Issues-wise I’m closer to Vice-President Kamala Harris than any potential Republican opponent, of course, but I’m scared to death of her running with 81 year–old Joe Biden in ‘24. Because her approval numbers are quite low, and she seemingly has nowhere to go but down. She won’t enhance the ticket — that’s a given. In ‘20 she proved ineffective as a campaigner (whiny speaking voice, testy attitude now and then, dropped out before Iowa). She has to somehow go away — seriously.

I’m telling you right now that Paul Thomas Anderson’s Citizen Pizza is (a) HE-approved as far as it goes, (b) a well-crafted, moderately engaging ‘70s episodic with a really good ending, and (c) a highly eccentric choice for a 2021 Best Picture award.

Am I enraged that the National Board of Review picked it earlier today, and that they gave their Best Director award to PTA? Of course not — it’s fine, not a problem at all. But this was a very New York Film Critics Circle thing to do, guys. You can choose whatever and whomever you wish, but the Movie Godz are watching, and they know what you did.

World of Reel‘s Jordan Ruimy is persuaded that A24 is putting out vague, inconclusive signals about Joel Coen‘s The Tragedy of Macbeth:

…for my early-evening date with Guillermo del Toro‘s Nightmare Alley (which is getting raves for its cinematography and production design), and a little running around after, so I need to delay some of the posts I have planned. But in the meantime…

The night before last I had an excellent time re-watching Spike Lee‘s Inside Man, which is now 15 and 1/2 years old. One of my thoughts was “jeez, Denzel looks so young!” — he was around 51 or 52 during filming. No spring chicken, but much more buoyant looking compared to his 2021 constitution.

Anyway, the HE community needs to assemble a list of the best crime or heist films in which the “bad guys” get away with it**. The first of these would have to be Lewis Milestone and Frank Sinatra‘s Ocean’s 11 (’60) — no, they didn’t get to keep the money at the end but they weren’t caught or punished by the law, and were free to try again. Peter Yates‘ Robbery (’67), to some extent. Norman Jewison‘s The Thomas Crown Affair (’68), of course. Thieves get to keep the loot in Peter Yates‘ The Hot Rock (’71), and of course the cops never get wise.

What are the other big titles in this realm?

** Not Rififi, not Topkapi…a lot of gangs got busted or went home empty-handed in the ’50s and early ’60s.

What will it take for a tough governmental prosecution of the most rancid and malevolent political criminal of the 21st Century for inciting the 1.6.21 insurrection? Do laws mean anything at all? The Constitution absolutely requires punishment for what Donald J. Trump did, and yet 11 months later he seems to be skating and cruising and shuffling around. My presumption is that the Justice department hasn’t indicted Trump because Joe Biden and Merrick Garland fear an angry bumblefuck earthquake reaction. Which would make them cowards, of course, if that was their actual thinking. Is it?

The National Board of Review will announce its film awards soon (i.e., this morning), and then tomorrow (Friday, 12.3) the eccentric New York Film Critics Circle will announce their own. By this I mean you can pretty much count on two or three of the NYFCC’s major-category awards being a little fruit-loopy — i.e., far more concerned with pushing the necessary progressive political buttons (gender-wise, ethnic-wise, LGBTQ-wise) than adhering to what some of us might call classic or broad-based quality standards.

11:20 am prediction: The NBR will almost certainly gives its Best Picture award to Steven Spielberg‘s West Side Story — the tide right now is simply too strong to resist, especially with the recent passing of WSS lyricist Stephen Sondheim.

11:35 am prediction: It’s conceivable that the the woke-minded NYFCC could also wind up saluting the Spielberg (which caters to woke sensibilities), but today’s NYFCC** almost always prefers to endorse identity politics over general craft and emotionality so who knows? The Power of the Dog‘s Jane Campion will win their Best Director trophy, of course, but a significant percentage will want Dog to win Best Picture also. On the other hand I wouldn’t put it past them to give their Best Picture award to Maggie Gyllenhaal‘s The Lost Daughter. I really wouldn’t. Or even Licorice Pizza.

The NYFCC loves to pick winners from a fickle, highly oddball perspective. This has been indicated a few times over recent years. For decades an occasionally offbeat NYFCC trophy signified something highly valued — a fully considered saluting of a worthy achievement by serious pros. But today’s NYFCC brand is something else. It used to be that the Los Angeles Film Critics Association was the loopiest, most against-the-grain award-giving group in the nation — the NYFCC has now overtaken them in this regard, and without halting their voting for a one-hour food break. In the realm of film critic awards-givers, the NYFCC has become Woke Central. If winning a NYFCC award used to signify serious cred, today’s NYFCC winners have an asterisk by their names.