Welcome to a new roundtable from the WWAC team! Every month, “What’s WWAC Watching?” brings you our top recommendations for films and TV shows that we’re watching and loving. This September, me (Louis), Lisa, Alenka, and Paulina share our favourites on the big and small screen.
Louis Skye: I missed the boat on Jumanji in the 1990s, and by the time I watched it as a late teen, I didn’t see the appeal. I wasn’t exactly enthused about the remake/sequel in 2018, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, either. However, I did get around to watching it during the pandemic, as well as the film’s sequel, Jumanji: The Next Level. Recently, I found myself hankering for a fun adventure and decided to rewatch both films. And I had a fantastic time. These films are straight up hilarious. Dwayne Johnson brings so much heart as a nerdy teen! Kevin Hart is surprisingly funny as the jock stuck in a much shorter man’s body. Jack Black steals the show as a hot teen girl exploring the many surprises of being a middle-aged white man. And Karen Gillan grounds the ensemble as the outsider who finally gets to be a badass. And the sequel is somehow even more outrageous and funny! A great double bill if you’re looking for adventure and laughs.
Lisa Fernandes: At the moment, I’m catching up on my heavy DVR pile; the new season of Clone High is on the docket, as is Futurama. Movie-wise, I finally saw The Eyes of Tammy Faye and Jessica Chastain definitely deserved that Oscar.
Alenka Figa: I have been watching Horimiya: The Missing Pieces, AKA the second season of the Horimiya anime. Horimiya was originally a webcomic, then was published as a manga by Square Enix and in English by Yen Press. It’s a sweet love story about two teens who hide themselves at school — Hori, a popular girl who dodges invitations to hang out outside of school so she can help her sort-of single mother raise her brother, and Miyamura, an emo/goth kid who hides tattoos, piercings, and avoids making friends because of past trauma. A chance encounter causes the pair to see each other’s secret selves, and they begin to spend all of their free time together, safe from the expectations they face at school.
I read a chunk of the Horimiya manga and watched the first season, which covers most of the main arc that sees Hori and Miyamura start dating and their friends navigate relationships and crushes. This show is, at heart, a slice-of-life series focused on teens finding trusted friends and partners around whom they can let down their walls. That pursuit is very relatable! The second season is all one-off stories from the manga that are just fun, silly, and/or sweet. It’s basically comfort food; just teens getting to find their people and be happy.
Paulina: I just finished watching Contra Las Cuerdas or Against the Ropes. It’s about an ex-con single mom who turns to Lucha Libre to win the love of her daughter after being released from prison. It’s based on an earlier French movie sponsored by the WWE called Les Reines du Ring, and I think the new setting in Mexico, at least for me as a huge outsider to wrestling, makes a lot more sense. While the WWE association weirds me out a bit (just because of capitalism/the potential of being sucked in by basically a giant ad for a corporation), the show has a lot of heart. I love the friendships between the main character and her coworkers at the bridal shop and the friendship the main character’s daughter maintains with her BFF.
I also love that there are tons of women in this who unabashedly love to do Lucha Libre and watch fights. Ladies in and out of the ring getting to knock heads together. I also enjoy that the main villain is as girly as possible and a wonderful wrestler. Yeah, she’s got some dirty tricks but for the majority of the series, Dulce Caramelo wins her fights by fighting well. Another plus for me was that the women wrestlers in the show were a variety of body types (though occasionally playing on body-negative humor) and ages. We learn that almost every woman we see on screen is, wants to be, or was a wrestler. It’s a great celebration and refreshing to watch a woman wrestle and explore her need to be “the first”. Instead, Novia Negra continues a legacy left by her mother, Victoria la Soberana, and one that her daughter might continue in her own time. I don’t know if it’s the sort of series that would get a sequel, but if it does, I’d watch the hell out of it.
