{"id":14050,"date":"2025-02-16T13:12:21","date_gmt":"2025-02-16T18:12:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=14050"},"modified":"2025-02-16T13:13:03","modified_gmt":"2025-02-16T18:13:03","slug":"weekly-movie-roundup-108","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=14050","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Movie Roundup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Last week, I watched 9 movies:<\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt9218128\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/1-2-203x300.jpg\" alt=\"Gladiator II\" width=\"203\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14041\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/1-2-203x300.jpg 203w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/1-2-692x1024.jpg 692w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/1-2-768x1137.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/1-2.jpg 878w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 203px) 100vw, 203px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt27417166\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/2-2-211x300.jpg\" alt=\"Crossing\" width=\"211\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14042\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/2-2-211x300.jpg 211w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/2-2-720x1024.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/2-2-768x1092.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/2-2-1080x1536.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/2-2-1440x2048.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/2-2-scaled.jpg 1800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 211px) 100vw, 211px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0057565\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/3-2-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"High and Low\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14043\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/3-2-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/3-2-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/3-2-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/3-2.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li>It&#8217;s not so much that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt9218128\/\">Gladiator II<\/a> can&#8217;t escape the shadow of the first film, it&#8217;s that it has no apparent desire to ever do so. Denzel Washington seems to be having fun, and Paul Mescal acquits himself well, but it&#8217;s difficult to see what, if anything, is the point of it all.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt27417166\/\">Crossing<\/a> is told with real compassion for its characters, even when we don&#8217;t understand, or even necessarily like them.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li>I found it a little difficult to really connect with Kurosawa&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0057565\/\">High and Low<\/a>, at least as a suspenseful police procedural, but the film puts its main character, played by incomparable Toshiro Mifune, in an interesting ethical dilemma.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0061395\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/4-2-196x300.jpg\" alt=\"Belle de Jour\" width=\"196\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14044\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/4-2-196x300.jpg 196w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/4-2-670x1024.jpg 670w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/4-2-768x1173.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/4-2-1006x1536.jpg 1006w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/4-2-1341x2048.jpg 1341w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/4-2.jpg 1483w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 196px) 100vw, 196px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0037988\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/5-2-211x300.jpg\" alt=\"The Picture of Dorian Gray\" width=\"211\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14045\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/5-2-211x300.jpg 211w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/5-2.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 211px) 100vw, 211px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt13654226\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/6-2-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"The Gorge\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14046\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/6-2-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/6-2-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/6-2-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/6-2-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/6-2-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/6-2-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\/tt0061395\/\">Belle de Jour<\/a> perhaps seemed more shocking in 1967 than it does almost 60 years later, but there is almost a quaintness to it now. That said, Catherine Deneuve remains coldly captivating, and there are intriguing surrealistic touches throughout.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li>There are some interesting cinematic choices in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0037988\/\">The Picture of Dorian Gray<\/a>\u2014is it a spoiler to say that the portrait, when it&#8217;s finally seen, is photographed in color?\u2014that I&#8217;m not entirely sure work. But the movie is always engaging.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt13654226\/\">The Gorge<\/a> is just so incredibly boring. The movie takes a ludicrous, but potentially fun, premise and does practically nothing with it, squandering also whatever chemistry the two leads have together.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0173716\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/7-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"Cecil B. Demented\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14047\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/7-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/7.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0035959\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/8-203x300.jpg\" alt=\"A Guy Named Joe\" width=\"203\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14048\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/8-203x300.jpg 203w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/8.jpg 554w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 203px) 100vw, 203px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0107953\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/9-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"Return of the Living Dead III\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14049\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/9-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/9-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/9-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/9-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/9.jpg 1300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0173716\/\">Cecil B. Demented<\/a> works better in concept than execution, though there are amateurish charms to any John Waters movie.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li>Of the &#8220;guy dies but returns to Earth as a guardian angel or ghost&#8221; subgenre of romantic comedy, I think I&#8217;ll take <em>Her Comes Mr. Jordan<\/em> (and its remakes) or <em>A Matter of Life and Death<\/em> over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0035959\">A Guy Named Joe<\/a>, which is pleasant enough, thanks largely to Spencer Tracy&#8217;s charms, but takes much too long to get going, and doesn&#8217;t have much of anywhere to go when it finally does so.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0107953\/\">Return of the Living Dead III<\/a> isn&#8217;t perfect. All of the real character development is left to the actors, and the movie is much grimmer in tone than the other two films in the series. But there&#8217;s some good creature work, interesting body horror, and at least a couple of surprisingly good performances.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I also rewatched both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0080455\/\">The Blues Brothers<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0080120\/\">The Warrirors<\/a>, instead of watching the Super Bowl, which, the halftime show notwithstanding, feels like the better choice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week, I watched 9 movies: It&#8217;s not so much that Gladiator II can&#8217;t escape the shadow of the first film, it&#8217;s that it has no apparent desire to ever do so. Denzel Washington seems to be having fun, and Paul Mescal acquits himself well, but it&#8217;s difficult to see what, if anything, is the &#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=14050\">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-14050","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\/14050"}],"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=14050"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14053,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14050\/revisions\/14053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}