Blogocentric Formulations

Watch List - October 2025

To qualify for my Watch List every month, the following has to be something that I've watched that's new to me. It doesn't necessarily have to be a current show, but it can't be reruns or rewatches of something I've already seen. So if I'm including it in this list, it means this month is the first time I've watched it. I'll put "DNF" (Did Not Finish) next to anything that I stopped watching and have no immediate plans to finish.


Movies

          Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie
          The Naked Gun (2025)
          The Smashing Machine
          Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
          Tron: Ares

Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie was, uh, not a good movie. Then again, I don't think it was meant to be, because it's clearly a kids' movie that had zero intention of being appealing to anyone other than kids. The only saving grace of the film was Kristen Wiig, who has the remarkable ability of being able to fully throw herself into every role she plays, no matter how silly or ridiculous.

This year's remake of The Naked Gun was surprisingly good. Liam Neeson was a genuine surprise in a comedic leading man role and, while I don't think anything will ever top the original which is one of the best spoof movies of all time, it was a worthy successor and updated entry into the franchise.

The Smashing Machine was a bit of a letdown. It felt like the filmmakers really wanted to focus on the life of the guy, when the more interesting story was about how MMA got started. Maybe they couldn't get the rights they needed or something, but it felt like it was a biopic where they chose character over story, and where the story is the more interesting part rather than this specific guy's personal life.

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere was great. I actually didn't know a lot about the life of Bruce Springsteen prior to stepping into the theater, and I didn't even know that he struggled with depression or that this movie was specifically about his battle with depression while he recorded Nebraska. The movie felt a little long, but it was a really compelling story.

Tron: Ares was a bit of a letdown, but wasn't surprising. I think the movies in the Tron franchise have always struggled to find an audience, and this was no exception. The visual effects were great, of course, and I actually like the fact that they figured out a narrative reason to get the digital elements into the real world so the entire movie didn't take place entirely within a digital construct, but Jared Leto felt mis-cast and it felt like the movie just kind of assumed you remembered what happened in prior installments even though they were released in 1982 and 2010, and I don't think anybody remembers them.


Television

          The Rainmaker (Season 1)
          Selling Sunset (Season 9)

I was pleasantly surprised by The Rainmaker. It definitely wasn't perfect (the lead actor seemed to slip in and out of his southern persona, and made some real dumb choices for someone who's supposed to be the best legal mind of his generation), and it was pretty predictable since John Grisham tends to write the same kind of books over and over again. But the supporting cast was excellent, and they did a great job of bringing everything together at the very end.

The ninth season of Selling Sunset was a bit of a letdown. The producers are very clearly trying to manufacture drama at this point, and it seems like the cast is kind of over their blatant shenanigans trying to get everyone on the cast to fight with one another. But all of that is kind of part and parcel of the reality TV genre, so that would have been fine... but they also just ended the season abruptly (not even a cliffhanger for next season) and immediately advertised the "reunion" show as something to tune into next week. And while "reunion" shows (the cast talking about the season after the fact, and fighting all over again) are very popular for reality TV, this was the first time it seems like they built a season around the reunion. It really felt like they said, "Thanks for watching this season... but make sure you tune into the reunion show in a week where the real drama will happen." It was weird to invest in a season of a show that felt like it was relying an an out-of-season interaction to end things.

TOP PICK:
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere