Happy Labor Day
Labor Day weekend 2023 feels particularly different this year because too many people in various unions are celebrating the weekend while on strike. Where UPS was able to avert a strike, Southwest Airlines pilots/flight attendants and American Airlines flight attendants have authorized a strike. Meanwhile, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes continue. There was some hope there, for a week or two at best, that maybe the studios would come to their senses and offer a fair deal to the writers. Alas, it’s not happening any time soon. Maybe October if we’re lucky?
I’m usually deep into TIFF prep by now but I haven’t pressed play on a single screener. In fairness, I would typically start during the week in which I was hit by a stomach bug. It drained my energy for two days in a row. By the time in which my stomach started feeling better, Chicago was hit with excessive heat for two days in a row. While it finally felt nice outside on August 25, my apartment needed a few days to begin cooling down from the 100+ heat index. It wasn’t until last weekend before I really started to get my energy back. However, I was mostly watching comfort movies as opposed to new things for review. It had an impact on my output because I had nothing to write about. Not helping was Sony’s decision to screen The Equalizer 3 for New York and LA press only. I’m sorry but I’m not making myself watch a film in theaters after it opens if there’s not a local press screening!