The weekend before Labour Day is traditionally the slowest of the year for moviegoing. Everyone has something else they have to be doing — packing for school, enjoying the last free days of summer, avoiding whatever garbage the studios usually dump.

But this year, the selection is better than average. In fact, I liked all three of this week’s new releases … didn’t love them, but enjoyed them well enough. Here, I’ll walk you through ’em:

“The American“: Technically, Anton Corbijn’s broody Eurothriller — with George Clooney hiding out in an Italian village and discovering the redemptive joys of smoking-hot whores — isn’t a Labour Day weekend release, since it opened on Wednesday. But still.

“Going the Distance“: In which real-life couple Drew Barrymore and Justin Long struggle with a long-distance relationship, while various wacky friends and family members egg them on in different directions. The stars are charming, the script is just a little smarter and funnier than it could have been, and it has Charlie Day from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”. Wild card!

“Machete“: When Robert Rodriguez announced he’d be reverse-engineering a whole movie out of that “Grindhouse” trailer, I scoffed. (Didn’t everyone?) But he’s done a really entertaining job of it, and if this doesn’t vault Danny Trejo to the top of the action-hero A-list, nothing will. (I’m kidding. Nothing will. But he’s pretty awesome, all the same.) My review should be going online later this afternoon. UPDATE: There it is!

And there you have it! Go see something!