{"id":15016,"date":"2026-09-20T10:02:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T14:02:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=15016"},"modified":"2026-09-20T10:04:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T14:04:46","slug":"weekly-movie-roundup-181","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=15016","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\/tt30827810\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1-2-203x300.jpg\" alt=\"I Love Boosters\" width=\"203\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15017\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1-2-203x300.jpg 203w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1-2-691x1024.jpg 691w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1-2-768x1138.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1-2-1037x1536.jpg 1037w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1-2-1382x2048.jpg 1382w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1-2-scaled.jpg 1728w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 203px) 100vw, 203px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0060645\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2-2-187x300.jpg\" alt=\"Madame X\" width=\"187\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15018\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2-2-187x300.jpg 187w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2-2-640x1024.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2-2-768x1229.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2-2-960x1536.jpg 960w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2-2-1280x2048.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2-2-scaled.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 187px) 100vw, 187px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt14173636\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/3-2-192x300.jpg\" alt=\"The Invite\" width=\"192\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15019\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/3-2-192x300.jpg 192w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/3-2-656x1024.jpg 656w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/3-2-768x1199.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/3-2-984x1536.jpg 984w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/3-2-1312x2048.jpg 1312w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/3-2-scaled.jpg 1639w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 192px) 100vw, 192px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt30827810\/\">I Love Boosters<\/a> is wonderfully weird and biting and constantly and colorfully inventive.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li>An unconvincing and dated melodrama, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0060645\/\">Madame X<\/a> nonetheless offers an often very strong lead performance by Lana Turner.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li>There were moments, even along the way, even when it was being a sly and well-observed comedy, when I was concerned that I wasn&#8217;t going to end up liking <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt14173636\/\">The Invite<\/a>, when I was worried that comedy wasn&#8217;t going to be service of anything, or we were <em>just<\/em> going to watch these characters be awkward with one another. But as the movie went on, it took unexpected turns, revealed surprising depths, offered genuinely affecting performances, and I really liked it a lot by the end.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0041983\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/4-2-194x300.jpg\" alt=\"Trapped\" width=\"194\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15020\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/4-2-194x300.jpg 194w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/4-2-661x1024.jpg 661w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/4-2-768x1189.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/4-2-992x1536.jpg 992w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/4-2-1322x2048.jpg 1322w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/4-2-scaled.jpg 1653w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 194px) 100vw, 194px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt34966562\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5-1-203x300.jpg\" alt=\"The Christophers\" width=\"203\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15021\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5-1-203x300.jpg 203w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5-1-691x1024.jpg 691w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5-1-768x1138.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5-1-1037x1536.jpg 1037w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5-1-1382x2048.jpg 1382w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5-1-scaled.jpg 1728w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 203px) 100vw, 203px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0032414\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6-1-156x300.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Kildare Goes Home\" width=\"156\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-15022\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6-1-156x300.jpg 156w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6-1-532x1024.jpg 532w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6-1-768x1477.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6-1-799x1536.jpg 799w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6-1-1065x2048.jpg 1065w, https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6-1-scaled.jpg 1331w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 156px) 100vw, 156px\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0041983\">Trapped<\/a> sometimes feels like a weird mix of film noir and 1950s educational film, but it&#8217;s relatively short and leans more heavily (and more interestingly) towards the noir.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt34966562\">The Christophers<\/a> is a little slight\u2014and there are moments, particularly close to the end, when it could probably stand to be a little less so\u2014but stars Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel are good together, and there are moments of unexpected tenderness and humor between their characters.<\/li>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<li>The Dr. Kildare movies are all a little hokey and dated, but, for me, that might be part of their charm. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0032414\/\">Dr. Kildare Goes Home<\/a> is no exception, but it benefits enormously from having a single, simple story to follow and a couple of genuinely good jokes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I also rewatched <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0050280\/\">The Curse of Frankenstein<\/a>, which is fun Hammer Horror, with a strong single-minded performance from Peter Cushing.<\/p>\n<p>I also rewatched all three <em>Guardians of the Galaxy<\/em> movies, which are great fun, and probably still some of the best movies that the MCU has produced. James Gunn does rely on some of the same tricks, like unexpected needle drops to sell the emotion of a scene through music, but he&#8217;s very good at that. It was also a little weird watching the third one without any of the crossover stuff in mind. There are three years between the first two movies, but six between the last two, and a whole lot of plot shakes out in the <em>Infinity War\/Endgame<\/em> movies, which I didn&#8217;t rewatch. (Though I did finally watch the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt13623136\/\">Holiday Special<\/a>, which came out the year before <em>Vol. 3<\/em>.) It&#8217;s not a weirdness that really affects the final movie, which remains a lovely end to Gunn&#8217;s short tenure at Marvel and to the little universe he created, but I&#8217;d have been completely lost if I&#8217;d <em>only<\/em> ever watched these and none of the rest of the MCU.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I watched 6 movies last week: I Love Boosters is wonderfully weird and biting and constantly and colorfully inventive. An unconvincing and dated melodrama, Madame X nonetheless offers an often very strong lead performance by Lana Turner. There were moments, even along the way, even when it was being a sly and well-observed comedy, when &#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/?p=15016\">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-15016","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\/15016"}],"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=15016"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15027,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15016\/revisions\/15027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unreality.net\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}