The Brown Note Movie Review

The wonderfully varied and unpredictable Danny Boyle was always going to be horrendous, brilliant of a combination of the two. This messy, unfocused, ill-conceived art heist thrilller leans quite heavily into the former.

This successful but tepid and bland, rote, atmospheric horror taped into the new wave on interest in horror but was bested by a superior sequel. One that thankfully spent less time with the underwhelming leads.

Much of what was so great about the first Star Trek reboot is sadly missing here, and they almost waste the best franchise antagonist in Khan, and the perfect actor to play him in Benedict Cumberbatch. The tone here as shifted more to jokey and not for the better, neither is the increased rom-com focus on Spock.

Ben Wheatley remains one of the UK's most original, unpredictable and gifted new directors, though perhaps one who still hasn't a definitive film, unless that would be the utterly horrifying Kill List. Here he jinks to pitch black comedy and the underused genre of British country holiday serial killers.

Genre wish fulfillment movies like this full blown take on Japanese monster movies but with mega Hollywood budget and special effects are rarely more exciting in the flesh than on paper. For once a visionary director of huge talent like the singularly imaginative Guillermo del Toro is given the reigns, to great success but sadly didn't fancy the sequel.

Pretty much a dream team for me, given Drive ended up my film of the entire decade, so a reunion of Nicholas Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling, both of whom I'm fans of away, was pure catnip. A hugely stylized, neon lit, ultra violent, existential art film? I didn't stand a chance. It must SURELY have firmly established itself as a cult classic by now? The critics hated it but I loved it.

Perhaps generous here as its an almost tedious Si-Fi but with stunning production design. The ever reliable Tom Cruise fights against a vague but often breathtaking backdrop.

Director Jeff Nichols debut film, Shotgun Stories, was an astonishing and hugely original film, sadly since then not so much and this far more major film is it's polar opposite. Almost like a homogenized mainstream take on that singular first film and I was generous with the score here. It's very hokey.

John McNaughton's seminal cinematic terror has not had its horrors dulled by time and still packs an awful punch. A landmark in both serial killer films and horror in general and a rarely unpleasant experience.

As with all post 5 rebirth Fast and Furious films, a pretty decent follow up to a slightly superior predecessor.

Jay Bulger's terrific biopic of one of the most legendary rock drummers in history, the frightening Ginger Baker.

A decent year for great movies and a controversial winner.

Well made biopic of the fascinating Liberace, with awards worthy turns from Matt Damon and Michael Douglas.

The Jackass gang convene for a slight dramatic comedy, that's a little more soulful than laugh out loud funny.

This endlessly adapted novel seems the usual respectful, uninspired fare from director Joe Wright, though lifted a little by the performance of Keira Knightley.

It maybe flawed, too long and the final third lesser than the preceding two but director Derek Cianfrance's heady drama is so ambitious and full of deep, rich characters and feelings, it totally earns it.

A 9.5/10 for Robert Altman's existential, mood and scene based take on Raymond Chandler's classic detective yarn, with Elliot Gould filling Philip Marlowe's gum-shoes. A Rosetta Stone for films like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Inherent Vice, it backgrounds the plot for atmosphere and a sense of place and time. A slightly underappreciated masterpiece.

Director Thomas Vinterberg's terrific Norwegian drama makes superb use of the brilliant Mads Mikkelsen. Here playing a teacher undone by a combination of pack mentality and an accusation of child abuse.

Go hard or go home appears to be the motto of Australian director, Baz Luhrmann, an ethos he impossibly doubles here with his famed, troubled, maligned by critics, hugely expensive and very successful financially adaption of the famed novel. He just doesn't seem to be as good a director as he is conceiver and producer, which makes me wonder if the atrocious first half of the film was directed by h...

No idea why I reviewed this but a real rarity, a rom-com that does not suck. Cameron Crowe's debut remains his best.

I seriously am not even sure this is a real film except for the simpering of a probably smug UK rom-com being deafening even from seven years away.

Matthew Cooke's superb and under-appreciated war on drugs documentary has a brilliant two-handed format, the first half detailing the minute of the narcotics trade, the second an unexpectedly searing treatise on the US prison system.

This magnificent doco is a triple threat - as dramatically exciting as any movie, a jaw dropping wtf twist and in Frederic Bourdin, the most interesting possible host to glue this disappeared child true life mystery together.

I have kind of made my peace with Skyfall now, though perhaps that's mostly down to the sheer awfulness of Spectre, which finished LAST on my ranking of Bond films Bond special from a 2020. It's still very overrated and I'm no fan of director Sam Mendes.

The notoriously short Tom Cruise was never the problem with the cinematic attempts at these famed novels, and for the most part - barring a perfunctory final third - the first, at least, was mostly excellent.