Films That I Saw: October 2021

 

We’re now 2 months away from the end of another year and things are still insane as far as the fact that we’re not out of this pandemic but there are people who have now become imbeciles. Anti-vaxxers are now a big problem and if anyone is going to threaten my own safety and the safety of my family. They better take a step back as I am in no mood to hear that bullshit. It’s bad enough that people like Eric Clapton, Ian Brown of the Stone Roses, and Van Morrison have become stupid but now someone like Ice Cube is now in that dumbass club along with Nicki Minaj and, not surprisingly, Chris Brown in this anti-vaccination rhetoric. I am really tired of people arguing over stupid things as I’m also not a fan of cancel culture as I think this was created by a generation of people who choose to spend their time making other people just as miserable as they are.

They think they’re in the right and feel the need to call out others for their own fuck-ups. I am glad my father isn’t alive to see this as it would’ve just pissed him off and only make him sicker than he was when he was seriously ill. This is just all a fucking witch hunt by a group of people who have nothing better to do with their lives than just bitch about everything. I admit to being a pessimist knowing that there’s so many things wrong with the world but I often keep forgetting that there’s also good things that I want to hold on to and all of these people want to get rid of it because it offends them in certain ways. If I want to be miserable, I’d rather do it on myself and not hurt anyone else as I am tired of seeing everyone trying to make everyone else feel like shit. I don’t like being labeled and I don’t want to be put into some group. I am just me.



Thank goodness for the world of cinema, TV, music, and professional wrestling for giving me joy. It hasn’t just been this sense of escape that I needed from the bullshit of the world but also allow me to connect with others as professional wrestling in general is on the upswing as I’ve now been trying to compile a list of the year’s best matches. So far, much of them have been from AEW with one exception from the NWA in a NWA Women’s World Championship match between Kamille against AEW’s Leyla Hirsch from the NWA Empowerr show this past month. This along with this past Wednesday’s match in the AEW TBS Championship eliminator tournament match between Serena Deeb and Hikaru Shida is proof of what women’s professional wrestling should be instead of lazy-ass 2-3 minute matches from Meekmahan-land’s stupid Queen’s Crown tournament.



If there’s one person that I could say is the wrestler of the year in 2021 so far… It’s the Tribal Chief…. No. Not the Big Dog and he’s not the even the real Tribal Chief. That belongs to the Bunny who managed to draw a similar rating than him and Brock Lesnar so I acknowledge her as the Head of the Table and as my Tribal Chief. OK, the real contender for Wrestler of the Year is Bryan Danielson. Headlining the 2nd night of WrestleMania in a triple-threat match against Edge and Roman Reigns for the Universal Title to his arrival in AEW on All Out this past Labor Day weekend lead to not just some of the best matches of the year. He also did different things with different opponents from insane brawls with the likes of Eddie Kingston and Minoru Suzuki to some technical-based matches with Bobby Fish and Aaron Solow. It’s not his time to be the AEW World Champion but no one could touch at this point. He is definitely reminding me of what Bret Hart was doing in the 1990s as I grew up a fan of Hart as he always found different ways to win but also create these matches that were high above what everyone else was doing. I hope to go to an AEW show next year as it has made me love pro wrestling all over again.

In the month of October 2021, I saw a total of 20 films in 10 first-timers and 10 re-watches which I think is decent as I only saw one film as part of the 52 Films by Women pledge as I had hope to watch more. One of the highlights of the month has been my Blind Spot in Perfect Blue. Here are my top 5 first-timers that I saw for October 2021:

1. Titane

2. Dune-Part One

3. Swallow

4. Cruella

5. Nightmare Alley

Monthly Mini-Review/What Else I’ve Been Watching

Luca

This is a favorite of my nephew as he just loves the visuals, the humor, and the setting of it as it was a much better film than I thought it would be. Set in 1959 in a small Italian port town, the film definitely owes a lot to the films of Italian cinema of the times including Federico Fellini as well as some of the colors of Hayao Miyazaki. Yet, there is a touching story to be told as it relates a young sea monster who turns human when he arrives on dry land as he befriends another sea monster where they help a young girl win a competition that a local bully always win. The ensemble voice cast that includes Jacob Tremblay, Jack Dylan Grazer, Emma Berman, Maya Rudolph, and Jim Gaffigan plus an un-credited voice appearance from Sacha Baron Cohen add a lot to the film’s charm but there is also a lot of heart as it’s film that I liked a lot more than I thought as my mother also enjoyed the film as it made her want to go to Italy.

