{"id":14159,"date":"2025-04-27T20:53:02","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T00:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=14159"},"modified":"2025-12-27T13:00:48","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T18:00:48","slug":"weekly-movie-roundup-117","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=14159","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\/tt0116908\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1-3-193x300.jpg\" alt=\"The Long Kiss Goodnight\" width=\"193\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14160\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1-3-193x300.jpg 193w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1-3.jpg 550w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 193px) 100vw, 193px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0058604\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/2-3-212x300.jpg\" alt=\"I Am Cuba\" width=\"212\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14161\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/2-3-212x300.jpg 212w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/2-3-723x1024.jpg 723w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/2-3-768x1087.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/2-3.jpg 880w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 212px) 100vw, 212px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0095583\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/3-3-197x300.jpg\" alt=\"Maniac Cop\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14162\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/3-3-197x300.jpg 197w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/3-3-672x1024.jpg 672w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/3-3-768x1171.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/3-3-1008x1536.jpg 1008w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/3-3-1344x2048.jpg 1344w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/3-3.jpg 1486w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0076855\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/4-3-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"One Sings, the Other Doesn&#039;t\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14163\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/4-3-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/4-3-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/4-3.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li>There seems to have been a small effort, in recent years, to reclaim <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0116908\/\">The Long Kiss Goodnight<\/a> as an unfairly forgotten perfect action movie. And I&#8217;m here to say, no, I think the reaction at the time\u2014this is a well made, largely  fun, but also mostly forgettable movie\u2014was more or less the right one.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0058604\/\">I Am Cuba<\/a> employs some of the same camera techniques that amazed me so much recently in <em>The Cranes Are Flying<\/em>, and yet I found this all a little too dizzying, too disconnected, and too much.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li>For better or worse, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0095583\/\">Maniac Cop<\/a> gives you everything you expect from a 1980s Troma-produced Larry Cohen=written movie about a killer cop in New York City.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li>The simplicity of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0076855\/\">One Sings, the Other Doesn&#8217;t<\/a>, in its story of female friendship and empowerment, is to be admired, and I like the characters. Would it have helped if I liked what the one of them sings more?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0298203\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/5-3-192x300.jpg\" alt=\"8 Mile\" width=\"192\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14164\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/5-3-192x300.jpg 192w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/5-3-656x1024.jpg 656w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/5-3-768x1198.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/5-3-985x1536.jpg 985w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/5-3.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 192px) 100vw, 192px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt14123284\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/6-3-203x300.jpg\" alt=\"Havoc\" width=\"203\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14165\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/6-3-203x300.jpg 203w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/6-3-691x1024.jpg 691w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/6-3-768x1138.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/6-3-1037x1536.jpg 1037w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/6-3-1383x2048.jpg 1383w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/6-3.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 203px) 100vw, 203px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt27450445\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/7-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"First Time Caller\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14166\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/7-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/7-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/7-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/7.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0038363\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/8-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"Blithe Spirit\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14167\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/8-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/8-681x1024.jpg 681w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/8-768x1155.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/8-1021x1536.jpg 1021w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/8-1361x2048.jpg 1361w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/8-scaled.jpg 1702w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li>Eminem is good in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0298203\/\">8 Mile<\/a>, a genuinely compelling screen presence, but it&#8217;s also not hard to see why he hasn&#8217;t gone on to act in anything else, any movies where he plays a character further from himself.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt14123284\/\">Havoc<\/a> is surprisingly bad. &#8220;Even if you discount how utterly formulaic Evans&#8217;s screenplay is&#8230;&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/havoc-movie-review-2025\">writes Peter Sobczynski<\/a>, &#8220;in regards to its clunky story in which nothing ever seems to be at stake and unsympathetic cardboard characters or how it wastes such charismatic performers as Hardy, Whitaker and Olyphant or how the whole thing has an ugly and unconvincing faux-gritty sheen that looks like a &#8216;Grand Theft Auto&#8217; knockoff designed on a computer in need of debugging and focus entirely on the action beats, &#8216;Havoc&#8217; still comes up short.&#8221;<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt27450445\/\">First Time Caller<\/a> is surprisingly great. It isn&#8217;t a perfect movie\u2014it maybe could have done more to tie what&#8217;s happening to this character, why it&#8217;s happening specifically to <em>him<\/em>\u2014but it&#8217;s incredibly effective and creative for such a simple premise and bare-bones indie film.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li>I saw <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0038363\/\">Blithe Spirit<\/a> on Broadway once, with Angela Lansbury in the Madame Arcati role. I think I liked that version slightly more\u2014even Noel Coward reportedly felt David Lean&#8217;s direction of the film version was a little too static\u2014but there are things to enjoy about it, from its droll wit to Margaret Rutherford&#8217;s own turn in the Arcati role.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I also re-watched <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0069427\/\">Twins of Evil<\/a>, which proved to be even more fun than I remembered it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I watched 8 movies last week: There seems to have been a small effort, in recent years, to reclaim The Long Kiss Goodnight as an unfairly forgotten perfect action movie. And I&#8217;m here to say, no, I think the reaction at the time\u2014this is a well made, largely fun, but also mostly forgettable movie\u2014was more &#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=14159\">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-14159","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\/14159"}],"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=14159"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14536,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14159\/revisions\/14536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}