Shower Beer Vol XV: 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) Dumb Money - (Amazon Prime Rental) I was fascinated when this story was actually happening, so when I saw the trailer for this and the cast they got I was pumped. It could use a little more exposition if I'm being honest, and that's something I never thought I'd say about a movie. I don't really understand the stock market so at times it was a bit inside baseball, but I still really enjoyed it. Paul Dano shows that while he can give a great performance both as a protagonist and antagonist, he really thrives in lower energy roles like this.

2) I Give It a Year - (Hulu) Pretty much a piece of shit, which is disappointing because with Stephen Merchant and my boy Rafe Spall there was definitely potential here. Rose Byrne is a national treasure, and she's totally wasted with a character that has the personality of a wet paper bag. Merchant is asked to do all the comedic heavy lifting, and he flounders when he's not in an ancillary role. Anna Faris gets to mostly play dramatic which is an interesting change of pace, but her character drives the plot in a way that just makes you feel gross and guilty.

3) Tau - (Netflix) Didn't really have high hopes for this one, but the concept seemed intriguing enough and I'm always willing to give an "AI learns to feel" story a chance. Bless her heart, but Maika Monroe is god awful in this, and I know she's a better actor than what she put on the screen here. Gary Oldman as the voice of the AI has a few moments, but this is definitely a paycheck gig for him. I don't get why Ed Skrein keeps getting work, but I guess if you can't afford Nicholas Hoult he's the bagged cereal version of him you can plug into a villain role at 1/3 the price. Visually this thing has a few pretty sick scenes, but the really interesting part of the story which is the abduction part never gets touched on and that's a shame.

4) BS High - (Max) What a wild story this thing is. I love a good documentary that's both exploitative, and focuses on a real life piece of shit who thinks that they come across much differently than they actually do on camera. The main interview in this is a man who essentially lied to teenage athletes about their prospects of getting an education and college scholarships, and is a self proclaimed master conman. His exploits are detailed...by him, as he thinks it's a list of accomplishments and not just building his case as biggest fuckhead of all time. I regret that he probably made a pretty penny off of this, but it's captivating as hell to watch the dumpster fire.

5) The Mill - (Hulu) A Hulu original that fits into the motif of this Shower Beer as a pretty fucked up concept that piqued my interest. First time I can recall seeing Lil Rel Howery in a serious role, and he holds his own. It's difficult as he doesn't get much screentime with other actors based on the isolationist premise of the story. I was thinking this was a 2.5/5 film until the last five mins when it showed it could stick the landing. There are some really interesting ideas that make you think about how fleeting our time on this planet is and what we choose to spend it doing. The mortality angle really is just the backdrop. It takes a big swing in the third act and it isn't a mindblowing movie by any stretch, but one that's worth giving a poke.

6) Hell House LLC - (Tubi) Saw this on a list of best found footage films, and with the streak of sick shit I've been watching it fit right in. I love how shoe string the production budget it. The performances are pretty solid, which is always what scares me about these lower budget movies where you can end up with like two or three people who aren't even professional actors they're just somebodies nephew from the studio. I'm normally not too into possession or supernatural horror, and at the time I didn't think this thing was that creepy, but after watching it the visuals really stuck with me. I was having nightmares about this shit, and I'm a 36 year old man. There is one really interesting moment at the beginning of the third act that is supposedly touched upon in the sequel to this so I'll have to check that out as well.

7) Night Swim - (Theaters) Had to go see the first theatrical release of 2024, and with it being a horror movie of course I went during the day on a Friday where I'd be the least freaked out. I think Kerry Condon is phenomenal, but Wyatt Russell is almost playing this as a joke, and there are no visual or jump scares that had me tense at all. The concept is interesting until it "reveals" itself, and to me it felt like a script that really wasn't developed past the initial concept. I know Blumhouse has perfected the low budget horror movie, but if you compare something like this to Smile, it can't hold up at all.

8) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - (Paramount +) I don't know what it is about Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik, but it really fucking works for me. I was a MASSIVE Sonic fan growing up to the point I used to illustrate my own comics with him, Tails, and Knuckles. I'll fully admit that even in my mid 30's, I'm the demographic that this shit is made for...and it works. I had an absolute blast with this, even more than the first. Knuckles is perfect, and his motivations and character design are both on point. The plot has really only one fifteen minute moment that could be trimmed, but otherwise it's very kinetic and puts the characters in some really cool set pieces. I find myself liking the human characters (outside of Robotnik) more and more superfluous as these movies go on, but we get enough Sonic and Tails in this that it doesn't ruin the ride.

9) Guy's Grocery Games S9 - (Max) The wife and I continue to plow this show to the point where you will see at least one season on every Shower Beer blog I write going forward I'd imagine. This season Guy has a cool idea of doing a redemption tournament with contestants who were previously on the show, but did not come away with the shopping spree. Some of them make you wonder how they lost in the first place with their culinary skill, and other's make you think how they were comfortable with embarrassing themselves again on television. There's also a cool episode where he has four pastry chefs compete, which he's rarely done. Based on the time constraints the contestants have to make their dishes, bakers rarely get a chance to compete, but it adds a fun wrinkle this time.

10) The Last Voyage of the Demeter - (Amazon Prime Rental) The most badass depiction of Dracula I've ever seen on screen. I must be a dumbass, because I had no idea that the story of the ship called the Demeter that Dracula was transported on has been a part of his lore since his inception. This is a unique way to give us a Dracula story, and confining him to a ship in the middle of the ocean adds a whole new level of claustrophobia and anxiety to the fear. While there are a few stretches of fifteen mins or so where we get no Dracula which is frustrating, in the end the final fifteen minutes make it a point to give us what we want. This is a hard R rating, which it absolutely needed. What a pleasant surprise.

11) What If ...? S2 - (Disney +) Just a really cool concept of a show, only made more badass by both the animation quality, and the stars that come back to reprise their roles with their vocal talents. I think I enjoyed this second season even more than season one, although the zombie episode we got in the OG season was incredible. Here my three favorite episodes are the first one where Nebula joins the Nova Corps (plays out like a Blade Runner reimagining), If Tony Stark met the Grandmaster (which would be an INCREDIBLE live action movie to make), and the one that had us all salivating when it was announced... if Happy Hogan saved Christmas. There is so much meat left on the bone with this show as I'm sure we could all come up with a hundred different ideas for stories. I'm glad it's getting a third season, and already can't wait to see what they come up with.

-JH