Okay, the 84th Annual Academy Awards happened.  They're over.  That means we should all just sit back and enjoy that we have a long stretch of time ahead of us until the next awards season rises from the Pacific Ocean like Godzilla or some Lovecraftian monstrosity.  Before we move on to the serenity of non-awards season, though, there are a few videos that might make your day a bit more enjoyable, starting with Sacha Baron Cohen on the red carpet as his The Dictator character His Excellency Admiral General Aladeen.  Then there's a classily-edited montage of films that were notably snubbed back in the nomination phase, and finally there's a huge trailer for Jimmy Kimmel's fictitious Movie: The Movie.

The weekend of the Super Bowl is generally a pretty quiet one at multiplexes across this great and strange nation of ours, as the annual NFL championship game completely hijacks national attention.  Nobody's really thinking about movies, since there's too much anticipation for commercials interrupted by spurts of football.  Accordingly, with the New England Patriots and the New York Giants squaring off in Indianapolis, nobody expected much from this weekend's new releases, but lo and behold, two of the three newbies surprised.  Both Chronicle and The Woman in Black debuted to over $20 million, with the former edging out the latter for first place.

In 1988, the news cycle didn't work with the same rapidity that it does today, when a story can go from the center of global attention to virtually nonexistent in a matter of days or even hours.  Almost 25 years ago, big stories became big stories without so many competing 24-hour news networks, all manner of social media, immediate meme-dom, and the eventual backlash. 

It was a year that included an American presidential election and the release of Die Hard, but one particular story that captured the imagination and attention not just of America but of the world at large was that of three California gray whales surrounded by encroaching ice in the Arctic Circle.  Multiple nations and even conflicting interests united to find a way to get the whales, known affectionately as Fred, Wilma, and Bam Bam, through miles of ice to the safety of the open ocean.

Operation Breakthrough, as it was known, was chronicled by Tom Rose in the 1989 book Freeing the Whales: How the Media Created the World's Greatest Non-Event.  That book inspired the new film Big Miracle, which dramatizes the events and stars Drew Barrymore and John Krasinski, who respectively play a Greenpeace activist and the journalist who first discovered the whale family.  With the new family-friendly drama arriving this Friday, both stars were recently on hand for a Los Angeles press conference, along with fellow actors Kristen Bell, Ted Danson, Dermot Mulroney, Vinessa Shaw, and director Ken Kwapis.  IAR's own Jami Philbrick was present to get these creative figures' thoughts on telling the story of Fred, Wilma, Bam Bam, and all those who aided in their journey.

Valentine's Day and New Year's Eve.  For two consecutive years, director Garry Marshall and screenwriter Katherine Fugate served up holiday-themed ensembles unreasonably packed with bankable movie stars and romantic comedy cliches.  Had New Year's Eve been a bigger hit, you can only imagine that we have spent the next several years besieged by these novelty offerings until the holidays were finally exhausted.  That could still happen, actually.  But even if it does, we'll always have MLK Day, a parody trailer for a fictitious romantic comedy that expertly eviscerates the cloying, manipulative style of those films.

Synopsis: Inspired by the true story that captured the hearts of people across the world, the rescue adventure Big Miracle tells the amazing tale of a small town news reporter (John Krasinski) and a Greenpeace volunteer (Drew Barrymore) who are joined by rival world superpowers to save a family of majestic gray whales trapped by rapidly forming ice in the Arctic Circle. Local newsman Adam Carlson (Krasinski) can't wait to escape the northern tip of Alaska for a bigger market. But just when the story of his career breaks, the world comes chasing it, too. With an oil tycoon, heads of state and hungry journalists descending upon the frigid outpost, the one who worries Adam the most is Rachel Kramer (Barrymore). Not only is she an outspoken environmentalist, she's also his ex-girlfriend. With time running out, Rachel and Adam must rally an unlikely coalition of Inuit natives, oil companies and Russian and American military to set aside their differences and free the whales. As the world's attention turns to the top of the globe, saving these endangered animals becomes a shared cause for nations entrenched against one another and leads to a momentary thaw in the Cold War.

As the first superhero film of the season, Thor officially kicked off summer this weekend, and the Norse God brought a moderate amount of box office thunder.  The Kenneth Branagh film debuted at number one with an estimated gross of $66 million, which is right in line with the expectations for the cinematic debut of the character.  After its big opening, Fast Five naturally fell to second place, with two new romantic comedies well behind in third and fourth place.

I'm not exactly in the target demographic, so it's hard to say, but it looks like damn near every romantic comedy cliche has been unceremoniously stuffed into this trailer for Something Borrowed, the cinematic adaptation of the bestselling novel by Emily Giffin.  Ginnifer Goodwin plays a meek, adorable law school student who falls for Colin Egglesfield, but she doesn't call dibs, so her abhorrent friend played by Kate Hudson asks him out.  Six years later, Egglesfield and Hudson are engaged, but the groom-to-be might just have repressed romantic feelings for Goodwin.  John Krasinski is also on hand, as a snarky advice machine for Goodwin.  Check out the trailer.

Ted Danson and Vinessa Shaw (Eyes Wide Shut) have joined the cast of Everybody Loves Whales, the 80s-set drama that also stars John Krasinski, Drew Barrymore, Kristen Bell and Tim Blake Nelson. Ken Kwapis (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) is directing.

NBC has confirmed that in 2011 when Steve Carell's contract ends for The Office, it will not be renewed.

By that time, Carell will have been with the show for 7 - some great, some underwhelming - seasons. So now, what will the show do without its breakout star?