8 Great is our extremely original listicle series where we take a break from snark and negativity to focus on the positive, and list eight of our favorite examples of something great from pro wrestling. Matches, performers, shows – whatever is helping us enjoy wrestling in a particular week, that’s what this feature is all about.

This 8 Great is the second in a series that’s related to current events but isn’t about current wrestling. When a pandemic forces everyone inside and socially isolated, it highlights how valuable the ability of art to help people escape from reality for a while really is.

So while most of this site’s devoted art form, pro wrestling, is on hiatus or in a weird no-fans limbo, the With Spandex team is taking the time to appreciate the matches from the past we’re drawn to revisit the most, and always get something out of re-watching. Our comfort food wrestling, basically. We’ll explain why these matches stuck with us and what we like about them, but the eight matches on everyone’s lists were picked completely subjectively and reflect our different preferences and experiences as fans.

Emily Pratt did one of these last week, and now it’s my turn. I suppose my list is pretty idiosyncratic, reflecting my love of women’s wrestling, dramatic Southern-style storytelling, and hardcore violence. I contain multitudes, but then, don’t we all?

Magnum TA vs. Tully Blanchard, Steel Cage “I Quit” Match, Starrcade 1985

What can I say about this match that hasn’t already been said? Brandon Stroud has written about it at length, and so have most other wrestling writers. But there’s a reason for that. Even people who only know Tully Blanchard and Magnum TA as Tessa Blanchard’s two dads have at least heard that this is the greatest hardcore match of all time. It’s the most memorable match at Starrcade ’85, a show that featured the Dusty Rhodes/Ric Flair match that paid off the Hard Times promo, and also the Midnight Express fighting a dancing hobo and a drag queen.

This match is plenty violent and bloody, in that way that WWE has moved away from and AEW occasionally brings back. But it’s not the violence that makes this match so good (although the violence is great), it’s the emotion behind that violence. Watching it, you really believe that these two men despise each other. You really believe that Tully Blanchard is a garbage human and Magnum TA is a good man who doesn’t really want to hurt anybody, but he just hates! Tully Blanchard! So much! when he gives into that hate and stabs Tully in the eye with that shard of wood, that’s when the match really becomes something special. And at the end when Magnum wins, he can’t even be proud, because he’s let out the worst part of himself. This is old-school Southern Wrestling Drama at its absolute best.

Sting vs Cactus Jack, Falls Count Anywhere, WCW Beach Blast 1992

As somebody who didn’t really watch wrestling until this century, this was the match where I really felt like I “got” both Sting and Cactus Jack, and understood why people love them. Sting is a real-life superhero in a level nobody else in that era pulled off. Yeah, Hulk Hogan was selling himself as a superhero, but even then he was a big balding pork sausage of a man. In contrast, Sting was actually movie star handsome, and still masks on his face as part of his colorful persona (and just like the superheroes in comics, later in the ’90s he would become a darker version of himself, but that hadn’t happened yet).

And Cactus Jack is the perfect supervillain for Sting. He’s not a mastermind, but he’s a hell of a brawler. Later, of course, Mick Foley would play other characters and get to show other sides of himself, but as Cactus Jack he’s just a nasty man who loves to hurt people. And he’s good at that. Sting doesn’t love hurting people, but he has no problem hurting Cactus Jack since that’s the only way to beat him. This isn’t one of those stories like the one above where the babyface has to compromise his values. Sting follows the rules, but this is a Falls Count Anywhere Match, so the rules are “beat the hell out of him,” and Sting’s not afraid to do that. Also? Sting’s hot pink ring gear in this match is spectacular.

The Rhodes Brothers vs The Shield, WWE Battleground 2013

Remember when the Authority fired Cody Rhodes and Goldust, and threatened to fire Dusty Rhodes too, unless the Rhodes Brothers beat the Shield? In retrospect, WWE might have spent a few years leaning a little too hard on storylines about how terrible the actual people who actually run the company are to their employees. But this story works because it’s all about that high drama that the Rhodes family is great at.

Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, who were Tag Team Champions at the time, represent the Shield, with US Champion Dean “Jon Moxley” Ambrose on the outside. Dusty’s at ringside too, and he hits Dean in the face with his belt buck before taking him down with a Bionic Elbow. I have to think Mox is still proud he got a chance to take that move.

The match in the ring is excellent too, of course, with Roman and Seth going hard on the Rhodes Brothers. Goldust plays the face in peril, which he’s great at, reaching out to his little brother desperately as if to say “I’m a forty-something man with a full face of makeup, and this is too much for me!”

And yeah, it’s interesting to watch this match in 2020 when so many things are different. Of the six guys involved in this midcard match, one is sadly departed, two are among WWE’s biggest stars, and three now work at a company nobody could have imagined would ever exist back then.

