assembly Hall in Champaign. Opening act is Gavin DeGrawTickets go for $52.50.

Call (217) 333-5000. NEW AT THE MOVIES Old House Society expands scope to offer church tours Yours, Mine and Ours What do you get when a Coast Guard admiral and strict, widowed father of eight (Dennis Ouaid) marries a handbag-designing earth motherwidow with her own brood of 10 (Rene Russo)? Lots of family angst, but most of it is fun in a screwball comedy sort of way. jllll WHAT'S TO DPI By Kate Arthur karthurpantagraph.com President Lyndon Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird, took their places in the front pew for Adlai Stevenson's funeral in 1965, while Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and novelist John Steinbeck sat nearby. Thousands shuffled into the Unitarian Universalist Church in Bloomington, a building hidden by trees and dwarfed by its a church known as "the big church on the corner of Emerson." That's St. John's Lutheran Church, which Mark Edwards drove by for years until recently, when he stopped in to tour the "hockey stick church," a phrase the congregation coined in 1959 after first seeing the sweeping curved beams in the sanctuary Such threads of history will be woven through the Old House Society's Sacred Spaces Tour Dec.

3-4. The society has sponsored tours of historic homes for more than 20 years; this is the first time churches have been "We've expanded our scope," said Edwards, the society's director. Inviting people into places that symbolize hope might be just what a country dealing with war, natural disasters and high gas prices needs, he said. "It's my feeling people want to feel good again," he said. "Sacred spaces provide people with hope.

Sacred spaces have lived through the Civil War, World War II, tough 5f Atlanta Tour of Homes Back page I Homes far Hope Tour Coming Saturday times and they all survived." The self-paced tours are designed to celebrate local and architectural diversity, he said, not convert visitors to a religion. Faiths include Methodist, African-American Baptist, Unitarian, Jewish, Lutheran, Christian and Catholic; Each place will offer music, an opportunity for quiet reflection and refreshments. At First Christian Church in Bloomington, an actor will portray William Major, who founded the church in 1837, making it the oldest continuous congregation in the area, said associate pastor Cyndy McBride. During the Depression, members were able to raise enough money for a fellowship hall and on "Brick Sunday," everyone brought a brick for the new building. "It's a testament to the faith of the congregation that they were able to expand a facility even during difficult financial times," said McBride.

While other churches grew out of their spaces and moved to the outskirts, the congregation made a decision to keep First Christian downtown, she said, not so much because of a love of the building, but because of their ministry. SEE VISITORS BACK PAGE a 0 Holiday classic You need a scorecard to keep track of all the holiday TV specials coming up, but there are a few you just Like "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer," the 1964 classic narrated by the late Burl Ives and starring Rudolph, Hermey the Elf, Yukon Cornelius and, of course, the Misfit Toys. Airs at 7 p.m. Wednesday on CBS. The Boss For Springsteen fans, it began with "Born to Run," the landmark album that 30 years ago changed the future of rock music.

In celebration of the anniversary, the original eight-song album has been remastered, but there's more: a two-hour live DVD captured in London on the date the album was released and a 90-minute documentary. NEW ON VIDEO I Sacred Spaces Tour What: Old House Society Sacred Spaces Tour When: Noon-6 p.m. GO! Dec. 1-5 p.m. Dec.

if I 4 Cost: $10 adults; $5 children ages 5 to 12; under 5 free Tickets: Casey's Garden Shop, Bloomington, Old House Society Warehouse, Bloomington, Garlic Press, Nornnal Contact: Mark Edwards (309) 821-9787 or visit www.oldhousesociety.org Left: First Christian Church in Bloomington is one of eight locations being featured on the Old House Society's Sacred Spaces Tour Dec. 3-4. The PantagraphDAVID PROEBER This stained-glass window filters light into the sanctuary at First Christian Church in Bloomington. BILLBOARD War of the Worlds Steven Spielberg directs as Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning star in this post-Sept. 11, 2001 update of the H.G.

Wells classic about an alien invasion of Earth. Here, Cruise is effective as a deadbeat dad who gets it together in time to protect his two kids from a whole bunch of tripod fighting machines. Other new releases "The Honeymooners," "The Polar Express," "King Kong" When-a the bigga-mondey died, yes, we cried he pippla gonna cry when-a da bigga-monkey die!" Thus spake the English- 4 A rj Dan Craft We bawled buckets over the spectacle; 'Twasn't Beauty killed the Beast 'twas Dino and his crummy movie. As the new version fast approaches, our tear ducts have started rumbling again, reminding us anew of why the mere utterance of the word "remake" can freeze our spine in the time it takes to get from the "re-" to the "-make." First off, we must make perfectly clear that the 1933 edition of "King -Kong" making its long-awaited DVD debut this week in a magnificently restored special edition in our heart and mind, the Alpha and the Omega and the All-Points-In-Be-tween of fantasy-adventure movies. SEE BILLBOARD BACK PAGE hyped remake of "King Kong." What goes around always comes around: Peter Jackson's retelling is promised to be the biggest holiday movie for 2005.

We suspect the audiences of '05 are going to be in for a better deal than those of '76, when the flag-waving spirit of America's Bicentennial was considerably dampened by De Laurentiis' travesty of a national treasure. Dino's bigga-monkey didn't exactly 'spit in Uncle Sam's face. But he definitely dissed a King the closest thing to true royalty, in fact, America has ever known. If the pippla-cried at the end of the movie, it was probably from the anguish induced by watching our native royalty dethroned by a man in a monkey suit. challenged Italian movie mogul Dino de Laurentiis almost three decades ago.

The occasion was the eve of what was promised to be the biggest holiday movie for 1976: Dino heavily hyped, unavoidable inescapable, in fact remake pf "King Kong." Encountered during a TV interview, his quote was permanently branded into our youthful synapses. It sounded like something out of an unusually delirious Marx Bros, movie. But it emerged not from the mouth of Chico. Rather, it escaped from the orifice of a man who was then one of the most flamboyant and successful producers GO! EATS More than kid-friendly Mario's Pizza caters to the entire family D2 GO! CALENDAR Coming home B-N native returns for upcoming jazz concert D4 CONTACT US Dan Craft, entertainment editor (309) 829-9000, ext. 259 e-mail: dcraftpantagraph.com on the planet terrible at communicating in Yankee-speak, but possessing very deep pockets.

Deep enough, in fact, to hold a giant gorilla. Dino's quote recently resurfaced courtesy a brain burp or, worse, as we sat through the coming attractions trailer for this generation's heavily I.