NOW’s TIFF coverage is famously comprehensive and I’m, um, kind of a big part of it, so I’ve been wondering why the pre-festival stress isn’t so bad this year.

It’s taken me a few days to figure it out, but here it is: My workload is, in fact, lighter.

Sure, I’ve already filed two dozen capsule reviews (mostly for stuff I saw at Cannes), but here’s the secret: I don’t have to cover every last one of the standard theatrical releases, too. All those lame movies that get dumped into theaters at the end of August? Psssht.

Not that I’m totally out of that loop — I’ve got five reviews on deck for next week, some of which are for movies that are actually good — but thanks to NOW’s crack support staff, I was able to let “Fly Me to the Moon” and “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” slide (and “Tkaronto” and “‘Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris”, too), the better to focus on “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”, about which more here.

I do kind of want to see “Mirrors”, since Alexandre Aja is such a skilled technician, but Andrew’s on it, so I guess I’ll catch it on the Blu-ray.

More TIFFing this morning, so I’m off … but feel free to talk amongst yourselves!