Shower Beer Vol LXII: 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. Busboys - (Hulu) I enjoy Theo Von’s podcast, and although he’s definitely past his prime David Spade has always been a favorite of mine. The concept here is obviously ridiculous, but I was thinking we might get some vibes reminiscent of Waiting, or at worst a workplace comedy. This is far from that, and an utter abomination. It’s clear from the jump that no one involved in the making of this film has any interest in making us actually laugh, but they do have an idea about a penis joke that will be central to the films plot that I’m sure the writers room was high fiving each other over. There is one moment where I chuckled involving running over a rabbit, but the rest of the movie is really poorly cast, and so uninspired and uninterested that it took me almost three sittings to finish this and it’s right around 90 minutes. Case and point, Chris Elliott is in one scene of this and it feels like he is performing at gun point to get through it. This is a guy who has been one of the best comedic character actors of the last twenty years in my opinion, and he is asked to make jokes about poop….yes, poop, and really struggling to make it to the lunch break. Watch at your own risk.

2. Corporate Retreat - (Digital rental) There is a Swedish horror-comedy called The Conference that Rony Seikaly recommended to me a few years ago that is very similar to this. I’ve always been drawn to the “people are put into a game to survive” motif after the Saw franchise and enjoy the creative ways that the sub genre is both set up, and executed with a puppet master behind the scenes. Corporate Retreat doesn’t try to hide any of the characters actual motivations which is a bit of a relief as you can tell pretty early on it’s not going to be overly reliant on a last minute twist to stick the landing. The guy who plays Cameron in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is the main villain which is interesting, and the gore is really well done…almost too well done. You get your typical one dimensional characters being brutally murdered, but there are a few interesting ones in here with enough layers to make you give a shit. Ultimately I’d say this film punches slightly above it’s weight, and has a really strong first act which got me hooked.

3. Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong - (Tubi) Somehow the internet knew I would enjoy this movie based on either other things I’ve watched, or my internet search history. I am pretty confident that in 100 years when my great grandchildren come across my old stuff in an attic somewhere they will see my tastes and how divergent they are and know that I was a fucking weirdo. I love Horror, Superhero movies, and love stories that have a fly on the wall approach to the script where it’s long, drawn out conversations mirroring real life. Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong is that, and has a really cool framing device sort of like One Day where it has two characters meet each other, have instant chemistry, but the timing isn’t right–then it has them reconnecting by chance one night three years later. I didn’t know that was the plot structure going in, but it very much had me sold. Think Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four and the abrupt “one year later” jump, except it actually makes sense and builds so much intrigue with the two main characters' relationship. Jamie Chung is always a delight, and I think this is the biggest role I’ve ever seen her in with regards to her being the top billed. If you’re at all a fan of the Before trilogy by Richard Linklater this is like Before Sunrise zer calorie version, but with just as much heart. No spoilers, but I absolutely loved the ending, and it had me going down an internet rabbit hole to peruse any message boards of people taking about it.

4. 72 Hours - (Netflix) One of the reason I was so bummed that Busboys sucked ass was that I am starved for good comedies these days. I may have lowered my bar for the genre, but 72 hours was a very pleasant surprise. I loved the cast from the jump, and despite my efforts the past few years I have found myself becoming a fan of Kevin Hart. Ben Marshall and Marcelo Hernandez are my boys, and I always love Mason Gooding popping up in stuff like the Horror Comedies he has mastered. The plot here is classic comedy fare, a bachelor party set to go off the rails with debauchery to ensue. The wrinkle is Kevin Hart is a Corporate Marketer tagging along with some twenty something’s to secretly do research on their demographic to inform a campaign he’s working on. As poorly as Busboys is cast, this is the opposite. It’s like an all star team of role players, with some fun cameos sprinkled in that you know the editing room had their work cut out for them to find the best takes of improved scenes to use. The setting of Miami of course lends itself to a drug lord getting involved with the crew a la The Hangover, and the movie has a good balance of enough plot to move the characters from one crazy situation to the next without making you feel like you’re watching a David Fincher movie. Also it’s directed by Tim Story who I haven’t heard from since the early 2000’s Fantastic Four movies which I’ve always felt were shit on way more than they deserved.

5. [Rec] - (Tubi) I’ve read for years that this is one of the best found footage movies of all time, and I’ve had an unhealthy obsession with that genre the last three years. I’ve found myself devouring them on Tubi, and anywhere else I can find them. I love how quickly they’re paced, the clever ways the camera is injected into the action, and how creative some of the plots will get to both establish and build tension. The premise of Rec is genius really. A late night news show called “While You’re Asleep” has a reporter and her camera man doing a ride along with a local fire station who answers a domestic disturbance at an upscale apartment building only to discover that there’s more than meets the eye. Things really get complicated when authorities shut down the building to quarantine those inside, and something nefarious appears to be afoot. This movie has tons of interesting characters, and keeps pushing the gas pedal, then laying off to add another plot element before it revs things up again. The last ten minutes of the movie go all out and the final shot is essentially iconic. I’m really interested as I just found out not only is there a sequel, but it picks up right as this one ends, but from a different point of view.

