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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

07:40

A Quiet Place Part II (2021)

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/03/16

A belated - strong - review of this near excellent sensory horror sequel. Like Alien/Aliens or Terminator/T2 it replaces the creeping low key dread of the original with more a more bombastic action film, but to near equal effect. And who knew the always getting better, Cillian Murphy would make such a great Appalachian woodsman.

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12:01

Black Country, New Road - Ants from Up There (Album...

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/03/06

I'm now including the odd album review - not everything but anything I think is worth talking about. This second release from the British indie band, in an era where British indie guitar music has risen out of nowhere. Even among the slew of great releases from likes of Squid, Black Midi, Dry Cleaning and Working Mens Club, this album stands tall. Like its totemic biggest inspiration, Arcade Fire's Funeral, it ranks as one of the finest indie or alt-rock albums this century.

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12:12

Narcos: Mexico - Season 3 (2021)

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/03/06

A belated review of one of the only TV series I've consistently followed this last decade, the always excellent Narcos Franchise. One of the most dramatically exciting, dynamic and rock n roll shows since Breaking Bad. This, the 3rd iterations of Narcos: Mexico and the sixth and final series (for now) overall, doesn't reach the incredible heights of the brilliant Diego Luna starring first two installments, but is very very close.

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15:24

The Matrix Resurrections (2022)

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/02/20

Underappreciated and definitely hamstrung by the streaming release - as far as box office and the likely sequels go. It's not great but certainly decent and Keanu gives a much stronger performance than he was capable of when the iconic original was released. Flawed but still worth your while.

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12:12

Nightmare Alley (2021)

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/02/10

Del Toro's best written film and significantly better than the wildly overrated Oscar winning Shape Of Water. As Martin Scorcese has stated, one of the only true film noir's of the modern era - not relying solely on wearing the clothes of a private detective and moody lighting - but truly desperate people on the margins, doing desperate things and paying for it. It's brutal stuff. Massively underrated, this was a real gut punch that sticks, and for once in Del Toro's filmography, the stunning

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08:55

The Power of the Dog (2021)

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/02/09

The best reviewed film of 2021 is, frankly, a bit of an empty let down. A compellingly intense and awful opening gives way to a rather unexpectedly neutered melodrama that wastes the potential of Cumberbatche's malevolent potential. It goes nowhere and ends unsatisfactory, though beautifully made.

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13:34

Spider-Man: No Way Home

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/02/03

SPOILER HEAVY REVIEW. Truth is I've never been a fan of either Spiderman's teen angst and jokey tone or most of the actors to play him, Tom Holland included. This is certainly better than the awful second Holland installment though still very overrated. I get the excitement over the fan service and it's half great. It's also extremely padded out through the middle and the hero's actions and motivations are infuriating.

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14:24

The Beatles: Get Back (2021)

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/02/03

Peter Jackson's 'found footage' documentary of The Beatles at a most pivotal point in their history has only one flaw, its length - which does make sections repetitive. It is still completely surreal to spend so much time as a fly on the wall with the most famous band in history and see them in a way that almost no one outside their friends and family ever has. It doesn't even seem real half the time. The guys are completely self aware and often meta about their existence, whilst pummeling through

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13:48

Don’t Look Up (2021)

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/01/28

I've long championed Adam McKay since I made The Big Short my film of the year, now he has definitive works on the GFC, the destruction of American democracy (Vice) and climate change. He's the most important director in America. This film is polarizing, not because it attacks politicians and the media, but the public too - and none of them like it. Flawed but unflinching and brilliant, it's empowering to see such an acidic film become the most watched in Netflix history.

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09:30

The Eternals (2021)

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/01/28

After starting last year giving Chloe Zhao my first ever 10/10 for a new release for my film of the year, Nomadland, the opposite end of the scale for one of the limpest ever Marvel movies. A perfect embodiment of the Star Wars/Phantom Menace paradox. That 40 years after Star Wars release, Hollywood still doesn't understand that the number one factor in the public loving a big budget blockbuster is not the special effects but the cast.

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06:16

Billie Eilish Is The Worst Music Star This Century

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/01/28

Popular opinion #947. In light of Damon Albarn (whose music I don't really rate either) and his nuclear attack on saint Taylor Swift and her writing her own songs, he used Billie Eilish of all people as an example of her opposite. Garbage. Billie Eillish is the most fabricated star this century, a corporate hack who met with both Apple and fashion house Channel to define her image (like all natural bedroom indie breakout stars do...) before releasing any major music. Her maudlin croak, mediocre

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12:25

King Richard (2021)

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/01/20

This biopic of Serena and Venus Williams indomitable father, is obvious Oscar bait but has a decent stab at a worthy subject. Centered by a possible career best from a triumphant Will Smith, after wallowing in a career low for that last few years. The screenplay doesn't match his performance and we could do with a lot more grit but it's certainly emotionally satisfying and exciting entertainment.

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04:57

Red Notice (2020)

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/01/20

I must admit I stand in opposition to the hugely negative response to the most expensive Netflix film in history. It wasn't as cynical or bombastic as I'd been led to believe, it's actually kinda amiable and fun. Even, dare I say it, quite elegant. The mega watt leads are good value, the long form set pieces well executed and I didn't feel that dirty after watching it.

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07:58

Venom 2 (2020)

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/01/20

The only achievement this sequel, to a highly lack-luster original, has to its name is doing everything the first did badly, even worse. The charm of Tom Hardy and Michelle Williams withstanding, nearly everything is rubbish, it has half the story and some of the worst CGI $200 million can buy.

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01:24:30

The Best And Worst Films Of 2021

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/01/15

Exactly what it says it is, with a worst film of the year guaranteed to be a popular choice.

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04:29

Was 2021 The Worst Year For Art This Century?

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2022/01/11

Working our my usual radio show end of year best-of lists, I was struck by how weak 2021 was - across albums, movies and tracks, the lamest of the century, why?

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24:36

Albums Of The Year 2021

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2021/12/19

In the weakest year for albums, tracks and movies of the century.

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08:13

The French Dispatch (2021)

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2021/12/14

I've long detested Wes Anderson as the epitome of a director that substitutes kooky and try hard comedy for his lack of artistic substance and 'Dispatch maybe his MOST Wes Anderson film of all. Seemingly a film that consists of no connective tissue and functions far more asa movie about Wes Anderson movies than about the journalists and writers it tries to celebrate.

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12:47

The Last Duel (2021)

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2021/12/14

Do not believe the hype about this box office bomb. I was expecting more of the turgid, awful Kingdom of Heaven style Ridley Scott than Gladiator Ridley Scott - yet this is his most complex, ambitious and challenging film of his career. Of course it tanked - it's closer in tone to an art-house medieval flick like this year's The Green Knight than something rousing and dynamic like Gladiator. A timely, adult and provoking film bolstered by it's three act play - the same story from each of an

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13:05

Last Night in Soho (2021)

The Brown Note Movie Review ·

2021/12/14

What a turn around, and what witchcraft is this?! After hating Edgar Wright's last three films (with a passion - especially Baby Driver) and rating him as a talent-less hack that got lucky off the back of the likeability of his stars over his first two films, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, just like Guy Ritchie did with Lock Stock and Snatch - also like Guy Ritchie with the unexpected triumph The Gentlemen, he emerged for no reason at all with one of my films of the year. 'Soho is a monumental leap

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