The Brown Note Movie Review

Nothing annoys me more than average original concept Pixar movies, which should be the domain of their best work. A winning cast and gorgeous videos can't hide a pamphlet of a movie.

Great year for albums but I wouldn't mind betting the worst year of the decade for films. But at least I put the boot into Wes Anderson. lol

This wondrous and full-blooded Norwegian comedy-drama about a teenager's sexual awakening, is the debut from writer-director Jannicke Systad Jacobsen and as delightful and effervescent as the exclamation mark its title so richly earns.

Whilst hardly great, this Colin Farrell starring remake of an Arnie Sci-Fi classic, is watchable and, though incredibly iconic and memorable, the original was perhaps not a brilliant film to start with.

This dire sequel throws everything that made the original special out the window, yet still isn't the worst Hangover film.

Director Jay Roach seems to operate slightly above mid tier, as is the case with this smarter and more soulful than expected political campaign comedy. Will Ferrell and Zach Glifianakis are well matched but you'll likely not remember it.

Full disclosure - I hate everything about Spiderman. This includes the most annoyingly love-struck and teenage of the Marvel gang, the actors playing him and the disrespectfully relentless rebooting of the character, this being one of three iterations since 2002. Though I cannot stand Toby Magurie, the first two Sam Raimi films were undeniably decent but since then its been feeble run. Garfield is...

Ahhh Wes Anderson, king of the kooky and current resident on my banned director list, along with the likes of M Night and Guy Ritchie (though the latter has made an impossible escape just recently) and this is the film that got him there. Lets face it, his best film the Tennanbuams is only a 7/10 due to the presence of Gene Hackman. After hating everything I'd seen, particularly his singular, angu...

From the much loved The Last Jedi (lol) to the brilliant Knives Out, writer-director Rian Johnson is one of the most unpredictable forces in modern cinema, again proven with this earlier film, one of the decades most original and atmospheric existential Sci-Fi's. With a strong performance by Bruce Willis backed up by early turns from Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt.

A lesser but fascinating work from the always interesting filmmaker David Cronenberg, is a timely and aversive treatise on nihilistic modern capitalism, thats visually arresting and perhaps most interesting now as one of the first jumping off points post Twilight for the kind of actor Robert Pattinson has become.

Ex Press Gang alumni and frequent Guy Ritchie orbiter, Dexter Fletcher has quietly amassed a fair few prominent directorial credits - even stepping into Brian Singer's accused shoes for Bohemian Rhapsody. This would be his finest hour so far, featuring a very early and dominant turn from Will Poulter, in an excellent and comedic grimy urban drama, which subverts the dad coming home from prison tro...

I found this Aussie film devastating and hugely underrated, its writer/director, Jonathan Teplitzky would go on to the very high profile, Railway Man and Churchill. The often brilliant Matthew Goode is in searing film and what I loved most here is, almost uniquely for a film this emotionally shattering, it begins and its most nihilistic and bleak before gradually climbing back towards the light an...

This is NOT the awful 2018 teen romance film, but a fantastic and little seen existential vampire film, written and directed by Scott Leberecht. Criminally bypassed by nearly everyone and if you think I'm joking, 95% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Director Kelly Reichardt (who also made the very interesting Night Moves) takes a very slow west, with Michelle Williams (one of my faves). Certainly decent and good, not very memorable.

Looking back I wonder if 6/10 for this frankly insufferable rom-com is a tad high. You'd expect Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston to be top tier as far as the worst genre in movies goes but it's pretty poor, and my affection for Rudd has waned, possibly because he keeps stinking up the Marvel universe.

This Saddam Hussein curio features a superb early turn from Dominic Cooper as Saddam's hellish son's double in a play on real life events but totally over-eggs everything. Directed by Kiwi Lee Tamahori, who stunned with his debut Once Were Warriors, possibly the greatest Kiwi film ever and has had a weird ride ever since.

Given it was one of the biggest and most important films of the decade and ended up in my films of the decade list, what a curiously small review.

Seth MacFarlane is his own worst enemy when it comes to writing and directing films. If he stuck to the funny, things would always be so much better, but he insists on trying to write actual full length screenplays, which I think we've enough evidence now he is terrible at. Ted, Wahlberg and Kunis are fantastic in an oftern hilarious film but sadly way to much story gets in the way of those moment...

Well writer/director Sarah Polley doesn't seem to have a full feature film after this and she was on the crest of a wave at the time. Truly one of the most problematic times I've had reviewing a film and there's an awful lot here that fills me with revulsion. One of my favorite actresses Michelle Williams being case in point, wonderful, searing performance but here character made me genuinely angr...

Well I can understand completely forgetting dire films exist but this Korean slasher film sounds awesome and very extreme, especially as it stars no less a luminary than Choi Min-sik as a serial killer (Oldboy himself!) definitely re-watching this, this could end up the best reason for doing the podcast! The director Kim Jee-woon doesn't seem to have done much else of note.

Holy crap I gave Battleships 7.5/10. Jesus. Look I kinda enjoyed it and I really like Taylor Kitsch, he just keeps getting shafted by bad movies. I liked John Carter too.

Wow, how did I ever give this mindblowingly atrocious film 5/10?! If you've ever hated Sean Penn for taking on roles full of mannerisms, this will have you longing for I Am Sam. Truly one of the worst films that of that decade. Jawdroppingly terrible and inept and bizarre - how someone ever though even the idea of the screenplay (or three or four screenplays as its such a jarring mess) should've b...

After Fear and Loathing, Johnny Depp returns with another crack at worthy Hunter S Thompson adaption, this time his straighter, slightly less hallucinogenic autobiographic remembrance/recreation in his early years as a journalist in Puerto Rico. Like it's predecessor, I'm glad it exists but it's not a great film. Most notable today for the love interest...

Perhaps a touch harsh here. Ryan Reynolds and Denzil Washington are a great central pair is this very sub Bourne spooks-n-gadgets espionage thriller. It aint great but worth a punt for fans.

Wow, will you look at that, apparently Julia Roberts starred in a remake of Sleeping Beauty, I genuinely have no recollection of this ever exisiting.