Movies

Finally closing the books on February will be a relief. It is the shortest month in the entire calendar year, and it has been hard to see everything that's opened in local theaters. Out of the eleven studio releases to open this past February, I only managed to see one of them, Steven Soderbergh’s reportedly final film, Side Effects, and found it effective, even if the story does bite off more than it can chew in the final reel. (Soderbergh does have one more film to be released this year, and it should be a good one: the Liberace biopic, Behind the Candelabra, which will be released on HBO and stars Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Damon as his younger lover, Scott Thorson.) I bring up Side Effects, as I’m surprised the studio released it in February, a few weeks before the Oscars, as they could have waited until summer or even late spring, where I think the placement could have benefited the film more.

When we hear of bullying in the media, often we are only privy to stories of African-American and white race crimes, gender hate crimes, or race on race issues.

THE OSCAR HOLMEN FILM FESTIVALS

The 85th Academy Awards ceremony will take place this Sunday, February 24, and the heat is on for many of the nominees. Over the past few weeks, alliances have shifted—especially since the nominations were announced and it was widely believed that Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln would be piling in all the trophies for its 12 nominations and taking home most of the awards.  While Lincoln will surely win some Oscars, there are other nominees that have been getting more attention as Lincoln’s momentum has suddenly slowed down only a few days before the Oscar winners are revealed.