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Movie Blog: This Week's Best Bets

Now that the Super Bowl is behind us, let's talk about a different type of spectacle, the Oscars.

The Academy Awards are going to take place at the end of this month, and if you're not caught up on the contenders, you might want to do that now. You can still catch all the Best Picture nominees, except for Wes Anderson's brilliant Grand Budapest Hotel, at theaters around the Twin Cities.

And just this last week, the Oscar-nominated short films started landing on metro movie screens. My fellow blogger Eric Henderson wrote about which of those, in their separate categories, deserve prizes, and which will likely walk away with trophies.

You can catch the documentary shorts at the Riverview, and the animated and live-action shorts at the Lagoon.

But maybe you can't stomach the Oscars right now. Perhaps we need a rest after having witnessed the glory that was Left Shark in the heart of Katy Perry's halftime performance.

I mean, you just can't top that.

Still, there are some great, lesser-known movies from last year in theaters, as well as some certified classics to catch. And, as always, great stuff is popping up on Netflix.

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Wednesday, Feb. 4: A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (Walker Art Center)

This badass spaghetti western was one of last year's best movies, and it'd be a shame to miss in theaters. Director Ana Lily Amirpour's gorgeous debut is a love story about a vampire in an Iranian ghost town, and it's a stylistic mash-up that leaves you at once confused and delighted. It's in black-and-white, surprisingly tender and the soundtrack will have you scrounging Spotify for new playlist material.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) - Official Trailer [HD] by VICE on YouTube

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Monday, Feb.2 – Thursday, Feb. 5: The Babadook (St. Anthony Main)

This is another film from last year that just deserves one more look. It's an Australian horror movie that takes the struggles of grief and parenting and twists them into a ghost story that's thrilling, spooky and surprisingly smart. Not only is the performance of leading actress Essie Davis amazing, the young actor playing her tormented son, Noah Wiseman, is unforgettable. Also, it's one of those weirdly amiable horror movies that ends in a way that's almost uplifting.

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New On Netflix: Stray Dogs

If winter's getting you down this week, you may as well venture down this dark road. Stray Dogs is a beautifully-shot flick about a poor guy and his kids living on the fringes in Taipei, and it's not something you'll want to scarf popcorn to. Get some comfort food, or perhaps open up some whisky.

Stray dogs - Trailer V.O. by Cinema ad hoc on YouTube

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Tuesday, Feb. 3: The Manchurian Candidate (Trylon)

Got politics on your mind as the 2016 election lights on the horizon? Then maybe it's time to dive back into John Frankenheimer's mesmerizing 1962 political thriller starring Frank Sinatra and Laurence Harvey. It could tide you over until the next season of House of Cards comes out.

The Manchurian Candidate Official Trailer #1 - Frank Sinatra Movie (1962) HD by Movieclips Classic Trailers on YouTube

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