Shower Beer Vol LIV: Stuff We’re Watching

Hey there 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) Goldfinger - (Netflix) Making my way through all the Bond films while they’re on Netflix, and Goldfinger was up next. Definitely the most screen time a villain has gotten in a Bond movie up to this point, and he is all over the place. Some scenes he’s a bumbling fat piece of shit who cant find his own dick, and other times he’s the greatest evil mastermind on the planet who will bring humanity to it’s knees. The stakes in this one have never been higher for Bond, and for the first time him hooking up with a chick ends up costing her her life. I hope he felt a bit guilty about that. I love the trope that I can already see developing where the villains in these movies always assemble a series of henchmen from all over the world, put them in a room, and then find creative ways to kill all of them. Here goldfinger gets off on that shit and basically has an entire man cave that doubles as a torture/gas chamber. The end set piece here involves a wild shootout that to film in the 60’s probably required more permits than fucking Woodstock. I liked this movie quite a bit, but not as much as From Russia With Love. Bond rocks.

2) One Piece Eps 11-15 - (Hulu) It’ll take me the rest of my life to finish this series, but I’m determined and I really do enjoy it. Episodes 11-15 was my latest conquest, and the story takes some interesting turns for Luffy and his crew. Here they’re on an island that is staving off a coup from a pirate named Kuro who has spent the past three years on the island pretending to be a servant for a girl named Kaya who’s family is the wealthiest in town and learning all their secrets. He finally unleashes his fucking dastardly plan. He rolls really deep, and when his pirate crew makes their way onto the island Luffy and his team definitely have their hands full. There’s a guy local to the island named Ussop who comes into the fray as he’s friends with the Kaya chick who got played, but when he realizes the plot that is at hand he can’t get anyone to believe him when he tries to warn the village because his entire life he’s lied through his fucking teeth about a billion different things. He looks like he’s going to come through in the clutch clutch though as episode 15 ends with him getting the sit out of him, but it’s the playoffs and he knows that nobody is 100% you gotta play through. I’m pumped to pick this back up whenever I get the chance to. I try to watch it in blocks of five episodes so that’s what I’ll have covered when I report back.

3) Thunderball - (Netflix) Holy shit Bond upped the budget here. We continue the theme of him having to save the entirety of humanity from nuclear destruction, but that doesn’t mean he can’t bang a few chicks along the way. We don’t have much of a villain here, but the mystery and Bond’s kill count is as epic as it’s been so far in the series. He does a shit ton of fighting either underwater, or near it which is really interesting and I have to give a lot of credit to the Director and choreographers. There is a scene where he just murders a dude underwater by cutting his oxygen tanks cord and the guy listlessly floats away only to most likely be eaten by sharks. The film finds itself in Miami in the last fifteen minutes which is another recurring trend of ending up stateside for the final set piece. The score is pretty fucking sick and it includes the classic Bond theme with this filthy trumpet sonnata that plays while sharks and people are just fucking each other up. I think this is one of the rare films where Bond really doesn’t focus on one girl to court during the movie, but rather it’s a bullpen by committee. I don’t see how they can up the stakes to get any higher from this in the next one, and I kind of hope they don’t even try.

4) You Only Live Twice - (Netflix) Connery faking his own death, and then seemingly banging everyone in the country of Japan is a solid idea to bring into a pitch meeting. Here we get some insane set pieces involving helicopters, and as is tradition a great chase scene. While I cannot imagine this movie being made today based on a lot of the racial stereotyping that’s done, it’s a product of it’s time and that’s not an excuse it’s just understanding a lot of the plot points and what they are derivative of. You can kind of start to feel Connery’s fatigue here, especially in the first act when his character is yanked around once again by MI6 despite all the shit he’s done for them. It felt a bit meta when he was getting his assignment and once again flirting with Moneypenny to the point where I don’t know if either of them thinks it’s tongue in cheek anymore and they might just end up accidentally banging. I loved the final twenty mins in the volcano lair which to me is vintage Bond villain.

5) How I Met Your Mother S3 - (Hulu) My favorite sitcom of all time, and probably a fourth or fifth full watch through on my end. Season three is where the show really starts to figure out the emotional beats as the characters have been developed, and Barney specifically gets some meat on the bone. We end with him realizing that Robin is the one woman who has affected him in a way that makes him want to give up his bachelor ways, and Ted coping with being left at the alter by Stella; which is a wound that will not hear for quite some time. Marshall is navigating his self identity as he has sold his soul to corporate America as opposed to saving the world, and Lilly is realizing that her role in the friend group of being the stabilizing force and the one they all turn to when they have issues is something she might not be up to. Incredible show, and it is about to really hit it’s stride in the next two seasons.

