Because I really don’t want Kamala Harris to take over. Really. I’m a center-lefty (i.e., a centrist with a classic liberal history before the scourge of wokeism) but I’d honestly feel better about Nikki Haley. She’s a better candidate now than Harris was in ‘19 and early ‘20.

“That’s the one thing that Democrats and Republicans have in common — they’re both waiting for their [likeliest Presidential] candidates to die.” — Bill Maher monologue, 11.10.23.

Yesterday Warner Bros.s David Zaslav shelved the finished and ready-to-go Coyote vs. Acme — no theatrical or MAX release. From this act of brutality WB derived an estimated $30M writedown, with Coyote vs. Acme having cost $70 million.

Had a lot of fun scoring Coyote Vs Acme. As no one will be able to hear it now, due to bizarre anti-art studio financial shenanigans I will never understand, here is a bit of behind the scenes footage of our “Meep Meep” Roadrunner choir, with apologies to Tchaikovsky… pic.twitter.com/HL7h00rXpp

— Steven Price (@SteveBPrice) November 10, 2023

I’ve sliced out the date and location of this festive affair, but doesn’t it feel great with the SAG/AFTRA strike over and done with and actors finally free to mix and mingle?

HE salutes FYC’s Scott Mantz for sticking his passionate neck out and predicting that Blackberry‘s Glenn Howertion will might snag a Best Supporting Actor nomination.

Perri Nemiroff is also a Howerton supporter….respect.

Unfortunately Jeff Sneider doesn’t show the same level of conviction and cojones — he only has Howerton as his tenth-favorite choice. Why? Not because Howerton’s performance as former BlackBerry honcho Jim Balsillie isn’t excellent, but because BlackBerry “is such a small film” and blah-dee-blah. What Sneider is saying is that the frugal-minded IFC Films isn’t spending any money to push Howerton…that’s what he really means.

My second favorite Best Supporting Actor contender is Dominic Sessa in The Holdovers. A great debut performance. Can’t be denied.

I wasn’t especially knocked out by Robert Downey, Jr.‘s performance as the slimy, weasel-like Lewis Strauss. He’s fine but I really don’t get the jumping-up-and-down. Barbie‘s Ryan Gosling is appealing as Ken, but it’s a broad, self-mocking, look=at-what-a-clueless-child-I-am showboat performance. Robert De Niro is dullsville in Killers of the Flower Moon. I haven’t seen American Fiction so I have no opinion on Sterling K. Brown. Mark Ruffalo‘s selfish, self-lampooning shithead in Poor Things is a meh.

Charles Melton‘s performance in May December isn’t happening…forget it.

…don’t give The Marvels your box-office dollars this weekend. The megaplexes are obviously counting on families to show up and inhale the popcorn and slurp down those giant-size Cokes, but don’t do it! A 61% Rotten Tomatoes rating means “it stinks!”

…and out of 39 film reviews she’s written for Vox over the last several weeks, my basic impressions are that (a) she’s smart and writes well, (b) she leans toward circumspect analysis rather than yea-nay verdicts, and (c) that she seems to be generally obliging.

I certainly wouldn’t say that Wilkinson is looking to preemptively strike blows or tear down, not if she can avoid it. She’d rather analyze, understand and reflect upon.

Her hiring by the N.Y. Times was announced yesterday (11.8.23).

I haven’t read all 39 Wilkinson reviews top to bottom, but so far it appears that she’s panned only one — The Exorcist: Believer, which everyone trashed.

I hated Janet Planet and yet Wilkinson kinda loved it…uh-oh. And she found Fingernails, which I couldn’t stand and in fact walked out of, “funny and ultimately heartwrenching”…yikes!

Wilkinson just turned 40 — born on 11.4.83 — and is therefore an elderly Millennial. Is it therefore fair to presume that she’s a bit of a wokey? No, it’s not fair to presume that, certainly based on my limited knowledge of her work. But she almost certainly is to some extent or the Times wouldn’t have hired her.

I know that just shy of seven years ago Wilkinson was totally floored by Get Out so she and Bob Strauss are automatic besties in this regard. Wilkinson’s review made no mention of Ira Levin‘s The Stepford Wives, and in my book that’s a serious thing to omit.

Here’s her final paragraph: “I’m white, and have no idea what it’s like to be a black American, and I never really can understand it instinctively, no matter how much I try to empathize. But my female body thrilled sickeningly with recognition when I saw Rosemary’s Baby, and I felt an echo of that same sensation watching Get Out. Which makes me wonder if — just maybe — a great, funny, well-made horror movie like Get Out can, while not totally bridging the gap between my experience and someone else’s, at least help us understand each other a little better.”

Then again she appreciated and up-voted The Holdovers…good show.

“I’m nonbinary,…suffering from really bad social anxiety…I’m an indigenous person…I’m a victim, okay?…you’re being a white man!…generational trauma…PTSD,…will you not call me ‘ma’am, please?….kinda triggering.”

Drunk woman plays all the victim cards.

She’s non-binary, indigenous, has generational trauma, PTSD, is oppressed by white people, and triggered by being called ma’am.

Well, intersectionality doesn’t reduce blood alcohol and you’re still going to jail. pic.twitter.com/l1mPsclKGh

— Billboard Chris 🇨🇦🇺🇸 (@BillboardChris) November 9, 2023