I Have Some Notes

Baseball diehard Scott Belford of The Walk Off podcast joins us to rewrite our very first sports movie! Well…sports adjacent movie, anyway. The only problem is Richard Linklater's Everybody Wants Some!! is a pretty good movie, you guys. We give it the old college try, though (Get it?!). Scott and Scott find an opportunity to add a secondary protagonist, Liam seeks to pass the Bechdel test, and Gre...

We've teased it all season and at last, it's here, the great rewrittening of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania! Of course, we wouldn't have hyped it up so much if we didn't have some awesome guests lined up. Josh and Alex of Talking SMAC join us to reimagine the movie that officially landed Marvel in "jumped the shark" territory. 00:13:06 – Plot Summary 00:14:56 – Movie Discussion 00:38:36 – Rewri...

What makes a movie bad? What are the confluences of unfortunate events and decisions that cause a film not to work? Liam, Scott, and Gregg share their theories and experiences on the wide world of putrid cinema.

We have an absolutely MASSIVE year-end wrap-up show for you, but I promise we didn't plan it that way. The intention was for the first section of the episode to be a rapid-fire list of movies we loved and wanted to mention, but we just couldn't help but discuss each of them at length. Hey, give us a break. This is the one episode of the year we get to talk about actual good movies, we're understan...

Zack Snyder may be this podcast's most prolific source of content. Whenever a Snyder joint drops we know it will be ripe for pitching rewrites. While Rebel Moon kicks off with surprising promise, the saga quickly develops into empty action and even emptier characters. Scott and Gregg try their best to restructure the plot and add more intrigue to the large cast of characters, while Liam takes a bi...

The legend of Indiana Jones ends in an unfortunate snoozefest that fails to live up to the vaunted films of the 80s. Fortunately, that leaves us all kinds of relics to rearrange in the museum of Indy. Scott, Liam, and Gregg look to bring Indiana Jones to a close by interrogating the nature of the character and his history of looting. In addition, we add a fan-favourite character while conversely t...

The Flash is another in a long line of troubled DC movies. Although the core is simple and smart, director Andy Muschietti loses the handle to blockbuster bloat. Fortunately, Scott has a simple, yet brilliant change that takes the drama to a whole new level and opens up the opportunity to keep the scope smaller and more focused. 00:14:43 - Plot Summary 00:17:06 - Movie Discussion 00:41:00 - Movie...

Ducan Jones' follow-up to Moon dropped, it barely made a sound. It remains one of the many Netflix original misses that have been scarcely seen – must less heard – by anyone. But hey, we were looking for a noir cyberpunk movie, and this one fits the bill! Laena Anderson of Quantum Kickflip fame joins us to give a stronger voice to Mute. They deftly adjust the challenges the protagonist's disabilit...

This week we pitch modern remakes for the O.G. horror flick: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. A classic of the Weimar Germany era of expressionist films, Dr. Caligari left an indelible mark on the horror genre with its haunting score, trippy hand-painted lettering and sets, and unique film tinting. I can say with confidence I've never seen a movie like it. You can watch it for free here . Liam and Gre...

Ti West's X is honestly a pretty great horror/slasher movie, but would we let a quality film from A24 get in the way of our Monday morning screenwriting? Hell no! The question for us was whether X took its themes all the way to the finish line. We propose a couple of character moments for Maxime that might done just that, while also making the deaths of certain members of the film crew more tragic...

Originally a Patreon exclusive, we've unlocked this special Side Notes episode for all to enjoy: How to Watch Movie Good. Making I Have Some Notes over the last eight years has really pushed us to become better cinephiles and media critics. Punching up movies week after week isn't easy, particularly if we hope to create interesting pitches that meaningfully move these screenplays in a better direc...

As mentioned in our last episode, we intend to ride out the Hollywood strikes in solidarity with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, so we may not be punching up American superhero movies for a while. Fortunately, this presents a perfect excuse to hit the road and explore imaginative superhero movies abroad, like Shin Kamen Rider. Kamen Rider is a storied Japanese hero who is as much a cultural touchstone in J...

