In selecting their 2020 award-winners, the Boston Society of Film Critics did the more-or-less expected thing by giving the Best Picture prize to Chloe Zhao‘s Nomadland, and the Best Director trophy to Zhao. They also handed their Best Cinematography award to Nomadland‘s Joshua James Richards.

I’ve attached a parenthetical classification to some of the BSFC winners — pure craft and quality (PCC) which means quality not necessarily augmented by politically woke currents. The wins by Nomadland, Zhao and Richards are all PCC.

Anthony Hopkins‘ poignant conveyance of dementia in The Father won for Best Actor (PCC), and that film’s director, Florian Zeller, won the BSFC’s Best New Filmmaker award (PCC).

Sidney Flanigan took the Best Actress award for her sad, somber, ultra-minimalist performance in Never Rarely Sometimes Always — a decision that I respectfully regard as a head-scratcher.

Sound of Metal‘s Paul Raci won for Best Supporting Actor (no opinion — still haven’t seen it), and Young Yuh-jung‘s luminous performance as an intrepid grandma in Minari resulted in a Best Supporting Actress win (PCC).

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom won for Best Ensemble Cast.

Charlie Kaufman won the Best Screenplay award for the justly admired I’m Thinking of Ending Things (PCC). And that film’s editor, Robert Frazen, won the Best Editing trophy (PCC).

Alexander Nanau‘s Collective won for Best Documentary. (PCC)

Here’s the rundown:

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The Daily Mail‘s Caroline Graham is reporting that President-elect Joe Biden has ordered the White House to be “deep-cleaned and ‘exorcised'” of any and all remnants of the Trumps.

Biden, who will move in after his 1.20.21 inauguration, is “insisting that the 132-room property be thoroughly disinfected beforehand.”

A member of the transition team: “Mr Trump’s administration has been riddled with the coronavirus. The Bidens are taking no chances. The entire property will be deep-cleaned down to replacing doorknobs and taking down soft furnishings. The virus can linger on hard surfaces so the entire residence and executive offices will be wiped clean with disinfectant to exorcise any trace of Team Trump.’”

What are the odds of Trump attending the Biden swearing-in? Zilch, right? He’ll probably clear out a day or two early and head straight for Florida.

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Friendo to HE: In today’s NY Times, both A.O. Scott and Manohla Dargis put Collective on their top 10 lists. I fully agree — it’s a great film about journalists fighting for truth in a very corrupt [Romanian] society. You never weighed in on the film. Any particular reason why?

HE to friendo: Not for lack of admiration. I haven’t written anything yet because my head is spinning and my brain is being pulled six or seven ways, like taffy or bubble gum. And I’m screaming inside. Collective is a first-rate, hard-hitting art doc because it doesn’t really conclude with a “satisfying” ending. The corruption is vicious, endemic, everywhere. The ending is what makes it.

Friendo to HE: That’s for sure. One truly intriguing thing is that it was a sports daily that was doing the heavy lifting and carrying the torch.

HE to friendo: I loved that aspect!

Friendo to HE: So give it some of your fabulous p.r. It’s a film that deserves more viewers and hype. Just asking as a friend.

No offense, but I would rather shove steak knives into my nasal cavities than watch WandaVision (Disney +, 1.15.21), a forthcoming Disney-Marvel streaming series that costars Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany as superhero couple Wanda Maximoff (aka “Scarlet Witch”) and Vision.

Created and executive produced by Jac Schaeffer (co-writer of Black Widow and Captain Marvel), WandaVision costars Kathryn Hahn, Kat Dennings, Randall Park and Teyonah Parris.

“We are doing this vaccine World War 2-style, making England go in first and see what’s what, and then we swoop at the end and steal the spotlight.”

Reported yesterday by Forbes‘ Andrew Solender: Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) on Friday urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to refuse to seat any of the 126 Republican House members who signed an amicus brief supporting a lawsuit aimed at overturning the results of the presidential election.

Pascrell, who has been among the most vocal proponents in Congress of investigations into President Trump, called on Pelosi in a letter to “exclude” any members who signed the brief, claiming they want to “tear the United States government apart.”

Pascrell cites Section 3 of the 14th amendment — which states that anyone who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” cannot serve in federal office — and in so doing claims that the lawsuit seeks to “obliterate public confidence in our democratic system” and that those who signed it committed “unbecoming acts that reflect poorly on our chamber.”

Brian Desmond Hurst and Alastair Sim‘s A Christmas Carol (released as Scrooge in England) is easily the best adaptation of Charles Dickens 1843 novella. United Artists handled the U.S. release. Pic “was originally slated to be shown at Manhattan’s Radio City Music Hall as part of their Christmas attraction, but the theatre management decided that the film was too grim and did not possess enough family entertainment value to warrant an engagement at the Music Hall.”

If you ask me the Music Hall guys of ’51 were made of the same censorious, rigid-minded stuff that propelled those awful people in England to condemn that recent “Santa gets Covid” NHS Charities Together commercial.

