Shower Beer Vol XI: 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) Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - (Theaters) I'm afraid that I might not actually be as big a fan of the Indiana Jones movies as I once thought, and that pains me to say. I really only like two of the movies (Raiders and The Last Crusade) and if a James Mangold directed entry in the franchise can't excite me, I might just be hopeless. While this movie has a great first act, it really fizzles, and the magic that I once felt as a child watching Indy on screen is nowhere to be found. I wasn't even interested in Mads Mikkelsen or Boyd Holbrook who I normally enjoy in everything they're in. It wasn't a total abomination, but in a Summer that has been pretty bleh in terms of it's blockbusters this is one contributing to that feeling.

2) Office Uprising - (Tubi) Not even sure how I heard about this movie, but it looked like The Belko Experiment, but with less of a budget and a slightly less recognizable cast. The concept is an accountant at a company that manufactures weapons shows up to work one day and seemingly all the other employees there have lost their minds and are going on a violent rampage through the office. It's definitely a straight up comedy, and Zachary Levi gives a great performance. It's absolutely stupid, but if you come into it knowing that you'll get some enjoyment out of it. It will also make you want to avoid energy drinks for like...the rest of your life.

3) The Good Nurse - (Netflix) If I was asked to give a quick quote with my thoughts on this movie to put on the back of the Blu Ray I would simply say "Holy shit!". A Netflix original based on a true story (of which the internet rabbit hold you can dive down is incredibly interesting) that I had recommended to me by Nate Thurmond on the pod. This movie focuses a bit too much on character and not as much on the actual story, which sounds crazy to type out, but is definitely the case. The tension is never really built, and the police investigation surrounding the crime is the main focus as opposed to the actual crime being perpetrated. Eddie Redmayne is rock solid and doesn't overact which he has a tendency to do, and Jessica Chastain is great as always.

4) Boyhood - (Tubi) I had always been interested in this film when I heard about the process by which Director Richard Linklater made it. He essentially cast a young eight year old actor as the lead, and over the next fourteen years of real time would follow up with him and the other cast and film the movie with them literally growing up and not being cast by different actors based on their characters progression through life. That alone has my respect, but ultimately this movie is plotless. Maybe that's the point and it's just about the journey of growing up and the experiences you have along the way. It is a film that has my respect for what it took to make, but in a vacuum I can't in good conscience say it's one of my favorite coming of age movies of all time.

5) One True Loves - (Amazon Prime rental) Buckle up. Let me say off the bat, I love me some Simu Liu and Phillipa Soo. They are both incredible actors in their own right. I do hate Luke Bracey because he sucks, but he's not the problem with this movie. The poor Director, and especially the Editor on this one will probably look back at this movie and cringe. It is an absolute trainwreck of cringey dialogue, horribly cut scenes, insanely melodramatic music that makes you laugh, and a very poorly put together narrative structure that ignores they way it was handled in the book. One of the worst movies I've seen this year, even though the conceit of the story is actually a pretty interesting idea. My wife read the book and said it slaps, so I would just recommend that.

6) The Out-Laws - (Netflix) I'm unashamed in saying that I had a fucking blast with this movie. I know Adam Devine is best in small doses, and while he is overexposed here, there are a lot of laughs to be had. I with Nina Dobrev got more screen time, but her character is really just a plot device to get Pierce Brosnan and Ellen Barkin into the movie. Happy Madison has been definitely trending upward for me the past few years, which is something I never thought I'd say. There is also a scene in this movie that involves Shrek that is so fucking dumb, but had me cracking up.

7) Don't Bother to Knock (1952) - (Youtube) I realized that I had never actually seen a Marilyn Monroe movie, and someone on the Slash Film Podcast recommended this a few months back so I wanted to check it out. It is very much down my alley, and must have been a template for the psychological thriller genre for the next few decades. Monroe gives a really creepy performance, a lot of it done by her vocal cadence which is super unsettling. The premise of setting the whole thing almost in real time, and in one location at a luxury hotel is the type of shit that I always enjoy. It's a very quick watch at about an hour and fifteen minutes, but somehow still feels like it takes it's time getting in and building tension and letting you know who the cast of characters are.

8) Guy's Grocery Games S2 and S3 - (Max) My go to comfort watch as many of you know. I can't get enough of this show. The Premise being four chef's are competing in a cooking competition that takes place in the Flavortown Grocery store. There are four rounds, with the worst dish eliminating that respective chef, until one winner is crowned who gets to go on a two minute shopping journey through the store trying to find ten grocery items of which each one retrieved nets the winner $2,000. In seasons two and three Guy is really fucking with the chefs by introducing a game where he spins a food wheel that selects the protein they must use, some of which are seemingly impossible to make a good dish out of. I also noticed in these two seasons that the judges started to get pretty absurd with some of the things they would knock dishes for. An example is one judge who just demands everything she eat be spicy, regardless of the specifications of the competition. It could be a dessert challenge and she'd say "Yea sorry I just needed more heat". Give this show a poke if you haven't before.

-JH