Shower Beer Vol LXIII: 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. Shoot ‘Em Up - (Digital rental) I don’t remember where I found it, but there was a list I looked at a few weeks ago of the best action movies under 90 minutes. This was on it, and so was a movie from my last squad blog called “Run Lola Run”. I found both to be utter pieces of shit, but to varying degrees. Lola was utter dogshit in every sense of the word with zero redeeming qualities. This is a turd sandwich, but there are some good tasting pickles on it…meaning it’s not all bad and I found a few fun things in it. There are two interesting set pieces with Monica Bellucci and Clive Owen, and the conceit of having a baby as the macguffin is pretty unique. The problems arise as Paul Giamatti, who I love, is so miscast as a menacing villain. He’s the guy who lives next door who’s a curmudgeon, but comes around by the end and starts to love those pesky kids who were in his front yard at the beginning of the movie. What is is not, is a necrophiliac who is out to get our protagonist. Also the last twenty minutes of this when some of the motivations are revealed totally loses the plot, literally, and starts writing checks it in no way can cash based on what was set up. Ultimately it needed less plot, and better shot action scenes to really execute what it was going for. It’s not a total trainwreck, but a movie that I will quickly forget.

2. Judge Dredd (1995) - (Digital rental) I really liked the Karl Urban one a few years ago, and this looked like a nice little 90’s Scifi romp so I figured why not. Once I saw Rob Schneider appear 15 seconds in I should’ve known we were in trouble. Diane Lane isn’t enough to save this thing, and it wants to be Mad Max adjacent so bad, but it has no cool ideas for this dystopian future, and the fucking “twist” with the antagonist is so stupid and adds nothing to the stakes that a soap opera would even be like “do better”. There is a big cyborg in it who isn’t even utilized for any action set pieces so what’s the point? The performances are probably the weakest part, and that’s saying something when you really think about the script. There are a few ideas in this that were either ripped of from Back to the Future, or warped so much from another IP that it’s like they wanted to seal something, but also make it shittier so you can’t really accuse them of infringement. It’s kind of a wonder to me that this character is beloved in some circles because this iteration of it offers absolutely nothing, and I’m surprised, but glad that the Karl Urban one ever got made.

3. Feast (2005) - (Tubi) Bro do not sleep on Tubi this Halloween. Somehow this popped up on like a Facebook ad as a sleeper horror movie, and I love a practical monster so I gave it a chance. Really pleasantly surprised with this. The perfect level of meta, almost in a Scream sort of way, albeit very different type of movie. The premise is really cool. A bunch of strangers have to hunker down in a bar while monsters try to ruthlessly kill them for no apparent reason. There are a few character actors in this who get a chance to do more than they’re usually asked, and for the most part they shine. We get our usual buffet of disposable characters, and enough character stuff with motivations that make sense for us to care, but not get bogged down. The movie pulls no punches, and you even get to see a dick get chopped off at one point which is usually a half star bump in any review that I give. I see there are two sequels (at least) to this so you can bet your ass I’ll be checking them out as soon as I can.

4. Big Brother S28 - (Paramount +) My favorite reality game show has concluded for the year, and this is one of the more enjoyable seasons in the past few summers. We didn’t get anything too crazy with regards to a gameplay twist, but the nominations being upped to three people until the final six, and with the opportunity to get off the block twice there was definitely a lot of blood on people’s hands early. They brought back a former player in Angela who I absolutely despise, and she got way too much fucking screen time here. The show also leaned into some reality show “icons” as it brought in two former Survivor players who ended up not only getting a cult like following in the house, but dominated several key competitions. If you want to go back and rewatch the season I won’t spoil anything, but the characters on this season were really fun, and although they didn’t reinvent the game in any cool ways I felt like it was solid gameplay all around.

5. The Dink - (Apple TV +) Jake Johnson seems to be veering more towards dramatic roles lately, but it’s good to see him go back to his fastball with a movie like this. The premise is one that while it’s timely, isn’t something I can really relate to. The battle between court space at country clubs between tennis players, and the ever growing contingent of pickle ball players. Johnson plays the classic character of a washed up pro who had his career derailed due to some crazy shit, and he’s been struggling with adjusting to life after the one thing he was good at has been taken away. Ed Harris and Mary Steenburgen are in this and always reliable, although I feel like the twilight of Ed Harris career has seen him play the same dude for the past five years since Westworld ended. Johnson takes to this type of movie perfectly, and while he doesn’t bring it to the level he did in The New Girl, he is still able to carry a comedy movie and adds enough heart to it to where you give a shit. Some fun cameos also add a nice wrinkle, and the ending while predictable for the most part, is pretty well executed.

6. Dragon Ball Z - Cell Saga - (Crunchyroll) My favorite anime of all time. Running through it for probably the fifth or sixth time, we find ourselves at the mercy of Dr. Gero and his evil creation Cell. This saga while it sees the introduction of my favorite character in Trunks, and some really cool super saiyan moments, has two of the top five dumbest character decisions in all of Dragon Ball Z that make it so frustrating. Krillin just straight up being too horny for Android 18 to disable her is an all timer. Only perhaps topped by Vegeta purposely letting Cell reach ihs perfect form because he was so determined to get his own ass beat in front of everyone. Luckily Gohan pulls this one out of his ass, but even he makes a really out of character decision and almost pulls a Vegeta. The fight against the Cell Jr.’s is a huge highlight for me, and sees some of the Z fighters we love, but haven’t really been useful for a while get to kick some ass like Piccolo and Tien. In all honestly it’ll prob be awhile before I get to the Buu saga because I know the other world tournament is next and in my head that’s like twenty fucking episodes, but I’ll watch a few of the movies that take place at this part in canon to hold me over till we get there.

