“Inferno” is worth the post-election time, says Sam Bauman

It’s election day and as you read this you probably have already voted early or are planning soon to head to the polls at the Carson City Community Center or Carson City Courthouse. Think well and vote for the candidate who has made the best sense to you.

Don’t be misled by political bombs of the last minute, like the amateur political pundit who just claimed Democrats hired goons to break up Trump meetings; no such events took place, just wishful thinking on his biased part.

The problem is, the authorities have warned that the Internet will be hacked so confirming late bombs may be difficult. So don’t let last-minute attacks affect your vote. Read arguments made by both sides and vote.

Our own Senate candidates win or loss cold affect the Senate — the two candidates for that office, Catherine Cortez Masto and Joe Heck, could decide the makeup of the Senate.

Today’s election is unusual, as are all elections. But this national vote pits a veteran Washington politician against a newcomer — Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump. If you plan to vote after reading this, do so. Yours could be the deciding one. There are three other candidates that you could select, avoiding the “none of the above,” Darrell Castle (IAP), Rocky De La Fuente (NPP), and Gary Johnson (LPN).

And tonight you could always drop in at Comma Coffee on Carson Street for the Mile High Jazz Band concert from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. David Bugli will lead the band from the piano. Jakki Ford will be the vocalist and offer “All or Nothing at All” among other tunes. The band could lift you out of election worry. With luck, Comma owner June Joplin may sing between delivering the election night drink of your choice — many choices there, including snacks.

MOVIE TIME

Switching from the political to Hollywood, there’s a movie in town worth your judgment and ticket price, “Inferno,” the third from books by Dan Brown.

The hero is Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) who first appears in a hospital bed with head injuries from a fall. Director Ron Howard is then off to the races with little time for audience comprehension of twists and turns and location switches from Europe to Turkey and cities in between. As in the first movies based on Brown books (“The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels & Demons”), Langdon is called on to think and figure out obscure factoids.

Too bad this one isn’t as good as the other two.

As in the first movies, Langdon is called on to solve a puzzle involving a lethal virus and a maniacal billionaire Bertrand Zobrist (Ben Foster), who dies early on in a stunning suicide. There’s a security company with a puzzling owner (Irrfan Khan), the World Health Organization in a strange position, enigmatic players (Omar Sy, Sidse Babett Knudsen) and fleets of gun-toting WHO agents (Maybe WHO should sue.) There are many bullets and drones, with snippy references to the classic writer Dante and artist Botticelli’s Chart of Hell. Gives some class to the film.

Hanks, who keeps company in this movie with Felicity Jones as Sienna Brooks, a lethally earnest doctor. Hanks is attacked in the hospital by a black-clad cop who fires bullets into a protective screen. (She later falls through a lovely old arty floor.) Brooks is with him in the hospital and goes on the run with him, chasing and being chased while finding clues in such places as the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence and St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice. Globe-trotting thrillers often use attractive backdrops for the story, adding some high-culture luster to the action.

The closing scenes the place in the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul amid a concert with the mystery virus in a plastic bag in the water. (I’ve been to the Sophia several times but never got to the subterranean waters, but I did see the sword marks of Paladin on the stairs.)

The virus conceived by bad guy Ben Foster is found and destroyed. It was planned to render half of the world population sterile to end the threat of over-population, but that was a no-brainer as the surviving population would just create the same old problem.

Maybe worth your time post-Nov. 8 voting. Felicity Jones is pretty even though it makes little sense for her to join in Hanks’ roaming and Hanks is same old competent actor.

Sam Bauman writes about senior affairs, among other things, for the Nevada Appeal.