FanFare

Gael García Bernal stars in a biopic of the openly gay luchador Saúl Armendáriz, whose drag queen''exotico'' character Cassandro was known as "the Liberace of Lucha Libre." The movie follows his rise from low-level amateur to international fame, and his relationships along the way. 91/85 at RT, streaming at Amazon Prime and in theaters. Director Roger Ross Williams had previously directed a 14-minute documentary about Cassandro for the New Yorker, available here. [more inside]
posted by mediareport on Sep 28, 2023 - 5 comments

Rewatch! Not The Wild Wild World Of, this is just The Batwoman. In fact, The Mexican The Batwoman. She follows the natural career upgrade path south of the border, from luchador to superhero. Her mission is to stop a mad scientist from creating a race of fish people. Bats and fish: natural enemies. Previously.
posted by JHarris on Jun 29, 2023 - 1 comment

Rewatch! When Dracula threatens to revive and threaten the world of the living, who can stand against him? That's right, El Santo, the famed luchador, and his time machine. Roughly half of the movie is an extended flashback that could almost work as a Hammer-style horror movie, but then we return to the present and a wrestling match plays a pivotal role in the plot, of course. Episode 1301 is the first episode of the Gizmoplex era. It's only been a year since the original Fanfare post on this episode. Previously. We have gotten word that there will be a Season 14, but we have no details at this point.
posted by JHarris on May 11, 2023 - 4 comments

a.k.a. Santo en el tesoro de Drácula, Santo and Dracula's Treasure. "A COLORES!" El Santo, the Silver Mask, is a luchador who likes to dabble both in Super Science and the supernatural. He's invented a time machine that sends a young woman back into a past life, which was turned into a vampire by Dracula, while he watches. But never mind the infernal terror, El Santo learns about the great treasure of Dracula's family, and he wants a piece! But so does the mob! There's a lot of movies in this movie. The episode is missing ending credits, and way a bit marred by technical difficulties, but it was shown last night, and was pretty good! Kinga and Max escape the storage room of Moon 13 by exploding it, causing a cave-in. So they're currently set up on Moon 1, on the lunar surface, and opening Kinga's newest venture, the Kingadome. It contains the Gizmoplex, which in the show's lore is a physical place, but it's also the website the episode can be viewed by backers of last year's Kickstarter, here. A more general release will come in May. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Mar 5, 2022 - 17 comments

Rewatch! One of the most improbable movie crime fighters of all time is Samson, a.k.a. El Santo the luchador, who here tangles with the undead and the forces of evil. It's "TV's" Frank Conniff's last episode until his guest appearance in Season 10, the last episode of Season 6, and the last episode before Pearl Forrester becomes a regular Mad. Previously.
posted by JHarris on Oct 7, 2021 - 0 comments

Angel de la Plata is introduced; Fett says "boom boom" and means it; a TV reporter files their most memorable report yet; and this episode's ambitious cold open of B-movie footage is both a send-up and fond depiction of the vampire genre. [more inside]
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome on Aug 3, 2015 - 10 comments