Do the Right Thing

Not exactly a swing state, or else we're in really serious trouble, but due diligence done (mailed well in advance of the deadline). Literally the easiest decision I've ever made. Of course I voted For Her (again, and let's hope the second Her's the charm). You should too if you can, because –– among innumerable other reasons –– small-'d' democracy is by far the best way of doing things we've figured out so far and it's at serious risk if She loses, or even if the initial outcome appears close enough to sow dangerous doubts. If for whatever reason you have the slightest hesitation or misgiving about voting for the only viable normal, sane, small-'d' democratic-minded candidate, watch The Sixth right now. And watch it in any case if you haven't yet. Then, cross your fingers for the closest thing to a doubt-resistant landslide that's mathematically possible in these nasty, brutish, hyper-polarized times. 

Wins and Losses 

The Apprentice Or A Portrait of the Villain as a Young Creep. As heel-turn origin stories go, it's much better than, say, Joker (while more credibly recreating the milieu of '70s New York); not as good as, say, Isaiah 14 or Paradise Lost; comparisons with the Wicked movie TBD. 

The Substance Since this is about aging (in the most utterly obvious way possible), I'll note that when I was younger and watched many more movies much more often than I find time to these days, I didn't really get it – or just thought it was a whiny cliché – when people said stuff like, "well, there's two hours of my life I'll never get back." But now I get it. This is an atrociously bad and stupid movie. The Cronenberg comparisons are blasphemous. This is as if cinema began with Requiem for a Dream.

Sirocco and the Kingdom of Winds One of the best and most (visually as well as aurally) beautiful animated films in recent memory; a weird little world into which one can sink soothingly--like a dream, or a balm, or a song. And it's done with such lovely simplicity and lightness (with shades of melancholy), far less busy and cluttered than most Western and even some Ghibli animated features. A masterpiece in its indelibly idiosyncratic way.