6) On Her Majesty’s Secret Service - (Netflix) I have said this on pod, but I really do not understand the hate George Lazenby gets for his turn as James Bond. I know there are other factors involved with the fan reception of him, most of which involve Sean Connery leaving the role, but I think he fucking nails it here. He is suave, clever, very capable, but not in a boring way where nothing presents a challenge, and he bangs an entire ski lodge worth of women in a weekend. Here we have a plot that I’ll admit was a bit complicated for my simpleton brain, but I know Bond basically does the winter olympics…literally. The set pieces get creative as we have a chase taking place on a bob sled that results in a few wild deaths. I think the macguffin here is some sort of mind control device that’s being utilized via hypno therapy. Bond does what he must do for his country and hooks up with several of these women just as they are about to go to bed and utilize the therapy. It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it.

7) Diamonds Are Forever - (Netflix) Connery returns! Although the returns are middling. Here we have a wild syndicate that is smuggling diamonds, and Bond finds himself smack dab in the middle of it with maybe one of the most incompetent accomplices he’s dealt with yet. This woman he’s working with passes her a secret tape to conceal, and she puts it in her underwear with no pants on clearly exposed. It takes the villain about four seconds to see the bulge in her pants and he laughably calls her out. I’m sure in secret agent training there is a class on how to conceal something you’re supposed to smuggle out, but this chick was too busy at a frat party the night before to roll in with the necessary focus. In this film we also see Bond kick more ass than he has in most of the previous movies, and Connery’s version of Bond is never one to shy away from a three on one fight. He navigates the back corridors of this Vegas hotel just to find someone to beat the shit out of which you have to respect. The end set piece isn’t on par with many we’ve seen come before this, but it has all the necessary ingredients to scratch that James Bond itch.

8) Send Help - (Digital rental) Sam Raimi is such an interesting Director to me. I think he’s a guy I’d love getting beers with. His filmography is very eclectic, and he seems to really have his pulse on both spectacle when necessary, and dramatic stakes. Send help is a really interesting premise; almost like that movie a few years ago called Triangle of Sadness, but dumbed down a bit for people like me who don’t really get all the allegory and metaphor stuff sometimes. Rachel McAdams I have to say, I love her and she is an absolute treasure, but how the fuck are we supposed to buy her as the nerdy unattractive pencil pusher in a corporate environment? That’s a tough sell, and I know it’s probably satirical to a large degree, but that had me struggling a bit going in. Once you get past that, this is really fun and has some interesting things to say about social hierarchy and excessive wealth. None of that stuff beats you over the head, and the movie has a ton of the vintage Raimi humor where you’re laughing at things that you’re unsure if you really should be, similar to a Coen brothers movie. The last twenty mins of this thing get pretty crazy and if you buy in then you’ll have a great time with this one.

9) Crime 101 - (Digital rental) Ruffalo and Hemsworth? Once you’ve made the sale quit selling. We don’t get Halle Berry in enough stuff these days so I was pumped to see her pop up in this. It’s a crime thriller with some badass car set pieces, and two leads who we know work great together. It’s hilarious seeing Chris Hemsworth forced to play a character who has no personality and have to neuter his natural charisma and affability. He does it capably though, and Monica Barbaro is great I think she is about to explode in Hollywood. I have to tolerate our boy Barry Keoghan doing way too much as always, but it’s ultimately not his movie and I’m able to grit my teeth and bare it. The premise here is interesting as it takes on the insurance angle with regards to diamond heists and how those companies navigate and control investigations into diamond theft both from the police procedural perspective, as well as handling their own assets in the case. Nick Nolte also makes a few appearances in this, although I think it’s very safe to say he has nothing left in the tank and is really just running on fumes at this point. Highly recommend, and one of my favorite movies of the year so far.

10) Live and Let Die - (Netflix) An absolute banger by Paul McCartney, and Jane Seymoure is a national treasure from whatever country she’s from. The positives end there, and while I actually enjoy Roger Moore a bit more than I thought I would in this, the utter absurdity of the villains and the setting of New Orleans do not suit Bond at all. You get the Bayou Boys police force and some insane set pieces that at least hold up the tradition of the Bond films of being super over the top, and really going for it. For the majority of the movie I didn’t realize the chick’s name was Solitaire, and instead thought Bond just kept fucking around with her obsession with tarot cards as a way to neg her. The guy with the can opener for a hand, gotta respect him still having 72 pet alligators and not letting his past define his future.

-JH