Emma vs Paige, NXT Takeover: Arrival (2014)

Let’s forget who “some say” started the Women’s R/evolution in WWE. This certainly played a role in kicking it off, but more than that it’s just a really good wrestling match between two women I really miss getting to see in the ring. Paige was my first favorite female wrestler, and it breaks my heart that she can’t get in the ring anymore. Emma’s still around, here and there, making occasional appearances in Impact and elsewhere as Tenille Dashwood, but she’s never fully recovered the fire she had in WWE when they would actually let her work.

This match shows that chipper, bubble-popping Emma could already get brutal when she needed too. And Paige, who is basically a child, already knows exactly what she’s doing. These women weren’t going to wait for Stephanie McMahon to announce that it’s time to take women’s wrestling seriously in WWE. They were going to go out there and do some serious goddamn pro wrestling, and it was on Stephanie to rush out beforehand and warn everyone what was about to happen.

Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy: The Final Deletion

Is this a wrestling match? Technically yes. There’s a ring and a ref and a winner. There’s also a xylophone, a bunch of drones (including Chris Jericho’s current rival, Vanguard 1), vindictive lawnmowing, a fireworks fight, and a dilapidated boat. You already know if this is your thing or not. But what I’m saying is, if this is your thing, now’s a good time to rewatch it. It’s delightful all on its own, and even better if you watch all the Matt Hardy videos from Impact that come before and after it. Plus it has new relevance with the return of Broken Matt Hardy and Vanguard 1 in AEW. Wonderful!

Nikki Cross vs. Asuka, Last Woman Standing, NXT (June 28, 2017)

From my previous “8 Great” about Nikki Cross matches:

If you go back and watch this full match on the NXT episode (which I recommend), there’s also a vignette earlier in the episode that you don’t want to miss. On the day of the Last Woman Standing Match, as Asuka was being driven to Full Sail, Nikki Cross jumped on the hood of the car and started pounding on the windshield, trying to get in so she could start fighting Asuka. She was never a woman of restraint.

The match itself is incredibly good, and takes up about half the episode. It’s full of the kind of bananas hardcore shit that makes Last Person Standing matches worthwhile. Asuka literally put Nikki Cross in a trash can, and then kicked that trash can until it was dented and Cross had even less idea what was going on than usual. At one point Asuka was trying to suplex Nikki out of the ring onto a pile of chairs on the floor, but Nikki slipped out of her grasp and between her legs to the floor, and then powerbombed Asuka onto the chairs instead. The match only ended when both women went through the announce desk from the top of a ladder, and Asuka barely managed to stand up. With all due respect to Bayley and Ember Moon, I don’t think Asuka was ever pushed to her limit in NXT as much as she was in this match.

Meiko Satomura vs Mercedes Martinez, Mae Young Classic (October 3, 2018)

I decided to keep this list pretty mainstream for ease of watching, but if I had included the indies and Japan, there are plenty of matches featuring either of these women that could go on this list. In fact, I once had a conversation with Cageside Seats contributor Stella Cheeks about wrestlers who never have a bad match. She named Mercedes, I named Meiko, and then we agreed we were both right. Here’s what I had to say in 2018 (long before Mercedes officially signed with WWE, of course):

It almost feels like cheating to include this match on this list. Both of these women are multi-decade wrestling veterans, and neither of them has ever had a WWE contract. They were just stopping by to show the kids how things are done. Every match either of them had in the Mae Young Classic (or just about anywhere else) is absolutely worth watching, but when they got in the ring together it was on a whole other level. Meiko’s a legendary babyface, but you could see her frustration increase as Mercedes kept kicking out, until eventually she was literally roaring with anger as she drove Mercedes’ head into that mat again and again and again. The storytelling wasn’t subtle (not that wrestling should be), but it was perfect.

LAX vs Lucha Bros, Impact Homecoming 2019

Santana and Ortiz faced Pentagon Jr. and Fenix a bunch of times in Impact (and I’m sure eventually they’ll have plenty of matches in AEW too), and they’re all worth watching, but this is probably the best one. These are two of the best tag teams in the world, and they have amazing chemistry together. This match had the high-flying spots you expect from the Lucha Bros (and LAX) as well as the brutality you expect from LAX (and the Lucha Bros). These two teams go hard as hell against each other for twelve minutes or so, and then they’re still friends at the end. And as much as I love dramatic hate-fests like the first match on this list, wrestlers shaking hands and being friends and good sports is still one of my favorite ways for a match to end.

Zac Efron should officially be allowed to now claim the status of “former teen idol” because, duh, that’s what happens when one portrays Ted Bundy. However, he’s still much farther behind in shedding that label than Titanic star Leonardo DiCaprio, who did his time on that beat before eventually graduating to Quentin Tarantino films and tussling with a bear on the frontier and such. The two actors are now friends, and they have been since the time they were first photographed together at a 2008 LA Lakers game. While appearing on First We Feast’s “Hot Ones” YouTube series, however, Efron revealed that they didn’t actually speak with each other until that point. Then the magic happened.

