Obviously, the Oscars are the big deal this weekend, and the studios are doing their best to keep things light and inconsequential — the thinking being, if you’re going to go see something serious or prestigious, you might as well catch one of their nominated movies, and why get in the way of that? But the smaller distributors are slipping three terrific films into release, and you could do worse than catch any of them. Much, much worse.

“Alamar“: I’ve been a booster for Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio’s lovely little father-son story ever since I saw it at TIFF 2009; now it’s finally getting a proper theatrical run at the Lightbox. It’s also on Netflix, and the DVD will be out Tuesday — but do try to see it theatrically if you can. It’s that kind of experience.

“Drive Angry“: Patrick Lussier’s unapologetic grindhouse actioner is what it is — a vaguely ridiculous excuse for Nicolas Cage to drive some really awesome cars, shoot a whole bunch of people who deserve to be shot, and have some very terse conversations with nemesis William Fichtner. And if you like that sort of thing, you will have a great time with it. Also, Amber Heard finally gets the breakout role she’s deserved since “All the Boys Love Mandy Lane” introduced her back in 2006. (It’s still unavailable in North America, but these days you can pick up the region-free British Blu-ray for a song.)

“Four Lions“: Chris Morris investigates homegrown British terrorism in his own special way — through a sharp-edged character comedy that dares to take its subject matter seriously. You really ought to see this; it’s, you know, relevant to contemporary politics and stuff. And also hysterically funny, when it needs to be.

“Hall Pass“: Peter and Bobby Farrelly tackle the American midlife crisis in this characteristically sloppy, half-assed attempt to claw their way back to the top of the comedy heap. (And of all the jokes to recycle from “Stuck on You”, why go with that one? It wasn’t particularly funny the first time.)

“Of Gods and Men“: Xavier Beaufois’ powerful drama about French monks forced to confront their own potential martydom inexplicably failed to make the cut for this year’s Foreign-Language Oscar. I can’t understand why; not only is it a great movie, it’s exactly the sort of film that registers in that category. Maybe someone wanted to make sure “Incendies” had a clear path to the podium?

And that’s the package. I’ll be live-tweeting the Oscars on Sunday night from the @nowtoronto account, so follow that to catch all the pithy nuances. And if you’re curious as to my current thoughts about the Academy’s picks, well, I have you covered.

Enjoy the weekend! Don’t get blizzarded!

The new issue of NOW is on the stands, and in it you’ll find me interviewing three very different talents. First, there’s Chris Morris, the satirical genius behind “The Day Today”, “Brass Eye” and “Jam”, whose new film “Four Lions” finally makes it to Toronto screens this week. Fourteen minutes just wasn’t enough time, man.

Next, there’s character actor William Fichtner, who co-stars in “Drive Angry” and is a hell of an interesting guy; check out the audio clips for a fascinating discussion of the pros and cons of “Prison Break”.

And then there’s Bobby Farrelly, who with his brother Peter perfected the gross-out rom-com in the 1990s with “There’s Something About Mary”, and has been struggling to re-create that formula ever since. Nice guy, really. I just wish I liked his movie more … or, you know, at all.

People don’t bring up James Foley’s excellent adaptation of “After Dark, My Sweet” often enough, as far as I’m concerned. It’s one of those lean, unfussy films that lurks at the periphery of our memory, always being passed over for something flashier or more easily digested. But it’s a terrific example of sun-bleached noir, with a terrific performance from Jason Patrick and strong, complex support from Rachel Ward and Bruce Dern.

I’ve been thinking about it again because Mike D’Angelo writes about the film in depth today for the A.V. Club, in his latest “Scenic Routes” column, and opens with a variation on the sentiment I expressed above: This is a great picture, you should see this. I think that’s what film critics are supposed to do; we make compelling arguments for the films we want to champion, and smack down the unworthy distractions that get between those films and their potential audience.

Okay, that’s a little hyperbolic; criticism doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game. But sometimes it feels like it is … especially when you realize a movie like “After Dark, My Sweet” has been knocking around for two full decades without ever quite getting its due. And that’s a proper shame.

