Is it really all that important to have Twitter-follower bragging rights? To some it obviously is, even to the extent of paying to acquire “fake” followers, as a 1.27.18 N.Y. Times story reported.

But if you’re a big-city, brand-name film critic like Richard Roeper, who’s been a Chicago Sun Times columnist, critic and book author since the late ’80s, who cares if you have 25,000 or 250,000 followers? If I were to pay for an extra 20K followers, how would this help my game in the great scheme?

It was reported yesterday that the Chicago Sun-Times will no longer be publishing anything by Roeper until it completes an investigation of his Twitter followers. Roeper was named in that Times story about the buying and selling of fake Twitter followers.

Chicago Sun Times editor-in-chief Chris Fusco: “We became aware over the weekend of issues relating to Rich Roeper’s Twitter account. We’re investigating these issues. We will not be publishing any reviews or columns by Rich until this investigation is complete.”

Ryan Coogler‘s Black Panther had its big Los Angeles premiere last night. Right after a chorus of invested, eager-beaver critics tweeted what could modestly be described as over-the-rainbow responses. But you can’t rely on media types who were primed to worship it going in (along with those who were inclined to love it for reasons of representation and whatnot). Remember the ecstatic, holy-moley, touching-God tweets that poured into the twitterverse after the Last Jedi premiere at the Shrine?

The only thing that matters in the end is the opinion of the hard guys (those who assess a film straight from the shoulder sans agendas, and primarily in terms of filmmaking expertise and classic chops), and you’d better believe that Hollywood Elsewhere is among this fraternity. HE is seeing Black Panther tonight on the Disney lot, and then we’ll see what goes. Harumph.

If I were Diane Keaton I would have tweeted “Thank God for #MeToo and Lordy, it’s about time, but the fact that Woody Allen is my friend isn’t why I’m convinced that he’s innocent of any accusations in the matter of Dylan Farrow. I’ve known Woody since the late ’60s, and I haven’t the slightest wisp of a doubt that he’s a man of honor in every respect. Check out his 60 Minutes interview from 1992 and see what you think.” Instead she said she “continue[s] to believe him” because he’s her friend, which most would translate as “I believe in loyalty above all else.”

It felt like mid-July earlier today. In late January. No jackets, strictly T-shirts, almost sweltering. When I saw a guy walking down Beverly Blvd. with his shirt off, I pulled over and asked if I could take a shot. He wrote his name and Instagram handle on my iPhone notepad, and then it somehow disappeared. High ’70s for the rest of the week. Motorcycle weather. We like it like that.

Access Hollywood producer Scott Mantz has announced on Facebook that he and Access Hollywood are parting ways after 17 years. The tone of the announcement seemed almost joyful, which struck me as odd. I asked Scott and some friends what had actually happened. A friend passed along a version. Scott never got back to confirm or deny or fill in the blanks.

Apparently Scott hadn’t been happy at Access Hollywood and vice versa for some time. Access Hollywood is apparently “evolving” to the point that they’d like to drop the Hollywood part and just be about access…a show about gossipy personality tabloid bullshit. And then management got wind of Scott having co-launched the LA Online Film Critics Society. They allegedly felt that Scott’s involvement represented a potential conflict, but apparently they were looking for any kind of excuse. The relationship had run its course.

On top of which Mantz is also getting a divorce from actress Andrea Sabesin, whom he married in November ’09. Losing your job is tough enough, but a divorce at the same time!

Mantz’s Facebook announcement — Mantz, Paul McCartney, Access Hollywood exec producer Rob Silverstein, Billy Bush.

Please re-review HE’s rundown of 70 films that are likely to be in the smarthouse conversation over the next 11 months. Hard information solidifies, assumptions and speculations fade, etc. What films am I giving too little or too much emphasis to? And which seem most likely to end up in contention as Best Picture nominees? It goes without saying that the following have been/are being made by serious filmmakers and that they exclude mind-melting, idiot-brand, superhero franchise CG Asian-market slop:

Topliners: 1. Martin Scorsese‘s The Irishman (Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Bobby Cannavale, Harvey Keitel, Ray Romano); 2. Adam McKay‘s Back Seat (Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell); 3. Damien Chazelle‘s First Man, a space drama about NASA’s Duke of Dullness, Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Corey Stoll, Kyle Chandler, Jason Clarke); 4. Saoirse Ronan in Mary, Queen of Scots (w/ Margot Robbie, David Tennant, Jack Lowden, Guy Pearce); 5. Clint Eastwood‘s The 15:17 to Paris (Jenna Fischer, Judy Greer, Bryce Gheisar, Alek Skarlatos, Thomas Lennon, Jaleel White, Tony Hale, P.J. Byrne).

6. Steve McQueen‘s Widows (Viola Davis, Cynthia Erivo, Andre Holland, Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Rodriguez, Daniel Kaluuya, Liam Neeson, Colin Farrell); 7. Terrence Malick‘s Radegund (August Diehl, Valerie Pachner, Michael Nyqvist, Matthias Schoenaerts, Jürgen Prochnow, Bruno Ganz; 8. Alfonso Cuaron‘s Roma (Marina de Tavira, Marco Graf, Yalitza Aparicio, Daniela Demesa, Enoc Leaño, Daniel Valtierra); 9. Jacques Audiard‘s The Sisters Brothers (Jake Gyllenhaal, Joaquin Phoenix, Rutger Hauer, Riz Ahmed, John C. Reilly); 10. Barry Jenkins‘ If Beale Street Could Talk (Kiki Layne, Stephan James, Teyonah Parris, Regina King, Colman Domingo, Brian Tyree Henry, Diego Luna, Dave Franco).