Breakfast magic, that is, which means the second-most enticing meal other than brunch. We can fight over that topic another time, but here’s how the star of Quibi’s upcoming Killing Zac Efron series relates that things went down during the game:

“We weren’t talking at that point, and I was just kinda gonna wait for him, and sure enough, he had his hat down low, and when the ball went to the other side, he was like, ‘Hey man, do you wanna go get breakfast tomorrow?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, dude!’”

The rest is beautiful history. DiCaprio then invited him over and cooked breakfast, which turned into burnt waffles and un-burnt pancakes. Sounds delicious, actually. They also chatted about the paparazzi, and DiCaprio admitted that Efron’s was receiving a “little bit different” version of the paparazzi than he did. And then they looked at Leo’s monitors, and he said, “There’s never this many cars here, that’s insane, dude.” Then DiCaprio added, “Don’t worry about it man, you’re good.”

Interestingly enough, DiCaprio also recently appeared on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, where revealed that he used to deal with a massive amount of paparazzi, but “not as much anymore.” He added, “I’ve been able to escape a lot more which is great, and walk around outside.” To that, his Once Upon A Time In Hollywood co-star, Brad Pitt, admitted to being “a little disgruntled with you now that I hear that.” Yep, PItt’s still tailed regularly. “I’m just like trash-mag fodder,” the Troy star declared. “Because of my disaster of a personal life probably.” Somehow, Leo’s off that kind of radar, so good for him.

(Via Hot Ones & Marc Maron’s WTF Podcast)

With the majority of the world at home in quarantine, musicians are providing a distraction through virtual entertainment. Some are hosting concert livestreams and others, like Miley Cyrus, are speaking with other celebrities via Instagram Live. Cyrus recently began a talk show web series titled Bright Minded. During her live series, the singer discusses a breadth of topics ranging from self-care to the zero-waste initiative. This week, Cyrus spoke with Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown on how to stay motivated despite the quarantine.

During the lengthy chat, the two stars diverted from that topic to chat about Brown’s acting career. Brown said when she was younger, she figured out a way to perfect her US lingo — and it was through watching hours of Cyrus’ breakout Disney Channel show Hannah Montana.

The actor described how being “obsessed” with the show helped her accent and pushed her to pursue a career in acting altogether:

“I just have to say, the only way I got my American accent was by watching Hannah Montana. I was obviously, you know, obsessed with it. I was actually just going through my camera roll and I saw a video of me in a cowboy hat and I was learning ‘Hoedown [Throwdown].’ Full on, knew every single dance move. And now, thinking back on how obsessed I was, I wanted your job. Like, I didn’t know how to get your job, but I was like, ‘I want to be Hannah Montana, I don’t know how to do it.’ Then, I realized it was an actual job.”

Watch Brown on Cyrus’ Bright Minded web series above.

Last week, Lauv offered fans an acoustic version of his single “Modern Loneliness” as part of an exclusive merch bundle, the proceeds from which went to help Partners In Health’s COVID-19 relief efforts. Now he has made the song available digitally, and proceeds from streams and all future revenue will also go towards coronavirus relief.

As the pandemic is forcing people to remain mostly inside their homes, the song’s theme is especially relevant, as the song is about how people often feel alone despite technology giving them easy access to their friends. Lauv sings on the chorus, “Modern loneliness / We’re never alone, but always depressed, yeah / Love my friends to death / But I never call and I never text, yeah.”

Ahead of the original song’s release, Lauv wrote on Instagram, “i’m releasing my favorite song i’ve ever made..the most important song of my career so far..it sums up everything about why i think so many of us are lonely today. it’s something i’m so proud of and i know you guys will love it.” He added on Twitter later that day, “not to mention i cry every time i sing it…OKAY bye for real lmaoooo.”

Listen to the acoustic version of Modern Loneliness above.

How I’m Feeling is out now via AWAL. Get it here.

Previously on the Ins and Outs of AEW Dynamite: Matt Hardy revealed that he’s a 3,000 year old spirit who hung out with Jesus Christ’s disciples and has the ability to teleport, although that was later retconned into a Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home-style drone illusion. Also, the Cultist Beaver Boys learned that DADDY EATS FIRST.

If you’d like to keep up with this column and its thinly veiled Best and Worst format, you can keep tabs on the Ins and Outs of AEW Dynamite tag page. I’m also recapping Dark, which you can keep up with here, and you can keep track of all things All Elite here.

Follow With Spandex on Twitter and Facebook. You can also follow me on Twitter, where everything and everyone is terrible.

And now, the Ins and Outs of All Elite Wrestling Dynamite for April 1, 2020.