6. Run Lola Run - (Hulu) A few lists I found online had this listed as one of the best action movies of all time under 90 minutes. Not only is it not even remotely an action movie, it’s also not even remotely good. While it feels very late 90’s both in the visuals and the score, it has a pretentiousness and is so self absorbed that I was rolling my eyes half way through. The characters are so fucking flat that it really makes you appreciate similar types of movies that have actually good scripts like the Coen Bros movies and Tarantino’s dialogue heavy films. Here there is a totally unearned and unexplained time loop element that by the time it shows up I was already out on this movie, and it only exacerbated that. I’m not even really sure if I’m supposed to find this movie meta in a lot of ways, but it came out at a time when that sub genre of films wasn’t even really a thing so it would be making fun of things that hadn’t even come to exist yet. The protagonist of Lola is wholly unlikeable, and we don’t really get to know anyone else in the movie enough to give a shit about them as the time loop element just keeps playing the same scenes over and over and adding nothing to them. There is also this weird visual that the movie employs a lot that you can tell they thought was so fucking clever where when Lola bumps shoulders with an npc level character the film will flash a vignette of the rest of the their life’s key events playing out, and in each of the time loop scenarios these lives look very different. Are we supposed to assume Lola has a butterfly effect on these people, or is it just some artsy fartsy way for the Director to show us his vision? Either way, it’s dumb.

7. Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders - (Digital rental) I’ve been slowly, but surely working my way through the Scooby Doo animated movies the past few months. Here we have the gane in New Mexico dealing with some small town rumors of aliens, and a broken down mystery machine that the mechanic in town just can’t seem to find the time to get around to fixing. The local drunk, Lester, claims he himself was abducted by aliens a few years ago and nobody believes him. I don’t blame the guy for being pissed off and he even has the paintings of the encounter to prove it! Velma is all over the suspects in this one as Shaggy and Scooby are preoccupied with trying to hook up with these two chicks they met in the desert so they can’t really contribute much to the mystery solving. Fred and Daphne could be entirely removed from this film and nothing would fundamentally change, which isn’t really a novel concept, but is especially noticeable in this entry. I do have to say there is a mini little twist in the last five minutes that I wasn’t anticipating. The only knock I have on this one is it isn’t really true to the DNA of Scooby Doo where we have some monster, and dark color palette in a haunted house or something which is where this franchise is at it’s most fun. It’s far from the worst Scooby Doo movie I’ve seen so far I will say that.

8. [Rec] 2 - (Tubi) The first Rec I was a fan of, albeit didn’t quite get why people claim its one of the best found footage films of all time. The sequel has a great premise of taking place basically just as the original ends, but switching to a different POV, that of the SWAT team coming in to investigate the building. The real weakness here is both in the performances, which are horrific across the board, and the feeling of the “John Wickification” of the universe wherein it seems the script has to elevate the lore to insane levels to feel like it is servicing the original in any way. Here there are some crazy liberties taken with the plot that retcon the first one, and I just couldn’t buy in to it. There are some really good jump scares in this one, and if you’re just talking a straight up horror movie I think this one is scarier than the first one, and there are some super creepy kid zombies who crawl on the ceiling and shit which is always something that makes my skin crawl. I will most likely check out the third and fourth entries in this franchise, but I don’t have high hopes.

9. How I Met Your Mother S7 - (Hulu) Rewatching my favorites sitcom for I believe the fifth time all the way through, and just finished season seven. This is really the Barney season and the rest of the characters are put on the back burner for the most part. We have two big relationships with him, with Robin always lingering in the background. He and Nora give you a glimpse at his redemption arc, even though he squanders it away en route to really learning what he wants in a relationship. Marshall and Lily move to Long Island, which is one of my favorite decisions in the series to add a very realistic element to the show with regards to how sometimes life separates you from your friends and you have to work even harder to keep those relationships going. I’m a huge Chris Elliott fan so him being in the show more is always a good thing. The season ends with Ted and Victoria riding off into the sunset together, which I know the fanbase had mixed feelings about, but the speech she gives Ted in the next season is a top three line in the entire show. Looking forward to the last two seasons of this as the ending has aged well in my opinion, even though I know I’m in the minority on that.

10. Rear Window (1954) - (Digital rental) I hadn’t seen any Hitchcock movie in a minute, and I remember this being my favorite. My god it holds up. A near perfect film with incredible pacing, and Jimmy Stewart is able to reign in his typically frenetic annoying dialogue delivery and play the composed, yet paranoid so well Grace Kelly is an absolute marvel, and the cinematography and how the apartment complex is shot is incredible. It almost looks like a stage play, but still has that cinematic feel to it. The use of lighting to show which apartments you’re supposed to be focusing on is pretty genius, and the long panning shots create a real sense of anticipation on what you’re going to see next. I know there have been both remakes of this, and other takes on the premise, but nothing does it as well as the OG. The feeling of helplessness when Jeff is sitting in his apartment and the people he has sent off are trying to find evidence is incredible. It’s crazy how such a simple concept and script can produce something so interesting, and the runtime absolutely flies by. I’m curious to see the Christopher Reeves version which I didn’t even know existed until just yesterday. If you haven’t seen this movie I highly recommend it, and I have to give it a lot of credit for inspiring a lot of thrillers that came after it in classic Hitchcock fashion.

-JH