11. Bryan Singer‘s Bohemian Rhapsody (15-year period from the formation of Queen and lead singer Freddie Mercury up to their performance at Live Aid in 1985) w/ Rami Malek, Ben Hardy, Gwilym Lee, Joseph Mazzello, Allen Leech, Lucy Boynton. 20th Century Fox, 12.25.18; 12. Bjorn Runge‘s The Wife (Glenn Close‘s Best Actress campaign + Jonathan Pryce, Christian Slater, Annie Starke. Max Irons); 13. Felicity Jones as Ruth Bader Ginsburg in On The Basis of Sex; 14. Gus Van Sant‘s Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot (costarring Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, Jonah Hill, Jack Black, Mark Webber); 15. Felix von Groeningen‘s Beautiful Boy with Steve Carell and Timothy Chalamet.

16. Xavier Dolan‘s The Death and Life of John F. Donovan (Kit Harington, Natalie Portman, Jessica Chastain, Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates); 17. Asghar Farhadi‘s Todos lo saben (Spanish-language drama w/ Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Barbara Lennie, Ricardo Darin, Inma Cuesta, Eduard Fernandez Javier Camara); 18. Spike Lee‘s Black Klansman (John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace, Corey Hawkins — Focus Features); 19. Woody Allen‘s A Rainy Day in New York (Timothee Chalamet, Elle Fanning, Selena Gomez, Jude Law, Diego Luna, Liev Schreiber); 20. Stefania Solluima‘s Soldado (Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin, Catherine Keener — Columbia, 6.29.18).

In a 1.27 Oregonian article called “I, Nauseated,” Sports Illustrated reporter J.E. Vader, who covered the adventures of Tonya Harding going back to the late ’80s and through the whole assult-upon-Nancy Kerrigan mess, trashes Craig Gillespie’s I, Tonya for painting an overly sympathetic portrait of Harding.

Vader: “Harding has changed her story over and over in the past 24 years, but it’s always that she is a victim and everyone else is horrible. She is habitually ‘truth-challenged’ — this fantasy film is Harding’s dream come true.

“It’s difficult to see Harding on red carpets and magazine covers, fawned over by movie stars and filmgoers who condemn ‘the media’ for being unfair to poor little Tonya. But we live in a world where people line up for selfies with O.J. Simpson and heavyweight rapist Mike Tyson; where vaccines are said to be harmful for children and global warming is a hoax, and where the president tells whopper lies several times a day. Why shouldn’t Tonya Harding be a new folk hero?”

It has seemed to many that the true villain in the Woody Allen mishegoss is Mia Farrow — coacher and prodder of Dylan Farrow, accused of same by Moses Farrow. A response to a 1.28 “Page Six” hit piece on Woody Allen (“Woody Allen May Get His Comeuppance”) by “Helen Wheels” led me to this 2013 video clip of Kate Dimbleby singing “Beware of Young Girls.”

Mia Wikipage: “On 9.10.70, Farrow married conductor and composer Andre Previn in London; she was 25 and he was 41. Farrow had begun a relationship with Previn while he was still married to his second wife, songwriter Dory Previn. When Farrow became pregnant, Previn left Dory and filed for divorce. Farrow gave birth to twin sons in February 1970, and Previn’s divorce from Dory became final in July 1970. Dory Previn later wrote a scathing song, entitled ‘Beware of Young Girls’, about the loss of her husband to Farrow. Previn and Farrow divorced in 1979.”

…that the morons are going to mostly ignore. Unlike that small sliver of moviegoers who recognize, appreciate and support quality filmmaking. Unsane (Fingerprint/Bleecker, 3.28) is a psychological horror-thriller, and that won’t matter — the morons will either “meh” this film to death or run in the other direction. Directed by Soderbergh, shot in an iPhone and written by Jonathan Bernstein and James Greer. Pic stars Claire Foy, Joshua Leonard, Jay Pharoah, Juno Temple, Aimee Mullins and Amy Irving. Soderbergh always has been and always will be gold-standard.

The thing isn’t that Alec Baldwin has intensified his defense of Woody Allen by comparing Dylan Farrow‘s accusation to that of Mayella Ewell‘s in To Kill a Mockingbird, but that Movie City News has characterized Baldwin as “seized by the need to comment.”

In other words, MCN apparently believes that Baldwin’s opinion is unfortunate, impolitic and possibly ill-considered. Or something along those lines. No offense but Hollywood Elsewhere believes that Movie City News’ characterization is cowardly and contemptible, especially if you consider the facts.

My sense of things is that last night’s SNL sketch about the Aziz Ansari bad-date episode, which I wrote about on 1.14, was off the mark. Opinion is not sharply divided between urban men and women but mildly divided, and so generally speaking Ansari has not been beheaded in the court of liberal public opinion. He probably behaved like an entitled, sexually indiscreet asshole and upset the unnamed woman in question (i.e., “Grace“), but at the same time the woman in question failed to handle the situation with even a semblance of backbone. If she didn’t like what was going on with Aziz, it was simply a matter of standing up and clearing her throat and saying “okay, no worries, you’re an okay guy but I’m calling myself an Uber.” So Ansari just needs to lay low for a while, and then he’ll come back with a new show and everything will be more or less jake…right?

To what extent are Academy members hanging on the opinions of the London Critics Circle Film Awards? If they’re seriously in doubt about which Fox Searchlight film, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri or The Shape of Water, should win the Best Picture Oscar then perhaps today’s LFCC decision will tip things toward Three Billboards. Maybe.

Martin McDonagh’s drama won a triple crown in London tonight, nabbing prizes for film of the year, actress of the year (Frances McDormand) and scriptwriter of the year (i.e., himself).

Call Me By Your Name‘s Timothee Chalamet was named actor of the year, The Florida Project‘s Sean Baker won the director of the year trophy, and poor, pushed-aside Dunkirk was honored as the British/Irish film of the year.