Shower Beer Vol XIX: 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) Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might - (Funimation App) The creator of Dragon Ball, Akira Toriyama passed away this past week and growing up a fan of the franchise I had to give a few of the movies a poke. Tree of Might is a very solid DBZ entry, and features a pretty interesting sub plot and some great henchmen. The lead villain being a saiyan is completely unnecessary and isn't really utilized that well, but this movie has some great set pieces that lead up to the final fight. The other Z fighters are featured a bit more than usual which is fun as I'm a big Tien fan and feel he is very underrated.

2) Float - (Amazon Prime rental) I'm a big Robbie Amell guy so that drew me to this. The premise is your standard romantic movie, and there isn't a laugh in sight so don't be expecting one. I'm fine with the serious nature of the film, and it explores some very relatable ideas of loss and the struggles of dealing with family issues and trying to find yourself while coping with that. The movie is very low energy, which I actually think works well for it. It was losing me in the last 15 minutes, and anytime you have a script that isn't very kinetic you do run the risk of people dozing off towards the end. I did enjoy this, but it wasn't mind blowing and it's a soft recommend for me.

3) Smart House - (Disney +) One of the OG Disney Channel Original Movies that I hadn't revisited in way too long. If you think about it, the concept here was ahead of it's time. It's campy and cheap in all the right ways, and there is a party scene with some of the most 90's dancing you can imagine that I could not get enough of. It goes a bit off the rails in the last ten minutes, but sorry I'm not sorry it swung for the fences if you can't hang with the big dogs stay on the porch. Smart House is something you need to revisit if you haven't seen it in awhile because it's exactly what you remember, but with baggier jeans.

4) Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug - (Funimation App) Actually quite similar to Tree of Might in terms of plot. A villain who is the same race as one of the main Z fighters comes to Earth with plans to terraform the planet. Lord Slug also features a great setup fight sequence with the main antagonists henchmen that sees Piccolo kicking some ass in a cityscape which we rarely get in DBZ. Lord Slug is a villain who makes some very poor decisions, even in the beginning of the second act that are just too ridiculous to overlook, and Icarus gets way too much fucking screen time in this thing. All in all it does still scratch that Dragonball Z itch, even if I would put it in one of the lower tiers of the franchises films.

5) 21 Jump Street - (Freevee) I won't say too much here since I will have a lot to say about this movie on our podcast as we continue to count down our top 100 movies of all time, but the quotability alone of this film is undeniable. "So what do they say about a covalent bond at this school?" is an all timer. Also for the one of the first things I can ever remember seeing Brie Larsen in. If you need a solid mid 2000's comedy, look no further.

6) Cat Person - (Hulu) Quite a pleasant surprise with this one. The trailer sold it as a dark comedy focused around the perils of dating in the modern world, and how people can exhibit personalities over text messaging that they don't quite measure up to in real life. The film itself is really smart, and the comedy fades precipitously as it goes on until in the third act it evolves completely into a thriller which I enjoyed. The performances aren't incredible, but they get the movie where it needs to go and the college students feel like they are of the time. Definitley check this out if you have Hulu.

7) Intruder (1989) - (Amazon Prime rental) Holy shit where has this movie been all my life. Definitely inspired by another favorite film of ours, Chopping Mall, Intruder makes no apologies and gives zero fucks if you can handle what it's all about which is a raunchy slasher flick that isn't slowing down and defies the laws of physics. The cinematography in this is either the most brilliant thing in the history of cinema, or akin to your mom forgetting she left the camcorder on while it's on that wrist strap thing during a family vacation. It is dialed up to eleven the whole way, and I think you can view it as an incredible piece of art that punches way above it's weight, or just get shitfaced with your friends and enjoy it. It's all deadly.

8) Detective Conan Ep 1-10 - (Roku Channel) I've been on a bit of an anime kick lately, sorry not sorry. Detective Conan, also called Case Closed, is so fucking fun I can't get enough of it. Each episode is an anthology mystery (usually a murder) and they are solved by a detective named Conan Idigawawawawa I don't fucking know his last name. The very unnecessary, but get off the shows back about it twist is that in episode two of the series Conan was drugged by two thugs working for a shadowy corporation, and that potion turned him into a child. All you need to know is this guy gets shit done, and if you think you can just kill somebody in Japan with him around you're out of your goddamned mind. My two favorite episodes of the first ten are episode 4, The Cold Blooded Map of the City Case where Conan and his detective squad (who honestly he doesn't need and they're dead weight, but Conan keeps them around so they can feel good about themselves) have to piece together a pictogram that robbers left behind leading to a stolen ransom. My other favorite episode was episode 6, Valentine Murder Case which I felt had the best overall twist and reveal of the first ten episodes. Defintely check this show out if you have the means.

9) Jared From Subway: Catching A Monster - (Max) Pretty much as fucked up as you remember the story being from when it first broke on the news. Viewer discretion definitely advised as the three part docuseries features plenty of recorded phone calls with Jared where the sick fuck basically outs himself as being a pedophile at every given opportunity. What I did not know about this story was about his right hand man who's name is escaping me, and his involvement with Jared and subsequent fallout with his family. An interesting watch, but very heavy so have something light you can watch after as a pallet cleanser.

10) Irish Wish - (Netflix) Tell me why I didn't hate this film? The Netflix algorithm knows how forgiving I am for a romcom, and they play to that every chance they get. The acting is actually not as bad as I would've liked it to be, and Lindsay Lohan is giving her best damn effort here and bless her heart it's just enough. Ayesha Curry (NBA player Steph Curry's wife) contines her try at another career, this time as an "actor" so....there's that. The ridiculousness is kept at bay for the most part, but there is enough cheese in this thing to make you forgive it for every cringe moment.

-JH