{"id":15000,"date":"2026-09-06T14:30:38","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T18:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=15000"},"modified":"2026-09-06T14:30:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T18:30:38","slug":"weekly-movie-roundup-179","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=15000","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\/tt0066469\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1-240x300.jpg\" alt=\"Toomorrow\" width=\"240\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14997\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1-818x1024.jpg 818w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1-768x961.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1.jpg 1023w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0052080\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2-207x300.jpg\" alt=\"Ashes and Diamonds\" width=\"207\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14998\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2-207x300.jpg 207w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2-708x1024.jpg 708w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2-768x1111.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 207px) 100vw, 207px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0078326\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/3-195x300.jpg\" alt=\"Straight Time\" width=\"195\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-14999\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/3-195x300.jpg 195w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/3-667x1024.jpg 667w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/3-768x1179.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/3-1000x1536.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/3.jpg 1042w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 195px) 100vw, 195px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li>If you <em>want<\/em> to watch a purportedly groovy musical from the writer-director of <em>The Quatermass Xperiment<\/em> about dying aliens who kidnap Olivia Newton-John&#8217;s rock group to learn about vibrations or something, then <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0066469\/\">Toomorrow<\/a> has you covered. But it&#8217;s not a fun experience. As Kim Newman wrote in <em>Offbeat: British Cinema&#8217;s Curiosities, Obscurities and Forgotten Gems<\/em>, &#8220;Toomorrow is inoffensive and has nothing to say, but remains a fascinating relic from that period when hopeless entertainment industry squares were trying to get hip and hook the affluent but disaffected youth audience.&#8221;<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0052080\/\">Ashes and Diamonds<\/a> is a stunning piece of work, so alive for a nearly 70-year-old black and white Polish film, and full of indelible images and performances.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li>The fact that I find Dustin Hoffman&#8217;s Max Dembo so frustrating as a character in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0078326\/\">Straight Time<\/a> is, I think, a large part of the point. I expected it take more to push him to the breaking point, but the fact that it doesn&#8217;t is maybe more important.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt32321317\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/4-204x300.jpg\" alt=\"Pillion\" width=\"204\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15001\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/4-204x300.jpg 204w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/4-698x1024.jpg 698w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/4-768x1127.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/4-1047x1536.jpg 1047w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/4-1396x2048.jpg 1396w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/4-scaled.jpg 1745w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 204px) 100vw, 204px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0057578\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5-207x300.jpg\" alt=\"This Sporting Life\" width=\"207\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15002\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5-207x300.jpg 207w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5-708x1024.jpg 708w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5-768x1111.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5.jpg 1037w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 207px) 100vw, 207px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0023194\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6-192x300.jpg\" alt=\"The Mask of Fu Manchu\" width=\"192\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15003\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6-192x300.jpg 192w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6-654x1024.jpg 654w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6-768x1203.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6-981x1536.jpg 981w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 192px) 100vw, 192px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt32321317\/\">Pillion<\/a> is remarkably self-assured for a first-time feature, and surprisingly heartfelt, never inviting us to judge these characters even if we might not share their needs and desires.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0057578\/\">This Sporting Life<\/a> is a remarkable film, one of the best examples of British kitchen sink realism, but oh man is it <em>incredibly<\/em> bleak.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li>It&#8217;s difficult to look past the many offensive racist caricatures in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0023194\/\">The Mask of Fu Manchu<\/a>, but if you can, you&#8217;ll find beneath that a desperately slow, often poorly staged and hokey melodrama, dated in lots of other ways, and only of passing interest because of the early (though not particularly good) performances by Karloff and Loy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I also rewatched\u2014and thoroughly loved\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0034240\/\">Sullivan&#8217;s Travels<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I watched 6 movies last week: If you want to watch a purportedly groovy musical from the writer-director of The Quatermass Xperiment about dying aliens who kidnap Olivia Newton-John&#8217;s rock group to learn about vibrations or something, then Toomorrow has you covered. But it&#8217;s not a fun experience. As Kim Newman wrote in Offbeat: British &#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=15000\">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-15000","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\/15000"}],"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=15000"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15004,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15000\/revisions\/15004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}