The Brown Note Movie Review

The northern English band, one of the guiding light of the golden new wave of British indie, return with a second album. Though still a fine and cohesive record, it perhaps doesn't reach the thrilling, lofty, dynamic heights of either their debut or recent records by their peers.

Elizabeth Fraser is the greatest British indie singer of all time and the most beautifully expressive British female vocalist this side of Kate Bush, in fact she's in a tiny peer group with Bush and Bjork. She has chosen now, at this darkest of hours to return to grace us with her totally undimmed golden voice. With her partner Damon Reece, they've sculpted a small album of infinite beauty and sta...

Once the home of some of the best and most artistic films each year, Netflix has sunk firmly into an annoying paradigm - throw 100-200 million dollars at a cool action project but give it a terrible screenplay and poor director. Here at least the presence of the Russo brothers would appear to allay the latter but to no effect on the former.

No, absolutely not. I have a lot of problems with modern activism and its focus on small things but the rally to only have an actor play a role to which they are assigned is simply upside down, wrong head and self destructive. Equality is not only a trans, gay, disabled or ethnic minority being able to play those roles, its trans, gay, disabled or ethnic minority actors having equal opportunity to...

Perhaps no-one deserves the moniker of post Kubrick auteur than Canadian director, David Cronenberg, who has plowed his own singular vision, without bending to any outside will, for decades. His entire body of work is surprisingly vast and full and his latest plays like a greatest hits riff on it all - as denoted by reusing a film title and re-writing a story he never completed, including his firs...

In one of the most prolific archival releases from any artist in history, a genuine previously canned Neil Young and Crazy Horse album would appear to be one of the top tier items to have come out. This is tempered by the fact the album was virtually re-recorded with Booker T and the MG's as Are You Passionate, never an album I particularly liked. But the low key stakes are perhaps the album's gre...

Just clearing a couple of minor releases before a run on big albums. For me the Buffalo NY State Griselda records crew of Westside Gunn, Benny the Butcher, Conway the Machine and (sort of) Mach Hommy is the most interesting thing happening in American rap in some fairly tepid recent years. This low stakes, 2 day recorded mixtape is entirely amiable in no bad way.

After trashing this franchise as one of the worst in film history, where every subsequent cash in release was dire, it was no surprise to see this "middle trilogy (probably)" get the worst reviews of all, and even called one of the worst blockbusters of recent years, HOWEVER. Last time out I gave a near respectable pass to Fallen Kingdom - liking everything up to the volcano exploding, before it,...

The Marvel Universe-Tree of Life-Cloud Atlas-Ingmar Bergman-Being John Malkovich-Brazil crossover you never knew you needed, by the A24/Russo brothers collab the world needed. Second time directors, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert have created one of the century's most imaginative and wild films, that pretends to be a comedic superhero film but is a film about existential crisis - how to deal wit...

For fans of utterly generic CIA/Terror B-flicks, this is a far better movie than its paltry 29% on Rotten Tomatoes would suggest. I'm a huge fan of the incredible amount of "women over 40" being pushed as action hero's in recent years (there must've been four or five female ex-assassin films last year alone) and it's great to see Michelle Monaghan - so often used as the perfect wife or girlfriend...

The much heralded Irish "Shoe-gazers" second album proves it's the genre that will never die and after Black Country, New Road probably my second favorite "Indie" album of the year. Built on a nightmarish fever dream sound-stage of squalling guitars, Suicide/Joy Division throbbing bass, break-beat drumming and the dead eyed, wide mouthed realm of terror that is Katie Bell, one of the most exciting...

With already one of the most impeccable discographies over the last decade, Mike Hadreas' latest is a wild left turn into the avant-garde. Originally music for a modern dance piece, here assembled as an album, gone are the front and center vocals and melodies, replaced by in turns ambient, left field and industrial passages - that fair better on a compelling second half.

Already established as one of the modern era's great singer song writers, Olsen goes pretty much full (alt-ish) country on her sixth album, responding to a wild few years of coming out as queer and her parents passing. Another fine record but perhaps a little blander and a little less interesting on the musicality and universality of the first half, which snaps far more into focus on the more pain...

