The Brown Note Movie Review

Kenneth Loergan's devastating portrayal of grief is anchored by an equally shattering performance from Casey Affleck.

Oh, I'm definitely being kind here - one of my most hated films of the decade, both a terrible film and a terrible musical. Sitcom worthy garbage that somehow ended up Oscar winning, after the magnificent Whiplash a grating letdown.

Writer Taylor Sheridan's frontier-trilogy (this, Sicario & Wind River) was one of the last decades greatest cinematic achievements and director David Mackenzie does superb work here in this rightly lauded modernist western.

In retrospect, not as great as I gave it here. The presence of Gibson and a noble theme do indeed infect it with the kind of simplistic, black and white morality I hate in Spielberg films but it's still good.

There are schlock directors and there is the legend that is Paul Verhoeven, long missing from Hollywood but returned here with an amazingly difficult, button-pushing and challenging rape story. That Isabelle Huppert lost best actress Oscar to a garbage turn by Emma Stone is criminal.

Both star Mark Wahlberg and director Peter Berg are cottage industries when it comes to these 'patriotic' feeling, true-life action movies and to be honest I've had a oft spot for nearly all of them. This underrated recreation of the famed oil-spill disaster would be top of the pile and with stunning production design.

Apex director Denis Villeneuve seems to have hewn even closer to sci-fi after this alien contact movie, here a stunning looking and sounding one that has narrative flaws from its short story origins. Amy Adams is superb though and the main question posed by the film is one of the most powerful in modern cinema (just a shame most viewers seem to be blind to it).

Spike Lee's take on the black Vietnam war experience via the prism of the current, sustained focus on the Black Lives Matter movement, is the years most important, timely and prescient movie - it's also TERRIBLE.

This Liz Garbus directed music biopic changed my opinion of its subject to being one of the top tier musicians of all time.

This American TV reboot of the UK's Criminal Justice isn't quite perfect but is still outstanding. Viewers were possibly turned off by the irrelevance of the whodunit aspect, in favor of the far more powerful focus on how the criminal justice system itself renders people criminals just by touching them. Riz Ahmed and John Turturro are superb.

Shane Black provided us with the LA Confidential/Inherent Vice crossover we never knew we desperately needed. Criminally ignored and utterly wonderful, especially watch the perfectly matched leads, Gosling and Crowe, trade punches.

I have massive misgivings and Aussie auteur Baz Luhrmann's directoral abilities (even here) and I hate musicals but I adored this insane budget Netflix hip hop creation story.

I found this paranormal sequel superior to the first film in every way, particularly as it sidelined the worst part of the original - the two dreadful leads.

Every series of Netflix's drug cartel true crime/drama has been superb.

As a huge fan of the originals and of Matt Damon, I found this inspiration free franchise reboot devastatingly rote. Like certain other franchises, it made you look back at the first misstep in the series as no longer the worst, and it's predecessor is actually far better than the return of the prodigal Greengrass and Damon here. DIRE.

Kiwi director Taika Waititi has long since crossed over to the major league but this excellent two-hander sometimes flails with amateurism.

Ben Wheatley remains one of Britain's best and most interesting directors. Given his hard art-house edge, he would be the perfect choice to adapt a typically prescient JG Ballard novel but despite a lot to recommend and an A-list cast, it's a bit of a misfire.

This Neo-Nazi/Punk rock horror is well worth a once through but nowhere near as great or as shocking as I was led to believe by reviews.

Colombia's first ever best foreign language Oscar nominee is a fine addition to the micro-small but shattering, Heart of Darkness genre alongside Aguirre, The Wrath of God and Apocalypse Now. Stunning to look at and a very dark take on the effects of colonialism.

Sadly the rebirth of David Brent ended with a shockingly awful film that made the original TV Series look like a Hollywood blockbuster. 6/10 here is WAY too high. There are however quite a few 10/10 comedic scenes as funny as any to feature Brent.

Gordon Ramsay the movie, kind of. Bradley Cooper has actual form here having AS Anthony Bourdain (nearly) in Bourdain's little seen sitcom. This though is truly dire and offensively so for anyone with a passing knowledge of the foodie world. Narrative choice after narrative choice piles up the absurdity until it's just infuriating.

Part of the fascinating refusal to roll over and die from Mr Mel Gibson. This entirely generic bad gangster hunts the lead/his family action drama falls slightly short of the excellent Get the Gringo but is still worth it.

This uncommonly clever and timely Disney entry about prejudice would make Pixar proud.

After the rebooted X-Men franchise came flying out of the traps, it seemed Last Stand would forever be the worst X-Men film but it would be beaten not only by this dire entry but an even worse follow-up.

Although a mild diversion at times, at its best this is a sublime comedy with a wonderful performance and character from Kristen Wiig.