I dislike the neeedling, nagging voice of the guy asking the questions, but this Vogue thing is a good showcase for the charms of La La Land‘s Emma Stone. I’ve noted before that she has the Best Actress Oscar in the bag, and I feel obliged to repeat this.

I stayed in Goleta last night. 90 minutes hence I’ll be attending a Pablo Larrain double-header at Santa Barbara’s Riviera theatre — a 10 am screening of Neruda (The Orchard, 12.6), and then a combination luncheon, schmoozer and q & a (SBIFF honcho Roger Durling interviewing Larrain), followed by a 2 pm screening of Jackie (Fox Searchlight, 12.2).

Has anyone even seen Inferno, which has a 20% Rotten Tomatoes rating? What discerning person would do that? To what end? Projections say it’ll wind up with around $15 million by tonight. There’s a general notion that the second sequel (i.e., the third entry) in a franchise will tend to blow chunks. Yes, the masses are gullible, but every now and then they can smell a turd from a mile away,

Variety‘s Seth Kelley has speculated that “this weekend’s overall slump could be attributed to any number of factors including sequel fatigue, the calm before the awards-season-contenders storm, the Presidential election, Halloween weekend or the World Series which sees the Chicago Cubs, a major market, in competition for the first time since 1945.” 

It’s the Cubs, definitely the Cubs plus Halloween plus a strong populist suspicion that Inferno sucks.

“Watching [Tom] Hanks bummed me out. An actor without a role is a sad thing to watch, and Hanks isn’t the type to throw in some fruity Brando-like inflections or look like he’s trying to amuse himself. He’s not a comedian anymore. He’s a terribly earnest fellow, and he’s bent on serving the terribly earnest Ron Howard, who’s bent on serving this terrible material. Their symbiotic blandness eats into your brain. Together with Dan Brown, they might have inadvertently discovered the tenth circle of hell.” — from David Edelstein‘s Vulture review of Inferno, which is currently tanking or underperforming, depending on what box-office report you’re reading.