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?

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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!