The numbers are in, and no one’s terribly surprised to learn that “Unknown” topped the weekend box-office to the tune of $21.8 million, echoing the strong business “Taken” did two winters ago. Coming in second was “I am Number Four” with $19.5 million; “Gnomeo & Juliet” was close behind with $19.4 million. (Their positions may shift tomorrow, when final returns for the holiday weekend are tallied up.)

Fun fact: “Taken” and “Unknown” were produced entirely independently of one another — made by different people, distributed by different studios. But they both let Neeson play Godzilla, letting him lay waste to foreign cities with righteous fury; maybe for the third one, they’ll unleash him on Tokyo. I mean, it’s only fair.

Oh, and happy Family Day, everybody! If you’re in downtown Toronto and you feel like doing something cinematic today, I humbly suggest the free Lightbox screenings of “James and the Giant Peach“, “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Sherlock Jr.” — the latter with live musical accompaniment (sort of). How often do you get the chance to see any of those on a big screen?

As I mentioned yesterday, I haven’t seen a lot of this week’s new movies, so I’m doing a lot of backfill. Bear with me, it’s been hectic around here.

“Big Momma’s: Like Father, Like Son”: Martin Lawrence is back in the fat suit, and he’s bringing poor Brandon T. Jackson with him. No press screening; someone else will be catching this today, as I am boycotting the franchise until they bring back Paul Giamatti. You’re with me on that, right?

“I Am Number Four”: Alien teenager marked for death! Many special effects! Also, Timothy Olyphant! Glenn was unimpressed.

“Lemmy”: The legendary lead singer of Motorhead gets his own ride-along documentary, playing at the Royal this week. Carla offers her qualified approval.

“Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune”: The life and politics of the late British rocker are explored in this documentary, which I’ve been keen to see since reading a glowing review in Mojo (or possibly Uncut) over Christmas. Susan liked it, too.

“Small Town Murder Songs”: Ed Gass-Donnelly, whose “This Beautiful City” was not one of my favourite movies, returns with a murder mystery set in Northern Ontario and featuring Peter Stormare as a cop. Rad says it’s “self-conscious to a fault”, which is exactly how I felt about “This Beautiful City”.

“Unknown“: Jaume Collet-Serra does his best to put “Orphan” behind him with this slick mid-range actioner that not incidentally allows Liam Neeson to beat up Berlin in search of his identity, which has been … well, you know, taken. My review will be online later this afternoon, but you want the gist? It’s surprisingly okay.

“A Wake”: I caught Penelope Buitenhuis’ improvised drama last year when it screened at the Female Eye Film Festival, and liked it a leeeeetle bit more than Susan does this week, mostly due to the strong work from Martha Burns, Tara Nicodemo and Graham Abbey. But it won’t lose anything on cable, where you’ll find it soon enough.

Oh, and I forgot to post this yesterday — a chart thingie about conspiracy movies that was supposed to run in this week’s NOW, but got bumped for space. Do enjoy.

The latest issue of NOW is on the stands, featuring my look at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, which starts next Tuesday. There’s some powerful stuff in there, as there usually is, along with some excellent films that have been kicking around the circuit for a while. Do check them out.

Oh, and if you’re a fan of Christopher Nolan’s “Memento” and you’re in a major North American city, you might want to catch a special 10th anniversary screening of the film tonight, which includes a video interview with Nolan by noted cinema enthusiast Guillermo del Toro. Seriously, his “Scott Pilgrim” Q&A with Edgar Wright at the New Beverly was a thing of beauty — that’s got to be online somewhere, surely.

Poor Justin Bieber. Not only did he have to suffer the indignity of losing at the Grammys last night, but he had to watch in what I imagine was good-natured incomprehension — you know, like a cocker spaniel — as his concert movie, “Never Say Never” was edged out at the box-office by the abominable Adam Sandler comedy “Just Go with It”.

Yup. Sandler’s audiences ignored the scathing reviews (and the Twitter hashtag) to push the lazy remake of “Cactus Flower” to the top with a $31 million gross — enough to squeak past “Never Say Never”, which earned $30.3 million. I’ll forego the usual finger-wagging this week; really, if you saw “Just Go with It”, you’ve suffered enough.

The ultimate irony? If Bieber’s fans hadn’t stayed home Sunday night to catch their idol on the Grammys and gone to see his movie instead, “Never Say Never” might have come out on top.

Then again, it was a school night.