{"id":13971,"date":"2024-12-29T20:19:47","date_gmt":"2024-12-30T01:19:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=13971"},"modified":"2024-12-29T20:19:47","modified_gmt":"2024-12-30T01:19:47","slug":"weekly-movie-roundup-101","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=13971","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Movie Roundup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I watched 8 movies last week:<\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt15939198\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/1-4-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"Blitz\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-13963\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/1-4-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/1-4-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/1-4-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/1-4.jpg 936w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt12003946\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/2-4-240x300.jpg\" alt=\"Violent Night\" width=\"240\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-13972\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/2-4-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/2-4-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/2-4-768x960.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/2-4.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt27403986\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/3-4-197x300.jpg\" alt=\"Juror #2\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-13965\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/3-4-197x300.jpg 197w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/3-4-673x1024.jpg 673w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/3-4-768x1168.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/3-4-1010x1536.jpg 1010w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/3-4.jpg 1339w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0072308\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/4-4-203x300.jpg\" alt=\"The Towering Inferno\" width=\"203\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-13966\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/4-4-203x300.jpg 203w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/4-4.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 203px) 100vw, 203px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt15939198\/\">Blitz<\/a> very effectively captures the tension and fear of living under the German&#8217;s bombing of London during World War II. The movie is perhaps a little too episodic, and not necessarily Steve McQueen&#8217;s best work, but it&#8217;s beautifully shot, with some very good performances.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt12003946\/\">Violent Night<\/a> maybe isn&#8217;t as clever as it could be, but it is a <em>little<\/em> clever, and everyone involved is committed enough to the bit that it kind of works. &#8220;Let&#8217;s <em>literally<\/em> make Die Hard a Christmas movie&#8221; is a weird and wonky premise, but it&#8217;s surprisingly fun.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li>There&#8217;s probably a way to take the ridiculous premise of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt27403986\/\">Juror #2<\/a> and turn it into a fun legal potboiler\u2014or even a more serious discussion of our courtroom system and personal ethics\u2014instead of the interesting but dull story Clint Eastwood chooses to stage here.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li>They really don&#8217;t make movies like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0072308\/\">The Towering Inferno<\/a> anymore. That might be for the best. It&#8217;s occasionally entertaining, and the special effects are good for 1974, but there&#8217;s not much of a <em>movie<\/em> here.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt19895822\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/5-4-203x300.jpg\" alt=\"Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger\" width=\"203\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-13967\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/5-4-203x300.jpg 203w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/5-4-691x1024.jpg 691w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/5-4-768x1138.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/5-4.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 203px) 100vw, 203px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0029682\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/6-4-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"Topper\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-13968\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/6-4-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/6-4-681x1024.jpg 681w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/6-4-768x1155.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/6-4-1021x1536.jpg 1021w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/6-4.jpg 1064w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt12810074\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/7-4-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"Nightbitch\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-13969\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/7-4-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/7-4-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/7-4-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/7-4-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/7-4.jpg 1067w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt27657135\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/8-3-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"Saturday Night\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-13970\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/8-3-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/8-3-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/8-3-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/8-3-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/8-3-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/8-3-scaled.jpg 1707w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt19895822\/\">Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger<\/a> is not exhaustive. It talks only a little about the duo&#8217;s films together before they started their production company, and not at all about the two films they made together a decade after its dissolution. But it&#8217;s an interesting look back, through the very personal lens of Martin Scorsese&#8217;s memories of the films.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0029682\/\">Topper<\/a> is effervescent\u2014both charmingly bubbly and also instantly forgettable.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt12810074\/\">Nightbitch<\/a> has such a strange tone\u2014it&#8217;s a horror and a comedy, but it&#8217;s decidedly <em>not<\/em> a horror comedy\u2014but it walks that odd tightrope well, thanks largely to Amy Adams.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt27657135\/\">Saturday Night<\/a> can&#8217;t entirely shake a sense of smug self-importance, but it never goes full <em>Studio 60<\/em>. The performances are all fairly good, capturing the qualities of the early <em>SNL<\/em> cast without ever feeling like impersonation\u2014even if that does mean it&#8217;s not always clear who someone is supposed to be until they&#8217;re introduced by name. Likewise, the film&#8217;s biggest strength\u2014its near-realtime structure\u2014is also its biggest weakness, because while it has a fun ticking-clock, behind-the-scenes energy, the movie is very superficial.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I also re-watched 1989&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0096895\/\">Batman<\/a>, which I hadn&#8217;t seen in years\u2014maybe not in its entirety since I was twelve and it was in theaters\u2014and it was somehow both a lot more, and a lot less, silly than I remembered it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I watched 8 movies last week: Blitz very effectively captures the tension and fear of living under the German&#8217;s bombing of London during World War II. The movie is perhaps a little too episodic, and not necessarily Steve McQueen&#8217;s best work, but it&#8217;s beautifully shot, with some very good performances. Violent Night maybe isn&#8217;t as &#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=13971\">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-13971","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\/13971"}],"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=13971"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13974,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13971\/revisions\/13974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}