http://mymovie.medialife.org/ Brian's informal notes on the movies he sees en-us Copyright Brian Miller, even the weird stuff. http://mymovie.medialife.org/?action=movieDetails&movieID=3649 This is an independent Aussie film about a hitman filmed mockumentary style in the vein of Man Bites Dog. Where it differs is that this guy is more of a friendly sort outside the whole killing people bit so there's less depravity and the worldview is much less dark. It's very rough around the edges and has that early digital video look and if I'd seen this back when it released I wouldn't have thought much of it.

But then like 13 years later there was a show on FX called Mr. Inbetween that I recently saw and thought was fantastic and this is like the precursor to that show so I watched this out of curiosity but really what I want to talk about is the show.

The guy who made this movie, Scott Ryan, wrote and starred in the show with Nash Edgerton (who's been a stunt guy, doing stunts in the Matrix films and doubling Ewan Macgregor as Obi Wan in the prequel trilogy along with a ton of other work; also he's Joel's brother) directing every episode, so it's really a two-person creative team behind this show and it really shows because all 3 seasons hit such a consistent tone it's pretty remarkable. If you accept that this main character is a total badass hitman with a heart of gold trope and get over that it's the guy playing the badass that's writing himself as a badass, the show presents this charismatic mix of naturalistic down to earth moments and relationships interspersed with realistic action and violence.

I actually have to credit fuckin youtube shorts with turning me onto this show. While caught in several doom-scrolls it kept showing me random clips of this bald Australian guy and I'm like what is this show? And after like 20 clips I finally looked it up and decided to watch the whole thing because each clip had a certain something that really interested me. Ryan's performance is really good as a... he's not a psychopath but he has no problem killing people so I don't know what you call that. Anyway, he's totally believable, as is the guy who plays his brother and the dude who plays Gaz the buddy slash comedic relief. Really the only guy I recognized in the show is Damon Herriman who played Dewey Crowe in Justified and Charlie Manson in Mindhunter and Tarantino's movie. Here he's the criminal boss strip club owner guy who employs the multi-titular character.

The poster for the movie says he's called The Magician because he makes people disappear. I have to admit I don't know what the hell Mr. Inbetween means. Maybe he lives in between professional killing and being a normal person? or he's the middle man where the rubber hits the road since he's a hired killer? In any case, the show's really great. I had conflicting feelings about the intent of the show since you're basically rooting for the killer the whole time and on his side since he's so sympathetic with his daughter and friends and brother, but all that aside it's an incredibly watchable show.

This movie on the other hand I would only recommend to those like me that watched the show and wanted more. It's a really odd and rare thing that this guy Scott Ryan pops up with three seasons of this show that he writes and produces and stars in and the only other thing that he's done is this movie where he's playing the same character. I watched several interviews where he said he basically gave up on making movies for a while and credits Edgerton with persevering and getting the show going, but after three seasons they chose to end it and he hasn't popped back up in the five years since then. It could be that he's basically playing himself? I doubt he kills people but part of me does wonder how much "research" into criminal activity he did for the role... I'm sure I'm completely off base and he's just a really good actor to make me thing that, but it still holds some mystery for me for sure.

Somewhere in the third season he's watching Chopper on TV. It seems Chopper the guy is a pretty big inspiration for this character. It certainly fits right in with other Aussie crime movies that I've seen. Really can't say enough good things about it. The movie's like a rough draft for the show, like the Bottle Rocket short or something like that. http://mymovie.medialife.org/?action=movieDetails&movieID=3649 Mon, 17 Aug 2026 06:32:20 GMT http://mymovie.medialife.org/?action=movieDetails&movieID=3648 One of my first memories of being disappointed by something was walking out of the theater after watching the He-Man movie in 1987. I was a kid so I'm not sure what I was expecting but it sure the hell wasn't that. It was probably something more like this... just 40 years too late.

I didn't like this. I wasn't disappointed though because I didn't expect to like it so... I guess it's an improvement. I mean there are good things about it. It's just too burdened by everything that's killing movies.

I remember seeing the G.I. Joe movie - the one with Joseph Gordon Levitt, almost 20 years ago - and thinking they were almost on to something by including several vehicles from the toy line. The audience for these movies are people my age who played with the toys as a kid so throw some damn toys in the movie. Well, this movie did that a bit. And they didn't fall into the trap it took comic book movies 20 years to realize by keeping the character and costume designs original rather than some depleted realistic take. The casting's ok too.