Mostly In: Trent (Almost) Goes The Distance

Man, wrestling Kenny Omega in AEW right now must be like playing against Bo Jackson in Tecmo Bowl. He’s going to run circles around you and all your friends, and even if you manage to touch him he’s just going to shrug it off and keep running. Last week he completely no-sold Sammy Guevara’s version of Feast Your Eyes (which we learned on Dark is actually Sammy’s finisher now), and this week he takes a snap half-nelson suplex from Trent, immediately gets to his feet, and does that little hop in place to regain 100% of his HP and start throwing V-Triggers. Infuriating. Undertaker could throw Kenny Omega off the top of Hell in Cell and Kenny would hit the ground, roll up to his feet, hop in place with his hands posed, and knee Undertaker in the face 20 feet in the air.

That aside — and I complained about Omega not being treated like the “best bout machine” when AEW started, so I guess I’m getting what I asked for, for better or worse — Omega vs. Trent is another one of those very good Trent matches that almost transforms him into a viable singles threat who seriously needs to get away from his jokey pals for the sake of his career. It’s also a great effort to play with AEW’s time limit draw, as they pull a Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong from ROH and convince you it’s going the distance only to pull back and end it in the final minute. Usually in wrestling you only pay attention to those “FIVE MINUTES REMAINING IN THE MATCH, FIVE MINUTES” notices if they need you to notice the time limit. Introducing them and giving us a finish anyway creates some believable options for the next time you want to go to a draw, but maintain the drama in the final stretch. Good decision there.

I should also mention that terrifying German suplex off the ropes Trent tries to do but slips, can’t quite get his bearings, and dumps Kenny on his neck. Kenny landed like this. But don’t worry, within 40 seconds Kenny’s using only his neck to lift Trent up for the One-Winged Angel. Best bouts!

Also Mostly In: Blue Jayy

Not much going on in the women’s division this week — stop me if you’ve heard this one before — but we do get a match between Hikaru Shida and jobber of the week Anna Jayy. If you’ve never seen her before, Jayy has too many extraneous letters in her last name a la NWA Powerrr, Chippendales-style wrist cuffs, and a Fantastics-style bow tie. A tie and cuffs with no shirt officially makes her the most Hanna Barbera competitor on the AEW roster. She also advertises herself as, “the star of the show,” so think of her as Domestic Nina Samuels.

Jayy gets more offense than you’d expect(t), but it’s still a relatively easy win for Shida as they continue to … maybe build her up as Nyla Rose’s next challenger? It’s been a hot minute since the women’s division had any stories other than “a match has been scheduled” and “Britt Baker’s being mean to Tony Schiavone.” Britt’s actually the highlight here too, I think, as she hangs out behind the security banner and eats a sandwich because the match is boring. Cody refers to her as Tony Schiavone’s “mirror universe wife,” which makes me hope there’s some reality where Tony has long hair and runs the Undisputed Era.

All In: Lance Archer Versus [Checks Notes] MARKO STUNT?

Notes:

• This is Archer’s AEW in-ring debut and he’s still using ‘Everybody Dies’ as his entrance theme, meaning he’s immediately in the top 5 for best themes behind Chris Jericho and probably Faboo Andre
• he’s also still randomly assaulting people on his way to the ring, which is going to get over huge once they start doing it in actual arenas in front of actual fans, and don’t have to throw some rando Red Shirt out there to get shoved and put into a coma
• I’m happy they’ve found a way to keep Jake Roberts on the show and cutting promos without endangering his health
• Archer’s opponent is Marko Stunt in what’s officially the most unfair wrestling match of all time, at least until Riho gets booked against Brock Lesnar
• Cody’s got blood on his hands for refusing to face Archer here and instead volunteering a literal child in his place. Marko Stunt wrestling Lance Archer is like a squirrel in the middle of the street wrestling a semi truck
• RIP Marko Stunt, 1996-2020

Colt Cabana sits in on commentary ahead of his first round TNT Championship tournament match-up against Archer and declares, “I will use my comedy, I will use my humor, I will use it all to gain a victory!” There’s also a six-foot deep rectangular hole somebody dug into the earth you’ll be able to use, Colt.

All In: AEW Goes To The Dogs

Firstly, it’s good to see Nightmare Family mascot and philanthropic humanitarian Pharaoh back on the program looking happy and staying very far away from the fireworks. By just gently poking his snoot into the microphone he’s already better on commentary than Sam Roberts.

Secondly …

I didn’t think Chris Jericho and Damascus would be able to top last week’s truly absurd closing segment so quickly, but here we are. I honestly think the only way I can do it justice is by telling you what happened.

Chris Jericho is once again at his home, in the hot tub, in jeans, drinking A Little Bit Of The Bubbly. He has fun shitting on The Elite by saying April Fool’s Day is meant to honor them, then talks about Nick Jackson’s bebe and how he should stay at home for the next two years on “maternity leave” and hire his “deadbeat brother Matt” to mow his lawn. It’s at about this time Vanguard-1 flies in (to “Parts Unknown,” according to his HUD). I want to note how appreciative I am that they explained how Jericho sent in footage and Hardy sent in footage, and the AEW production team put them together. In all seriousness, even if it’s total bullshit, take a second to mention things like why a camera is somewhere, or why a referee is suddenly somewhere, or how a seemingly live event has multiple camera angles. It matters to anybody thinking about it on a level deeper than pointing and clapping at the baby in the sun on Teletubbies.

