The Irishman is the finest film of the year, and to my mind the most deserving recipient of the Best Picture Oscar. I know this can’t happen but I insist on repeating what I regard as an irrefutable truth. Because I’m shattered by what’s happened to Martin Scorsese‘s film as far as the conversation is concerned. In early December it was the film to beat. Best Film awards from the New York Film Critics Circle, the National Board of Review, New York Online Film Critics. And then it stopped.

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Variety‘s Peter Debruge, filed from Park City, on Benh Zeitlin‘s Wendy: “Eight long years after Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin brings that same rust-bottomed sense of magical realism to the legend of Peter Pan, reframing J.M. Barrie’s Victorian classic through the eyes of the eldest Darling.

“Wendy, as the indie-minded, not-quite-family-film is aptly titled, re-envisions its title character as a working-class kiddo raised at a whistle-stop diner, who witnesses one of her young friends disappearing on a passing freight train and a few years later decides to follow it to the end of the line, where runaway urchins don’t age and the Lost Boys live like The Lord of the Flies.

“Although the director’s feral energy and rough-and-tumble aesthetic make an inspired match for a movie about an off-the-grid community doing everything it can to resist outside change (that was essentially the gist of Beasts as well), cinema has hardly stood still since Zeitlin’s last feature.

“What felt so revolutionary in 2012 is no less visionary today, but packs a disappointing sense of familiarity this time around, like tearing open your Christmas presents to find … a huge stack of hand-me-down clothing. Or else, like watching a magic trick performed a second time from a different angle.

“While it’s a positive thing to get a more progressive Peter Pan story — with Peter as a Caribbean child and Wendy as a more proactive protagonist — the movie’s a bit too intense, and more than a little too arty, to suit young audiences.

It’s sounding as if Kobe Bryant‘s helicopter may have slammed into a Calabasas hillside due to heavy fog and poor visibility.

I can’t find the link, but a friend tells me that a pilot who was in Calabasas this morning has told CBS Radio that conditions were very foggy, and that FAA regulations state that pilots aren’t supposed to fly a chopper unless there’s a fair amount of visibility. By this pilot’s estimation there might have been 300 feet of visibility.

Just before the crash the pilot, who used the term “knots” to describe vehicle speed, said he thought the “the helicopter was so low…you could hear it but couldn’t see it…flying too low.”

CBS Radio also interviewed a local resident named Colin Storm, who “was in his living room in Calabasas when he heard what sounded like a low-flying airplane or helicopter,” he said. “Ït was very foggy so we couldn’t see anything. But then we heard some sputtering, and then a boom.”

“A short time later the fog cleared a bit and Storm could see smoke rising from the hillside in front of his home.

Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others were aboard when the helicopter crashed. News video of the crash site show a mass of burned, blackened metal along with scattered debris spread across a hillside. Blunt trauma, flames, roasted, awful.

One thing that gave me the willies (aka “heebie-jeebies”) until last night was the terrifying prospect of Parasite winning both the Best Picture and Best International Feature Oscar on the night of Sunday, February 9th.

Well, scenarios of this type can be permanently eradicated if the Academy simply follows the suggestion of HE commenter “JoeS.” Here’s what he posted this morning, to wit:

“One thing the Academy should explore is to adopt a rule that if you are nominated in both Foreign Film and Best Picture, then one of the nominations must be vacated and the next in line should take that nomination slot.

“It would be done in advance with the producers of the film in question, allowing them to choose which nomination they prefer to compete in. The public would never know and that would be that. This would prevent columnists (like Wells) and industry reporters complaining about double-dipping and that sort of thing.

“I suppose the rule should also apply to the Documentary and Animation categories, too. No Doc has been nominated for Best Picture, but a few Animated features have

“It would also have the side benefit of taking away the monumental advantage a Foreign Language film has in the International Category. No film that has been nominated in both has ever lost the Foreign Language category (i.e., Roma, Life Is Beautiful, Amour). The other nominees might as well not bother to campaign.

