I agree with that assessment. They're good to have as a forum where either you or your manager can discuss issues or ask for help. But as a compulsory weekly meeting, most of the time they're not constructive. And at several previous job, I had managers who made them something I dreaded doing each week.
Two of my best managers would tell me "I'm having weekly 1:1's because I've been told I need to have them!" I'm sure if you went up the chain, you'd get the same answer...