Anyway, Jericho once again offers Matt Hardy’s sentient drone a spot in the Inner Circle and offers it a CHILDREN’S T-SHIRT ON A TINY HANGER to seal the deal. Honestly at this point I want Vanguard to swerve Matt at some point and join them. Jericho offers the inanimate object a “handshake” in the form of an “elbow-to-propeller” bash, but Vanguard flies away. Jericho, pissed about being turned down by a flying camera for the second week in row, chases after and lobs a bottle of sparking wine at it. It’s at this point he screams RELEASE THE HOUNDS, and we find out “the hounds” are a group of the smallest, cutest, and least threatening dogs imaginable.

I am forever grateful that someone at All Elite Wrestling decided to gently place heel Chris Jericho into Matt Hardy’s Broken Universe. I want this feud to continue in increasingly goofy on-location vignettes until there’s enough lore to fill a George R.R. Martin book. Also, somebody identify and tell me the personalities of all these doggos.

All In: I Tournament To Do That

After another “Brodie Lee is Vince McMahon, wink wink, nudge nudge” video, The Natural Nightmares make their Dynamite debut against, I am not kidding, “Dark Order member 8” and “Dark Order member 9.” Here’s what they look like:

I can’t tell you how excited I am to see nondescript masked men make their return to enhancement duty. BRING BACK THUNDERFOOT. They get their asses kicked, of course, and it looks like we’re either getting a Natural Nightmares vs. Important Characters From The Dark Order feud, or at least providing a reason why Dustin Rhodes might lose to Kip Sabian in the first round of the TNT Championship tournament.

My only complaint here is that Number 8 and Number 9 don’t work for the Monarch of Manliness. I wonder if one of them drives a Nissan Stanza?

Similarly, another Rhodes match is used to set up some tournament interaction this week as Cody teams up with his frenemy Darby Allin to face Sammy Guevara and Shawn Spears. Darby’s the star here, as he usually ends up being, playing Ricky Morton in jorts and leggings and dropping Coffins off the tops of support poles in the Undisclosed Arena. Brother’s just bonkers every time he’s on television.

After about 21 minutes of very good tag team wrestling (and Britt Baker attacking Cody with the WOMAN’S SHOE, the only weapon in pro wrestling deadlier than the Clangy Poles), Sammy introduces a chair and gives it to Spears, who once again aims to turn Cody’s brains into figgy pudding. Darby pulls the chair away from Spears before he can swing it, but Sammy pulls the chair away from HIM, and that allows Spears to roll him up for the three. Darby, rightfully pissed that he did most of the work and made an important save but still got duked in a total 2-on-1 situation, forearms Cody in the face. I mean, I get it.

Now we’ve got addeed drama between Cody and Shawn Spears for their first round match in the tournament because of the attempted chair shot, added drama between Guevara and Allin because of the way the finish went down, AND added drama between Cody and Darby for a possible second round match. Outstandingly utilitarian and purposeful for an empty arena tag match. I’m used to those just kind of happening to justify promos from the top of the show.

All In: Top 10 Comments Of The Week

TRB

Put Jericho in the wrestling hall of fame & then put him in again

AddMayne

I do not care what anyone says. I don’t care what happens. I have no idea what will happen in AEW’s future. Or even what will happen in Wrestling’s future. Chris Jericho chasing a drone and angrily cursing it has made it all worth it.

CFCarboni

Dustin better pin both at once. Everyone knows you have to stand on 17.

Dave M J

The perfect woman doesn’t exi-

Cody: (Shida) has all the Zelda knowledge in the world

troi

Dexter Lumis looks like a guy who is gonna have to apologize for old social media posts

Jaybone2

COLT: That’s not gonna happen to me when I face Archer.

ALSO COLT:

Baron

Jericho pours a glass of champagne….and then takes a swig out of the bottle. WHAT A HEEL!

FeltLuke

No “Holy Shit” chant? These fans are the worst.

SexCauldron

Don’t call Cody Joe Exotic. Joe has better tattoos

Clay Quartermain

Stay safe everyone, I’ll talk to you all again …………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………. next Wednesday night!

Finally, I’m not particularly engaged in the OH NO WILL THE YOUNG BUCKS EVER WRESTLE AGAIN AFTER ONE OF THEM GOT STUCK IN A LOADING BAY DOOR story or the Jon Moxley vs. Jake Hager rivalry, but I AM engaged in the idea that Moxley and Hager have “listened to the Jerky Boys for hours on end” with each other. I didn’t know that before, but I feel like I’ve always known it, you know? AEW’s next podcast needs to be Hager and Moxley talking about old Jerky Boys bits. Also, I totally believe it when Hager says, “I’m not here for fans to go home happy.” I know, man, I’ve seen your matches.

