Vanity Fair has a first-look at Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon.” No trailer, but some beautiful photos.

A reader asked about the most essential critics poll for the Venice Film Festival. As you know, Cannes has a tradition for having numerous polls every year, with the Screen International being the most famous one.

Joanna Hogg’s cinema is most definitely for acquired tastes. I’m more inclined to like her earlier stuff, like “Exhibition,” and “Archipelago,” but she really broke through with the ‘Souvenir’ movies — that second one was quite good, actually.

After Elsa Keslassy’s positive words for Florian Zeller’s “The Son,” here’s another rave from Tim Nasson:

By all accounts, it looks as though Jennifer Lawrence will be busy shooting an unknown film this fall before embarking on Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino’s “Sue” early next year.

Telluride has closed shop and Venice is now reaching its final days of screenings. What we basically have is “TAR,” “The Banshees of Inisherin,” and “Women Talking” as possible contenders.

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, a technically gifted filmmaker, has decided to go to war with film critics over the negative reactions “Bardo” has been getting.

Although “The Son” and “Blonde” are still left to be screened on, respectively, Wednesday and Thursday, most of the big titles from Venice and Telluride have already been unveiled these last 5 days.

This has thus far been a fall festival season of disappointments. One of the prime letdowns has got to be Sam Mendes’ “Empire of Light,” which I’ll be watching next week at TIFF.

Last week I warned that Martin McDonagh’s “The banshees of Inisherin” could be the sleeper hit at Venice. I had heard many good things coming out of its NYC press screening.

The embargo for auteur-extraordinaire Olivia Wilde’s “Don’t Worry Darling” should break this afternoon. And, yes, she definitely should be worrying, darling.

Last December, Kirill Serebrennikov started shooting his next film, “Limonov” (adapted from Emmanuel Carrère's classic novel) in Moscow, right before Russia's war in Ukraine.

The amount of talent involved in a Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” is staggering.

Of course he would say that.

It turns out that “The Whale” is not a total hit with critics. Brendan Fraser might not even get nominated, but what he does have is a great narrative.

In this latest edition of “Paul Schrader reviews …” We have the prolific writer-director of “Master Gardener” tackling Todd Field’s “TAR,” which he saw at Venice.

I don’t care about the middling reviews, I want to see this movie ASAP. It looks and sounds like an experience.

German filmmaker Christian Petzold started shooting “The Red Sky” in Germany back in July.

Almost every Telluride tweet reaction for Sam Mendes’ “Empire of Light” describes it as a “love letter to cinema.”

“Mon Crime,” the 22nd film from the prolific Francois Ozon, is probably going to premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.