It's just the tone. He-Man is so much goofier than even GI Joe, they needed to lean in even more. Don't make excuses for the terrible names. It's an ok idea to say they were named by prince Adam when he was a kid but it's the wrong take for this movie. Have Eternia be Eternia. Call him He-Man unironically. Embrace the goof.

And are we saying the people of Eternia don't know what a pink shirt is but they know what fisting is? Wrong tone.

When I first saw tiktoks of characters in costume for this movie I thought it was AI because no way would someone actually get it right. And the reason why I forced myself to watch this was due to seeing a relatively deep roster of characters, but in my opinion they didn't go far enough. Where's my man Zodak? Where's my man Man-E-Faces? Where's the battle Ram? Attak Trak?

I say this knowing full well they couldn't fit everything in, and they did get more than they had to I suppose. And they did well by the characters, settings, and vehicles they included for the most part. It just had to be in a totally boring modern-day movie where the boring shots are over-lit, the fights have no stakes, scenes feel lethargic, and it takes an extra hour to get where it's going.

Jared Leto's a decent Skeletor but I feel like he's trying awfully hard to be Alan Rickman in Robin Hood when he should be aiming for Dennis Hopper in Waterworld.

Anyway, For all the other late gen-x-ers and xennials struggling to stay awake until the end, I'm with you. I think stuff like this is probably best suited for some unauthorized 8-minute youtube video made in a garage somewhere where you don't have to worry about a story or script. I don't really remember anything about the cartoon or comics or anything... I just wanted to see Beastman and Mekaneck. http://mymovie.medialife.org/?action=movieDetails&movieID=3648 Mon, 10 Aug 2026 06:10:31 GMT http://mymovie.medialife.org/?action=movieDetails&movieID=3647 A postwar noir by the guy who directed Out of the Past and Cat People, brought to my attention via the Criterion Channel and the Lonely Island and Seth Meyers podcast.

This stars Robert Ryan, Merle Oberon, and a train car full of characters who find themselves in the midst of a plot to assassinate a "good German" with plans of a unified postwar Germany focused on peace rather than war. The plot has a few surprises and bumps along without too much faff but a real showcase in the film is a bunch of footage of postwar Frankfurt and Berlin. The wreckage and everything. It strikes me that this movie coming out when it did must've struck pretty close for some who just returned from Europe. The only other film that comes to mind is Soderbergh's Good German which... I liked but didn't love? I feel the same way about this. It's been a while since I've seen a movie of this era so my attention span was tested here and there, especially with this kind of omniscient voice-over narration that goes on a bit too long for my taste. They probably stretched it to show the sensational footage but it feels like a break from the narrative. Still, I found it worth watching. http://mymovie.medialife.org/?action=movieDetails&movieID=3647 Mon, 22 Jun 2026 05:25:39 GMT http://mymovie.medialife.org/?action=movieDetails&movieID=3646 This movie tells the story of Disneyland's construction and opening showcasing newly unearthed what-looks-like 16mm footage. I feel like Disney+ already did a whole mini-series on the disney parks as well as a couple seasons of a show focusing on individual rides each episode, as well as releasing the original Disneyland opening tv special way back when on DVD as part of those tin-case Disney Treasures releases, but like I said, this has color footage (some of it used for those black and white tv broadcasts) so let's revisit the story to look at this footage. As a person who grew up going to Disneyland as a kid and still has very very fond memories of it, I do not mind one bit.

It seems like much of modern-day Disney and many Disney fans really idolize Walt the person and build up mythic importance and distinction of, like, these are the rides Walt touched or this has Walt's ideas in it, stuff like that. And I don't know if that's always called for, but watching a doc like this really makes you feel like Walt was a true visionary and worthy of all that worship. Disneyland was a gigantic bet, he set an impossible deadline, no one outside the company really understood it or thought it would succeed but, as we all know, it was a huge success. I haven't been back for, I dunno, 30, 35 years? but I still think of that place containing magic. Not mystical fantasy magic but actual human-made magic. One person said "hey what if there was a place where you could go that was specifically engineered to make you happy?" And a bunch of people that worked for him nodded and made it happen and a bunch of kids went there and grew up wondering how it worked and eventually got their chance to build on that magic.

