Shower Beer Vol I: Stuff We’re Watching

What up fellow movie and television fans. If you've ever listened to our podcast you know that the second segment of our show is called our "protein shake" where each bro discusses things that are "in our cup" or what have we watched lately. Well recently I've been watching too much shit to bring up on just the podcast, so with the help of our creative team (Nate Thurmond) we decided to blog about a few of the things we've seen recently that we wanted to discuss that we might have left out. We're naming it after the greatest pre-gaming invention of the 21st century, the shower beer!

Here are the things I've seen lately as well as the link to their IMDB page if you want a little bit more info to see if it's something down your alley. In addition, I write Letterboxd reviews for all the movies I see without any spoilers, but I might go into a bit more detail in this blog than I do over there.

1. Secret Obsession (streaming on Netflix as I write this) So the two leads here are Brenda Song who we probably all know from the Disney Channel and a guy named Mike Vogel who looks like a zero calorie Dan Stevens from Beauty and the Beast. It's your typical paint by numbers thriller. Brenda Song gets in some accident and wakes up with amnesia and Mike Vogel, her husband, takes her back to their home and as her memory begins to come back the events that led to her accident seem sketchy as fuck. Quick runtime, but pretty predictable. If you want to turn your brain off and feel a bit of tension for 90 mins it's fine, but I'm not going to die on the hill of recommending this movie to you and then you end up hating it.

2. Interceptor (also streaming on Netflix as I write this) Elsa Pataky of Fast and Furious fame, and the wife of Chris Hemsworth stars in an action thriller with a unique setting that I can honestly say I've never seen before in a pseudo aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean designed to serve as a nuclear deterrent system for the United States. Luke Bracey plays our villain who you may recognize from the awful Point Break remake, and the not much better Netflix movie Holidate. He is actually pretty interesting in this, and while Pataky really lacks charisma and every character around her is a caricature of a real human, watching her kick ass throughout this film is enjoyable. I'd say I enjoyed this more than Secret Obsession, but again the highlights are few and far between outside of a glorified cameo that I won't spoil for you.

3. Men (maybe still in theaters?) An A24 release, and Seikaly and I have been on the podcast many a time stating how we respect the hell out of that studio's willingness to produce original scripts. It doesn't always work out, but it's ballsy to almost entirely rely on non IP for your movies. This is one of the misses for me, although I know there is a following praising it. The first two acts are intriguing enough, and the performances are top notch. Then things COMPLETELY derail in the last twenty minutes to the point where I was so lost and disinterested in the seemingly endless amount of "what the fuck" moments trying to one up themselves that I almost didn't finish it. You may totally fall in love with this movie, but for you to explain the ending to me would at least be a two beer long conversation.

4. The Black Phone (same situation as Men in terms of where to watch it) One of my favorite movies of the year. Utterly fantastic, and Ethan Hawke gives a performance that creeps me the hell out in all the right ways. Scott Derrickson who directed Insidious and the first Doctor Strange is a God among men in creating the creepy aesthetic of a late 70's suburban town, and the sense of something bad looming for the entire first act is so well paced. I can say the mask used by our villain in this movie will probably end up being iconic, and it scares the shit out of me. A little supernatural element as teased in the trailers, but at it's core the real frightening elements are grounded enough to induce serious chills. If you're a Horror hound you definitely need to check this one out before the year is over.

For more of what we've been watching be sure to check out our podcast episodes every week or so. If you have any recommendations on what I need to be checking out please comment below. See you at the movies!

-JH