That does it for this week’s column. Thanks for reading about Dynamite! If you’re able to leave us a comment below, give the column a share on social media, and make sure you’re back here next week. Oh, and make sure you’re reading about Dark, because again, FABOO ANDRE, YOU GUYS.

See you next Wednesday, unless there’s something happening this weekend we’re supposed to be watching.

If you’ve exhausted your Netflix playlist while self-isolating or are simply looking for some out-of-the-box entertainment ideas, Open Culture has over 1150 films you can watch for free, most of them are streamable to your TV via Chromecast or Airdrop.

Many of them are older films that have become public domain, but that doesn’t mean they’re not wonderful to watch. The site has a huge selection of documentaries, westerns, ’30s and ’40s film noir, Hitcock films, and Oscar-winners.

Open Culture also has free lectures, eBooks, K-12 educational materials, and business classes.

Browsing the website is basically like hanging out at your local library.

---

Eleven-hundred movies are a lot to browse through, so here are 10 recommendations to get you started.

via TCM / Twitter

“Charade” (1963) — Audrey Hepburn’s career was short, but just about everything she did was pure magic. In this comedic thriller, Hepburn plays a widow being chased by several men who want a fortune her husband stole during the war. The only person she can trust is a suave, mysterious man played by Cary Grant.

“The 39 Steps” (1935) — One of Alfred Hitchcock’s early masterpieces, “The 39 Steps” is a classic wrong-man thriller about a guy who stumbles upon a conspiracy that thrusts him into a hectic chase across Scottish moors.

via Wikimedia Commons

“The Stranger” (1946) — Orson Welles directed and stars in this film about an ex-Nazi who hides out in a small town masquerading as a teacher. But when one of his old German associates rolls into town, he has to resort to desperate measures to hide his secret. The iconic Edward G. Robinson also stars in this classic.

via Wikimedia Commons

“Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)” — Ed Wood is often regarded as the worst filmmaker in history and was immortalized in a 1994 biopic starring Johnny Depp and directed by Tim Burton. “Plan 9 from Outer Space,” a film about grave digging space aliens, is often cited as Wood’s signature cinematic achievement. Bela Lugosi has a small role in the film.

via Medium

“The Giving Tree” (1973) — This animated adaptation of Shel Silverstein’s heart-wrenching tale of a boy and a tree is narrated by the author. Anyone who grew up in the ’70s and ’80s probably remembers watching it in school.

via Wikimedia Commons

“The Complete Star Wars Filmumentaries” (1977 to 1983) — Three documentary-commentaries of the original “Star Wars” trilogy are a must-see for any true nerd. The documentaries feature deleted scenes, alternate takes, bloopers, original on set audio recordings and a huge amount of commentary from cast and crew.

via YouTube

“Heavy Metal Parking Lot” (1986) — This short documentary about young heavy metal fans gathered for a tailgate party outside the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland before a Judas Priest concert became a cult classic in the ’90s.

via Wikimedia Commons

“Reefer Madness” (1936) — This so-bad-its-good film was meant to scare kids in the ’30s about smoking marijuana. It follows the melodramatic events that ensue when high-school students are lured by pushers to try marijuana—from a hit and run accident, to manslaughter, suicide, attempted rape, hallucinations, and descent into madness from marijuana addiction. In the ’70s it became a cult classic with potheads as an unintentional satire.

via Wikimedia Commons

“His Girl Friday” (1940) — Howard Hawks directed this fast-talking comedy about a reporter (Rosalind Russell) and her editor/ ex-husband (Cary Grant) who uses an alluring scoop to keep her from marrying another man. Russell’s portrayal of a strong, smart woman has been praised for being decades ahead of its time.

via Wikimedia Commons

“The Man with the The Golden Arm” (1955) — Frank Sinatra was nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal of an ex-heroin addict attempting to stay clean after being released from prison. The film is best remembered for a harrowing scene in which Sinatra tries to go cold turkey.

---

View Entire Post ›

April 4 will mark the 25th anniversary of Guided By Voices’ 1995 album Alien Lanes, their first release on Matador Records. To celebrate, the label is reissuing the record on limited edition vinyl, on August 21. The record, of which only 2,500 will be made, is pressed on blue, green and red multicolored vinyl, and a limited edition keyring/bottle opener will also be available while supplies last. The reissue is available for pre-order now.

The band’s Bob Pollard shared a brief essay about the album in light of the rerelease, which he begins by describing the band’s mindset when they recorded the record: “We were fearless at the time we recorded Alien Lanes. That’s why it bristles with insane energy and confidence. We were still riding the high accolades of Bee Thousand and probably should have succumbed to the critical pressure of a worthy follow-up. Instead we had, in our megalomaniacal view, mastered the instant gratification machine known as the 4-track and began recording song after song with titles like ‘Cuddling Bozo’s Octopus’, ‘My Valuable Hunting Knife’, ‘Pimple Zoo’ and ‘After the Quake (Let’s Bake a Cake).’”

