It’s awesome when the award-contending titles start rolling out. The best time of the year, for film lovers, is upon us. This week we get to see Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Paul Giamatti and Philip Seymour Hoffman all strut their stuff.

‘The Ides of March‘ is a thrilling political drama about a young campaign manager (Gosling) who genuinely believes that the right elected politician can make the world a better place. The candidate that he works for (Clooney) is that politician. He firmly believes that if they can win the Ohio primaries, the White House is theirs for the taking. But the deeper he gets into the game, the dirtier he realizes politics are. His core beliefs are shaken and put to the test. Does he continue to base his performance on his integrity, or does he stoop to level of everyone else and get his hands dirty? Paul Giamatti, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Evan Rachel Wood co-star in this Clooney-directed picture.

The only other major contender this weekend is ‘Real Steel‘. Or, as everyone else in the country calls it, ‘Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots: The Movie’.

‘Real Steel’ takes place in the near future, where robo-boxing has replaced human boxing. Only it’s not as cool as you’d think. The robots do not have minds of their own; they are remote-controlled. They also do not have special robots tricks; they just punch. A perfect opportunity to see robotic weapons used against one another is wasted.

Hugh Jackman used to be a famous boxer – but then the robo-boxing craze took off and robbed him of the opportunity to shine. Still trying to have his 15 minutes of fame, he boxes via a robot of his own, but not very well. When his ex-wife passes away, Jackman is forced to take in his mouthy and obnoxious estranged son, who ends up finding and restoring an old first-generation sparring bot. The pushy kid somehow convinces his dad to take the outdated robot into the underground robo-boxing circuit. As the unsophisticated machine proves to be stronger than they originally thought, a bond forms between the father and son.

Opening in limited release is the controversial sequel to ‘The Human Centipede’, called ‘Full Sequence‘. Banned in the U.K., the disturbing sequel follows a copycat who makes a human centipede of his own. Apparently, ‘Full Sequence’ delivers the gory and graphic goods missing from the original – if that’s what you’re into. The movie has gained some notoreity for a scene in which the villain masturbates with sandpaper. Yes, just when you thought it couldn’t get any grosser, sexual mutilation enters the picture.