Shower Beer Vol IV: Stuff We’re Watching Christmas Edition

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. You'll notice a trend of many of these being Christmas-centric and how can you blame me with it being that time of the year? 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) Falling For Christmas - (Netflix) The return of Lindsay Lohan was something my wife was oddly excited for and she convinced me to have a few glasses of wine and watch this. I'll say, it does a good job of being a pseudo-parody of the Hallmark Christmas movie, but then sporadically decides it wants to try and be a real movie. It's got enough humor to keep you on the hook, and it doesn't overstay it's welcome. I can't in good conscience recommend it as a need to watch, but if you're wanting a low rent watch for the holidays this could fit the bill.

2) Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me - (Apple TV+) I'm a huge Selena Gomez fan (so sue me) and this doc had me already tearing up when I saw the trailer. It's an interesting look at her battle both with Lupus, and the stresses of being in the limelight constantly as a celebrity. It shows her in an interesting light as she is vulnerable and doesn't try to paint her as some infallible celebrity with a carefully manicured public image. If you're wanting a music focused film this isn't it, but as a biographical piece it works really well.

3) Single All The Way - (Netflix) I'd never heard of Michael Urie, but he really holds his own as the lead in this. Jennifer Coolidge somehow appears in like her 98th thing this year and is great as always. Luke McFarlane is fun in this role, especially as a companion piece to his role in Bros (which I talked about on my last squad blog). This movie is to me how you make a low budget, fun, romantic comedy Christmas movie. Falling For Christmas should've followed this playbook. The laughs work. The story is corny in all the right ways. The family feels real enough to be relatable. Definitely suggest you watch this.

4) Weird: The Al Yankovic Story - (Roku Channel) I'd been feeling the past few years that the musical biopic was starting to overstay it's welcome, and this film is the perfect counterpoint parody to that notion. If you enjoyed Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story you'll love this. It's not quite as ridiculous as it could be, but I think that works in it's favor. Evan Rachel Wood is hilarious as Madonna, and Daniel Radcliffe is chewing the scenery perfectly. Props to the Roku Channel for grabbing the distribution rights to this gem.

5) One Of Us Is Lying S2 - (Peacock) We all need a trashy melodrama we watch partially ironically, and this show is that for me. Based on a young adult novel, One Of Us Is Lying tells the story of a group of high schoolers stuck in detention from all different social circles, and one of them gets mysteriously murdered while there. The following two seasons are piecing together who could have been involved, and their motive. It's inconsistently acted, and I love that about it. If you like shows that make you question wtf you're doing with your life getting so invested in them, this is down your alley. If anyone out there watches it give us a shout because we need to have a drunken conversation about it.

6) Christmas With The Kranks (rewatch) - (Freevee) This has been in my once a year Christmas rotation for about tow years after Bryan Banner turned me onto it. Tim Allen deserves credit for having two very good Christmas movies with this and of course The Santa Clause. On paper this looks like a piece of shit with nothing to offer, but it's a surprising charmer for me. Dan Akroyd is great as the head of the neighborhood community holding every house to a strict code of decorating, and the script is actually pretty clever. Surprisingly it's based on a John Grisham novel called "Skipping Christmas". If you haven't seen it, give it a shot.

7) The Night Before (rewatch) - (Freevee) One of my favorite Christmas movies as the group of friends in this reminds me of my own crew of dumbasses. This movie almost cracked my top 100 list coming in at 124. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is great in these roles where he doesn't take himself too seriously, and Michael Shannon gives an incredible comedic performance. We all are searching for our own Nutcracker Ball amirite?

8) Love Actually (rewatch) - (Peacock) Another film that's in my top 150 movies of all time, and I'm unashamed of it. The anthology rom-com got it's start here in my opinion, and it's never been done better. You can roll your eyes at how some of the stories don't age very well and you're right, but this gets me in the mood for Christmas. It's great to see Liam Neeson in a film where he's not beating the shit out of everyone he makes eye contact with, and the rest of the cast is a who's who of great British actors. Also who can forget the banger, "I FEEL IT IN MY FINGAHSSSS"

9) 8-Bit Christmas (rewatch) - (HBO Max) Second year in a row we've watched this at Christmas. Premise is made for me. Period piece from the late 80's centered around a group of kids trying to get an elusive Nintendo Entertainment System. I have to say I might've given this one a bigger nostalgia bump than it deserves, but it's still solid. A little grosser than I recalled is where I give it a bit of a knock, and the emotional ending still feels like it's pulling on strings that aren't attached to anything. Still, I love seeing NPH in anything, and as a huge Nintendo head this covers most of the bases for what I like in a movie.

10) Jingle All The Way (rewatch) - (Amazon Prime rental) I'm ashamed to say how much I like this movie, and how many times I've seen it. It's legit at least a once a year watch for me. Arnold at his best giving definite Kindergarten Cop vibes, and Sinbad in what to me is his funniest role. Phil Hartman (RIP) is a total scene stealer, and although it utilizes maybe the most common Christmas movie premise of chasing a last minute Macguffin gift, it does it so well and utilizes those tropes comedically in very unique ways. "Tata Turtleman!"

11) Bodies Bodies Bodies (rewatch) - (Amazon Prime rental) I won't say much after this rewatch except that the social commentary seems just as poignant and clever as it did the first time. There are a few things in the first act I picked up on that I missed the first time relating to some of the kills, and the dialogue with the characters makes this one of my favorite scripts of the year. If you haven't seen it I won't say it's a total banger, but a very interesting film that can lead to some fun drunken discussions.

-JH