Now, I know it's super expensive. I watch the youtube videos of the disney-adult vloggers going there every week complaining that the water's turned off at the Materhorn or the lightning lane economy ruins some ride queues and all that. And I'm also aware that there were amusement parks before Disneyland... but here's the thing. Let's talk about the sword in the stone. In front of King Arthur's Carousel there's a sword stuck in a stone and you can walk up to it and try to lift it and most likely you can't. But sometimes, a kid walks up there and tries and CAN lift it up partway out of the stone, much to the amazement of their parents and friends and anyone who notices. It's not a trick of the hand or a matter of strength or leverage, it's not because of the temperature or humidity or weather. It's because there's an employee incognito keeping their eye on the sword and they have a little radio transmitter in their pocket that releases the lock whenever they want to, and they're trained on whatever criteria Disney set up about when and for whom to hit the button and make that person's day. As far as I know, you can't pay to get the upgraded experience where you're guaranteed to pull the sword from the stone or anything like that. It's just up to the Disney employee's judgement on when to create a special moment for some lucky guest.

That shit is special. Six Flags does not do that. The kids that manage to pull the sword from the stone hopefully remember that forever.

So I'm a Disneyland fan. I liked spending 80 minutes watching construction footage of the Jungle Cruise and the berm and the Casey Jr. Railroad, people painting the horses for the Carousel, people constructing Sleeping Beauty's Castle and the Mark Twain river boats and pouring concrete on Main Street USA. I think that's the only audience for this doc but what the hell, what's Disney+ for if not to provide a home for ultra-specific Disney-related fandom. http://mymovie.medialife.org/?action=movieDetails&movieID=3646 Fri, 19 Jun 2026 22:52:26 GMT http://mymovie.medialife.org/?action=movieDetails&movieID=3645 This was a good adaptation of the book. Gosling was great casting, since he's of that Matt Damon ilk of Andy Weir self-insert snarky scientist dude. I'm guessing Weir's next male protagonist will be Jake Gyllenhaal, although Artemis is about a young woman so we'll see.

I dunno, these notes are harder when I like the movie. It's a good adaptation... didn't really surprise me but I thought everything about it was well done and I did read the book so I wasn't looking for surprises. Um... still almost 3 hours but there's a lot of story here so I didn't mind it for once.

The character of Rocky was well done. I read on imdb that there was minimal CGI which was 100% the right call. Also, now having seen it, introducing Rocky in the trailer is ok in my book. He shows up around 45 minutes into the movie and he's less a twist than a critical emotional core of the film so selling audiences with him is fine by me. I have decided. Let it be known, I allow it.

Guess I'm tired. This was good. http://mymovie.medialife.org/?action=movieDetails&movieID=3645 Mon, 18 May 2026 05:53:03 GMT http://mymovie.medialife.org/?action=movieDetails&movieID=3644 The Criterion Channel is running an inspired series of 80s remakes along with their originals. I am aware of most of these remakes via childhood but hadn't seen many of them aside from Kevin Costner's No Way Out (which I liked as a kid but did not know it was based on the equally good noir The Big Clock with Ray Milland) and DeNiro and Sean Penn's We're No Angels (again unaware of the original with Bogey). There were a couple of surprise remakes though, one being Blake Edwards' remake of Truffaut's The Man Who Loved Women (I think I saw the original pre-this journal when I was going through Truffaut's ouvre) and the other being this Jeff Bridges remake of Out of the Past.

I didn't like it. I mean, Jeff Bridges plays a football player so he's in top shape showing his abs off and everything, but it felt to me that the movie leaned into the plot, transcribing the original to power politics within LA's rich elite, and attempts to replace the dark hopelessness of the original with 80s steamy eroticism. It just doesn't work for me. As much as I like Bridges, he's miscast if they were going for Mitchum's dull wit. Bridges seems like an equal player amongst James Woods' sleazy bookie and Richard Widmark's moral corruption. It's not a mouse caught in a trap anymore, rather a mediocre semi-thriller where a guy learns that bookies and lawyers and rich people aren't very nice?

