Presented in celebration of Black History Month, director Bill Duke's acclaimed 2003 drama Deacons for Defense enjoys a special February 18 screening in the Community Room of the Rock Island Public Library's downtown branch, the film's stars including Oscar winner Forest Whitaker and legendary actor and Civil Rights activist Ossie Davis.

Adapted from the iconic book the New York Times deemed an "extraordinary work" and a "document of horrifying reality [that] possesses literary quality," the 1973 television-movie version of Go Ask Alice enjoys a special February 23 screening at the Rock Island Public Library's downtown branch, the film detailing the life of a teenage girl who develops a drug addiction at age 15 and runs away from home on a journey of self-destructive escapism.

I had so much fun at Luc Besson's garish vampire yarn that I can easily imagine watching it again, this time with more than the one friend who joined me, and with all of us preferably looped out of our minds. That way, we'd at least come close to approximating Besson's vibe.

With River Action sponsoring a rare double feature in its QC Environmental Film Series, the fascinating program for February at St. Ambrose University's Galvin Fine Arts Center features a pair of short documentaries: Kelp!, the Jury Award winner of the 2024 Wild & Scenic Film Festival, and The Green Buffalo, which details how the biggest strides in hempcrete construction are going down on one of the smallest Native American reservations.

Sam Raimi's latest is the ultimate “revenge on a horrible boss” comedy, one far nastier than Horrible Bosses itself, and like 9 to 5's empowered kidnappers, Rachel McAdams' marginalized, fed-up office drone is eminently worth cheering. Ma-a-aybe not when holding a knife dangerously close to her paralyzed employer's privates, but … . Oh, who am I kidding? Especially then.

Winner of Best Feature Documentary prizes at the Waco Independent Film Festival and Richmond International Film Festival, as well as the Audience Award for Best Feature Film at the Green Film Festival of San Francisco, 2024's The Cigarette Surfboard serves as the fourth presentation in the 2026 QC Environmental Film Series hosted by River Action, the 90-minute movie also hailed by KPBS.org as "a beautiful and inspiring portrait of activism."

On February 6, patrons of the East Moline Public Library are invited to discover how one individual affected extraordinary change for human rights, the library's screening of the hour-long documentary Alice's Ordinary People focused on trailblazer Alice Tregay, and covering five decades of fearless activism and the continuing relevance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s ongoing fight for justice.

The mildly futuristic, vaguely sci-fi thriller Mercy is a rather confused movie, which, of course, isn't the same thing as a confusing one.

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and currently sitting with 92-percent approval on Rotten Tomatoes, writer/director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's 2006 dramatic thriller The Lives of Others enjoys a February 5 screening at Davenport's Figge Art Museum, legendary critic Roger Ebert, in his four-star review, calling the work "a powerful but quiet film constructed of hidden thoughts and secret desires."

A half-hour episode of the lauded documentary series Wild Hope exploring how the return of adorable yet landscape-changing creatures brings chaos, controversy, and unique benefits to England, Beaver Fever serves as the third presentation in the 2026 QC Environmental Film Series hosted by River Action, the doc and bonus short Over & Under: Wildlife Crossing screening at St. Ambrose University's Galvin Fine Arts Center on February 1.

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