The January 24 reveal of this year's Oscar nominees brought with it the usual amount of pleasures, disappointments, and surprises, as well as our annual reminder that not every movie voters get to see is one Quad Citians have been able to see. Two of the stragglers, however, managed to secure local releases this past weekend. Another contender has been available for rental and purchase for weeks, but found itself as perhaps the title that Academy Awards completists wanted/needed to catch up with above all others.

Lauded by Films for the Earth as a work that "captures the vibrant untold story of the global youth climate movement," the documentary Youth Unstoppable serves as the third presentation in River Action's annual QC Environmental Film Series on February 5, its presentation at North Scott High School underlining why First Showing deemed the work "a powerful film documenting the rise of the youth climate movement through the eyes of climate activist Slater Jewell-Kemker.

A beautiful and informative documentary that found its inspiration during the shelter-in-place phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, My Garden of a Thousand Bees serves as the second presentation in River Action's annual QC Environmental Film Series on January 29, the film created when wildlife filmmaker Martin Dohrn set out to record all the bees he could find in his tiny urban garden in Bristol, England, filming them with one-of-a-kind lenses he forged on his kitchen table.

I, personally, found the experience of Skinamarink extremely tiresome and legit-scary for maybe 100 seconds of its 100-minute running length. Dammit, though, if I can't get this thing out of my head.