Shower Beer Vol LXIV: 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. The Fly (1958) - (Youtube TV) I’ll be honest, when I set this to record on Youtube TV I thought it was the Jeff Goldblum movie with Geena Davis. Having said that, when I clicked play I knew what I was getting myself into and I was ready for the ride. This movie is set up like a procedural with a bit of a Tarantino like reverse narrative structure where we start at the end, and through a series of flashbacks see how this batshit crazy situation ended up the way it did. The performances are your classis 50’s way over the top, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. The mystery gets less intriguing as we get into it, but the motivations for the characters make sense and follow the mad scientist trope pretty well. The detective in this following the case is such a lazy piece of shit it’s pretty hilarious. Every clue the guy uncovers he gets by someone else calling him and telling him “hey bro here’s what I found” and then he rolls up to the crime scene like he’s been quarterbacking this drive. The rich family that the film follows has a young boy, maybe like five or six years old, who is going to get bullied so hard when he starts middle school. His high socks alone are going to get him stuffed in a locker, and when people find out his dad turned himself into a fly the jokes are going to write themselves. I said on my brief Letterboxd review that we only get to see the actual fly for literally forty seconds in this which is a shame and feels a bit like a bait and switch. The setup is interesting, but based on how simple the practical effects of the monster were we should’ve gotten more, even though I know they’re trying to slow build this thing.

2. Seven Psychopaths - (Paramount +) Fellow Bro on the pod Nate Thurmond recommended this movie as it cracked his top 100 list at a very high number, and I was immediately intrigued. The cast is a tour de force of great actors just before most of them blew up and became massive stars. Harrellson, Rockwell, Colin Farrell, among others. The script feels Coen esque, with a bit of Tarantino edge to it. The setting of a struggling actor putting himself in an extreme situation to try and find his voice, and a professional dog napper being his best friend is hilarious in and of itself, then you put these actors in the drivers seat and you get a gem. There are several incredible quotes that I implore you to pick out for yourself by watching it. The meta element of the last act is great as the characters keep referencing “the final shootout” that is impending to both prepare the audience for what’s to come, and amplify the stakes by alluding to them at every turn. It’s one of those movies that you can view as a straight up comedy, or take it as a more dramatic film, albeit that’s not how it works best. Christopher Walken also gives a great performance, and has one scene set at night in the desert where he does his classic let me give you advice young fella trope that he has executed so well over the years. I don’t know at this point in his career if Rockwell had shown us his full on comedic chops yet, but he is the standout in this one for me. Farrell as you’d probably guess is more of the straight man, but they work very well together and Rockwell couldn’t be as ridiculous as is needed if he didn’t have Farrell there to ground him.

3. Mayday - (Apple TV +) It really depends on the day you ask me how I feel about Ryan Reynolds, but I can’t think of many things Keneth Branagh has acted in or directed that I didn’t like to some degree. The setting here of being a cold war era buddy cop comedy following a downed pilot in Russia sounds like a genre mashup that wouldn’t work in any way, but I actually thought it was executed well. The first act is super fucking cliche, but once we get Reynolds and Branagh on screen together things take off. Branagh is chewing the scenery with his absurd accent, and Reynolds has his out of place quips as usual with a decent amount of them landing. This movie feels like it needs one more solid character to really make it hum, and unfortunately the villain provides next to nothing. I hope Reynolds doesn’t get too entrenched with the buddy cop idea after Deadpool and Wolverine and then this, but he’s a solid 2/2 with what he’s done I just don’t want him to overdo it.

4. The Furious - (Digital rental) I heard this might be the best action movie of the year, and even if there’s not much competition to speak of, it’s probably going to take home the crown. Anytime you have a revenge plot you have my attention, and here it’s two strangers who cross paths tracking a child trafficking ring and decide the best way to solve this is to beat the shit out of everyone even tangentially involved. The action is usually shot in what feels like one take, with the camera right in the middle of things which I appreciate. No shaky cam bullshit or the thing where you see closeups of faces, and then a clearly edited in high kick to someone’s temple. The two heroes usually get into skirmishes with a ratio of roughly 12:1 against them, which is just how they like it. I also really liked how both the protagonists were coming at this from different, but kind of similar angles. One is looking for his daughter who was abducted by the ring, and the other his missing wife who was an investigative reporter who went missing when she was close to exposing them. Both have great reasons to kick ass, and their reluctant team up avoids the typical trope of two guys who were previously enemies and willing to put it aside for this one mission. Overall had a great time with this, and if you’re an action fan and like movies like The Raid this is right down your alley.

5. Psycho (1960) - (DVD) If I’ve ever seen Psycho, it’s been so long that this was like a first watch. I recently watched Rear Window, which is one of my favorite thrillers ever, so I was on a bit of a Hitchcock high. It’s very clear that this movie was so fucking ahead of it’s time, and people in the theater must have had their jaws on the floor when the twist of who Norman Bates mother actually is was dropped on them. The performances do a great job of not being the typical late 60’s over the top and melodramatic, and the subtlety of this films horror and slow build makes it so much creepier. I totally forgot that the impetus for the whole motel getting introduced is a woman on the run needing to lay low from the authorities. We also get one of the dumbest car salesman I’ve ever seen committed to film. A chick was trying to buy a car in all cash and didn’t care if she took a bath on her trade in and this guy didn’t even try to pitch her floor mats or any type of extended warranty. I saw that there is a sequel to this where Norman Bates is granted parole which I find kind of interesting, although I’m not sure if the same actor returns to play him, and I’m fairly certain Hitchcock was not involved, but I might check it out. This movie deserves all the praise it gets, and it still holds up as an incredible psychological thriller with a great twist. Trying to think of what Hitchcock film I want to watch next, and I’m leaning towards Birds. Try and stop me.

