{"id":13374,"date":"2023-12-17T16:15:52","date_gmt":"2023-12-17T21:15:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=13374"},"modified":"2023-12-17T16:24:49","modified_gmt":"2023-12-17T21:24:49","slug":"weekly-movie-roundup-56","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=13374","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Movie Roundup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I watched a half dozen movies last week:<\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/1-3-207x300.jpg\" alt=\"The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion\" width=\"207\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-13382\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/1-3-207x300.jpg 207w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/1-3-708x1024.jpg 708w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/1-3-768x1111.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/1-3.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 207px) 100vw, 207px\" \/><\/td>\n<td><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/2-2-190x300.jpg\" alt=\"The Main Event\" width=\"190\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-13386\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/2-2-190x300.jpg 190w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/2-2-648x1024.jpg 648w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/2-2-768x1213.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/2-2-972x1536.jpg 972w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/2-2.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 190px) 100vw, 190px\" \/><\/td>\n<td><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/3-2-202x300.jpg\" alt=\"Amistad\" width=\"202\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-13387\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/3-2-202x300.jpg 202w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/3-2-689x1024.jpg 689w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/3-2-768x1141.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/3-2.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 202px) 100vw, 202px\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\u201dhttps:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0065677\/\u201d>The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion<\/a> is your quintessential giallo, from the lurid subject matter to the convoluted plot, from the overly complicated title to the occasionally (maybe even accidentally) stunning shots.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li>I wasn\u2019t too fond of Barbra Streisand and Ryan O\u2019Neal\u2019s first team-up (<em>What\u2019s Up, Doc?<\/em>), so I don\u2019t know why I thought the rematch (<a href=\u201dhttps:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0079510\/\u201d>The Main Event<\/a>) would be any better. But it\u2019s significantly worse. Whereas the former was too aggressively madcap in its attempt to recreate classic screwball comedies, trying way too hard to ever be laugh-out-loud funny, it was at least trying. The same can\u2019t be said of the latter, which is rarely funny at all. <a href=\u201dhttps:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/the-main-event-1979\u201d>Roger Ebert called it<\/a> \u201ca Meet Cute from beginning to end, forced smiles, smarmy dialog and all.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li><a href=\u201dhttps:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0118607\/\u201d>Amistad<\/a> rightfully gives the African characters real agency in their own story, and Djimon Hounsou\u2019s Cinque never feels secondary to the white characters. (Indeed, Hounsou\u2019s is probably the best among several good performances.) The movie maybe overdoes it a little, by overplaying the historical significance of the trial and creating Morgan Freeman\u2019s freed slave character from whole cloth. But even it\u2019s not necessarily Spielberg\u2019s best, it\u2019s a more than solid historical drama.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/4-1-210x300.jpg\" alt=\"Flipper\" width=\"210\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-13378\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/4-1-210x300.jpg 210w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/4-1.jpg 490w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 210px) 100vw, 210px\" \/><\/td>\n<td><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/5-2-203x300.jpg\" alt=\"Romper Stomper\" width=\"203\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-13384\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/5-2-203x300.jpg 203w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/5-2-694x1024.jpg 694w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/5-2-768x1133.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/5-2.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 203px) 100vw, 203px\" \/><\/td>\n<td><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/6-1-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"Clockwatchers\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-13380\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/6-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/6-1.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li>It takes surprisingly long for the dolphin to even show up in <a href=\u201dhttps:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0057063\/\u201d>Flipper<\/a>, and when it does, the movie probably over-estimates how cinematic just watching it swim will be. But the whole thing is not without its innocent charms.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li><a href=\u201dhttps:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0105275\/\u201d>Romper Stomper<\/a> is a bleak affair\u2014turns out it\u2019s not exactly <em>fun<\/em> watching skinheads run riot\u2014but as a portrait of broken people inflicting violence on themselves and others, it\u2019s often quite compelling.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li><a href=\u201dhttps:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0118866\/\u201d>Clockwatchers<\/a> starts out almost like an <em>Office Space<\/em>-like comedy and then takes some dark but never unexpected turns. It\u2019s often bitter but wickedly funny and honest.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I also re-watched (I think for the second time) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt1226681\/\">Pontypool<\/a>. I really love all the weird ways it finds to be both really scary and strangely funny.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I watched a half dozen movies last week: The Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion is your quintessential giallo, from the lurid subject matter to the convoluted plot, from the overly complicated title to the occasionally (maybe even accidentally) stunning shots. I wasn\u2019t too fond of Barbra Streisand and Ryan O\u2019Neal\u2019s first team-up (What\u2019s &#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=13374\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13374"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13374"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13389,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13374\/revisions\/13389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}