One, with journos of consequence leaving town for Venice, Telluride and Toronto a little more than three weeks hence, I’m presuming Universal will soon be press-screening Baltasar Kormakur‘s Everest, which will open the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday, 9.2. Two, directors are always telling actors to scream or bellow in pain whenever something violent or traumatic happens (gunshots, avalanches) but I don’t believe this — people who’ve been hurt or seriously threatened instantly devote their energy to surviving their ordeal, and if they make any kind of sound it’s usually along the lines of a mumbled “uh-oh.” And three, will Everest convey the basic mistake of the 1996 Everest climbing disaster, which is that reports of an oncoming blizzard were known but ignored by those who didn’t want to stop?