7. Leprechaun 3 - (Youtube TV) This is a franchise that really intrigues me. I think it’s in on the joke and knows it’s awful, but then it will randomly dip into actual horror and sometimes do it pretty well. The original is solid and provides plenty of unintentional laughs along the way. The second is an utter abomination and should be burned to avoid anyone ever seeing it ever. This installment has it’s ups and downs, but setting the movie on the Vegas strip is a creative way to put the Leprechaun in some pretty insane situations. This film is by far the horniest of the three, and you’d imagine being in Sin City it has to lean into the debauchery of the people the Leprechaun comes into contact with. There is an oddly long standoff in a pawn shop to open the movie where the Leprechaun and the store owner play a little cat and mouse over the medallion, and you can guess who ends up winning. After we enter a casino we meet a cast of characters that are all pretty fucking disposable, but our female antagonist is the most level headed staying true to the trend of the series. I gave the movie a half star bump when in the final ten minutes the Leprechaun infiltrates a hospital, steals some nurses scrubs, and is seen carefully looking over a patients chart. The next one in the series takes the Leprechaun to space so I’ll probably double bill it with Passion of the Christ.

8. Buzzkill - (Tubi) Alright Tubi I see you. A few years ago they had one of my favorite movies of the Halloween season with an original called “Pumpkinhead”, and now the genius idea of this slasher comedy. The premise is a killer is going through a sorority house and murdering people (which we’ve seen before of course), but here we have one of the sorority sisters who is trying to solve the murders has incredible detective skills…but only when she’s shitfaced. A skill I feel was written after the party version of me in my prime…minus the mystery solving. If Scooby and Shaggy can solve mysteries high as balls we need to allow this to go rewarded as well. The movie hits it’s stride in the second act when the house hosts a party and she makes it her mission to get hammered, despite the pleas of her friends, so that she can finally bring us some justice! The performances are just the right amount of camp, and I’d say it definitely veers way more into the comedy, but the slasher elements are done with care. The reveal did not go the direction I thought, and I kinda pride myself on being a fucking loser who usually gets these things right. If you are a fan of the slasher genre at all you gotta check this one out, and I think this solidifies Tubi as the best value streaming option considering it’s free, and has a library of content that is almost in line with some of the big players these days. Tip of the cap.

9. Dragon Ball Z: Broly - Second Coming - (Crunchyroll) I had been waiting to finish rewatching the Cell saga to start this as it lines up with that part of the story with regards to canon. We see the Z fighters with Goku still not back from the Cell games, and Goten and Trunks are super saiyans essentially in diapers which I always thought was so badass. Gohan hasn’t donned his Mister Saiyaman persona yet, at least it isn’t referenced. Broly somehow ends up buried in the crust of the Earth in a space pod (honestly I can’t remember his fate from the first movie, but I thought Goku killed him) and he’s awoken by Goten crying like a little bitch while out looking for the Dragon balls. What ensues is a revenge tour wherein he slaps around the two toddlers, even with their advanced power, and Gohan has to show up to fix things. We don’t get Vegeta in this which I was expecting the whole time but then I remembered that at the end of the Cell games he claims he’s hanging up his cleats which I don’t think anyone believed. Broly is a really interesting character to me in theory, but I feel like every time he shows up it ends up being a bit underwhelming. I wish Dragon Ball would go back to do an entire prequel series on the planet Vegeta with his dad and family since that has a shit ton of stories it could potentially serve. I know there is at least one more movie with Broly in it and I look forward to seeing how they creatively weave him into the story.

10. Child’s Play (1988) - (Youtube TV) The OG Chucky movie, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen. The whole time I’m watching this trying to place who the actor who plays the main detective has been in another movie, and after looking it up my mind was blown. The dude is named Chris Sarandon, and he’s Prince Humperdink in the Princess Bride! He’s absolutely awesome in this, and even though I don’t really find Chucky that interesting as a character and think he plays way better as a straight up comedy, he is locked in with this performance. The kid saying creepy shit and adults not believing in him is a classic trope, and this movie does it more subtly than most. I also didn’t realize that the mom from Seventh Heaven is the main chick in this so that was a fun little nugget. The premise of a serial killer possessing a doll sounds freaky as hell, and it’s pretty harrowing in this movie until you figure out how the possession took place and the Rastefarian dude who taught him how to do the Hex is living in a two bedroom apartment in Wrigleyville and doing tarot card readings and ubering to make ends meet. There is a great scene in the end where Chucky bum rushes a full grown adult and as we know, low man wins, so his center of gravity gives him the edge. At the end of this one Chucky is in pretty bad shape, but I’m eager to see him shoot up some cortisone and just try to give it a go in the sequel.

-JH