A SCATTERED LIFE

Now here’s a deal: This Saturday, selected AMC Theatres will screen all five Oscar best-picture nominees for $30. Details are at www.amc theatres.com, but the binge starts with “Michael Clayton” at 11 a.m. and ends more than 12 hours later with the cut-to-black finale of “No Country for Old Men.” Warning: This year’s nominees (except for the plucky “Juno”) are pretty grisly. And if they don’t leave you queasy enough, the deal also includes a bottomless bucket of popcorn. . . . Joanne Whalley has played Scarlett O’Hara and Jackie Onassis, and she popped up in “Scandal,” “Willow” and “Pink Floyd’s The Wall.” Now she’s in “Poor Beast in the Rain,” Irish playwright Billy Roche’s character study rooted in a Wexford betting shop. It’s at the Matrix Theatre (7657 Melrose Ave., [323] 960-4420) through March 16. . . . Speaking of Scarlett: “Gone With the Wind” is screening Friday at the Egyptian Theatre (6712 Hollywood Blvd., [323] 466-3456), if this year’s nominees leave you cold. . . . Our date in L.A. history this week: It was 61 years ago this Sunday that “American Me” auteur Edward James Olmos was born in East L.A. To celebrate, let’s buy the sweet new version of “Blade Runner” on DVD, wonder what went wrong with the “Miami Vice” remake and count the days until the April 4 return of “Battlestar Galactica.”

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-- Geoff.Boucher@latimes.com