{"id":14194,"date":"2025-05-18T14:21:07","date_gmt":"2025-05-18T18:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=14194"},"modified":"2025-05-18T14:21:59","modified_gmt":"2025-05-18T18:21:59","slug":"weekly-movie-roundup-120","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=14194","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Movie Roundup"},"content":{"rendered":"<table>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt30788842\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1-2-190x300.jpg\" alt=\"Love Hurts\" width=\"190\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14188\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1-2-190x300.jpg 190w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1-2-647x1024.jpg 647w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1-2-768x1216.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1-2-970x1536.jpg 970w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1-2-1294x2048.jpg 1294w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1-2-scaled.jpg 1617w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 190px) 100vw, 190px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt27714946\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2-2-202x300.jpg\" alt=\"The Monkey\" width=\"202\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14189\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2-2-202x300.jpg 202w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2-2-691x1024.jpg 691w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2-2-768x1138.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2-2-1037x1536.jpg 1037w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2-2-1382x2048.jpg 1382w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2-2-scaled.jpg 1728w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 202px) 100vw, 202px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt12299608\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/3-2-202x300.jpg\" alt=\"Mickey 17\" width=\"202\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14190\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/3-2-202x300.jpg 202w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/3-2-691x1024.jpg 691w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/3-2-768x1138.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/3-2-1036x1536.jpg 1036w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/3-2-1382x2048.jpg 1382w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/3-2-scaled.jpg 1727w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 202px) 100vw, 202px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li>It&#8217;s easy to see what <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt30788842\/\">Love Hurts<\/a> is going for. The movie is a lot of things\u2014way too many, as it happens\u2014but none of those things is especially original. It&#8217;s easy to see what it&#8217;s going for, but it&#8217;s almost remarkable how immediately and completely almost none of the movie works. It&#8217;s overly complicated, yet only half-committed to any of its bits. None of it&#8217;s very fun\u2014most of it is decidedly not so\u2014and even if a scattered few of those bits show some fleeting promise\u2014just enough to make it easy to see what they were going for\u2014it&#8217;s hard to find any reason to care.\n<li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt27714946\/\">The Monkey<\/a> is a <em>lot<\/em>, but it&#8217;s exactly that go-for-broke, over-the-top gruesomeness, coupled with the very real, very personal trauma that writer-director Oz Perkins seems to be working out in the film, that makes it work so spectacularly. For a movie this gory and silly, it&#8217;s surprisingly heartfelt and just a lot of fun.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt12299608\/\">Mickey 17<\/a> is goofy and inventive and also a lot of fun, thanks largely to Robert Pattinson&#8217;s central performance(s).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt14260836\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/4-2-202x300.jpg\" alt=\"Better Man\" width=\"202\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14191\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/4-2-202x300.jpg 202w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/4-2-691x1024.jpg 691w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/4-2-768x1139.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/4-2-1036x1536.jpg 1036w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/4-2-1381x2048.jpg 1381w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/4-2-scaled.jpg 1727w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 202px) 100vw, 202px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt23055660\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5-2-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"Nickel Boys\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14192\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5-2-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5-2.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt5822536\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/6-2-203x300.jpg\" alt=\"Paddington in Peru\" width=\"203\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14193\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/6-2-203x300.jpg 203w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/6-2-691x1024.jpg 691w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/6-2-768x1138.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/6-2-1037x1536.jpg 1037w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/6-2-1383x2048.jpg 1383w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/6-2-scaled.jpg 1728w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 203px) 100vw, 203px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li>I went into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt14260836\/\">Better Man<\/a> with only the most casual familiarity with who Robbie Williams even was, and I adored the movie. I can&#8217;t imagine how much I would have loved it if I had started out as a fan. The movie hits all the standard beats of the music biopic, but it does so in such clever and unexpectedly engaging ways.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li>The (mostly) first-person POV in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt23055660\/\">Nickel Boys<\/a> is arguably both the film&#8217;s greatest strength and weakness. It&#8217;s visually compelling and immersive, leading to some interesting thematic connections, but it&#8217;s also a little distancing from the characters.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li>When the first <em>Paddington<\/em> sequel knocked <em>Citizen Kane<\/em> (only semi-ironically) off some best-of-all-time lists, maybe that was a cue for the filmmakers to quit while they were ahead. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt5822536\/\">Paddington in Peru<\/a> never hits <em>Paddington 2<\/em>&#8216;s heights, or even those of the first film, but it&#8217;s silly and charming and sweet enough that it never feels wholly unnecessary.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I also rewatched <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0120890\/\">Wild Things<\/a>, which I think <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/wild-things-1998\">Roger Ebert<\/a> described accurately (and admiringly) as &#8220;lurid trash.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s easy to see what Love Hurts is going for. The movie is a lot of things\u2014way too many, as it happens\u2014but none of those things is especially original. It&#8217;s easy to see what it&#8217;s going for, but it&#8217;s almost remarkable how immediately and completely almost none of the movie works. It&#8217;s overly complicated, yet &#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=14194\">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-14194","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\/14194"}],"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=14194"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14196,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14194\/revisions\/14196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}