That said, there's some location photography in Mexico, particularly Cozumel and Chichen Itza that's pretty cool from a historical perspective. I visited Chichen Itza around that same time and it looked exactly how I remember it (which I hear is much different now that you aren't allowed to climb the pyramids and the crowds are much larger). There's also a... mildly decent(?) car chase early in the film between a porsche and, I dunno, a terrible-looking ferrari along with a couple scenes shot where the Getty museum now stands that shows off mid-80s LA a bit. Also, I did appreciate that a movie like this existed in the cinematic landscape of the 80s. In one of those you-don't-know-how-good-you-had-it-until-it-was-gone things, this is an adult complicated drama with no action set-pieces and almost no gun-play that, yeah, didn't make many waves but still got its at-bat. I guess not having those action set-pieces or gunfights may be what makes this forgettable but still, hopefully you know what I mean. Movies today are for kids or nostalgic transactions.

There's also a Phil Collins song which I didn't like at all but I guess people did at the time. The score for me was particularly unpleasant but very fitting in that 80s guitar-driven score sound you hear a lot like Lethal Weapon and such.


I dunno man, just didn't like this one. I should've rewatched the original instead. I wonder if Criterion Channel viewers will largely come to the same conclusion if they check out these remakes. Like I haven't seen Paul Schrader's Cat People, Dennis Quaid's DOA, or Jack Nicholson's Postman Always Rings Twice, but how are they gonna top the outstanding originals they were based on. If anything, I think the series perhaps shows a similar nostalgic transaction for the boomers who saw these noirs as kids? Maybe they thought the same thing in 1984 where what's big was ewoks and E.T., children's nonsense to sell toys. I have a hard time believing people were pining for Cat People the way we were pined Star Wars when Episode 1 came out, but who knows... maybe?

As I grow older, I do find more charm in these 80s movies I skipped as a kid. Stuff that was a complete no-go on the video shelves or playing on HBO now seems like opportunities to find hidden gems. Like Cutter's Way and Night Moves I liked pretty well. This one just didn't do it for me. http://mymovie.medialife.org/?action=movieDetails&movieID=3644 Mon, 04 May 2026 22:28:34 GMT http://mymovie.medialife.org/?action=movieDetails&movieID=3643 impulse watch. I felt like watching a movie, opened netflix, this was 40 minutes shorter than Zero Dark Thirty. I liked this more this time around not having the weight of plot hanging over me. I still wish it was any story other than what it is, but knowing there's nothing deeper than the double-crossed hitman getting revenge frees me up to revel in the process which is this movie's great strength. What do they call it now? proficiency porn? Watching someone who's good at something do the thing they're good at? I eat that up and this movie has a ton of it. It's kind of all this movie is. The filmmaking is so good, everything about it other than the story... and who knows maybe the graphic novel follows this exact story so it is what it is. At least I didn't watch Zodiac again. http://mymovie.medialife.org/?action=movieDetails&movieID=3643 Mon, 09 Mar 2026 07:07:53 GMT http://mymovie.medialife.org/?action=movieDetails&movieID=3642 It's hard to believe I saw this movie in 2008. My previous note was a real novel so I'll keep this relatively short. I still liked it quite a bit; it's definitely dumb fun but man is it fun. I think I wasn't aware of who Bob Banas was in 2008 but have since seen his amazing dance to the Nitty Gritty (it's on youtube; fantastic) so it was a cool surprise to see that he choreographed this movie. Watching it right after Thank God It's Friday, this movie cares even less about story. I don't know that I'd even call this a comedy at heart but more of a variety show. Scott Baio has top billing but he's kinda sorta barely in it at all. Any sense of narrative constantly gets put on hold for song performances or dance routines or comedians. Dorothy Stratten's part is basically a bit repeated over and over, the wizard / dj throws lightning bolts from his fingers to cut break continuity in favor of presenting the audience with flashing lights and groovy tunes and people dancing on roller skates. It's phantasmagorical and I'm here for it. http://mymovie.medialife.org/?action=movieDetails&movieID=3642 Mon, 02 Mar 2026 19:42:45 GMT http://mymovie.medialife.org/?action=movieDetails&movieID=3641 This disco romp follows disparate people who come to the night club in search of fun, romance, or success and find all of that and more, plus The Commodores.

This is often touted as the "other" disco movie. It obviously came in the wake of Saturday Night Fever's massive success but the book I read claimed this was the better movie because it was actually about disco. Donna Summer has a role in it and performs an original song that would go on to win an Academy Award, Imdb trivia says this is the only film appearance of The Commodores as the band that plays during the dance contest, the soundtrack is comprised by most if not all Motown and Casablanca recording artists (and it's wall to wall music), and it's said to better showcase what the allure of going out dancing in the late 70s was all about. I'd agree with most of that, except being "about" disco doesn't automatically make it a good movie. This is a fun enough experience but there's no pathos or depth to any characters, and no real tension in the story. At their hearts, this is a comedy and Fever's a drama, but I think on multiple levels Fever's the better film.

