THINGS TO CHECK OUT // VANITY FAIR AND JUSTIN BIEBER
BY CASSADY DIXON
It’s time again for Vanity Fair’s annual Hollywood Issue, and once you sift through all the high-end advertisements there are several interesting articles of note. Top of the list would be the feature on the infamous Harvey and Bob Weinstein’s resurgence back into relevancy 
this past year. For all their hot air, the brothers are some of our largest champions for independent film, so it should be seen as a welcome relief that they are back to full-throttle with releases like The King’s Speech, The Fighter and Blue Valentine. Mark Wahlberg is also profiled. He and his business partner Steve Levinson have built a powerhouse output at HBO which includes Entourage, In Treatment and Boardwalk Empire. Fair warning: underwear photos may or may not also be included in the article. Also of interest is a look back at the making of Thelma& Louise. That film’s triumph may have been too easily forgotten, but it amounted to a first-time female screenwriter winning an Oscar for one of cinema’s all-time populist/feminist masterstrokes, directed by Ridley Scott and starring an early Brad Pitt no less.
File this under film review and religious confessional, but I recently came down with ye olde Bieber Fever. As part of a Valentine’s Day concession, I threw my hands up in surrender, strapped on the 3D glasses and submitted to Never Say Never. Perhaps my impression was aided by the fact that I was expecting non-stop blunt force trauma, but I actually enjoyed the thing for what it is. The theater in downtown Culver City that I saw it in only yielded a few pockets of starstruck pre-teens, so I was allowed to quietly grow an appreciation for this Bieber kid’s talent. Talk about being born with it, he can seemingly play any kind of instrument, sing any style of song and prance around there on stage with much ease. While most of his songs are fairly cheesy, some of them can’t help but get lodged in the noggin. Plus his family and handlers seem mostly normal and like good influences. Therefore, if you think you hate the Bieber but are also an open-minded individual, then you may enjoy this movie if you, too, are dragged into it by forces beyond your control. Still, fair warning: this film may or may not contain footage of a shirtless pop star.