Additionally, Matador has also shared the hard-to-find 1996 documentary about the band, the Banks Tarver-directed Watch Me Jumpstart.

Read Pollard’s full statement below.

“We were fearless at the time we recorded Alien Lanes. That’s why it bristles with insane energy and confidence. We were still riding the high accolades of Bee Thousand and probably should have succumbed to the critical pressure of a worthy follow-up. Instead we had, in our megalomaniacal view, mastered the instant gratification machine known as the 4-track and began recording song after song with titles like ‘Cuddling Bozo’s Octopus’, ‘My Valuable Hunting Knife’, ‘Pimple Zoo’ and ‘After the Quake (Let’s Bake a Cake)’.

The door had been opened for us to throw out as many weird ass ideas as we were capable of and we did. We even thought we were starting to look cooler and decided cool enough to have the entire back cover be a photograph of us in the basement looking pseudo intellectually laid back and stoned with long hair, stars and stripe gym shoes and a box of Tide in the background.

Our friend Kim thought the album was too bombastic. Too frenetic and difficult to digest. I agreed. We were proud to be putting out our first album on Matador and cock strutted accordingly. It cost us $10 to make. It’s worth a million. I personally think it’s better than B-1000 (but not by much). There are two different camps of GBV fans to argue and debate.

God bless 1995 and open hearted record labels like Matador (and Scat before them) for allowing bands like us, with the preferred limited resources, to remove the constraints and pre-conceived notions of the more industry-minded constituents who would have much preferred we destroy the cassette master of Alien Lanes in the better interest of sound manufacturing and what’s more agriculturally consumable. It’s better to leave the farm than to continue plodding through the cow sh*t.”

Train to Busan is the one of the better zombie movies in recent memory. Directed by Yeon Sang-ho, the claustrophobic Korean horror flick is about, well, a train to Busan, and the passengers aboard who are forced to safely pass from car to car. For the sequel, the goofily-titled Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula, the setting expands from a single train to an entire “diseased wasteland,” according to Well Go USA, which is releasing the film.

“The scale of Peninsula can’t compare to Train to Busan, it makes it look like an independent film,” director Yeon told Screen Daily about the sequel. “Train to Busan was a high-concept film shot in narrow spaces, whereas Peninsula has a much wider scope of movement.” It’s The Road Warrior to the original’s Mad Max. But with zombies.

Watch the trailer above. Here’s the official plot synopsis.

Four years after South Korea’s total decimation in Train to Busan, the zombie thriller that captivated audiences worldwide, acclaimed director Yeon Sang-ho brings us Peninsula, the next nail-biting chapter in his post-apocalyptic world. Jung-seok, a soldier who previously escaped the diseased wasteland, relives the horror when assigned to a covert operation with two simple objectives: retrieve and survive. When his team unexpectedly stumbles upon survivors, their lives will depend on whether the best—or worst—of human nature prevails in the direst of circumstances.

Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula does not currently have an American release date.

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow, and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

On her towering third album, Lorely Rodriguez brushes off the idea that she’d follow the naming conventions that had graced her records thus far — her debut release, Me came out in 2015 and was quickly followed up by Us in 2018. “Someone on Twitter was like ‘I thought this was going to be called We or Them or They, and I wrote back ‘why would I be so obvious?’” Rodriguez explained over the phone last week, when we spoke about her forthcoming third album, I’m Your Empress Of. “Basically, I wrote the title track, and I was like ‘this is the record title now.’ Once I wrote that song, I knew I would have to call the record that.”

During that brief but powerful opening track, and elsewhere across her third release, Lorely enlisted her mother, Reina, for a series of spoken word segments that outline her struggles as an immigrant who learned English, and her pride in the many worlds and selves that her daughter has been able to create. “I only have one girl,” Reina says on the track. “But that only girl is like having thousands of girls, because look at how many times she reproduces herself in each one of you!” Hearing a mother take pride in her daughter’s art is always poignant, but in the midst of a global crisis that threatens the most vulnerable among us, Reina’s words are even more uplifting.

Discussing her new album in the midst of the spread of Coronavirus, Lorely is adamant that it still be released, and that staying positive and focusing on edifying things like art and music is how we get through this. “We talked about pushing it back, but we all decided this is the record, this is the vibe of the record,” she explained. “I’m okay with it because I think it will be good to have new music out and give people something they can live with. But also, this record was written so immediately and urgently, I think putting it out like this is a true testament to how the record was made.”

Read an edited and condensed of our conversation about I’m Your Empress Of below.

The first thing that really struck me about this record is album title, and that plays into your artist name in such a direct way. Following up your debut Me and second album Us, what made you want to echo or repeat your artist name for this album title?

I think it’s a statement, and even more of a statement than when someone self-titles their album. I feel like it’s an arrival point where I have this confidence on this record. I wanted to open a record like that. I know why it’s called I’m Your Empress Of, and the title track and what my mom says and all that.

