Apparently just about everyone in the movie-booking world spent Labor Day roasting weenies—or whatever it is that people who have Labor Day off do—and the result of this is that I’m sitting here trying to put together a “Weekly Reeler” with limited information. I know what’s going on at the Fine Arts and I know what art titles are slated for The Carolina and I know the mainstream titles. I know the Fine Arts is opening The Guard and The Carolina is set to open The Devil’s Double and Terri. The “big” releases are Contagion, Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star and Warrior. But there are gaps.

Before going any further, it should be understood that Labor Day weekend is considered to be a movie dumping ground—one of those weekends where movies that studios view with grave misgivings and gloomy foreboding get sent out into the world. The idea is that very few people will notice them and that everyone will be spared as much embarassment as possible. The exception this year is the release of The Debt, which is aimed at an older, less picnic-happy audience—and, of course, art and indie fare like Magic Trip: Ken Kesey’s Search for a Kool Place (opening at The Carolina) and Another Earth (opening at the Fine Arts) don’t count. Things like Apollo 18 and Shark Night 3D, on the other hand, fit the profile perfectly. And then there’s self-releasing Seven Days in Utopia, which fits the four-waller profile more than anything else.

Another week and another array of choices for our viewing pleasure—or so the ever-hopeful studios would like to believe. Last week absolutely everything got its nose rubbed in the dirt. This week? Well, only time will tell, but the buffet this week includes three mainstream titles—Colmbiana, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, Our Idiot Brother—two art titles—A Better Life (Carolina), Tabloid (Fine Arts)—and something called The Caller (Carolina), which has the distinct aroma of “four-waller” about it.

All manner of things come our way this week—some of them are even movies, and one of them is in smell-o-vision. That seems fair. Lots of movies smell, this one’s honest about it. So what’s on tap? Well, from the mainstream side of the ledger, there’s Conan the Barbarian, Fright Night, One Day and Spy Kids: All the Time in the World. The art/indie side finds The Future opening at the Fine Arts and If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front at The Carolina.

The Smurfs to one side, last week didn’t turn out so badly. So what of this week? Well, let’s see. In the land of the mainstream we have The Change-up and Rise of the Planet of the Apes (both everywhere but the Carmike). And on the art film side of the ledger there’s Project Nim and The Trip (both at The Carolina). Apart from the unintentional connection between two movies involving chimpanzees, it’s at least diverse.

Only three movies come our way this week—two in the mainstream realm and one art title. One the mainstream side we get Captain America: The First Avenger and Friends with Benefits. Neither of these carry anything like the level of Harry Potter excitement—and I am skeptical (oh, yes, skeptical) that either will dethrone Mr. Potter as the top-of-the-pops movie. Submarine (which takes place in Wales and not on a submarine)—opening this Friday at The Carolina—certainly has no such aims, but that doesn’t keep it from being one of the best movies I’ve seen this year.

Last week was a curious mix. There were two movies that turned out to be somewhat better than expected, and one that proved to be every bit as awful as one might have suspected. This week—well, we’ll see. In the mainsteam, we have two mid-range movies—Horrible Bosses and Zookeeper—since no one sees much point in shoehorning a big picture in between Transformers last week and the final Harry Potter movie next week. On the art/indie front, The Carolina opens the surprisingly strong and popular documentary Buck and the giant monster flick TrollHunter.

Well, the field’s a little less crowded this week with two art titles—Jane Eyre (Carolina and Fine Arts) and Super (Carolina)—and two mainstream ones—Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family (everywhere but Carmike) and Water for Elephants (everywhere but Beaucatcher).

It’s a busy and possibly—in some cases at least—worthwhile weekend at the movies. We have two mainstream titles—Scream 4 and Rio—three art titles—Certified Copy (Carolina), The Conspirator (Carolina), and Win Win (Fine Arts)—one hard-to-classify title—Atlas Shrugged. If nothing else it’s diverse.

Frankly to me, this week’s most notable cinematic event is ActionFest, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t other movies coming our way this week—four-and-a-half of them, in fact. Last week we got lucky—well, Hop to one side—but I’d be lying if I said I was expecting that kind of luck this week.

An interesting movie weekend looms. We get two very different art titles—Even the Rain at the Fine Arts and I Saw the Devil at The Carolina—and three mainstream wide releases—Hop, Insidious, Source Code. You don’t often get the devil and the Easter Bunny in the same week—at least I don’t.

Last week turned out to be pretty grim indeed. At least this week I know there’s one bright spot, since Cedar Rapids—originally supposed to open last Friday—comes to The Carolina and the Fine Arts this Friday. Also up are the mainstream titles Limitless, The Lincoln Lawyer and Paul. These at least are potentially better than the last week’s rather unfortunate crop.