Alejandro González Iñárritu's Biutiful, the only film featuring a 2011 acting Oscar nominee (Javier Bardem for Actor in a Leading Role) that has yet to open in Cincinnati, drops at the Esquire today. If tt stern-enzi's review is any indication, expect Bardem's latest performance — as a deeply troubled guy named Uxtal traversing the underworld of modern Barcelona — to be among his best, which is saying something.

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After weeks of neglect, I finally caught James L. Brooks' How Do You Know at Danbarry Western Hills last week. (You know I was keen to catch it if I endured Danbarry WH, a second-run/rate movie house that hasn't been refurbished since its opening more than a decade ago). Released amid the crowded, late-December awards season, Brooks' latest fell off my radar in part due to its lame title and acutely glossy trailer, which played up the ever-distracting presence of Jack Nicholsonas much as whatever unique qualities it might offer.

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It's another slow week in movieland, as only one of the four new releases was made available to us in advance, and that one, The Company Men, delivered mixed results. Rather than whine about something we have no control over, let's turn your attention to a film that sneaked into the Kenwood Theatre last week: Sofia Coppola's Somewhere.

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It’s been an especially shitty winter around here. And the calendar has only just now turned to February. On the bright side, that means you've likely spent more time on the couch, bundled up in blankets with a hot cup of tea or a bottle of wine, taking in a bunch of movies via Netflix.

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The recent double-barreled Robert De Niro developments of his Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award at the Golden Globes and the release of a 30-year anniversary Blu-ray edition of Raging Bull remind us how far the actor once went to portray his characters as authentically as humanly possible.

Few actors today go as deep as old-school De Niro in embodying their characters as Ryan Gosling (who just happens to be CityBeat's cover boy this week!).

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Kevin Smith's Red State premiered to mixed reviews and a small group of protesters at the Sundance Film Festival Jan. 22. But, even more than the film's provocative premise — which has been described as “a horror/comedy/satire about a Westboro Baptist Church-esque fundamentalist community that murders those it finds abominations in God's eyes (aka gay people)” — it was the veteran filmmaker's post-screening Q&A antics that drew the most attention.

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Oscar nominations were announced this morning. At first glance, I have to admit that this year’s batch seems uncommonly competent.

The 10 Best Picture nominees are all worthwhile in one way or another, and four of them actually made my top 10 of 2010: The Social Network, Toy Story 3, True Grit and Winter’s Bone. See, I told you they were competent.

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The Sundance Film Festival's opening weekend is now in the books, and if occasional CityBeat contributor/Salt Lake City Weekly A&E editor Scott Renshaw is any guide, Park City, Utah, is again awash in movie mayhem.

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It's kind of hard to evaluate this week's opening films when none of them were screened in advance for critics — or at least none of them were screened locally, a trend that's always more prevalent this time of year.

Surprisingly, early word on No Strings Attached — Ivan Reitman's sexually liberated romantic comedy featuring Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher — is strong.

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What does it say when Golden Globes’ host Ricky Gervais is getting more post-show attention than the night’s winners (or January Jones’ gravity-defying dress)? Sure, Gervais’ sharp-tongued shots at various targets — from the easy (Charlie Sheen, Robert Downey Jr. and Mel Gibson) to the slightly less so (Steve Carell, Tim Allen and God) — were often insensitive and sometimes crass, but none of them were necessarily untruthful or even far from what most viewers would say about each recipient.

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