What I've Been Watching: December

Hi! I know last month's edition of this series was quite long, and I'm sorry. I wanted to make up for my lack of Favorites posts so when I had the idea to create something specifically to talk about what I've been watching, I had months of stuff I wanted to share. This one isn't quite as long, but I did watch a lot this month. I watched a mix of things this month, from documentaries to stand-up specials, cheesy romance flicks to crime-based shows. It was a healthy mix, so hopefully you'll find something in it worth taking a look at. So what'd I watch this month?

Gabriel Iglesias: I'm Sorry For What I Said When I Was Hungry 

The Irish Mob 

The Spirit of Christmas 

Border Security: Australia's Front Line 

A Family Affair 

Diary of a Chambermaid 

Ricardo O'Farrill: Abrazo navideño 

Beauties of the Night 

Meet the Blacks 

The Confessions of Thomas Quick 

Ralphie May: Unruly 

Penguins: Spy in the Huddle 

Hitler in the Andes 

Travelers 

My thing with stand-up specials has continued this month, as there are three entries on this month's list. Gabriel Iglesias' new special, I'm Sorry for What I Said When I Was Hungry, was funny although I have to admit it also sounded a bit.....self circle-jerk? now that he has the fame of a seasoned comedian. Maybe I read it wrong, I dunno. I still recommend watching it.

I also watched Ricardo O'Farrill's Christmas-themed special Abrazo navideño, which had cameos from a couple of the comics I mentioned in November's list, and it wasn't laugh-out-loud funny but amusing enough. There was a line about the Christmas special hopefully not giving him 1-star again, which led me to O'Farrill's first Netflix special, which has--obviously--one star. lol I'll let you know how that one was next month.

Finally, I watched Ralphie May's Unruly special and it had its moments of hilarity but the rest was amusing, if for no other reason than because of the way Ralphie May tells a story. He's aware of his non-PC style of comedy and admits to it without crossing the line just for the sake of doing so. That's what some of his special centered on so if light race jokes and the like aren't your thing, you might not want to watch. I liked it though. 

As for documentaries, the ones I watched were pretty heavy in terms of subject matter. The two that stand out the most for me were A Family Affair and The Confessions of Thomas Quick. The latter focuses on the long and twisted story of Thomas Quick, a man on record as Sweden's most prolific serial killer. After confessing to over two dozen murders, he later recanted his entire confession. That doesn't sound too uncommon; many killers do that. This story is a twisted one that involves mental institutions, repressed sexuality and false memories. It's a good one.

A Family Affair is a personal, often to the point of being uncomfortable, look at a family separated by the behaviors of its matriarch, the filmmaker's grandmother. He gets drawn into his grandma's world, to a level that makes him (and you, I promise) uncomfortable, but you wonder at the end how much of the story was revealed and how much of it was true. It's a mindf*ck at parts but it was really good.

Beauties of the Night is about five of Mexico's most famous burlesque dancers, all now retired, and what drew them to their former careers as well as what happened to them after they left the stage. You go into it assuming it's just about burlesque and the women's careers, but that's where you get misled and a much more personal story unfolds for all five of the women. They may have had burlesque in common, but life ultimately drew them in a myriad of directions, from activism to God's altar. I loved it and if there was ever a sequel in store for these former Beauties, I'd be here for it. 

The last documentary I watched this month was Hitler in the Andes, which explores the apparent popular conspiracy theory that Hitler wasn't killed on the date recorded in the books, but actually escaped to the Andes. I only recently--as in the last six months--became aware of the conspiracy theory that Hitler faked his death, and I've already seen two documentaries exploring the subject. It's a viable theory, as this documentary revealed some original video footage of the bodies of men suspected of being Hitler's body doubles. I'm not sure which side of the argument I fall on, but neither answer would surprise me much. 

Moving on, my animal documentary this month was Penguins: Spy in the Huddle. Different kinds of penguins were followed in this documentary in the period leading up to the breeding cycle, then it takes on new life as the babies are born, the parents leave and the babies learn to follow in their parents' footsteps as they grow. I love penguins anyway, but I especially love the subtle hints of personality and sass that they have, depending on the situation. Because it's so quiet though, it's easy for an asshole like me to create my own dialogue of what I think the penguins would say if they could. I'm easily amused. 

Now for tv series, the one that sticks out for me this month is Travelers. Eric McCormack heads the show as the leader of a team of consciousness time travelers. What I mean by this is that the present-day for the travelers is over 100 years in the future, so traveling back to their former bodies is impossible as none of them are actually born yet. So their consciousness travels instead, taking over the body of a host seconds before the host dies. I am guessing that the host actually does die, but that hasn't been explored too much as it is the host's body, not mind, that's important. Anyway, these travelers go back in an effort to stop the origin of the events in our time that almost entirely wiped out humanity in their time over a century later. I know I'm shit at describing shows lol, but if you're into sci-fi, tech or time travel, I think you'll like it. It's actually on tv in Canada and was just released on Netflix, so if you're my northern neighbor then you've already seen the show.  

The Irish Mob fills the void I've been having since I finished watching the other mob-based series on Netflix. The Irish Mob focuses on two different Irish mobsters per episode and I realized that I'd made a mistake in thinking they weren't as ruthless as Italian mobsters. In some ways, they're a bit worse. The Irish were who the Italians called when things needed to get a bit muddy and they needed outside help. I know there were significantly less Irish mobsters than Italians so I know it can't be as long of a series, but I wish it was a bit longer. 

Australia's Border Security is pretty similar to America's but I like theirs more, so I've been watching it over and over again. lol Meet the Blacks stars Mike Epps as the patriarch of the Black family in this comedic spoof of movies like The Purge. You'll see a number of Black comedians in this film, Charlie Murphy and Michael Blackson being among them, and a funny choice for a corrupt President in George Lopez but overall it's not gut-splitting hilarious. The Spirit of Christmas is my cheesy romantic Christmas flick about a woman battling a stubborn ghost in order to appraise the property he once owned and of course, falling in love with him. My biggest gain from this movie is my introduction to the deliciousness that is Thomas Beaudoin. Yum.

Diary of a Chambermaid is a remake of a remake about a maid's experiences while serving a number of rich families and their spouses. She seems to regard everyone as beneath her, which is ironic considering her own position, and ultimately falls in love with a reticent, scowling servant of the family she works for. It was okay but not chronological, which made it a bit confusing and the moments of silence are a bit too long, with not enough meaningful dialogue between some of those silent periods to make up for it.

Picks of the Month: Travelers, A Family Affair, Beauties of the Night and The Irish Mob

Throwaway Pick: Meet the Blacks

I know this was a rather long list, but this month was about trying to get more tv shows on my list a month so I'm sorry. These probably won't be short entries. lol I hope you found something that intrigues you from this list; is there anything you've already watched? As always, I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you soon!