A look back at esteemed film critic and director Alex Cox's most famous hour (after Repo Man perhaps) reveals a first half so camply wild and cartoonish it could be from Baz Luhrmann himself. A second half that leaves the Sex Pistols behind and focuses on punk's own Romeo and Juliet, is a more thoughtful, sad and tragic affair - that goes a long way to humanising a potentially obnoxious couple. Bo...

Did I like it? You bet I bloody did! My favorite film of the year so far, a whopping 9.5/10 and positions Roger Eggers (The Witch, The Lighthouse) as arguably the greatest current director in the world. The tale of Amleth (Hamlet), the Danish prince, with a father murdered by his uncle is arguably the most famous Nordic tale of all, due to a certain British retelling of the story. But everything s...

It's Morbin time! fellow kids. Despite awful reviews, I didn't have a problem with this 300% on Rotten Tomatoes smash fail. I haven't been a fan of Jared Leto's jarring cameos in recent movie history, but he fares much better as a lead here, and both he and Matt Smith have, I think well developed and well acted characters, in a story with strong motivations. I've certainly seen worse from the Marv...

As we continue to trawl the depths of remake and reboot - the unasked for return to a lesser Steven King novel and its even lesser film version, has been panned by critics. A whopping 11% Rotten Tomatoes. HOWEVER if you like the modern era's low key, low budget, homage to cult 70's/80's horror or Sci-fi movies with awesome soundtracks - by the very king of this himself, John Carpenter (if only he'...

The once universally loved wizarding world arrived at the third installment of this prequel to the Harry Potter franchise in much darker waters. The replacement of Johnny Depp and the equally large controversy surrounding JK Rowling. Both far more compelling than this unnecessary franchise (or lead character) has ever been. Despite the gay love story adding unexpected depth, there's little here to...

Canada's indie royalty, Arcade Fire, have struggled this last decade to sustain the immortal high of their first three albums, their latest, WE, seems to want to hark back to that golden era. It almost does so successfully - at times. The first half less so, than a near faultless second, and Butler's lyrics are occasionally hello kids cringe, but there's a raft of compelling and soaring new songs...

Video game adaptions are a historic basket case for no real reason either, just hire some one to write a decent script and screenplay and the rest is already in place. This Mark Wahlberg/Tom Holland'er has neither and is possibly shallower than the games themselves but despite almost nothing to recommend it, I couldn't bring myself to hate it - mainly because it has a climactic battle of Spanish g...

Definitely the toughest gig for reviewers in the modern era, given his peerless history and the uncompromising difficultly of the double album offered here. Plenty that is amazing and also a fair bit that is not. Still a wildly impressive and artistic fulmination to the five chapter story arc began with Section.80. I'd go 8.5/9.5/9.5/7/7.5

The Puerto Rican superstar is probably the MVP of Latin music right now and at a time it has become the only ever serious rival to English language pop in history. Could well prove the Alpha to Rosalia's art house Omega - Motomami this year and is already the second ever non-English language number one Billboard album after... his last album. An often great double, showcasing a raft of styles that...

Managing to occupy an incredibly narrow strip between Radiohead front man Thom Yorke's solo albums and the main band, whilst featuring fellow band alumni, Johnny Greenwood, wasn't an exciting prospect for me and pretty much Radiohead tbh. However, this was a much more thrilling and dynamic offering than expected. Offering some of the finest white funk this side of the immortal Krautrock legends Ca...

Even though the rabid fan boys will never admit it, Endgame should've been the perfect ending is was and the quality has dropped off a cliff since. But apparently the Marvel Comic Universe will never stop until its stopped by force. This is one of the slightest and most pointless Marvel films yet, it doesn't even look that good, the only possible reason for coming is a superb Elizabeth Olsen - if...

Crucially closer to Romancing The Stone than Raiders of the Lost Ark, this is an un-challenging balm for troubled times. Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum have the charisma and comic chops to carry the movie, even if the frequent flat spots stop it shy of greatness. It should be criminal, however, not to have had Brad Pitt in two thirds of the movie in arguably the cameo of the year (spin off!!!)...