Shower Beer Vol XVI: 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) Good Grief - (Netflix) Dan Levy definitely has something as a Director. I liked his freshman outing "Happiest Season", and this movie is even better. It's pretty intense emotionally and doesn't showcase his comedic chops much at all, but to me that's part of the appeal. Ruth Negga is pretty annoying in it, but she's really the only character that I didn't appreciate. Have the tissue box ready, and don't be afraid to run the gamut of emotions.

2) A Haunting in Venice - (Hulu) With all the Poirot movies I think my thoughts are best encapsulated by the Christopher Mintz-Plasse quote from the movie "Role Models" about Coca-Cola: "I think I like the idea of Coke, more than I actually like it". The whodunnit is one of, if not my absolute favorite movie genre, but these films so far have always felt a bit lacking to me and have had conclusions that not stuck the landing. This entry is probably my favorite, although I think Tina Fey is a bit miscast, and Jamie Dornan bless his heart is drowning. The setting of a creepy mansion in Venice during a rainy night is pretty badass.

3) She Came to Me - (Amazon Prime rental) The trailer had my interest piqued, and therein lies the problem because this thing was massively mis-marketed. I was sold a Peter Dinklage led offbeat comedy with Marissa Tomei playing the quirky, obsessive love interest that she's so good at. What we get is a teen drama focusing on a pair of starcrossed lovers who need the help of a distant stepfather and his mistress to get legally married and avoid the legal complications of them sleeping together while one of them was underage. Not a complete waste of time, but definitely not the movie I thought I was seeing, or wanted to see.

4) Reality Bites - (Amazon Prime rental) This movie has popped up on a few lists throughout the years as something I might be interested in. The cast, especially for 1994, is loaded with up and comers and seeing Ben Stiller had directed it made me curious. It's boring as hell unfortunately, and while Ethan Hawke gives a good performance, his character is so over the top douchey that it's hard to watch at times. Winona Ryder definitely had not found her groove as an actor yet, and her relationship with Ben Stiller's character almost feels like a joke. I won't say I totally hated it, but it's one I was surprised at how uninterested I was in it.

5) Lift - (Netflix) I'm fully aware that things like this, and "Heart of Stone" are probably made up by the Netflix algorithm, but for some reason they are a big guilty pleasure of mine. Kevin Hart is hustling his ass off here, and anything with Billy Magnussen and Gugu Mbatha-Raw I'll give a shot. There is not a single plot element, or "twist" in this that will have anyone surprised, but the mere fact that the movie thinks it is blowing our minds is inherently fun for me. The CGI is overly ambitious, but doesn't crater the whole film. Definitely a movie I'd watch again, and if that makes me a dumbass with the taste of a cro-magnon then so be it.

6) Night of the Hunted - (Amazon Prime rental) It's like I've just come out of the womb and discovered Shudder original movies the past few weeks, and my life is just beginning. Night of the Hunted looks fucking incredible like most Shudder original movies do, and it has a simple and very badass concept. A woman stops in the middle of the night to gas up here car at a rest stop, and while inside she starts being shot at from a sniper across the street. She realizes there is a walkie talkie in the store with a direct line to this person, and the movie goes from there. Camille Rowe does a great job in this, especially considering she doesn't have someone to play off of for most of the film. Think a reimagined version of "Phone Booth" with Colin Farrell and Kiefer Sutherland.

7) The Thing - (Amazon Prime rental) A first time watch for me. I'd heard a lot about this movie, and I'm always game to fuck with some John Carpenter. The practical effects are incredible, and worth watching in and of themselves. The plot is ballsy, and honestly loses me in the second act. While I'm supposed to be feeling a severe paranoia in a "who's who?" I'm really just trying to piece together what's happening, and what the strategy of the main characters is. I do love the ending and after reading more about the different interpretations of it online think this film is pretty rock solid. I want to watch the remake with Joel Edgerton, so stay tuned because that will most likely be happening soon.

8) Manchester by the Sea - (Amazon Prime) Brb still drying my tears from this one. Oscar-bait, but done right. Casey Affleck is absolutely incredible in this. I didn't even feel the barely over two hour runtime which is the ultimate compliment. Michelle Williams, who I think is insanely overrated, gets shown up here by all the incredible performances around here. This is a movie that I'm very glad I watched, but don't know if I have the emotional capacity to see it again, because it puts you through the ringer.

9) Shook - (Amazon Prime rental) Again with the Shudder original. I think I'd describe this movie as screen-life adjacent, which along with the whodunnit genre is probably my favorite current type of movie. I eat that shit up. Around the second act this thing takes a big swing, and for me it was a huge whiff. From that point on it just doubles down, and while I respect it really going for it, I was out at that point. The concept is a social media influencer goes to dog sit for her sister one night, and begins to get harassed by the across the street neighbor by a series of threatening phone calls and text messages making demands of her. I can't say much else without spoiling it, but I was a bit disappointed.

10) Guy's Grocery Games S10 - (Max) A tradition unlike any other, me watching another season of Guy's Grocery Games. In season 10 Guy does maybe my favorite thing he's done yet in terms of gameplay by bringing in eight food network superstars in the last five episodes of the season, and eliminating one or two per episode to crown a final champion in the season finale. I hope he uses this idea in future seasons for regular chefs since getting to know them over the course of a few episodes would be really fun. We didn't have many station swaps, or can can challenges this season so I'd like to step up our game in those areas going forward. See you in Flavortown next week!

11) Echo S1 - (Disney +) Just got done watching this a few hours before writing this blog. Very pleasantly surprised with the end result, especially after some of the rumored production issues. While I wasn't too excited about Echo getting her own show after her intro in Hawkeye, the setting here being in Oklahoma, seemingly far removed from Kingpins grip on New York City was a new playground for the MCU to play in and I had fun with it. I wish there was more of Echo kicking ass, but I understand some of the constraints these mini series have. Some of the visuals in this are really cool, like the skating rink where some of the best action set pieces happen, and the final episode that takes place at a powwow in an outdoor fairground that was giving me vibes of episode three of Moon Knight. I'm excited to see what Kingpin and Echo are up to in the future.

-JH