Lucha Mexico

MOVIE TITLE: Lucha Mexico

DIRECTORS: Alex Hammond and Ian Markiewicz

YEAR: 2016

GENRE: Pro-Wrestling Documentary

RATING: Unrated, though it contains bloody violence and language

GRADE: Pass

Mexico has always been plagued with poverty, crime, and corrupt politics. The one escape from the country’s negative features has always been Lucha Libre, a high-flying, mask-wearing style of professional wrestling. This documentary takes you behind the scenes of Mexican wrestling from the torturous training to the violently entertaining matches to the dire personal lives of the luchadors. Lucha Libre has a rich history and a colorful culture, but it’s also a business that requires a great deal of toughness in order to survive. Some luchadors become popular and draw in a lot of money. Most of them don’t and they suffer in obscurity. The raw honesty of this filmmaking style is one of this movie’s most prominent features.

The audience can easily get a rich education from watching Lucha Mexico. They can learn how a luchador’s mask can protect private lives and give personality and flavor to the wrestlers wearing them. They can learn the huge differences between Mexican wrestling, which is all about the high flying action, and American wrestling, which is monologue-heavy and slower-paced. They can learn about the risks and rewards of embarking on a professional wrestling career whether it’s getting an injury or becoming wildly popular. By the end of this movie, the viewers will gain a great deal of respect and appreciation for what these athletes have to go through on a day to day basis. The movie will create new wrestling fans and it will rekindle the fire within those already converted. It’s not just “man drama” as UFC commentator Joe Rogan once stupidly called it. It’s a passionate form of entertainment.

Speaking of entertainment, if you want to see delicious and action-packed violence, Lucha Mexico is happy to oblige. Sure, the wrestling matches are in short snippets, but there’s just enough content where the audience can enjoy back flips, slams, top rope dives, and most brutal of all, bloodletting. Yes, from time to time, they actually do hardcore style, which if you’re not a wrestling fan means the luchadors are allowed to use weapons and they will make each other bleed nearly to death for the crowd’s entertainment. No matter what kind of match is taking place, you will either wince in pain or you’ll be on the edge of your seat in anticipation for the big finish. That’s what wrestling is all about: creative storytelling and violent choreography. Again, Joe Rogan, it’s not “man drama”, you fool.

As long as I’m dragging Mr. Rogan’s name through the mud, there’s another thing this movie is good for: debating. The kind of debating I’m talking about is between Mexican and American styles of wrestling. Since Mexican wrestling is more action-oriented, you don’t get a lot of the bigoted promos that American wrestling has been known for over the past two decades. Meanwhile, some American wrestling fans would argue that all villain heat is the same and promos build up more tension between the two battling wrestlers. Both sides of the fence have good points to make and I’m not going to list all of them in this review, because I want my readers to make up their own minds. They can do that when they watch Lucha Mexico since they’re not overly preachy or pushy. It’s just raw, honest filmmaking, that’s all.

In this movie there’s something for everybody, which includes complete laymen. Lucha Mexico will either be a rich educational journey, more pride in being a wrestling fan, or both at the same time. Nobody is walking away from this movie unaffected. If you’re still feeling neutral after all is said and done, you probably sleep in an underground coffin at night. Or you’re Joe Rogan, one of the two. Or maybe you’re both, I don’t know. I give this movie a passing grade for giving my inner wrestling geek a reason to do more back flips and cartwheels than the luchadors themselves. Excellent work! 

Slipknot X Marilyn Manson Concert

***SLIPKNOT X MARILYN MANSON CONCERT***

This coming Thursday, Slipknot and Marilyn Manson are going to do a show at the White River Amphitheater in Auburn and I have a ticket to see them. Their opening act is Of Mice and Men, but I have no idea who they are. It’s going to be a fun night of badass music and chaotic visuals. If you go to one of these shows and you’re not excited, check your pulse. One thing I would like to point out is that Corey Taylor, the lead singer of Slipknot, underwent neck surgery earlier this year and won’t be allowed to head bang or jump up and down per doctor’s orders. He’ll still be one entertaining son of a bitch. How can you not be entertained by a dude in a frightening mask screaming at the top of his raspy lungs? That whole show is going to be fucking awesome. I can’t wait!

Just like with the Rob Zombie X Korn concert back in July, this concert is going to require some downtime afterwards for rest and relaxation. That means I’ll need a brief vacation from my creative schedule, but I’ll probably be able to compete in that week’s WSS contest. Actually, that’s not a probably. That’s a definitely. Who knows? Maybe the creepy and creative visuals from the Slipknot concert will inspire another deliciously violent short story. Creative fuel comes from the strangest places and that’s how I fucking like it!

Just like with all concerts and vacations, I’ll be back in one piece with plenty of cool stuff to do afterwards. Downtime doesn’t last forever, you know, not even for hardcore introverts like me. See you soon!

***MOVIE REVIEWS***

I have to admit, I got off to a rough start when it came to writing the review for Ghostbusters. I was so exhausted that day that I wrote down a few words and I couldn’t go anymore. Never fear, because this is easily fixable. And then once I’m done with Ghostbusters, you can have a review of Lucha Mexico. Both movies will receive passing grades a.k.a. four stars.

***DARK FANTASY WARRIORS***

Remember Kai Oliveira from the 2014 short story “Luna the Moon Kitty”? She’s the child wizard who along with Luna convinces her guardian Hans Metzger to listen to reason and eventually help in building a better world after the demon wars. For the reference picture, I think I’ll use one of Reina’s Halloween photos from Face Book. I have several costumes to choose from whether it’s a fairy princess or the Cheshire Cat. It should make for an awesome picture, because Reina is naturally awesome…whenever she’s not driving me nuts, of course. Hehe!

***LYRICS OF THE DAY***

“I’m waiting for the day when we can burn copies of each other’s girlfriends and skip the technology, period.”

-Mac Lethal rapping “Rotten Apple Pie”-