The scene in which the miserable, ghoulish ghost of Jacob Marley (Michael Hordern) pays a late-night visit to Scrooge’s London home….this is the bit that convinced Music Hall management to spare the kiddies. Particularly the moment (beginning at 3:40) when Scrooge calls Marley’s apparent presence a silly illusion. At 3:50 Horden rises to his feet, shakes his clanking iron chains and howls like a banshee — straight out of a Hammer horror film.

There are many famous people who seem (emphasis on the “s” word) reasonably human. And there are some who seem to be off on their own orbit, who ignite suspicions about a lack of something or other…a certain sincere, semi-vulnerable, open-hearted quality.

It was a little over four years ago when Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston…I don’t want to talk about it. But after that affair crashed and burned, I suddenly had an idea that Swift is a cyborg. An idea, not a conclusion. I know nothing.

“Wherever you stray, I follow / And I’m begging for you to take my hand / Wreck my plans, thats my man / Life was a willow, and it bent right to your wind.”

To me, Owen Wilson, whom I’ve known since ’94, will always be the Wedding Crashers guy. Or, you know, the Butterscotch Stallion. He’s only 52, but in the Disney + Loki TV series he looks like a moustachied John Slattery. Is he wearing older guy makeup? If so, fine. If not, fine. I miss the golden mane.

To me a sponge is for cleaning whatever. Soak in hot water, sprinkle liquid soap and scrub away….floors, dishes, bathroom walls, wine glasses, bicycles, pasta sauce stains on pants, etc.

“No!”, I’ve repeatedly been told by Tatiana. Different tasks require different sponges, and only a coarse animal would mix them up.

There are elite eating and drinking sponges (plates, cutlery, wine glasses, drinking glasses) and there are second-class kitchen and bathroom sink sponges. Never mix these up! A third sponge is needed to scrub the refrigerator and bathroom tub, and ideally a fourth sponge should be set aside for floor scrubbings (kitchen or living room) or walls…a floor sponge being the lowest of the low.

You can also use your coarse floor sponges to wash your car or motorcycle, but never, ever allow the eating and drinking sponges to be soiled with floor or wall dirt, and don’t even mention surfaces soiled by the great outdoors.

All this time I thought that after a sponge is soaked and cleaned with hot water, it would suffice for any cleaning purpose or surface. Because, you know, it’s been purged of all dirt and impurities. Silly me.

NHS Charities Together, a British concern, is behind a nice little ad about a Covid-afflicted Santa Claus being nursed back to health in a hospital. The 90-second spot is titled “The Gift.” It’s about love and caring, and it has a happy ending.

But a cabal of rightwing idiots and outraged parents are saying “how dare they show Santa suffering from the coronavirus!? Our kids were really upset by this. Doesn’t the NHS understand that Santa is magical and never gets sick? He just cruises around in his flying sled going ho-ho-ho….how dare they?”

I never told my kids that Santa was real. To kids indoctrinated by this silly fable, Santa means one thing and one thing only — loads of free toys. There’s nothing about the Santa legend that mentions love and kindness and charity for the less fortunate.

When I was three or four I was taken to see “the real” Santa at the original Macy’s in Herald Square. Santa has a tight schedule and a lot to prepare for so he restricts himself to Macy’s, my mother told me. “But doesn’t he live at the North Pole?” Yes, but he makes a special trip to Macy’s so children can tell him what they want for Christmas. He can’t meet everyone but he has a special feeling for Macy’s.

“What about the other Santa at Bamberger’s?” He’s not the real Santa, she explained — he’s just a helper. Santa only has time to visits Macy’s. “But what about the Santas in all the California department stores?” Helpers. “Well, what about England? Does Santa visit kids in England or just America?” (I had recently seen Brian Desmond Hurst and Alistair Sim‘s A Christmas Carol.) No, he flies to England, I was told. In fact, Santa flies there first because they’re five hours ahead of us.

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Being cheap and all, I’ve never once ordered food or drink on my own dime at 21 (21 W 52nd St, New York, NY). But I’m happy and gratified to note that I attended several Peggy Siegal press luncheons there during the mid to late aughts. Great times, classic vibes, Sweet Smell of Success, the ghosts of Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster, etc.

But now comes word that 21, a four-story establishment which opened in 1929, is closing down for good. Another Covid victim.

New York Post‘s Ian Mohr and Elizabeth Elizalde are reporting that the club’s 148 employees have been told that they’ll be cut loose as of early March.

Then again a 21 spokesperson has told Mohr and Elizalde that “the company is exploring potential opportunities that will allow 21 Club to remain a viable operation in the long term, while retaining its distinctive character. At this early stage, we are not ready to announce any final concept or timeframe, but the vision is that 21 Club will always remain an important social and cultural hub and icon of New York, one that is well positioned to fulfill its role in the City’s exciting future when the time comes.”

In other words they’re hoping to relaunch with new financial partners when the pandemic ends, or otherwise sell the brand outright.