Let’s talk about that song, because I think there’s some pretty moving reflections on the power of language from your mom, and her voice also returns at different times throughout the record. Can you talk a little bit about having her as a speaker and why you wanted her words helping introduce the record?

Yeah, definitely. I wrote the song, and I was just like, ‘Hey, mom, can you come over? I want to record you talking for my album.’ So she comes over, and she’s like, ‘What do you want me to say?’ And I’m like, ‘You’re always saying so much about everything!’ I asked her talk about being a woman, to talk about being an immigrant, and talk about being a mother and a lover. So she kind of just like, over a 20-minute loop of the track, just went off. She just said things that I was even like ‘Okay! Okay, Mom!’ I have videos on my phone of her, I’ll post them after the record’s out.

I didn’t tell her anything to say. I didn’t prompt her. She just said a lot of things that I feel are universal as a woman. She really captured the theme of the record when she says ‘I only have one girl, but it’s like I have thousands of girls, because of how many times she reproduces herself in each one of you.’ It’s something that she’s seen from coming to my shows in LA — like how my songs have become other people’s lives, like their stories. That’s something I feel is really powerful about songwriting. Once those songs are written, they’re someone else’s form of expression. Someone else sees themself in those songs. That’s why it’s called I’m Your Empress Of.

I know you talked a lot before about feeling grateful to her, knowing the experience of your parents as immigrants coming here to give you a different life, but I think it’s so powerful to hear her. We’ve heard your thankfulness for them, but to hear her thankfulness back, her reaction to you, it was just so amazing to hear. It’s really emotional.

When I finished the first track, I felt like I did something very special, that really showed who I was culturally and as an artist and as a daughter. I’ve played it for a couple of my friends in LA, and they cried, because they’re my friends who grew up in LA with immigrant parents. They were like, ‘Oh, my gosh, this is my mom. This is also my mom.’ They felt like it resonated with them so much. It’s just so nice to make something that captures so much of who I am.

Let’s talk about the lead single, “Give Me Another Chance.” Why did you want that to be the song that introduced the album?

First, it’s my favorite song on the record. There is so much confidence on this record because I’m singing about things that are embarrassing and kind of vulnerable — like about begging someone to take you back, the text to your ex at two AM, or the rebound hookup. A lot of vulnerable things are on this record. I thought that song talked about a very desperate moment for me in a confident way. And I think that’s like growth as an artist, where you can lyrically sing about things that are new and also vulnerable, that gritty area that you don’t really want people to see. There’s a sexiness in the desperation.

Your work has always sort of skirted the line with indie pop and electronic music, but it feels like this album really recommits to the dance floor in a serious way. Can you talk a little bit about that sonic shift, or maybe what the progression feels like for you?

I think it sounds like that because I produced most of it. I made a lot of these beats while touring my second album, Us. I made a lot of them on airplanes and tour sprinters and green rooms, so I didn’t have that same collaborative process as like, Us. It was just out of necessity, because I wanted to say these things. I had these things to get off my chest. I wanted to write songs because it made me feel better. Naturally, as a producer, I love those BPMs. I love 120 BPM. I love classic drum machine sounds. That’s how I produce. You can hear that on my first record, Me, on like “How Do You Do It.” On this record, I feel like I’m 2.0. I’m doing a lot of things that sound like Empress Of productions, but it’s just like 2.0 — that’s naturally where I live. I think dancing is healing, and I think a driving rhythm is healing. This record is a very cathartic record. I lived in that space of writing very groove-centered beats and then saying embarrassing, vulnerable shit over it.

What does it look and feel like to produce an album on your own? You’re starting when you’re on the road, and then do you take it back into a studio? What is that process like for you for this time?

If you looked at the initial demo folders for this album, it’s all flights. The folder’s called new demos 2019, and all of the session folders are like “flight to Gothenburg,” “flight to Dublin,” and “flight to London.” When I first started working on this record, when I got back to my house, I was like okay, I want to hook it up to this beat and try writing over it. I have a studio at my house, so I would open like, “flight to Gothenburg” and that would be like “Give Me Another Chance.” I’d come home and kind of rework those things that I wrote on the road once I had the space and clarity to write lyrics and the melodies. I think I need space to write songs. I can do production, but I really need the space to understand what I’m going through.

Obviously, the world has turned upside down with response to coronavirus. How are you coping and holding up? How does it feel to release an album right now?.

I think being positive is such an important thing, and positivity is infectious. I think we should be spreading that in our community, like in the music industry and arts community, and with friends who have restaurants and all of that. I just think being positive and supportive is what everyone can use right now. But yeah, it’s been crazy. I announced my record a month ago, and my whole life has changed for this year, not being able to tour and not being able to promote this record in the way I want to, but this is reality, and this is the story of this album. I’m a lifelong artist, and I’m going to make a lot of albums. This is just one piece of the story.

I’m Your Empress Of is out 4/3 via Terrible Records. Get it here.