TALKING MOVIES

Due to a perfect storm of participant inattention and scheduling conflicts at the venue, our annual pre-Oscar film critics' smackdown at the Nickelodeon will not go on this year.

This is the event in which, in days of yore, our fearless leader, Morton Marcus, used to lead guest critics Bruce Bratton, Wallace Baine, and myself in a roundhouse brawl—oops, I mean civil, intellectual discourse about the year's best movies, along with our views on the Academy Award nominees. Even after Mort moved on the the Great Screening Room in the sky, the three of us kept the event going in his honor.

This year, the show will still go on, but in a different format. Although we won't be making a personal appearance at the Nick, we'll be talking movies on Bruce Bratton's radio show, Universal Grapevine, on KZSC, Tuesday, February 12, at 7:30 pm.

Wallace has had to leave our merry band, since he's so busy covering the rest of the entertainment scene in Santa Cruz, he rarely has time to see movies any more.  But longtime local filmie Christina Waters, of the SC Weekly, has graciously agreed to step into the breach.

We'll be discussing our favorite films of 2012, likely Oscar winners (and losers), and anything else that pops into our brains on the subject. Tune into KZSC, 88.1 on your FM dial, and check it out!