Shower Beer Vol XXVII: 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) X-Men: The Animated Series S5 - (Disney +) Finally finished my rewatch of this show so I can check out X-Men ‘97 which I’m pumped about. The fifth and final season is all over the place in terms of storylines, but there are some highlights towards the end with the episode Old Soldiers featuring a WW2 Wolverine fighting alongside Cap, and a great episode called Descent that features the origins of Mr. Sinister set in a Jack Ripper era England. The multi episode arcs of this season weren’t that great with one surrounding The Pahlanx, which is an awful villain and one I hope they never adapt in live action. The other is called Storm Front and features Storm (shocker I know) being courted by a man named Arkon who ends up being a total douchebag who just wants to use her powers and hook up with her. The series ends on a real emotional note, which is a rarity for cartoons of it’s era. Very glad I went back and revisited this, and it does hold up to the high regard that I’ve always held it in.

2) Detained - (VOD Rental) I saw this trailer about a month ago and had it on my watchlist. It was giving me Saw vibes all throughout, and when the “twist” is revealed relatively early I was hoping it had more up it’s sleeve…sadly it does not. As is the case a lot of times with these lower budget movies, the performances are pretty all over the place, and probably the weakest point of the film. If you’re looking for a trashy thriller to throw on this will scratch that itch, but it goes a bit off the rails in the last twenty minutes. I also think there are like four too many characters in this thing and it doesn’t necessarily bloat the movie, but they just all become super disposable and a bit redundant.

3) Guy’s Grocery Games S17 - (Max) This season of my favorite Food Network show has Guy getting creative with the specialty prompts, and using his judges as contestants more than we’ve seen in the past. I have to say that according to the TV Time app which I use to track my tv watching, this season is missing like a third of it’s episodes on Max. It’s a bummer because a big chunk of what’s absent is one of Guy’s Diners, Drive In’s, and Dives tournaments which are always fun. Two of my favorite episodes this season are an episode where all the rounds require the chefs to make unique types of pizzas, and another where the chefs are only allowed to shop once at the start of the game for ingredients that they’ll have to use for all three rounds. In the pizza one people got pretty creative with what they used as dough which I always appreciate. If you want something fun to throw on in the background while you eat, this is right down your alley. Make sure you’re not hungry when you watch it otherwise you’ll just torture yourself.

4) St. Elmo’s Fire - (Amazon Prime Rental) I recently saw that documentary “Brats” that highlights the difficulties the actors in the Brat Pack faced in the late eighties after being given that title, and it had me curious to check this out. I’d heard of it along with the other films of the same ilk from around that time about coming of age and dealing with burgeoning adulthood, and have always really connected with movies like this even though I’m in my late thirties now and surely on the brink of death. This movie has basically three narratives stitched together, and any one of them could serve on their own as an interesting movie. There are a few over the top moments, and Judd Nelson doesn’t deliver a very strong performance, but other than that it’s hard to find a flaw in this one. Rob Lowe is your quintessential bad boy, and I don’t care if it’s playing to the trope in every way because it’s absolutely a blast to watch.

5) Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part One - (VOD Rental) The fact that DC had the balls to release this in a three part epic of feature length movies is to be respected. I know the Timmverse of DC animation has been effectively defunct for awhile, but when I saw that this was really putting it to bed I was immediately interested. The animation in this looks pretty shitty which is unfortunate as it’s been a strength of DC for a long time. The plot is really convoluted, even for a multiverse story, and I had no idea what was happening half the time. Having said that, two things that really work are the action set pieces, of which there are many, and the Barry and Iris love story that the movie is centered around. This has some of the stronger character stuff in a DC animated movie, and knowing it’s three parts they’re smart to really take their time developing it. The last ten minutes was pretty awful in how it ripped off another very recent and popular superhero property, but I’m excited for the second and third parts even though this one was mostly a miss.

6) Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part Two - (VOD Rental) I’m very confused how this is a part two, when it not only doesn’t pick up the baton from part one of Crisis on Infinite Earth’s, but it basically plays the same plot out, but with different characters. There is one really cool action set piece in this, but for the most part it is an absolute jumbled up mess. Unlike part one, there is no real central narrative that gives us stakes to invest in. Characters just show up out of nowhere and act like they’ve been a part of the story from the beginning. The massive development at the end of the first one isn’t even mentioned, and in fact several characters affected by it just walk into the movie and act like nothing happened. I do love seeing all the Bat family together, but I have no idea how or why they’re on the Earth they’re on. At this point I’m of course pot committed, but unless part three really sticks the landing this is going to be a huge miss for me and make me really long for the days when DC animation was on top of the world.

7) Whiteout - (Max…but it’s not on there anymore) It looked like a slasher film set on an isolated research base in Antarctica…and I was sold. The movie doesn’t really deliver on that promise, but it has a solid whodunnit that moves the plot along, and Kate Beckinsale is actually really solid in this. There’s a bunch of melodramatic character stuff that falls pretty flat, and some really weird visual choices like these random slow motion shots, and any flashback scenes have this gross filter on them. The twist ending is pretty solid, and the motivations actually make sense which I’ll admit I was not giving this movie much hope for. If you’re a fan of the show Suits the main guy from it is one of the main characters in this so that could tickle your fancy.

8) The Circle - (Netflix) I’m a big Emma Watson fan and I know she’s pretty selective with her roles. This movie has been on my radar for awhile, but I’ve always heard pretty negative things about it. Ultimately I thought it was a mixed bag with some really cool ideas, but some inexplicable character choices and people just acting in ways no human being ever would in order to drive the plot in certain directions. The kid from Boyhood is in this, and even though he’s a horrendous actor, I respect his hustle. The concept is very timely, and feels like an extended Black Mirror episode. John Boyega has the charisma of a paper bag, but Karen Gillan and Watson are strong enough to carry this thing. It also has to be one of the last roles of Bill Paxton who I really miss. I’m glad I watched it, but I can definitely see why people shit on it.

9) Terminator Zero - (Netflix) An eight episode series on Netflix with a badass anime animation style. I’m no expert on the Terminator canon, but I believe this works in continuity with the original movie. It’s told from the point of view of the skynet takeover happening, but how Japan deals with it and a competing A.I. that is working in the shadows of the Terminator takeover. There is a time travel element like always, but it keeps the scope of it relatively small and really focuses on just a few characters. There are tons of twists along the way, and the action is super graphic which I loved. It doesn’t pull it’s punches which is refreshing to see. My one criticism is they really save a lot of the narrative meat and potatoes for the last episode, and they end up throwing a ton at you in a really short period of time. I wish they would’ve spread out some of the reveals as they get a bit overwhelming. I hope we get a second season of this.

10) Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part Three - (VOD Rental) Oh boy. This three part story was pretty scattered from the start, but it really ends on a low note with this one. First off, the animation style is absolutely disgusting. It looks like an elementary school student didn’t finish their coloring book, but left it on the table at school and DC just turned it into a film anyway. Secondly the story has no main character to guide us through this very convoluted story, and jumps ship on any story beats and emotional arcs within ten minutes. Then it expects us to feel something when it kills off or gets rid of characters that we either met only a few minutes ago, or haven’t seen in forever and have no investment in their story. The first two parts have some great set pieces, and while this one still has that going for it there’s no reason it needed to be made. This entire trilogy really feels like it was meant to fill some content output quota. Really disappointed in DC here as their animation used to be the best in the business, and now it’s pretty much unwatchable.

-JH