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PODCAST

The Brown Note Movie Review

Movie and Music reviews from The Brown Note radio show presented by Julian Brown, recorded unscripted, unedited and live. Also on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCggKb5ezgKFT5M27z75jVcQ

tv & film film reviews

All Episodes

08:14

Kurt Vile: (watch my moves) (2022) Album Review

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/04/25

The ex War on Drugs Alumni is undoubtedly one of my favorite artists but this Covid-distanced production is his least consequential or compelling album. Something got lost in translation as the band traded parts back and forth in the process of making it. Still lovely chilled out background music but with none of the zest of detail of almost any other album of his.

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09:00

Death on the Nile (2022) Movie Review

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/04/20

I've never rated thespian icon Kenneth Branagh as either an actor or a director - the only time I have really liked anything he's done was in a Harry Potter movie. So after his turgid Murder on the Orient Express hit every bum note I expected from him, and completely ignored the electric Agatha Christie rebirth of Knives Out, I nearly avoided this one entirely, bad reviews and all. I'm glad I didn't, after a first hour that resembles the previous film as well as other vacuous, overly glossy work

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07:37

The Outfit (2022) Movie Review

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/04/20

Commanding work on debut from writer director Graham Moore and writer John McClain (seriously John McClain) and an expectedly brilliant lead from Mark Rylance (where was that Oscar nom for Don't Look Up?) playing a tailor tangled up with the Chicago mob post WW2. A one room film (doesn't feel it) shot on a low budget (doesn't look it) and apart from its sumptuously visual and sound presentation, reliant solely on a cracking scrip and set of performances. The low key gem of the year so far for me

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05:47

Jackass Forever (2022) Movie Review

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/04/20

All this talk of how age has wearied them, made me expect a far more circumspect offering from the boys, but in reality it's far closer to the original films than I imagined it would be. Like those three, you are rarely more than two minutes away from a belly laugh - of which they remain the most consistent provider of, of any film series this century. A perfectly executed groin shot will never not be funny, it's art, look it up.

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07:12

Soul Glo - Diaspora Problems (2022) Album Review

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/04/17

Being the kind of hardcore fan that dips into acts like of Deafheaven every year or so an act crosses over, I'm not the most trusted voice here. However, I can tell when a great and rising band is firing at their peak - as here with one of the debut albums of the year. The politicized Philadelphia collective posit themselves in a logical trajectory from the MC5, through At The Drive In, landing somewhere near Death Grips.

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08:17

Ibibio Sound Machine - Electricity (2022) Album Review

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/04/17

This London based collective have the level of cultural and ethnic pull to drive critics wild, but sadly little of the music that makes seemingly fellow band Sault one of the most important acts in the world. Too often the wildly potent offering of the opening track makes way for far blander and more middle of the road material, and too little in the song writing department.

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12:39

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Unlimited Love (2022) Album...

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/04/17

As I suspect, being a fairly common fair weather Chili Peppers fan - who revolves almost solely around John Frusciante and Rick Rubin albums - this is a time to dip back in and see how this now almost peerless dinosaur navigates a world bereft of stadium rock acts. Mostly very well, with a consistently strong album that makes a political point of playing it very straight (no musical experimentation here) and resting on the bands best strengths - low key melodic rock with intricate and talented

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09:06

The Oscars 2022 Round Up

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/04/04

Exactly what it says on the tin. My yearly round-up of the Oscars is nearly Will Smith free - a look at actually the poorest selection of awards contenders from the poorest pool of talent for any year in Oscar's history.

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08:47

The Cursed (2022) - Movie Review

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/04/04

Director Sean Ellis seems to have taken a long meander to his first (I think) big English language film - but it's time very well spent, as he arrives with seemingly full mastery of the medium. The direction, pacing, screenplay, casting and luxurious, thickly atmospheric sound and visual design are all perfectly realised and denote a far more expensive film. This underappreciated gem takes its fairly standard premise and turns in a near A24 adjacent horror.

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04:35

Backlight (2022) - Movie Review

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/04/04

Now everyone is reversing like the French army back from criticism of Bruce Willis, Liam Neeson better watch out. His latest in a never ending run of apparent duds has a new low of 7% on Rotten Tomatoes. As a connoisseur of post-Taken Neeson movies, most of these films haven't been bad (not you Ice Road) or felt that cheap (not you Ice Road). With a sizable budget and nearly everything done reasonably well, this VERY stock standard Neeson actioner may not reignite the great Cold Pursuit era, but

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08:29

Charlotte Adigéry / Bolis Pupul: Topical Dancer...