Dark Side of the Ring (season 3-episodes 10-14)

The last five episodes of this season definitely tackle some serious subjects such as the complicated and troubled life of Luna Vachon who is probably one of the most underrated wrestlers and personalities in the business who suffered from bipolar and other issues. It was an episode that was heartbreaking to watch as how she was mistreated in WWE as they didn’t use her properly like other companies including ECW. One of my favorites is about Atsushi Onita and FMW as it was this balls-to-the-wall death-match promotion in the 1990s that was hot as Onita was a god who did exploding barbed wire death matches with Terry Funk as it rose high and fell hard when Onita left the company in the mid-90s. The episode on Rob Black and XPW was a fascinating one as it was this west coast version of ECW but with emphasis on porn as it also played into Black’s paranoia and his issues with the government over his pornographic material as a lot of it is disgusting.

The episode of Johnny K-9 as a renegade wrestler who also got himself in biker gangs and later into some serious trouble is one I didn’t know about but it was the one that I really got me intrigued into a man who loved wrestling but also wanted to make a lot of money only to put himself and his family in trouble. The season finale on the WWF steroid scandal of the early 1990s and the 1994 trial was a fitting close to the season as it play into how Meekmahan won with the help of longtime attorney Jerry McDevitt as it was a fun episode despite the fact that McDevitt is a smug piece of shit but a smart motherfucker while New York Post journalist Phil Mushnik is still a piece of shit.

Acapulco (season 1-episodes 1-5)

One of two shows from Apple TV+ that I am watching right now and a show that my mother is also watching is a follow-up of sorts of the 2017 film How to Be a Latin Lover that starred Eugenio Derbez and Raphael Alejandro as their reprise their roles where the former tells a story to the latter about his early life working at a luxurious hotel in Acapulco during the 1980s. Five episodes in so far and it is a show full of charm, humor, and heart as well as mixing the languages of English and Spanish in a way that isn’t distracting. The ensemble cast is just incredible as they all have a lot of heart as well as breaking certain stereotypes as well as displaying ideas of culture clash, ageism, and identity. It is a show that is starting to get some views and it is a show that is needed in these troubled times.

Ted Lasso

The other show from Apple TV+ that I saw is one I had kept hearing about and wow… not only did it live up to everything people had been saying but it is a show that I just fell in love with. It is a show about an American college football team who goes to Britain with his buddy to coach a football team unaware that its owner wants the team to fail as a way to spite her ex-husband. However, the titular character’s optimistic persona wins over everyone including the owner, a grouchy veteran, a cocky star player, a model who later becomes the PR official, and others. The first season did a lot in not just establishing the characters and the game itself but also the culture of British football clubs as Jason Sudeikis’ performance as the titular character is just someone full of charm and good will as you can’t help but root for him. Hannah Waddington’s performance as new owner of AC Richmond in Rebecca Welton is also a joy as someone who went from trying to destroy her team to becoming a supporter of Lasso’s vision and the team itself as well as trying to get out of the shadows of her douchebag ex-husband Rupert.

The second season is just as incredible as it focuses more on AC Richmond trying to get back in the Premier League with a few recurring characters given more to do in the season while also introducing a new character in Dr. Sharon Fieldstone, played with such delight by Sarah Niles, who is this pessimist challenge to the optimistic Lasso who does confess his own issues for the first time. Yet, the character of Nate who starts off in the first season as a kit manager and then a coach is the one who gets the biggest development as someone that gets some attention but it all goes to his head as his actions in the end of the second season sets the stage for what is to come. It is a phenomenal show that definitely deserves the praise and accolades it is getting in not just being funny but also having a lot of heart.

Top 10 Re-Watches

1. Cronos

2. Stripes

3. Demolition Man

4. It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

5. Toy Story of Terror

6. Happy Gilmore

7. Party Central

8. Partysaurus Rex

9. Rio

10. Little Man

Well, that is it for October as the next two months will be intense in terms of film-watching as I have a ticket for Eternals in the coming week while I hope to see Last Night in Soho, The French Dispatch, and hopefully No Time to Die along with films available on Netflix, Apple TV+, and Disney+ including Get Back. Other films from my never-ending DVR list as well as some DVD/Blu-Rays I have are going to be in the mix as my next Blind Spot will be focused on Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s BRD trilogy as I still haven’t made a final choice of the films for next year’s Blind Spot Series. Until then, this is thevoid99 signing off and hoping that everyone has a Happy Halloween and Go Braves!

© thevoid99 2021