Shower Beer Vol XXXVI: 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) Pokemon - Eps 10-20 - (Netflix) Running back through the anime that got me into anime. Some highlights here are of course Ash catching the OG three starter pokemon, and specifically the Squirtle Squad episode is iconic. Seeing these badass Squirtles just fuck shit up. This is a weird part of the story where Ash runs into a bunch of shitty trainers consecutively between the guys who mistreated the squirtles, Lieutenant Surge being a dickhead to his Raichu, and the douche bag who abandoned his Charmander. We wrap up this ten episode stretch with Ash and crew boarding the SS Anne only to have the thing get shipwrecked, and them end up on Fire Island where they meet some lunatics who don’t know how to run small businesses to save their lives. The final episode gives us our first look at a ghost pokemon with a Gastly who is basically playing the style pranks an amateur Youtuber would play by imitating a super hot chick to lure Brock and Jesse to this cliff and then pulling the rug out from under them. Can’t wait to see what the next ten episodes have in store.

2) You’re Cordially Invited - (Prime Video) First notable comedy of the year, and the trailer had me intrigued. I’m a stan for Will Ferrell even though I think we all know he’s lost his fastball, and pairing him with Reese Witherspoon is a good idea. The problem here is the supporting cast gives them absolutely nothing. Jack McBrayer is in the movie a bit and has one good laugh, but it’s a heavy burden for the main two actors to carry and I think we can all agree the best comedies have some great moments from the side characters. The premise of the film is like a rejected sitcom episode idea, and is beaten to death to put the characters in whacky comedic situations. Can’t really give this one my stamp of approval.

3) Scooby Goes Hollywood - (Digital Rental) I’ve been running through all the Scooby Doo movies in order, and this was next on the list. I have no shame in admitting i was cracking my shit up at some of the bits where Scooby is reinventing himself in Hollywood. The plot here is very different from most other Scooby Doo movies as it has a bit of a meta element where Scooby and Shaggy quit the popular show they had with the rest of the mystery gang, and Shaggy serves essentially as Scooby’s agent to try and get him his own show by pitching a bunch of different ideas to a studio executive. We see Scooby try out a few different genres from Western, to greaser. It feels a bit gross how Shaggy also tries to include himself in some of the pilots, and he knows he’s better than that. If you can find this streaming anywhere by the time this blog comes out it’s a fun 50 or so minutes.

4) The Wild Robot - (Peacock) Fine I’m crying like a little bitch you wanna fight about it? Probably my favorite animated movie of 2024, albeit I didn’t see much in the genre. The voice cast is sneaky good, and maybe I just don’t run in the right circles, but this one didn’t get a ton of marketing that was thrown my way so it went a bit under my radar. The story, especially the third act is so well paced and all the emotional beats connect perfectly. I’m not even a parent and I can tell you that it’s beautifully and authentically put together. I will say I’m not a huge fan of this animation where it feels a bit pixelated on the outlines of the animals, but I think that’s actually what a lot of people loved so much about it.

5) Unlawful Entry - (Digital Rental) Don’t even know how this came on my radar, but I love a good 90’s thriller and when I saw Ray Liotta and Kurt Russell were in it I needed no more convincing. The plot is a slow burn early, and then Ray Liotta’s character goes fucking insane in the second act which culminates in a pretty wild ending. The characters make some very stupid decisions, and the film centers around a really toxic marriage, but since it’s not real life we can watch and turn our brains off and enjoy it. It’s fun to see Liotta in roles like this before he seemed to totally just lock in on playing a mobster who was shaking people down. I’m not sure if he has the range for stuff like this, but he’s watchable as hell as a crazy person, and really just fucking goes for it in this one.

6) Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (Hulu) I wanted a good action flick to watch while I was on the treadmill, and realized that like some sort of recluse or monk I had never seen the Kill Bill movies. This one plays like a love letter to the kung fu genre, and if it was made by anyone other than Quinton Tarantino I’d say I didn’t really get it, but somehow the narrative style really works. The anime segment kind of threw me for a loop, but it was so violent and bloody I found it entertaining as shit. Maybe I have a blood lust, but I actually could have used more fighting in this. The plot does a great job of moving us from fight to fight with enough stakes to where we care, but it doesn’t bog the movie down in exposition or too dense of a story to distract us from the violence.

7) Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (Hulu) A much different movie from Vol. 1, but still effective in what it’s trying to do. I will say that the reveals to both what happened to the bride, and her motivations leave me with more questions than answers. David Carradine gives an incredible monologue towards the end that is some of Tarantino’s best dialogue, and that’s fucking saying something. There is a really prolonged flashback at the beginning of the movie that reminds me a lot of some of the super effective pacing that Tarantino busts out in The Hateful Eight where you can just watch characters talking for literally 10-12 mins and feel the tension building so slowly and it feels like you’re in the room with them. The action here is turned down a few notches from Vol. 1 which is a bit of a let down, but as an actual movie it’s probably superior to it’s predecessor.

8) James and the Giant Peach - (Disney +) It’s probably been 20 years since I last saw this movie. A breezy hour and fifteen minute runtime is a good start, and it’s so unique visually that it makes me miss the days of Tim Burton adjacent projects where it felt like we always got something mind blowing. James two Aunts are fucking bitches to the extreme, and you get a visceral feeling of hate every time they’re on screen. The last straw was when they talked shit about James Dads plan to visit NYC, and at that point they had to go. The peach beer that James and his crew drink in the film is something I’d def fuck with a six pack of. I was too lazy to look up the voice cast, but the grasshopper in particular was one of my favorite characters. The guy who accidentally takes the cyanide pills in Dumb and Dumber has an extended cameo at the end of the movie as an NYC police officer and it’s weird to see him actually doing something altruistic in a movie. Fun as hell, and I encourage you to go back and revisit this if you haven’t in awhile like me.

9) We Beat the Dream Team - (Max) I remember hearing this story when I watched the 2012 documentary on the Dream Team, and being very curious if they had enough footage of the scrimmage between the Dream Team and the college select team they played at the beginning of their training camp that allegedly beat them, making them the only team ever to do so. Well our prayers are answered, because yes they do. We get basically all the living members of the select team which includes some well known names like Grant Hill, Chris Webber, Allen Houston, and Jamal Mashburn among others. Hearing Chris Webber talk about how much of a shit talker Larry Bird was is hilarious, and the game film we get to see is awesome. I won’t spoil the side narrative that develops in the last fifteen minutes, but I’ll just say fuck Coach K.

10) Court of Gold - (Netflix) Another basketball documentary that I fucking devoured. This one takes an inside look at four of the national teams in competing in mens basketball at the 2024 olympics. We get an uncensored look at practice and film sessions, and some of the biggest stars in the NBA are featured, specifically Steph Curry and Kevin Durant. I love the country’s talking shit about each other and the doc really focuses on how much competing in the olympics means to these players. Team Canada is especially interesting as they’ve really burst on the international scene in the past six years and they’re absolutely loaded. The drama of how the gold medal game finished is great too, and seeing it from the point of view of the team is really compelling.

-JH