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/04/04

It's easy to see why this Belgian duo's debut is one of the best reviewed albums of the year - throw in their racial diaspora make up and focus on social, gender, sexual and immigration issues, critics will likely lose their minds. For me however, this often enjoyable, light, bouncy, aerated post electro house too often lacks any sense of narrative or meaning in the lyrics. It's often painfully like a well meaning but cringe inducing school counselor relaying platitudinous sentences.

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11:59

Bad Boy Chiller Crew: Disrespectful (2022) - Album...

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/04/04

The North of England lads were an absolute blast with 2020's most fun and ebullient debut album, Full Whack No Brakes, but there was always a worry their shtick could grate - sadly realised by a second album that's twice as serious and half as fun. Though there are occasional brakes (sic) in their tried and tested post Robin S - Show Me Love bassline house, its more often than not like being hit over the head with varieties of the same mallet.

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08:52

It Chapter Two (2019) - Movie Review

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/04/04

Alongside the review of Ghostbusters (2016), catching up on a couple of films I deliberately missed through sheer lack of interest but recently caught up on and had surprisingly strong reactions to. After not falling for the first IT film at all - especially the portrayal of the clown - I couldn't be bothered with the sequel, yet it's long, meandering, episodic nature felt far closer to the novel. Unexpectedly satisfying.

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06:27

Ghostbusters (2016 - Movie Review)

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/04/04

Alongside the review of IT: Chapter 2, catching up on a couple of films I deliberately missed through sheer lack of interest but recently caught up on and had surprisingly strong reactions to. I assumed this first reboot of the Ghostbusters franchise would be a fairly decent film, shot down by the egregious toxic masculinity that preceded it. I was wrong, its an abomination.

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06:10

The Adam Project (2022)

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/03/23

Ryan Reynolds feels a bit jaded this time around, like Netflix is really flogging his persona to death in this unbelievably rote and derivative sci-fi. Some pretty pictures and a mainly likable cast, that are occasionally moving but a paper thin plot and zero imagination.

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08:27

Fresh (2022)

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/03/23

One of the years "IT" horrors with strong reviews, ends up being very "meh". Throws a lot of interesting and contemporary ideas up in the air but doesn't really land any of them and after a promising (Young Woman) start, peters out a bit into nothing - plus its lightness of tone makes it difficult to imbue any sense of seriousness to, on paper, very dark themes.

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12:20

Rosalia - Motomami (album 2022)

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/03/23

The Catalan superstar builds on the stunning success of her minimalist breakthrough, El Mal Querer, with a maximalist follow up that sums up the entirety of the near dominant urban Latino music world, again, without ditching her traditional Spanish roots entirely and never pandering to mainstream success. A triumph of experimental contemporary music. Thank god it's a lot closer to that second album than I dared hope and not awash with Drake and Travis Scott features.

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09:29

Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You...

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/03/23

The fifth studio album from the Adrianne Lenker's indie darlings - worshiped like saints by the likes of Pitchfork - follows the huge critical acclaim of U.F.O.F. If I thought that album was half brilliant but a bit overrated, I've moved the dial along to mostly brilliant but still a bit overrated. Certainly the final third contains some inessential tracks.

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13:33

Beach House: Once Twice Melody (2022 - Album Review)

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/03/16

If some acts like Bowie change and reinvent with every album, others (like Japanese sushi chefs or The War on Drugs) refine one perfect thing, over and over. The meticulous Baltimore dream pop duo, Beach House certainly do the latter but the 4 EP presentation of their 8th studio album, is itself the most fascinating change this time around for an always great album's band.

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09:08

The King’s Man (2021)

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/03/16

After the British director (who I'm still up in the air about) Matthew Vaughn, breathed fresh air into the genre/franchise market with the sometimes near obscene and always wild and free, first installment of the Kingsman, he followed it by trashing everything great about the first film with an obscenely bad second installment. Given the poor reviews and reception of this third films, I prepared for the worst. Don't believe the hype, this is vastly superior than reviews suggest and has nothing at

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