Did you miss us? Cause we definitely missed you! We're stoked to be back for another season of punching up movies, although this season will be slightly different. As you know, the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild are currently on strike due to unfair pay and poor working conditions. To show our solitary, I Have Some Notes has chosen not to promote any struck work from movie st...

For our season finalé, we really felt we wanted to get to the center of a science fiction film. You know, really drill down, bore out all the flaws, and mine some truly creative solutions. Additional core puns. Robin Taylor (Cinematological) joins us for the conclusion to Season 8 of I Have Some Notes aiming to rewrite 2003's THE CORE. The crew struggles a bit with this one but ultimately pitches...

Hollywood has a long dark history of discriminating against and abusing women, an issue thoroughly analyzed by the revealing 2018 documentary THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING. When Anita recently watched this doc, it affected her so completely she was compelled to bring a panel of women together to discuss it. As such a panel is no place for three white dudes, Anita, Glenna, Danica and Erin take over the s...

It's fair to say the consensus amongst critics is that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness needed more verses and madness, and that's a given in all of our notes. However, where MoM really struggles is in its character development, particularly of its villain. We work our way through the multiverse punching up Wanda's arc while sprinkling in some Marvel lore that could have made jumping fr...

Bullet Train was not well received critically. When it sits at 54% on Rotten Tomatoes you can understand why we would look at it and say "Hey, the perfect movie for our podcast." And yet, this movie is mostly rad, leaving us a bit stunned and at a loss for how to go about our usual repitching shtick. We soldier on, of course, but the rewrites are of a very minor variety. Still, it was fun to talk...

When we think of director Neill Blomkamp we think of District 9 and not a lot else. While the once up-and-coming director may be short on execution, he's never short on ideas. Elysium is the kind of film tailor-made for this podcast: tons of fun, interesting ideas that don't quite come together. The result? An absolute banger of a show! As we mention in the listener comments section, Sean McKnight...

Barbarian is a very good movie and we talk about it. Okay, now on to the important stuff. For the last six years, I Have Some Notes has been privileged to be part of the Alberta Podcast Network, the brain-baby of founder Karen Unland. Karen's love for local art built a platform for so many of us to stand on and gave us the opportunity to fund our passion projects. Although the APN ended its operat...

As 90's action schlock goes, Sylvester Stallone's Judge Dredd is probably better than you remember. The money is all on the screen with great sci-fi sets and a badass animatronic robot. However, we wouldn't be reviewing it on this podcast if it were perfect. The plot is derivative, the villain is boring, and the satire the comic is known for is completely missing. Listen in as we (mostly Liam) add...

John Dies at the End is a delightfully absurd horror comedy, or at least it would be if it had been better produced. Writer and Ph. D. candidate in Media and Cultural Studies, Pete Morley, joins us to relive this beloved web serial turned cult-classic novel turned mediocre movie in a collective effort to punch it up.

Bless the entertainment conglomerate Disney for churning out mediocre movie after middling movie that will keep this podcast well-supplied into the next decade. Perhaps century. What film has Disney brought to the Gods of Rewrites as its next sacrifice? Thor: Love and Thunder. Joining us to reimagine Taika Waittit's second crack at making Marvel magic is comic expert and fellow podcaster Josh Skaa...

Some movies are just made for our podcast. Don't Worry Darling is a beautiful, well-made movie that takes aim at misogyny and the patriarchy in interesting ways but juuuuuuuuust can't quite bring it home. Liam, Gregg and Scott differ on the level of mess Oliva Wilde's film is, but none can deny how engaging it was to watch. And hey, we're glad we did because it was a lot of fun to reimagine some o...

You can have it fast, you can have it cheap, but you can't have it good. That is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze in a half shell. While not necessarily a bad film, this rushed Turtles sequel was a treasure trove of missed opportunities, some of which should have been fairly obvious to the filmmakers, assuming they had the time to read the source material. Liam and Gregg tak...

It is always a bummer when a movie has a killer premise and completely whiffs. M. Night Shyamalan is back on the show for a second time and up to his usual twisty shenanigans (Shyamanigans?). This time the twist completely undermines his premise and makes us think far too much about the mechanics of his magic beach. Listen in as Liam, Scott and Gregg make one simple change to OLD that helps all th...