{"id":14985,"date":"2026-08-23T13:28:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T17:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=14985"},"modified":"2026-08-23T13:28:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T17:28:48","slug":"weekly-movie-roundup-177","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=14985","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\/tt0067124\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1-3-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"The Gang That Couldn&#039;t Shoot Straight\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14979\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1-3-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1-3-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1-3-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1-3.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt14539318\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2-3-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"The Beast Within\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14980\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2-3-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2-3-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2-3-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2-3.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt27179628\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3-3-213x300.jpg\" alt=\"Solvent\" width=\"213\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14981\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3-3-213x300.jpg 213w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3-3-727x1024.jpg 727w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3-3-768x1082.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3-3-1090x1536.jpg 1090w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3-3-1454x2048.jpg 1454w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3-3-scaled.jpg 1817w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 213px) 100vw, 213px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0067124\/\">The Gang That Couldn&#8217;t Shoot Straight<\/a> isn&#8217;t funny at all, which is a problem for a comedy. It&#8217;s much more interesting as a minor footnote to what was happening in Mafia movies at the time\u2014the almost involvement of Francis Ford Coppola, the fact that Al Pacino dropped out to star in <em>The Godfather<\/em> and was replaced by a not-yet-famous Robert De Niro\u2014than because of anything on the screen.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt14539318\/\">The Beast Within<\/a> isn&#8217;t remotely subtle\u2014werewolves as a metaphor for alcoholic abuse\u2014but it&#8217;s effective. Or would be, if it were a short film. It&#8217;s a solid metaphor, with good performances, seen through the dreamy, only half-understanding lens of childhood. The problem is, the movie overstays its welcome by more than half until and hammers that metaphor beyond recognition.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li>It&#8217;s difficult to make a really good found-footage horror movie, but it&#8217;s got to be equally difficult to make one as bad as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt27179628\/\">Solvent<\/a>. The movie is obviously trying to do big things, like speak to generational violence and the lasting scars of right-wing Nazism, but it doesn&#8217;t necessarily have <em>interesting<\/em> things to say about them. Overall, it&#8217;s more than a little pretentious and unpleasant.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt26657236\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4-3-203x300.jpg\" alt=\"Backrooms\" width=\"203\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14982\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4-3-203x300.jpg 203w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4-3-691x1024.jpg 691w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4-3-768x1138.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4-3-1037x1536.jpg 1037w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4-3-1382x2048.jpg 1382w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4-3-scaled.jpg 1728w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 203px) 100vw, 203px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0066518\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/5-2-206x300.jpg\" alt=\"The Vampire Lovers\" width=\"206\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14983\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/5-2-206x300.jpg 206w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/5-2-704x1024.jpg 704w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/5-2-768x1117.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/5-2-1056x1536.jpg 1056w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/5-2.jpg 1299w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 206px) 100vw, 206px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0071334\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6-2-242x300.jpg\" alt=\"Claudine\" width=\"242\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14984\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6-2-242x300.jpg 242w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6-2-824x1024.jpg 824w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6-2-768x954.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6-2-1236x1536.jpg 1236w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6-2.jpg 1288w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 242px) 100vw, 242px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li>I&#8217;m not entirely sure how I feel about the ending of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt26657236\/\">Backrooms<\/a>, but the unnerving way it uses liminal space to create dread and terror up until then is genuinely masterful.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0066518\/\">The Vampire Lovers<\/a> is less chaste and less coy about being about lesbian vampires than I might have expected, even for 1970, but it&#8217;s also a decent enough Hammer horror movie.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0071334\/\">Claudine<\/a> is a little dated\u2014less in the things it&#8217;s about and more in the 1970s way it&#8217;s about them\u2014but Diahann Carroll and James Earl Jones are really great together.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I also rewatched <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0089118\/\">F\/X<\/a>, which was a lot of fun, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0063285\/\">Witchfinder General<\/a>, which&#8230;well, it has other strengths besides <em>fun<\/em>. It&#8217;s a little too dour and sadistic to really be enjoyable, but Vincent Price and the rest of the cast\u2014most of whom arguably are in the movie longer than Price\u2014are quite good, so it kind of washes out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I watched 6 movies last week: The Gang That Couldn&#8217;t Shoot Straight isn&#8217;t funny at all, which is a problem for a comedy. It&#8217;s much more interesting as a minor footnote to what was happening in Mafia movies at the time\u2014the almost involvement of Francis Ford Coppola, the fact that Al Pacino dropped out to &#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=14985\">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-14985","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\/14985"}],"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=14985"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14987,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14985\/revisions\/14987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}