{"id":14867,"date":"2026-06-07T11:17:42","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T15:17:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=14867"},"modified":"2026-06-07T11:17:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T15:17:42","slug":"weekly-movie-roundup-166","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=14867","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Movie Roundup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I watched 5 movies last week:<\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt20256448\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1-210x300.jpg\" alt=\"Force of Nature: The Dry 2\" width=\"210\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14869\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1-210x300.jpg 210w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1-717x1024.jpg 717w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1-768x1097.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1-1075x1536.jpg 1075w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1-1433x2048.jpg 1433w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1-scaled.jpg 1792w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 210px) 100vw, 210px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0078481\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2-198x300.jpg\" alt=\"A Wedding\" width=\"198\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14870\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2-198x300.jpg 198w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2-676x1024.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2-768x1163.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2-1014x1536.jpg 1014w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2-1353x2048.jpg 1353w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2.jpg 1455w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 198px) 100vw, 198px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0112819\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/3-203x300.jpg\" alt=\"Dead Presidents\" width=\"203\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14871\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/3-203x300.jpg 203w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/3-692x1024.jpg 692w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/3-768x1136.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/3-1038x1536.jpg 1038w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/3.jpg 1352w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 203px) 100vw, 203px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt20256448\/\">Force of Nature: The Dry 2<\/a> repeats all the same problems I had with the first movie\u2014an unsatisfying mystery too slowly pieced together through conflicting memories\u2014but repeats fewer of the things that I thought worked well there\u2014a sense of place, buried trauma, and a reason to care about any of the characters.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li>Roger Ebert gave Robert Altman&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0078481\/\">A Wedding<\/a> three and a half stars, Gene Siskel gave it one and a half, and for the life of me I still can&#8217;t figure out which one of them I agree with. Even splitting the difference with two and half stars feels wrong, but it&#8217;s such a strange and confusing movie, juggling scenes that sometimes feel simultaneously inspired and awful, that it&#8217;s hard to know what to make of it.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li>&#8220;[H]ere is a film that feels incomplete,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/dead-presidents-1995\">Roger Ebert wrote<\/a> about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0112819\/\">Dead Presidents<\/a>, &#8220;as if its last step is into thin air. Scene by scene you feel its skill, but you leave the theater wondering about the meaning of it all.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0108399\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4-201x300.jpg\" alt=\"True Romance\" width=\"201\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14872\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4-201x300.jpg 201w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4-687x1024.jpg 687w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4-768x1145.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4-1030x1536.jpg 1030w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4-1373x2048.jpg 1373w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4-scaled.jpg 1717w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 201px) 100vw, 201px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt26443616\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/5-1-202x300.jpg\" alt=\"Hoppers\" width=\"202\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14873\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/5-1-202x300.jpg 202w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/5-1-691x1024.jpg 691w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/5-1-768x1139.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/5-1-1036x1536.jpg 1036w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/5-1.jpg 1086w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 202px) 100vw, 202px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/emptymovie-1-206x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"206\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12502\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/emptymovie-1-206x300.jpg 206w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/emptymovie-1-704x1024.jpg 704w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/emptymovie-1-768x1117.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/emptymovie-1.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 206px) 100vw, 206px\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li>There&#8217;s undeniably high energy in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0108399\/\">True Romance<\/a>, but it grows tedious very quickly, this collision of Tony Scott aesthetics and early Quentin Tarantino shoot-em-up. I wouldn&#8217;t go as far as to call it &#8220;aesthetically corrupt,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20121104160704\/http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-srv\/style\/longterm\/movies\/videos\/trueromancerharrington_a0ab89.htm\">as the Washington Post did at the time<\/a>, but it is definitely a whole lot of &#8217;90s style and over-qualified cameos in search of anything interesting to say.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt26443616\/\">Hoppers<\/a> is a little weird, in the ways it plays with anthropomorphizing (and not) the animals in it, but it&#8217;s very sweet and funny and clever.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I also rewatched both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt2980592\/\">The Guest<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0057076\/\">From Russia With Love<\/a>, both of which were fine, though maybe not as good as I remember either. Dan Stevens has a lot of fun playing evil in <em>The Guest<\/em>, and Maika Monroe is good playing off of him, but the movie <em>does<\/em> a lot less with its premise than I remembered. Meanwhile, <em>From Russia With Love<\/a> is almost the prototypical Bond movie a little slow in places, but it&#8217;s a little slow in places, and I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s where they perfected the formula.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I watched 5 movies last week: Force of Nature: The Dry 2 repeats all the same problems I had with the first movie\u2014an unsatisfying mystery too slowly pieced together through conflicting memories\u2014but repeats fewer of the things that I thought worked well there\u2014a sense of place, buried trauma, and a reason to care about any &#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=14867\">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-14867","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\/14867"}],"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=14867"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14875,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14867\/revisions\/14875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}