The Brown Note Movie Review

Adolescence: Review

The British TV drama has become a lightning rod for a burning issue, shining a spotlight in the online spaces turning young boys into misogynists. It's also artistically brave in its structure, superbly shot and directed and features some of the best acting you'll see on TV.

The follow up

https://brownnote.podbean.com/e/adolescence-what-to-do-about-a-problem-like-jamie/

 

The Electric State (2025) Movie Review

The Russo brothers latest attempt to turn as much cash as possible into a bad movie, is nowhere near as terrible as the reviews suggest. Its a pretty watchable, near remake of Bumblebee - with everything a bit worse.

A Quiet Place: Day One (2025) Film Review

This side quest to the excellent A Quiet Place sci-fi horrors, is immaculately made, directed and acted. So it's rare for me to trash it - I just can't remember seeing a film with so little reason to exist.

Flight Risk (2025) Movie Review

Mel Gibson puts his director hat back on for an unusually small project for him. It's really just three people in a room - or in this case a plane. It's been pretty trashed by critics but as a low key B movie actioner it's worth a once through.

Darkside - Nothing (2025) Album Review

Maestro Nicolas Jaar is one of modern music's MVPs. His long run of solo albums plus the two superb AAL albums plus the Pink Floyd analogous cat-nip Darkside project, with guitarist Dave Harrington and now winningly drummer, Tlacael Esparza. Possibly their best album in this now The Smile analogous collective. Continually restless and evolving - often in one track - and always hugely listenable, my fave of the year so far.

Panda Bear - Sinister Grift (2025) Album Review

Noah Lennox - aka Panda Bear - has long established himself as the most prominent offshoot of the erstwhile Animal Collective band. I have found recently albums - even with the (godlike) Sonic Boom co-album Reset - to be too simplistic and over acclaimed. That's half true here, where songwriting, melody and sequencing get it over the line. I do miss the wild abandon and inspiration of Person Pitch though.

Bonnie "Prince" Billy - The Purple Bird (2025) Album Review

One of the most fascinating aberrations ive ever reviewed. Will Oldham (aka Bonnie "Prince" Billy) has an impeccable thirty year discography, with some of his best and most interesting work in recent years. He is undoubtedly one of the finest songwriters and lyricists in modern American history. So for some reason he has decided to release a generic modern mainstream country album. The lyrics are either very broad and trite, or surprisingly on the nose takes on men and women, the instrumentation, arrangements and song progressions as predictable and unambitious as modern country itself. Then there's the anti gun track. Most baffling of all is how this album is actually acclaimed by critics.

OsamaSon - Jump Out (2025) Album Review

One of the buzziest internet-rap stars of the last couple of years, makes distinctive wall-of-sound melodic rap, that is very post Chief Keef, even more Playboi Carti and a little Salem. It's pleasant stoner music/head music but could do with a wider variety of attack.

The Gorge (2025) Movie Review

It's a set up and environment worthy of a computer game, with two high class leads and being beautifully shot and produced. However the tonal shifts and a world that doesn't seem explored enough, along with a lot of plot conveniences to facilitate the story, it's only just worth it.

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (2025) Movie Review

I'm a huge fan of Gerard Butler tilting towards being a B movie action titan in mold of Liam Neeson or Jason Statham and loved the grimy, flawed Heat via Training Day via Bad Lieutenant charms of the original. Happily this seems to now have morphed into a franchise, though shifting in tone to a near buddy comedy, it still does enough.