There were women sobbing all around me during the press & industry screening of Sarah Polley’s “Women Talking,” so, I assume, the film will work with a contingent of people, but it fell flat for me.

Robert Zemeckis’ “Pinocchio” is getting panned by critics. Not that shocking. I screened it last week and turned it off after about an hour. It’s pretty bad.

Last year’s Fremaux-led committee choosing Julia Ducournau’s “Titane” over Audrey Diwan’s “Happening” was a controversial one. Ducournau won the Palme d’Or and Diwan won the Golden Lion at Venice.

Despite the controversies, I don’t think we were even ready for Andrew Dominik’s “Blonde.” It’s everything we thought it would be and then some.

Word around the campfire is that the Juliane Moore led jury at Venice has favorited three movies for potential Golden Lion recompense.

If an algorithm existed that could create the most Spielberg-ian movie poster imaginable then this would be the result.

UPDATE: The Wrap, THR, Screen, The Times, The Playlist are mixed-to-negative. However, Variety is very positive.

A trailer for Tobias Lindholm’s “The Good Nurse” has been unveiled by Netflix. It looks grim and genre-y. Nothing wrong with that.

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.