Shower Beer Vol V: 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) Notting Hill - (Netflix) Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts in a late 90's romantic comedy seems to be a recipe for success. I enjoyed the ride on this one, but it is a bit long and the comedic beats are solely expected to come from Rhys Ifans character who isn't quite up to the challenge. Both main characters are realistically flawed and have interesting backgrounds. It's something I will probably revisit again in my life, but not one of the best rom coms I've seen.

2) The Stepfather - (Netflix) To prepare for the third season of "You" returning to Netflix I thought I'd go down a Penn Badgley rabbit hole. I think I might've seen this when it originally came out, but I didn't remember much of the plot. It's a pretty straight forward thriller with some good tension. The thing I appreciated is the characters (for the most part) avoid making any really stupid decisions which you typically see become the undoing of films like these. There's not much to it outside of the basic premise, but definitely a fun watch if you're into these types of movies.

3) The Wedding Year - (Netflix) Again, I love me some romcoms. Sarah Hyland isn't in near enough stuff for my taste, so to see her get to shine here was enjoyable. It's raunchy, and the characters are a bit over the top, but there are some good laughs. The core romance wasn't overly interesting unfortunately, and there are some characters that play decent sized roles that are really unlikeable. Not super enjoyable, but also not a total train wreck.

4) The Raid 2 - (Netflix) I am a MASSIVE fan of the original Raid movie. I had heard this is one of the best action movie sequels of all time. It was a fucking turd. I'm in shock at what people have to say about this film. It's boring, way too convoluted, and so dense with unnecessary and cliche plot elements that I found myself rolling my eyes almost every scene. The first Raid stands tall on it's unique setting, and unreal fight choreography. This movie has neither, with the exception of one action set piece, but it doesn't even feature any of our main characters. Really, really let down by this.

5) Sing Street - (Tubi) This had been on my radar for awhile, and I finally got around to it. Great setting being in 1980's London. I love a good "making the band" movie, and this delivers on all those elements. The original music is super fun, but there feel like some pretty big gaps, or leaps made in the development of the main character that I just had to roll with. An above average film, with some fun performances.

6) White Noise - (Netflix) Noah Baumbach is always doing interesting stuff, and Marriage Story is one of my favorite films of the past few years. To see him reunite with Adam Driver had me intrigued, even though I had read that the book this is based on has been deemed "unadaptable" by many people. There is a lot going on here, to the point it feels like two, maybe even three different movies duct taped together. I was all in for the first two acts, and then as the third act begins a plot device is introduced that really wasn't doing it for me at all. Still, great performances and some interesting commentary. Ultimately though the runtime isn't justified, and it really loses steam the last 30-40 mins.

7) Smile - (Paramount +) The only thing I like more than a romantic comedy is a good horror movie. I had been told to check out Smile since it came to Paramount + from our legal counsel Rony Seikaly. The scares and visuals don't fuck around here, and the pacing is very kinetic which is necessary as the plot doesn't have much going for it. I had a good time with this, and would recommend it to any horror fans out there. I'm not sure how it will work with a sequel just because again I don't think there's anything to work with here past what was already done, but I'll probably give it a poke when it comes out.

8) Scream 2 - (Paramount +) Getting ready for Scream VI here in a few weeks, Rony Seikaly and I went back and recorded a movie commentary on the second scream. An incredible follow up to an original horror film that changed the game. I love the idea that it can play off of sequel tropes, and Wes Craven is at his best here. Even with this being a second watch I was still very impressed with the ending, and it does an incredible job of balancing horror, with plot, with some carefully inserted humor. Check out our commentary track when it drops here in a few weeks and let us know your thoughts.

9) Your Place or Mine - (Netflix) Had to throw this on for Valentine's Day. I'm still a sucker for Ashton Kutcher after all these years even though I don't think he's done much that I've enjoyed outside of That 70's Show and The Butterfly Effect. He holds his own here, and there's some really solid relationships specifically with the main child actor. The romance is light, but it's a fun ride and Reese Witherspoon is capable as always. I wish it had more Steve Zahn, but he has enough of a role to justify his casting.

10) The Bear S1 - (Hulu) One of my favorite shows from this past year. I finally finished the first season, and damn it's awesome. The way the season ends I'm not sure if I really NEED a second season, but I'll be there when it drops regardless. Some incredible performances, and a great look into the culinary world that I don't really know much about. Don't watch this is you have high blood pressure as the tension you feel from the high stress of being in a kitchen will ramp up your heart rate in no time.

-JH