{"id":14779,"date":"2026-04-26T09:38:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T13:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=14779"},"modified":"2026-04-26T09:38:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T13:38:14","slug":"weekly-movie-roundup-160","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=14779","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Movie Roundup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I watched 6 movies last week:<\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0049552\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1-2-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"Nightfall\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14776\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1-2-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1-2.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0110823\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2-2-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"Phantasm III\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14777\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2-2-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2-2.jpg 650w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0120632\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3-2-202x300.jpg\" alt=\"City of Angels\" width=\"202\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14778\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3-2-202x300.jpg 202w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3-2-688x1024.jpg 688w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3-2-768x1143.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3-2.jpg 1008w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 202px) 100vw, 202px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0049552\/\">Nightfall<\/a> may suffer a little in its pacing from the way it&#8217;s told, through piecemeal flashbacks, but it&#8217;s an otherwise tidy little noir.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li>It says something that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0110823\/\">Phantasm III<\/a> is at its best when it&#8217;s entirely incomprehensible. On those rarer occasions when you have <em>some<\/em> idea about what&#8217;s going on, it&#8217;s never to the movie&#8217;s benefit. The first <em>Phantasm<\/em> movie kind of works as a weird low-budget meditation on grief and nightmares, like some kind a surreal art piece. I think a problem with the sequels is they think the first movie works on <em>any<\/em> other level and try very badly to build from that.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li>I haven&#8217;t seen Wim Wenders&#8217; <em>Wings of Desire<\/em> in many years, but even in my memory of it, the remake, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0120632\">City of Angels<\/a>, can&#8217;t help but suffer by comparison. There are some nice moments in this one, mostly thanks to supporting players like Dennis Franz and the lesser-used Andre Braugher, but I didn&#8217;t find these characters particularly compelling.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0029322\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4-1-197x300.jpg\" alt=\"Nothing Sacred\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14780\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4-1-197x300.jpg 197w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4-1-672x1024.jpg 672w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4-1-768x1170.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4-1-1008x1536.jpg 1008w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4-1.jpg 1187w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0057940\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5-1-197x300.jpg\" alt=\"Cheyenne Autumn\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14781\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5-1-197x300.jpg 197w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5-1-672x1024.jpg 672w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5-1-768x1170.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5-1-1008x1536.jpg 1008w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5-1.jpg 1313w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0100506\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/6-1-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"Rockula\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14782\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/6-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/6-1.jpg 333w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li>I guess the best you can say about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0029322\/\">Nothing Sacred<\/a> is that it&#8217;s largely inoffensive\u2014except in those moments when its very dated racial stereotypes make it briefly very offensive\u2014but it&#8217;s also very scattershot in its laughs.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li>John Ford made the late-career <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0057940\/\">Cheyenne Autumn<\/a> in many ways as an apology for the depiction of Native Americans in his earlier Westerns. Which is an admirable goal, even if he casts few if any actual Native Americans, and the first half of the movie handles that respectably. It&#8217;s in the film&#8217;s middle layover in Dodge City, however, with Jimmy Stewart&#8217;s laconic Wyatt Earp, that Ford largely loses the thread, and the whole thing becomes a bit of an episodic mess. (What looks like some terrible third act rear projection doesn&#8217;t help matters either.)<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0100506\/\">Rockula<\/a> isn&#8217;t so much a movie as an excuse for some goofy musical numbers and silliness all around. It hangs together, more or less, on its weird plot, but a lot will depend on how amiable you find it, or how catchy the tunes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I watched 6 movies last week: Nightfall may suffer a little in its pacing from the way it&#8217;s told, through piecemeal flashbacks, but it&#8217;s an otherwise tidy little noir. It says something that Phantasm III is at its best when it&#8217;s entirely incomprehensible. On those rarer occasions when you have some idea about what&#8217;s going &#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=14779\">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-14779","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\/14779"}],"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=14779"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14783,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14779\/revisions\/14783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}