Shower Beer Vol XVII: 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) Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms - (Max) These straight to Max Mortal Kombat movies have all had my attention, and this might be the best one yet. Utterly incredible action and gore, incredible looking animation, and a story that is right down the heart of the plate for Mortal Kombat fans. We don't get some of the fan favorite characters like Kano and a few others that we've seen in a lot of these, but this one has all the main players doing what we want. Loses a bit of steam in the last ten mins, but still an incredible film, and a must watch for any Mortal Kombat-head out there.

2) Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind - (Max) Thus far this is the ONLY one of the Mortal Kombat animated movies I've seen that I didn't really like. Way too much exposition, not enough fighting, and the story and the macguffin are boring as hell. We do get an older Sub-Zero which is pretty interesting, and the villain being Kano is an idea I liked seeing. It has a high bar to live up to in this franchise though and just doesn't clear it. I've seen four of these (one I'll mention in just a bit) and I'd put this at the fourth, or last spot in my rankings.

3) Summer House S7 - (Peacock) Maybe the second wildest season yet, and one of my favorites of this show. The drama is cranked up folks! Carl and Lindsey set the house on fire, and the dynamics between a few couples who are fighting for their survival amongst some friendships put to the test make for some really interesting parties. I will say that this is probably the first season where I really only found one of the housemates (Gaby) completely superfluous which is a rarity. Normally we have three or four people who are basically dead weight, but most of the group was interesting enough to give the show a bit more of an ensemble feel. Can't wait for the next season starting in a few weeks, but I also need to catch up on my other guilty pleasure, Winter House before then.

4) 7500 - (Amazon Prime) Really intense and visceral movie about a pilot trying to fight off a hijacking, essentially told in real time. Joseph Gordon-Levitt takes the lead, and gives as solid a performance as you can expect considering he's basically trapped in a cockpit for the duration of the movie. A good film, but not one I can ever watch again most likely just because it's hard to sit through based on the concept. I think it's worth a watch, but viewer discretion is advised.

5) The Peanut Butter Falcon - (Amazon Prime) Shia Labeouf proves that he's worth all the crazy, and Dakota Johnson proves that she has the charisma of the shit I just took. A beautiful movie (and yes we use that word on this podcast you have a problem?) that tells a unique story and follows a character in Shia Labeouf's Tyler that has enough depth and development to basically be on screen by himself. Zack Gottsagen who plays Zak is absolutely incredible in this, and I always love seeing Thomas Hayden Church in stuff. This had been on my radar for a few years, and after I recently watched Manchester By The Sea, Amazon Prime said "oh you like bawling your fucking eyes out? Here how about you check this out..." and suggested it.

6) Sixteen Candles - (Netflix) One of my goals this year is to try and fill in some of the blind spots in my filmography with classic titles that I just never got around to watching. I saw Netflix promoting Sixteen Candles as "leaving soon" and figured since I'm a big John Hughes fan it was time to give it a watch. What in the fuck do people like about this movie? I'll say it's by far John Hughes worst film, and the only one I don't like. The amount of rape subtext that's all over this is insane, and none of the characters outside of Molly Ringwald's make any sense at all. The main guy is basically chasing her around the entire movie because he thinks she's interested in him based on a note he found... but he's never said a word to her in his entire life, and doesn't until the last scene. Anthony Michael Hall is lucky he got out of this thing with a career. Utter trash and I'll die on this hill.

7) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - (Tubi) See above about me trying to go back and rewatch some of the classics. It led me to what many people say is the greatest martial arts movie of all time. They may not be wrong. Fucking loved this. The set pieces are so fun, and I don't even care that they never explain the wire stunts in context, because they look awesome. Michelle Yeoh could do a toothpaste commercial and I'd think it was the greatest performance of all time, she's that incredible. The plot here is pretty riveting, and honestly does more than it really needs to. All the action sequences have consequence, and the actors ability to perform the stunts gives it a real authentic feel. I'm going to try to get the bros to do a movie commentary on this one because I think it would be a blast.

8) The Riot Club - (Tubi) I think this popped up as something I'd like after I watched Saltburn recently. The Riot Club tells the story of a pseudo-secret small fraternity at Oxford University based on taking the elite, and creating an atmosphere for utter debauchery that extends beyond what is socially acceptable. It does the classic trope of pitting two fresh man against each other as rivals jockeying for social positioning in the club while they navigate their social lives outside of it, and test their limits on what they'll sacrifice to get ahead. It does make you feel uneasy at parts, and while the premise itself has been done several times before, the crescendo in the third act is something I don't think I've really seen on screen before. If you like watching absolutely deplorable characters on screen, you'll enjoy this.

9) Nacho Libre - (Paramount Plus) Got an itch that only Jack Black could scratch, and wanted to go back and rewatch one of my favorite movies of his. I know this movie is dumb as hell, but it just works for me. Some of the best physical comedy you will ever see. If you can buy in and go along for the ride you will have a blast. I think it would work well for a younger demographic as well as someone my age who just wants to see Jack Black as a luchador doing ridiculous shit. His accent is insane, and the way he is constantly posing is so hilarious. My wife hated it, but that's to be expected as I'd say this movie will work for about 50% of the population.

10) Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match - (Max) The fourth, and most recent of the Mortal Kombat Max originals. I'd slot this one at third in the rankings, and as the title implies it really only features Johnny Cage from the Mortal Kombat lore. That works to it's strength for about the first twenty minutes, and then I started to realize that Cage (even voiced capably by Joel McHale) is an ancillary character. The film is set in 1980's Los Angeles which is a pretty wild idea that produces some laughs. I didn't find the action near as good as Scorpion's Revenge, or Battle for the Realms, but it has it's moments. It is definitely the funniest of the four movies which you'd probably expect with Cage as the main character.

11) Which Brings Me to You - (Amazon Prime Rental) I had this on my list from the second I saw the trailer. I'm a big Lucy Hale fan, and a romantic comedy with a flashback framing device coinciding with two people meeting and getting to know each other over the course of a day was so down my alley it's not even funny. The movie has some high highs, and some low lows. The flashbacks work incredibly well, and this film will rip your fucking heart out. I actually think we spend a little too much time with the characters in present day and the most interesting things about them are the flashbacks that turned them into the people they are. I have to say that Nat Wolff gives one of the worst performances I've ever seen in a film, and Lucy Hale basically has to drag his bum ass through this thing. It's prob one of the better romantic comedies we will get this year though despite Wolff's best efforts to fuck it up.

12) Elektra - (Max) I'm sure just like me, you've heard many times about how Elektra is basically unwatchable, and is an unmitigated disaster of a film. Going into it with that in mind, I really think people are overly hard on this movie. Is it a good film? No it is not. Is it a steaming pile of shit? Also no. The first act is actually pretty badass, and basically plays like a good episode of Alias with Jennifer Garner. Once the villains are introduced the movie settles in as about a two star movie, but Elektra is interesting enough as a character to keep the films head above water. I do feel like Garner was told she was acting too well at points alongside some of her co-stars and had to reign in the charisma. I'm also not sure where the hell this slots in with the 2003 Daredevil because Elektra's father doesn't connect at all between the two movies. I'm not here to argue the Elektra canon, but suffice it to say with a breezy 90 min runtime you can do a lot worse than this movie...and Fox has.

-JH