{"id":13422,"date":"2024-01-07T16:21:33","date_gmt":"2024-01-07T21:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=13422"},"modified":"2024-01-07T16:21:33","modified_gmt":"2024-01-07T21:21:33","slug":"weekly-movie-roundup-59","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=13422","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Movie Roundup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Just one week into 2024 and I&#8217;ve watched 5 movies.<\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt9051908\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-1-202x300.jpg\" alt=\"Living (2022)\" width=\"202\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-13423\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-1-202x300.jpg 202w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-1-691x1024.jpg 691w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-1-768x1138.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-1-1037x1536.jpg 1037w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-1-1382x2048.jpg 1382w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1-1-scaled.jpg 1728w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 202px) 100vw, 202px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0117407\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/2-1-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"Pusher (1996)\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-13424\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/2-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/2-1-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/2-1-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/2-1.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt8258502\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/3-1-203x300.jpg\" alt=\"Foe (2023)\" width=\"203\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-13425\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/3-1-203x300.jpg 203w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/3-1-691x1024.jpg 691w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/3-1-768x1138.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/3-1-1037x1536.jpg 1037w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/3-1-1382x2048.jpg 1382w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/3-1-scaled.jpg 1728w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 203px) 100vw, 203px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li>I don&#8217;t know that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt9051908\">Living<\/a> has the emotional weight of the Akira Kurosawa original (<em>Ikiru<\/em>), but it gets a lot of the details right and has a moving central performance by Bill Nighy.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0117407\/\">Pusher<\/a> maybe seemed more daring and gritty in 1996, but even if the look and approach of the film haven&#8217;t aged perfectly well, the movie is very effective at building tension as things spiral out of control for its main character.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li>There are some incredibly good performances in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt8258502\/\">Foe<\/a>, but only because the whole thing feels like a bunch of acting exercises gone awry and left to drag on too long. As a narrative, as any kind of cohesive story, the movie is absolutely terrible, even before it starts explaining itself like a bad <em>Black Mirror<\/em> episode or layering ending upon ending. There are some good thoughts in the film\u2014I hesitate to call them anything as fully formed as <em>ideas<\/em>\u2014and I can only imagine that&#8217;s what Ronan and Mescal were responding to when they offered the movie two performances it very much does not deserve.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0076257\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/4-1-195x300.jpg\" alt=\"The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)\" width=\"195\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-13426\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/4-1-195x300.jpg 195w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/4-1-666x1024.jpg 666w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/4-1-768x1180.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/4-1.jpg 976w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 195px) 100vw, 195px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt17024450\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/5-1-202x300.jpg\" alt=\"The Equalizer 3 (2023)\" width=\"202\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-13427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/5-1-202x300.jpg 202w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/5-1.jpg 259w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 202px) 100vw, 202px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/emptymovie-1-206x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"206\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-12502\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/emptymovie-1-206x300.jpg 206w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/emptymovie-1-704x1024.jpg 704w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/emptymovie-1-768x1117.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/emptymovie-1.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 206px) 100vw, 206px\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0076257\/\">The Kentucky Fried Movie<\/a> is just embarrassingly not funny.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li>I&#8217;m not the biggest fan of <em>The Equalizer<\/em> film series\u2014I remember almost nothing about the first one and remember only actively disliking the second\u2014but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt17024450\/\">the third one<\/a> plays to the franchise&#8217;s strengths, telling an engaging and straightforward story. Maybe a little too straightforward, since the movie often feels slow and generic, and its stakes often feel more than a little low, but Denzel Washington is good in the role, as is Dakota Fanning opposite him. It feels very much like a movie I won&#8217;t remember a year from now\u2014and I still think they missed a trick by not calling it <em>The Threequalizer<\/em>\u2014but it&#8217;s an entertaining enough ride while you&#8217;re on it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just one week into 2024 and I&#8217;ve watched 5 movies. I don&#8217;t know that Living has the emotional weight of the Akira Kurosawa original (Ikiru), but it gets a lot of the details right and has a moving central performance by Bill Nighy. Pusher maybe seemed more daring and gritty in 1996, but even if &#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=13422\">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-13422","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\/13422"}],"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=13422"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13428,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13422\/revisions\/13428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}