The Brown Note Movie Review

The current heavyweight champion of Latin Pop, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, aka Bad Bunny, completes a victory lap with his seventh - and most political - album. And it's a fine effort with welcome Salsa and Puerto Rican musical influences. It also repeats my complaint about his previous release, like a Drake album, it appears stuffed with too many mediocre tracks to try and game the streaming charts.

Director Robert Eggers is right at the top of arguments for the MVP of film making right now. His four films have near been impeccable. This remake of the original 1920's classic is very different from what I'd been led to believe - it's by far the most fun and actually funny (at times) of his often challenging filmography. If it doesn't have the substance of previous works, the cinematography, production design and soundtrack are outstanding.

David Lynch (January 20, 1946 – January 15, 2025) never made a blockbuster movie in his life, yet is as famous a director as Steven Spielberg. This a show celebrating his unique artistic vision, one that puts in on a par with Kubrick or Hitchcock. He is also a director with a stronger connection to the music in his projects than almost anyone in history. A trawl through every major project of Lynch's and the music used in each.

 

*Dune doesn't appear in the video version due to a corrupt file. The full music is on the radio version.

 

Original Twin Peaks: The Return review (10/10)

https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-v38dr-e42e47

Original Mullholland Drive review (10/10)

https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-u4exc-dfc2c8

 

Following last years UNIVERSALLY LOVED piece, Oasis Are Shite, an imaginative followup - were they ever any good to start with? So I have done what no sane adult should do, and what I haven't done in 25 years, actually listened to Oasis. Obviously Be Here Now and on are complete garbage, but were those first three great albums, Definitely Maybe, What's the Story.. and The Masterplan ever great? and how do they hold up now?

My irregular series on artists, albums or movies that were either denied classic status at the time or who have been forgotten from the conversation since. Here a look a 60s UK folk music genius who branched out into astonishing music in the 1970s (see also Nick Drake, John Fay, Vashti Bunyan...). A walk through his life and career through the lens of four totemic albums from that period, including the absolutely essential for anyone releases, Solid Air (10/10) and One Word (10/10).

Perhaps the embodiment of Hollywood's incessant, remake-reboot era, given it's one of the wildest takes on needing a sequel ever. But given director Ridley Scott is himself one of the wildest properties in film this century - you have zero idea what you are going to get with this man lately, maybe it could work? No, no, it does not. Following the original screenplay so slavishly it continually invites always belittling comparisons, not to mention extra appreciation for the (missing) original star, Russell Crowe, given the appalling casting of rom-com level Paul Mescal as his replacement.

Nothing is more redundant most best films lists, as any critics top ten will include five films the public wont even see until next year. So my most and least favorite films actually widely released in 2024.

Note - I really did mean to say Abigail at number 15, but looking at the thumbnail, decided to describe the film Megan instead. The perils of live radio.

Exactly what it says on the tin. Tis the season of lists, and in a banner year for albums, particularly alt-rock and rap, my top twenty favorite albums of 2024.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/26A8L15kpvZtRl3gRhddG5?si=jZKf4draTgqcWC8cjiXiKw

Perhaps rounding off a banner year for Horror movies, writer-director, J.T. Mollner's twisted take on Horror movie tropes and serial killer films. Spit ingeniously into six non-chronological chapters, each upending the previous, this challenging and provocative film is beautifully made, and anchored by awards-worthy leads, Willa Fitzgerald and Kyle Gallner.

The original Smile was a top tier "ordinary" horror, as opposed the more art-house/A24 world. It's sequel bridges that gap, whilst outpacing its predecessor in nearly every way. Once again the female lead (Naomi Scott) is outstanding, but now the focus on interior mental breakdown - this time for a pop star put under too much stress - is so good, it almost outweighs the need for a horror film at all.