Oscar Sundays at The Varsity begin Feb. 10

CARBONDALE - The Varsity will be showing movies that have been nominated for a 2019 Academy Award or that feature actors who have been nominated.

Showtimes are 2 p.m. Tickets are $10 and are available now at www.thevarsitycenter.eventbrite.com and at the venue on the day of each screening when doors and the Varsity Bar open at 1:30. Advance tickets are not available at the venue before doors open on the night of the show.

The movies will be screened in the Balcony. Those who are unable to reach The Balcony, where Friday Flicks are shown, will be admitted free and invited to watch the movie on a 60-inch HDTV in the Varsity Bar.

The Varsity is downtown Carbondale at 418 S. Illinois Ave. To keep up with all events, go to www.thevarsitycenter.org.

Here are the details for each film:

• Feb. 10, Can You Ever Forgive Me?: Former SIU theater student Melissa McCarthy is nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Actress category for her role in "Can You Ever Forgive Me?" She stars as the real-life Lee Israel, the best-selling celebrity biographer who made her living in the 1970s and '80s profiling the likes of Katharine Hepburn, Tallulah Bankhead, Estée Lauder and Dorothy Kilgallen. When Lee found herself unable to get published because she had fallen out of step with the marketplace, she turned her art form to deception, abetted by her loyal friend Jack (Richard E. Grant, nominated for Best Support Actor). Rated R (for language, including some sexual references and brief drug use)

• Feb. 17, Free Solo: This 2019 Academy Award Best Documentary nominee is from filmmaker E. Chai Vasarhelyi and world-renowned photographer and mountaineer Jimmy Chin. National Geographic's film is a stunning, intimate and unflinching portrait of the free soloist climber Alex Honnold, as he prepares to achieve his lifelong dream: climbing the face of the world's most famous rock: the 3,000-foot El Capitan in Yosemite National Park - without a rope. The ultimate standard is perfection or death. It's an edge-of-your-seat thriller and a triumph of the human spirit. Rated PG-13

• Feb. 24, At Eternity's Gate: Director Julian Schnabel has created a film that takes us inside the world and mind of a Vincent Van Gogh, who despite skepticism, ridicule and illness, created some of the world's most beloved and stunning works of art. This isn't a forensic biography of the artist, but rather scenes are based on van Gogh's letters, common agreement about events in his life that present as facts, hearsay and moments that are just plain invited. The artist is portrayed by 2019 Academy Award Best Actor nominee Willem Dafoe. Rated PG-13