If you're wondering whether the combination of long, dark, and aggressively serious applied to material we're all wa-a-ay too familiar with results in a boring movie, I'm happy to report that writer/director Matt Reeves' The Batman isn't boring. Quite the opposite: It's exhilarating – an unexpectedly scary and resonant work that doesn't invite comparisons to Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy so much as David Fincher's Zodiac and Seven.

Dog is a friendly, sentimental dramedy in which Channing Tatum takes a road trip with a canine. The movie really only falters when it tries to be anything else.

After announcement hosts Tracee Ellis Ross and Leslie Jordan wrapped up their duties by revealing this year's 10 nominees for the biggest Oscars prize of all, things no longer looked good for The Power of the Dog, especially in terms of Best Picture. They looked freaking great.

On February 11 and 12 at Davenport's Outing Club, the Quad Cities' professional dance company Ballet Quad Cities will present its traditional assemblage of vignettes Love Stories, and this year's collection of Valentine's Weekend pieces will climax with what is perhaps the love story: William Shakespeare's timeless, tragic tale of Romeo and Juliet. Don't worry, though. Before Ballet Quad Cities breaks hearts, they'll be giving audiences plenty of reasons for cheer.