Shower Beer Vol XLVIII: 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) Before Sunset - (Digital rental) I have a love/hate relationship with Richard Linklater. Before Sunrise was a solid film, but one that I do think is pretty overrated. I was always curious about Before Sunset, and just the concept of it, and really this whole trilogy is a cool idea to me. About ten minutes in once I realized the narrative structure was the same as the first I started to roll my eyes, but goddamn this is incredibly watchable for reasons I can’t even really describe. The conversation between the two main characters feels like it’s headed somewhere the entire time, almost like if Tarantino wrote a romantic drama. Everything feels very real and lived in, and the way it’s shot almost in real time to feel like there aren’t any cuts was working for me. I will probably wait a few years to see Before Midnight just as it’s now become a tradition, but I’m excited for it.

2) Love Actually - (Hulu) I mean it’s Christmas time now right? This is probably a once a year watch for me as I’m sure it is most people. Every time I watch it I catch something new. This time around it felt like the storyline with Liam Neeson and his son had the least amount of screentime, while The Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson arc seemed like it got the most attention. The Bill Nighy song that opens the movie is objectively a banger, and I know it’s time to put up the tree when my Christmas movie playlist opens up with “I FEEL IT IN MY FINGAHSSSS”. The Keira Knightley story is still my least favorite of the bunch, even though I know it's produced some iconic memes. Just a solid, well made ensemble movie that puts me in the mood to decorate my Christmas tree.

3) The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes S2 - (Disney +) I believe this is the third time I’ve finished this series, and if you made me bet I’d say I will watch it once again before I die. Season two comes full circle with the Skrull invasion, and the latter third feels more serialized than the rest of the series, but incorporates some badass super hero cameos. The finale is a comic book fans wet dream as it brings in the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Wolverine, and a few of the Defenders seen previously this season. The Galactus battle is definitely rushed, and the show would’ve really elevated things had it gotten a season three, but we can’t have nice things apparently. If you’re a Marvel fan at all and have never checked out this show I highly recommend it.

4) The Residence S1 - (Netflix) If this show as half as clever as it thought it was, we’d really have something here. It wants to be Knives Out or any of the Kenneth Branagh Agatha Christie adaptations so badly. The main character, who is the detective on the case is so fucking annoying and says shit that makes no sense in the guise of being the “smartest in the room” detective. It really just plays like she’s a condescending asshole who is trying to stall while she figures out what to say next. The eight hour long episodes is brutally undeserved, and this thing ran out of steam by episode three. I was pot committed at that point so I had to see it through. If this gets a second season not only will I not be watching it, but I will not be speaking to anyone who does. Utter trash, stay away at all costs.

5) Mistletoe Mixup - (Netflix) Saw Lawrence brothers. Saw dumb premise for a low budget Christmas movie. Said sign me the hell up. You have to know what you’re getting into here, and if you’re in the mood for it you won’t be disappointed. The acting is actually pretty solid for what this is, and there is one emotional scene at the end between two of the brothers that worked pretty well. Really what I came here for was Christmas hijinks, and a premise that’s a bit ridiculous. Check all those boxes. There is a ceiling to how good a film like this can be, and it almost reaches it so I was pleased. Short runtime also helps, and there is one scene that involves a Christmas tree flying off the roof of a car that’s worth the price of admission.

6) Ip man - (Netflix) This movie used to pop up all the time when I would try to search for “Iron Man” just because they’re close in spelling i guess. I love a good martial arts film, and I know this spawned a franchise so I was generally curious about what it had to offer. The first act of the movie is badass and sets up like a Magnificent Seven idea, then in act two it totally abandons it and goes for a historical fiction angle that completely lost me. The villain from act one resurfaces later on in a way that I still don’t understand. There are some cool set pieces, and one in particular that takes place at a cotton mill that was giving me Avengers: Endgame vibes. Overall though I was a little disappointed in this one, but not enough so to scare me off from checking out the other three movies in the franchise.

7) The Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox - (Netflix) I’m not a Red Sox fan by any means, but I vividly remember watching every game of this series and being in utter shock at what was unfolding. The documentary here is obviously inherently biased, which doesn’t necessarily mean anything in it is untrue, but it paints the New York Yankees as the objective villains with the Red Sox being the underdog who defies all odds. In reality they’re two fo the top five teams in MLB every year in terms of payroll and are both a version of Goliath that can be hard to root for. If you don’t find Kevin Millar annoying then you will probably enjoy this. If you do, then you’ll turn it off in the first fifteen minutes and go on with your life.

8) Champagne Problems - (Netflix) You’re going to see a trend over the next month of me watching allegedly shitty Christmas movies, and finding myself pissed off at how much I’m enjoying them. Like I always say on our podcast, my judgement of a movie is not on it’s competency, or ability to be a piece of “cinema”, but on how much fun did I have watching it, and would I want you to have that same experience. Having said that, is Champagne Problems akin to The Godfather? ….yes. No it’s a piece of Netflix trash I’d say, but it’s endearing, and has to great comedic performances that really elevate it and make it stand out from a lot of the other Christmas fare you get this time of year. Minka Kelly is fine as the lead even though I was hesitant she could carry the load. The romance at the core of this really isn’t that interesting, but the setting and ancillary characters are above average and made this a good watch for me.

9) Red One - (Netflix) I’m sounding like a broken record when I say I went into a Christmas movie thinking I’d hate it and being pleasantly surprised. I missed Red One last year when it came out, probably because I had been feeling what we all were with an over saturation of Dwayne Johnson. I’ve always been a big Chris Evans fan and he actually works really well alongside the big hunk of a man in this one. There is legit one action set piece at the North Pole towards the end of the first act that is pretty badass. The plot is pretty ridiculous, but the set up of the North Pole and Santa’s security team is pretty sick and has some interesting ideas. I would not hate a sequel as much as I’m surprised to hear myself say that.

10) Swiped - (Hulu) One of my favorite movies of the year. I’m a big fan of LIly James, and feel like she is still waiting for her big break so to speak. I don’t know if this is it, but she is incredible in this role,a nd I’m not sure how closely this resembles real life, but if it’s even in the vicinity there’s some pretty fucked up stuff here. I’m a sucker for the Social Network style type of “biopic” where we follow a successful company from inception to the inevitable breakup of those who founded it, and the Tinder story is one I was not aware of at all. I need to do some research post watch to see what is actually true about this. Even if you’re not a tech bro this is an interesting look into the world of these start ups and how fast and loose they play and when it works it’s incredible, and when it doesn’t it’s some of the most incompetent management you’ve ever seen.

-JH