The premiere last night of “St. Vincent” yielded several fun facts and observations: Bill Murray and Naomi Watts, both present, are on their way to Oscar nominations. Melissa McCarthy may be as well. “St.Vincent” plays like “Silver Linings Playbook.” It’s warm without being fuzzy, and funny-poignant without getting schmaltzy. The actors are top notch. Plus they play will others. In the post-screening Q&A, Bill Murray– wearing a sporty hat– proved to be effortlessly charming. He will have Academy lunchers eating out of his hand this winter.

Not many big name celebs, but a few were there: Watt’s actor husband, Liev Schreiber, famed Broadway and “Knots Landing” star Michele Lee, and the great songwriter-singer Valerie Simpson. Lee was overwhelmed by the movie, and even happier to meet Schreiber. “I’m obsessed with Ray Donovan. You’re perfect in it,” she cried. “And very sexy!”  There was a brief bemoaning that Schreiber has not been able to do any theater since “Ray Donovan” took off. “I have to spend six months at a time in L.A.,” he said.

When the party at the Royalton finally wound down, Murray came bouncing out onto West 44th St. and into a black car, skipping a line of autograph hounds. A couple of beautiful women followed including Karen Duffy. Doors closed. Then Murray popped out of the car. “We’re missing someone!” he said to no one in particular and headed back inside. He re-emerged with two more beautiful blondes, loaded them into the car, and off they sped into the dark night.

Tonight, Bill Murray’s “St. Vincent” premieres at the Ziegfeld Theater. He will more than likely receive an Oscar nomination for his work, and he could actually win. My money is on him.

Murray was overcome by the reaction to the film and his performance last month at the Toronto Film Festival. At the afterparty we discussed other times he’d been touted for awards, only to to be rejected. (He’s been nominated for “Lost in Translation,” something that was lost in the translation of any earlier item. He should have been nominated for “Tootsie” and “Rushmore.”)

We talked about his standout performance in Jim Jarmusch’s underrated “Broken Flowers.” Murray told me: “I was going to quit the business after that. I didn’t think I could do any better.”

In the last couple of years, Murray took another shot at awards with “Hyde Park on Hudson” playing Franklin Roosevelt. The intention was good but in the end it fell flat. His new character, Vincent, is a natural fit and shows Murray off to his best advantage. I’ll give you a fuller report later from the premiere.

But mark my words: this is Bill Murray’s year. He’d be up against Steve Carell, Al Pacino, Benedict Cumberbatch and Eddie Redmayne. Formidable competition.

I had a lot of time to mull over Paul Thomas Anderson’s film adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s “Inherent Vice.” After spending two and a half long hours with this highly anticipated film, I then spent another two and a half hours at the Broadway opening of the British National Theater hit “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.”

The former has a lot of stars– Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, appearances by Owen Wilson and Reese Witherspoon, and the socko introduction of Katherine Waterston (daughter of Sam). The latter has none, just some solid American actors and a 25 year recent Juilliard grad named Alex Sharp who will be nominated for a Tony Award next spring and may win.

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When something really works, you know it. You feel it. No one has to explain it afterwards. “Curious Incident” is like that. I saw it in London in July. The play has such an unusual set that when I saw it before last night’s opening began, I felt like it was seeing an old great friend. I couldn’t wait for everyone to meet it.

On the other hand, you know that “Inherent Vice” is a big happy mess almost from the start. And when you’re convinced of it, you have two choices– walk out (as some did) or stick around and just enjoy the quirks. Anderson has really made “Incoherent Vice” from an impossibly constructed novel. There is a little plot and a little story, but not enough to drive a film. When the screening was over, some of the cast (not PTA or Joaquin or Reese) came to help explain what we’d seen. Good luck.

Anderson is an ambitious director who has made some of my favorite films, like “There Will Be Blood” and “The Master.” The latter film was often cited as being plot-less. Well, “IV” goes well beyond that. Set in 1970 to Neil Young music of that era (approximately), the movie is filmed in a cloud of marijuana smoke. There isn’t a scene in which someone, mostly Phoenix’s  private eye “Doc,” isn’t already high or getting high. And that’s the notion of the film– that some things are real, others are imagined, there’s a lot of fantasy and what more high falutin’ types might call “magical reality.”