“Michael Moore has already set a precedent of sorts: He withdrew Fahrenheit 911 from consideration as Documentary Feature and tried to secure a Best Picture nomination. He didn’t get one, and he did it publicly (I would do it privately). I think Cuaron and Roma might have actually won had he done the same last year.”

So 1917 will take the Best Picture Oscar, plus Joaquin Pheonix will win for Best Actor, Renee Zellweger for Best Actress, Brad Pitt for Best Supporting Actor, Laura Dern for Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay going to Once Upon A Time in Hollywood or Parasite, Best Adapted Screenplay possibly going to Greta Gerwig for Little Women (angry female pushback + male guilt vote), 1917‘s Roger Deakins for Best Cinematography and Joker‘s Hildur Guðnadóttir for Best Score.

But you know what might happen? Bong might win for Best Director with everyone wanting to give him a compensation award with the realization that Parasite can’t win Best Picture. A Bong sympathy vote would not surprise me.

Last night HE regular Bob Strauss posted something along the lines of my not “getting” Parasite — that the magical Tinkerbell dust that has sprinkled onto its legions of admirers has somehow missed me (or I missed it).

HE response: The worst kind of empty elitist posturing is when the know-it-all laments or tut-tuts those who, in his-her judgment, don’t “get” the key takeaway or payoff in a film.

Believe me, I get what Parasite is saying. I certainly get the thrust. As would anyone with an IQ over 50 who’s willing to pay attention. It’s not some dense, endlessly fascinating puzzle-box thing.

Bong Joon-ho makes films for Average Popcorn Inhalers and Ramen-Eaters. He’s not some bearded wizard wearing a tall pointed hat or some secretive dispenser of thematic complexity or obscurity that you need a code book to understand.

His energy and passion have always been rooted in the fashioning and delivery of elegant film language and the use of careful, crafty, Swiss-watch-like exposition. High-impact visual conveyance for the whole family. Even the schmoes can understand.

Like peak-level DePalma he has a cheap streak tendency by way of avoiding understatement at all costs. He sees himself as a kind of South Korean DePalma or Hitchcock, and always with an element of pat social-political messaging.

I’m not a sports fan nor a Lakers fanatic, but even I’m upset by the violent death of legendary Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Byant, 41. TMZ Sports is reporting that the NBA legend died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas this morning. Update: TMZ is reporting that Bryant’s 13 year-old daughter Gianna Maria was also killed in the crash.

Excerpt #1: “Kobe was traveling with at least 3 other people [including his daughter Gianna Maria] in his private helicopter when it went down. A fire broke out. Emergency personnel responded, but nobody on board survived. Five people are confirmed dead.”

Excerpt #2: “Kobe has famously used a helicopter to travel for years — dating back to when he played for the Lakers. He was known for commuting from Newport Beach to the Staples Center in his Sikorsky S-76 chopper.”

Excerpt #3: “KB is survived by his wife Vanessa, and three daughters — Natalia and Bianca and their newborn Capri.” Daughter Gianna Maria is reportedly dead also, being one of the five.

TMZ 12:35 pm update: “Kobe’s daughter Gianna Maria Onore — aka GiGi — was also on board the helicopter and died in the crash … reps for Kobe tell TMZ Sports. She was 13. We’re told they were on their way to the Mamba Academy for a basketball practice when the crash occurred. The Academy is in nearby Thousand Oaks.”

Wiki generic: “Kobe Bean Bryant (born 8.23.78) played his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His final season was between 2015 and ’16.

“He entered the NBA directly from high school and won five NBA championships. Bryant is an 18-time All-Star, 15-time member of the All-NBA Team, 12-time member of the All-Defensive team and was the NBA’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 2008. Widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, he led the NBA in scoring during two seasons, ranks fourth on the league’s all-time regular season scoring and fourth on the all-time postseason scoring list. Bryant is the first guard in NBA history to play at least 20 seasons.”