{"id":14197,"date":"2025-05-25T12:31:18","date_gmt":"2025-05-25T16:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=14197"},"modified":"2025-05-25T12:31:18","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T16:31:18","slug":"weekly-movie-roundup-121","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=14197","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Movie Roundup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Last week I watched 8 movies. It mostly did not work out well.<\/p>\n<p>It started when I rewatched <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt7040874\/\">A Simple Favor<\/a>, mostly because I didn&#8217;t remember it well and was curious to watch the sequel. The original is stylish and clever and fun, if never quite enough of any of those things, and worth a watch for the verbal sparring between Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1-3-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"Another Simple Favor\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14198\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1-3-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1-3-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1-3-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1-3-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1-3-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1-3-scaled.jpg 1707w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt20214908\/\">Another Simple Favor<\/a>, meanwhile, is more of the same\u2014although a little less clever and a little less fun. Lively and Kendrick are still the best reason to watch, and they&#8217;re fun together, but the movie sags a lot more than the first with its overcomplicated plot and characters.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>After that, for some reason, I hit upon this idea to watch a week of sequels, usually of the forgotten (or misbegotten) variety. And this is where the week took a real turn.<\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0086361\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2-3-198x300.jpg\" alt=\"Staying Alive\" width=\"198\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2-3-198x300.jpg 198w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2-3-676x1024.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2-3-768x1164.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2-3-1013x1536.jpg 1013w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2-3-1351x2048.jpg 1351w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2-3.jpg 1491w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 198px) 100vw, 198px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0084021\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/3-3-202x300.jpg\" alt=\"Grease 2\" width=\"202\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/3-3-202x300.jpg 202w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/3-3.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 202px) 100vw, 202px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0099691\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/4-3-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"Graffiti Bridge\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14201\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/4-3-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/4-3-679x1024.jpg 679w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/4-3-768x1158.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/4-3.jpg 995w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li>Whether you&#8217;re a brother or whether you&#8217;re a mother, don&#8217;t watch <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0086361\/\">Staying Alive<\/a>. It&#8217;s difficult to tell if Travolta is genuinely terrible in the movie, or if it&#8217;s just that he&#8217;s playing one of so many unpleasant characters, but either way, this was not a fun experience. Nowadays, people remember <em>Saturday Night Fever<\/em> mostly for its dancing&#8230;and desperately try to forget <em>Staying Alive<\/em> for the same.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li>If the first <em>Grease<\/em> is a bubblegum musical, then <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0084021\/\">Grease 2<\/a> is what happens when that bubblegum gets accidentally stuck to the bottom of your shoe. Did they write a bunch of random scenes they were then forced to write songs to fit around, or vice versa? It&#8217;s tough to tell, but the songs do seem very random, and most of them aren&#8217;t very good. There&#8217;s a spark of something in Michelle Pfeiffer&#8217;s performance, but this Grease has very little groove or meaning.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li>I&#8217;m not altogether convinced that Prince&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0099691\/\">Graffiti Bridge<\/a> is actually a <em>movie<\/em>. It&#8217;s certainly shaped a lot less like one than <em>Purple Rain<\/em>, to which it&#8217;s ostensibly a sequel, and it feels more like a haphazard collection of half-baked music videos. Some of that music isn&#8217;t bad, even this was hardly Prince&#8217;s best album, but as a movie with a story and characters it&#8217;s dull and confusing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0086370\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5-3-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"The Sting II\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14202\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5-3-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5-3-680x1024.jpg 680w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5-3-768x1157.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5-3-1019x1536.jpg 1019w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/5-3.jpg 1359w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0074815\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/6-3.jpg\" alt=\"Look What&#039;s Happened to Rosemary&#039;s Baby\" width=\"190\" height=\"281\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-14203\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0118747\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/7-1-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"Blues Brothers 2000\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14204\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/7-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/7-1-682x1024.jpg 682w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/7-1-768x1154.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/7-1-1023x1536.jpg 1023w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/7-1-1363x2048.jpg 1363w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/7-1.jpg 1458w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt14145426\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/8-203x300.jpg\" alt=\"Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe\" width=\"203\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14205\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/8-203x300.jpg 203w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/8.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 203px) 100vw, 203px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li>The Sting is one of my favorite movies, so maybe I&#8217;m a little biased, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0086370\/\">The Sting II<\/a> is absolutely terrible. The movie is just so deeply confused\u2014a direct sequel that for some reason is happening to (mostly) different characters\u2014but it&#8217;s also pretty dumb and boring just on its own terms. A good con movie, like the first one, cons the audience too a little. A bad con movie, like this one, makes the audience feel conned.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li>I suppose there could be an interesting story in the son of the devil who doesn&#8217;t <em>know<\/em> that&#8217;s who he is, is trying to fight that evil destiny, which I guess is what <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0074815\">Look What&#8217;s Happened to Rosemary&#8217;s Baby<\/a> is trying to be\u2014when it remembers to be anything at all. But it&#8217;s such a meandering dud of a movie, even for what is a cheap, decade-late TV movie sequel. Every now and then Ray Milland and Ruth Gordon show up to nibble on some scenery, which almost passes for amusing, but that&#8217;s about all this has going for it.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0118747\/\">Blues Brothers 2000<\/a> might have worked as novelty album or concert for charity, but they had to go ahead and ruin it by trying to make a movie. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/blues-brothers-2000-1998\">As Roger Ebert wrote<\/a>, &#8220;&#8216;Blues Brothers 2000&#8217; has a lot of good music in it. It would have had more if they&#8217;d left out the story, which would have been an excellent idea.&#8221; Ebert might have oversold how good these specific musical numbers are\u2014no one is going to ever point to this as Aretha Franklin&#8217;s definitive version of &#8220;Respect,&#8221; for instance\u2014but he wasn&#8217;t wrong that they&#8217;re absolutely the only reason to watch this movie.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt14145426\/\">Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe<\/a> was, hands down, the best movie I watched this week. That says a lot about the week I put myself through, but I don&#8217;t mean to just damn it with faint praise. It&#8217;s both dumb and clever and often very funny.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week I watched 8 movies. It mostly did not work out well. It started when I rewatched A Simple Favor, mostly because I didn&#8217;t remember it well and was curious to watch the sequel. The original is stylish and clever and fun, if never quite enough of any of those things, and worth a &#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=14197\">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-14197","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\/14197"}],"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=14197"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14211,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14197\/revisions\/14211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}