The main story seems to be “Doc” investigating the disappearance of a former girl friend named Shasta (Katherine Waterston). This involves the search for a business magnate (Eric Roberts) and the many zany characters he meets along the way. One of them is a cop named Bigfoot (Josh Brolin) who is the Yin to Doc’s Yang.

The other character who remains in the forefront is played by Joanna Newsom. In real life, Newsom is a musician and the wife of “SNL” grad Andy Samberg. Like everyone else in “IV,” she’s very engaging. Her Sortilege is the narrator of the film, much like Linda Manz in Terrence Malick’s classic “Days of Heaven.” PTA, as we know by now, riffs on famous directors (Malick, Altman) the way Brian dePalma used to.

“IV” is set in Los Angeles, Malibu, maybe, although we don’t really see much of it. There’s a “Hurlyburly” feeling to the whole thing, of sex and drugs and maybe Joni Mitchell or the Mamas and the Papas somewhere in a Canyon. There’s slight reference to Charles Manson. But unlike a great movie of that ilk– Hal Ashby’s “Shampoo”– the center is always missing.

PTA captures and creates some outstanding moments from left field sources. Jeannie Berlin grabs your eye at the start, Broadway’s Jefferson Mays is a show stopper more than halfway in. By then, anything could be happening, so you just sit back and take in the spectacle. Robert Elswit has made the film look so delicious that you want to stay even though you know there will not be a satisfactory ending.

The break out star is Waterston, a sort of Barbara Hershey for 2014 ( and this saying a lot). She takes the newcomer crown from Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Lawrence, and Amy Adams. Joaquin Phoenix and Josh Brolin are movie stars, hands down. Witherspoon and Wilson are fun cameos.

Warner Bros. is going to try and go the same route they did last year with Spike Jonze’s “Her,” which also starred Joaquin Phoenix. I’m not sure that this will work quite the same way. “Her,” for all its futuristic bent, was really a traditional love story at heart. “Vice” takes a far more circuitous route. But I admire them for trying. If nothing else, “Inherent Vice” will be a cult film for stoners.

The press screening for Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Inherent Vice” this morning brought out unexpected stars– Patti Smith and Ralph Fiennes came together although no one can figure how they know each other. There was a massive line at the Walter Reade Theater– the biggest anyone had seen in a long long time considering the steady rain and the fact that it was Yom Kippur, say my spies. (Yours truly was in shul.)

The reviews are decidedly mixed for this New York Film Festival feature starring Joaquin Phoenix and Josh Brolin. Let’s not forget this movie is based on the odd later work of the very much alive and hiding Thomas Pynchon.

Says one astute observer: “I spoke to three other journalists and we all thought Paul Thomas Anderson’s film is a mess. It has some of the most hilarious stuff I’ve seen but after a while the shtick runs dry.  Joaquin does it over and over, the same expressions, same sight gags, and after a while it gets boring. The whole thing doesn’t jell. No Academy Award nomination for him in this mess.”

This didn’t help: “After the screening, only a few people clapped. It wasn’t an enthusiastic reception to the film and the fact that most of us got shut out of the press conference pissed us off.”

The celeb story: “Ralph Fiennes and Patti Smith showed up at Elinor Bunin Theater where they  mistakenly thought they had to pick up tickets for tonight’s premiere of “Inherent Vice.” A volunteer sent them over to the Alice Tully box office and afterwards she gushed to me she got Patti’s autograph.”

The finale, for now: “The critics like Manohla [Dargis of the New York Times] will love it. It has some of the funniest scenes I have ever seen but lots of repetition and confusing plot. Too much to pack into two hours but definitely some of the critics will love it.”

More later and tomorrow. I am so glad I missed this scene today. Personally, I am looking forward to “Inherent Vice.”