That said, this was better than I thought it'd be! It very much follows the same format as a couple other generational dance movies Groove and... that other one that was on Netflix. Damn it... how do I even look this up. It's letters... OA? OH? XOXO! As a triple feature, I think you'd clearly see this movie, Groove, and XOXO as the evolution of American dance culture. Plus there are early appearances by Jeff Goldblum (same year as the Body Snatchers remake) as the Don Juan club owner trying to seduce a married woman on a bet with the house DJ, and Debra Winger as the clumsy uptight woman looking for a normal guy not wearing polyester. There's a dude called Leatherman (who wears leather (normal leather, not bondage)) and a spacey dental assistant with all the 70s pills people born when I was born heard about but never saw because red bennies and yellow jackets and luudes were not a thing by the time I was old enough to understand what the hell they were, there's a guy who's whole story arc is getting caught in a stairwell. It's goofy light-hearted fun but I found it to be pleasant rather than lame.

And this note was going to be a little more poetic because I started watching this on Friday night, but I fell asleep and had to finish it Saturday. Tight 89 minutes though, nothing to complain about there, and it put me in a mood to re-watch what I remember being a better disco movie, albeit one on wheels. http://mymovie.medialife.org/?action=movieDetails&movieID=3641 Sun, 01 Mar 2026 21:39:19 GMT http://mymovie.medialife.org/?action=movieDetails&movieID=3640 Nefarious businessman Zsa-Zsa Korda designates his nun daughter as his sole heir as he attempts to finalize an ambitious project amidst various saboteurs and frequent assassination attempts. AKA The latest Wes Anderson movie.

I'll say this. To the practiced eye, Anderson's style continues to evolve with every movie. Yes, at a glance it looks exactly like every other Wes Anderson movie and that's been the case since Royal Tenenbaums, but I see sprinkles off Asteroid City-esque exteriors here in the various Phoenician settings along with the various little touches and techniques that have accrued from all his past work. Technically and stylistically I can't fault it except to maybe say Robert Yeoman's input at this point is nil because he didn't shoot this but it looks exactly like every other Wes Anderson movie to me.

Benicio del Toro also gives an incredible performance. He had a small role in French Dispatch but he carries this movie with no trouble at all. I feel like every actor Anderson ever works with continues to pop up in smaller and smaller roles in all future projects, necessitating a literal army of very small supporting characters just to fit all his friends in, but Benicio's the star of this one and I think what makes it good. Yes, everything's delivered in that formal symmetrical tidy framed Wes Anderson way, but he works well in that stricture and you can still see mischief in his eyes.

Where this movie falls short for me, as is often the case with Wes Anderson, is actually caring about what I'm looking at. It's al so pretty and perfect but it often feels more like a rube goldberg device unfurling rather than actors portraying a story. I think the last one that actually made me feel something was Grand Budapest? Oh, maybe Isle of Dogs. The last few have felt kind of like stylistic implosion, approaching Wes Anderson singularity, like I think he's most susceptible to AI mimicry at this point. It'll be that SNL sketch, Midnight Coterie of Sinister intruders, over and over again.

I did like this more than Asteroid City though, and love seeing people like Tom Hanks and Bryan Cranston pop up. Again, they get like five minutes of screen time because there's so many damn people in the cast, but it's still cool that so many people show up for these movies. Bill Murray, similarly just a few frames of footage but a great role for him and great hair and make-up. Michael Cera also very good, notably good I'd say. Like I said, this one had a lot going for it, it just didn't quite connect with any kind of emotion for me.

I'm still a fan, and I find even though my reaction to each trailer is like "sigh, ok more of that," when I sit down to watch these I have some kind of fun. And at this point, a dozen of these films with no obvious stinkers (I say thinking to myself Darjeeling Limited deserves another watch before I condemn it), that's a career all of a sudden. I mean Criterion put out a 10-movie box set that already doesn't include his two latest. How Anderson has managed to consistently come up with these projects and execute them obviously true to his vision is a feat. I hope there are many more to come. http://mymovie.medialife.org/?action=movieDetails&movieID=3640 Mon, 02 Feb 2026 08:03:05 GMT