6. Phantom of the Megaplex - (Disney +) A once a year watch for me around Halloween time. It might have surpassed Mom’s Got A Date With A Vampire as my favorite DCOM to watch around spooky season. The premise is really fun and the score with the organs is absolutely epic. Centering the film around a zany group of employees at a movie theater, with someone or something trying to sabotage a big premier they’re hosting makes for a fun cat and mouse game, and the reveal at the end I have to say was a bit of a surprise to me the first time I ever saw it, and still plays really well. I especially love the douche bag high school villain in the movie who you know is super cool and gets laid all the time because his hair has frosted tips and he uses LA Looks gel. Also he does have a bit of a gripe with the theater on their bullshit promotion where if you pull the sword from the stone you get a years worth of passes and they don’t honor it right away. I would never trust some manager who wasn’t present when I won the contest to take care of me so he’s right to put his foot down. I’m already excited to give this thing another go in about a year.

7. Ransom Canyon S2 - (Netflix) We all need a trashy Netflix show every now and then, and Ransom Canyon has filled that void in my life for two seasons. After this most recent one though I think we will mutually part ways if and when there is a third season. Josh Duhamel bless his heart is doing everything he can here, but there’s just too little around him. The acting is pretty solid across the board, and I love the setting of the small town Texas where everyone knows everyone’s secrets, but this show seems too afraid to really take a dive into the deep end and go full trashy soap opera level and instead keeps most of the plot points relatively tame. We don’t get any reveal of a secret twin, or a forbidden affair or even a murder or anything. Best we can do is a high school chick sleeping with her boyfriends older brother. If it fully embraced what is really is I think this could be one of those Netflix gems. Minka Kelly also does some of her best work of her career here I think, which may be a low bar to clear, but I still have to give her props. She is given a lot to do in the second season, and handles the increased workload very well.

8. Muppets Haunted Mansion - (Disney +) Huge fan of the muppets, and when Disney gives them any new content I have to support my boys. When this came out a few years ago I was hoping it would actually be a feature length, but I know Disney had another Haunted Mansion movie in the works so we got the 40 minute treatment here, and the runtime works pretty well. There are some hilarious plot points here, my favorite of which is Pepe the Prawn being courted by Taraji P. Henson who has a penchant for murdering her ex husbands, and Pepe seeming to be next on the list. Gonzo is the lead here with Kermit and Ms. Piggy only having brief appearances, and I’m not complaining. Not that I don’t like them as characters, but we know from A Muppet’s Christmas Carol that Gonzo is capable of being the bellcow and leading a movie on his own. Will Arnett plays the main human in this, and he is absolutely eating it up. If you’re going to act with the muppets there is no half assing it, you have to fully commit and here he does. He plays the butler of the haunted mansion, although there may be more to his character than meets the eye. I know Bryan Banner on the pod is a huge fan of the Haunted Mansion ride, and this pays enough homage to the classic elements of that, while having enough muppet-centric originality to it to please those fans as well. I’d say it’s probably my favorite Haunted Mansion iteration for what it’s worth. Also check out our commentary track that we recorded this past Halloween where you can watch the special along with us. It was a blast.

9. How I Met Your Mother S8 - (Hulu) My favorite sitcom of all time and probably my fifth time watching all the way through. Season 8 is the last season told in a standard narrative format since the final season is essentially 20 episodes of Barney and Robin’s wedding. In this season the focus is really on setting up all the characters for their endgame, with Marshall and Lilly ending the season in a particularly difficult spot in their relationship, although one of them doesn’t know it yet. I won’t spoil much if you ever do plan on watching it, but in this season I had the most fun with Ted as he does more dating than probably any season as he’s not in a relationship for more than few episodes at a time. You can tell Josh Radnor was starting to get a bit fed up of how over the top his character was, but towards the latter third of the season they start giving him some more emotional beats and pay off a few running plot threads from earlier in the series. We get a lot more of all the characters families this season which adds some great depth to them, and sets up the end of the show pretty well since Ted’s whole journey has been about making one of his own. Excited to give season 9 another chance as I think over the years it has gotten an unfair amount of hate which stems mainly from how polarizing the finale was.

10. Crystal Lake - (Peacock) When I first heard the concept of this, a prequel series to the Friday the 13th franchise focusing on Jason as a child, and his mother Pamela I was cautiously optimistic. When I heard my girl Linda Cardellini was cast as Jason’s mom I was pretty pumped, and I have to say this is a real showcase for her. The creators take it just seriously enough, while adding the right level of camp that the franchise perfected throughout it’s run. I actually wish we got more Jason in this, but his presence is fully felt throughout all the episodes. It gets a little too much into his origins and why he is the way he is, which I found really disinteresting, but when it focuses on things actually happening in Crystal Lake I was very much into it. There are some incredible kills, especially in the middle few episodes, and you get a good combination of expendable dumb horny teens, and backwoods old dudes trying to hunt Jason or something they think is killing people by taking things into their own hands. I think they could easily do a season two based on where this one ends, and while I’m not sure if this is canon to the franchise, I don’t even know if the franchise if canon to the franchise at this point.

    -JH