lemonwade

The darling Timothee Chalamet seems to have found his ideal big-screen role in the new “Wonka.” First reactions here.

The end-of-year, pre-Oscar awards season kicked off last night with the Gotham Awards. “Past Lives,” an acclaimed first feature, took the top award, and Lily Gladstone and Charles Melton the acting honors.

Movies: You can brave the cinema now to see “Maestro,” Bradley Cooper’s movie about Leonard Bernstein, or you can wait a month and see it on Netflix…TV/Streaming: My three go-to series of the past few weeks have been “The Gilded Age” (fun), “Fellow Travelers” (touching, dreary), and the new “Frasier” (not great but has a few laughs)…Books: I’m a snob about books, but if you aren’t then James Patterson and David Baldacci have new releases…Music: Cher is performing in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade to promote her new Christmas album — a must-have…Sports: The Lakers have been impressive in the NBA’s in-season tournament.

Over the weekend, I was lucky enough to see Janacek’s “Jenufa,” starring the dynamic pairing of Lisa Davidsen and Nina Stemme, at Lyric Opera of Chicago. Don’t take just my word for the touching qualities of this production: the New York Times was also enraptured — details here.

Movies: I think I’ll give the new “Hunger Games” a miss, as well as Ridley Scott’s new movie, “Napoleon.” But I can’t wait to see Scott’s next movie — another “Gladiator” tale…TV/Streaming: Netflix has dropped four new episodes of “The Crown.” I haven’t loved it since the first two seasons, starring the magnificent Claire Foy. But I’ll keep watching anyway…Books: Paul Auster has a new novel, “Baumgartner.” And the historian Robert Darnton gives us “The Revolutionary Temper: Paris, 1748-1789″…Sports: Man City, Liverpool, and Arsenal are once again atop the Premier League, but it’s early in the season.

In the USA on Britbox.

Movies: “The Marvels,” starring Oscar winner Brie Larsen, is set to dominate the weekend, although the potency of comic-book-generated movies isn’t what it used to be…TV/Streaming: I’m trying to keep up with “The Gilded Age,” on HBO, but I tend to fast-forward episodes in search of the next batch of lovely costumes…Music: Jimmy Buffett’s last/latest album has a cute title: “Equal Strain on All Parts”…Books: In the battle of the season’s celebrity memoirs, Britney is out-selling Barbara, but all the Britney good stuff was in the media, so why read the book? The Barbara factoids are inexhaustible…Sports: My Premier League team, Arsenal, remains in the hunt, though its coach, Arteta, keeps putting his foot in it.