The Brown Note Movie Review

Last Night in Soho (2021)

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 up, an imaginative love letter to swinging sixties London-Horror hybrid, with stunning cinematography, an equally dazzling soundtrack and two leads to match - my favorite film released in 2021.

No Time To Die (2021)

After an entire James Bond (why are James plural by the way?) special last year, where I listed every Bond film in order of greatness, how does the final Daniel Craig effort shape up to his 3rd best in my list, Casino Royale, or his rock bottom last outing in the terrible Spectre. Thankfully a lot better, though I still expected more.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)

Although promising a great deal through its first half, this Marvel Universe exploration into Asia, becomes a little too rote and World of Warcraft as it peters out, to feel rather low stakes by the end. The stellar reviews I feel make it another film where critics have simply celebrated another middling superhero effort, due it not being a straight white man in the lead. At least we get the immortal Tony Leung in a great role.

The Guilty (2021)

This American remake of a modern Danish, one room classic, is a remarkably solid turn from the often wayward Training Day director, Antoine Fuqua. He doesn't get in the way of an anxiety inducing thriller starring (almost entirely) a powerhouse Jake Gyllenhaal. Underappreciated.

Dune (2021)

When one of the world's greatest directors, Denis Villeneuve, had already landed an impossible 1980's sci-fi godhead classic in Bladerunner 2049, he was the obvious, unimpeachable choice to tackle Frank Herbert's impossible to film best seller. Yet the enormous acclaim afforded this effort points to it being the emperor's new clothes of the modern era, his worst film and the most disappointing film I've seen sine TENET.

The Velvet Underground (2021)

Todd Haynes much heralded documentary about a band who are pretty much ground zero for alternative music and created multiple entire universes that are still explored today, is an artistic triumph. If I wanted to nit pick, I'd say it's a little to abstracted. For a band so influential on the history of music, it needs a lacking wider context, it's a little too insular, to be a definitive documentary about them. But for fans of the band who already know all that, it's an illuminating ride.

Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain (2021)

Ignoring the pointless furore over the director's use of artificial intelligence, to speak a couple of Bourdain's written lines, Morgan Neville does everything I could've hoped for in his biopic of one of my favorite people ever. Namely, take me on the same chronological journey I took with the late lamented star, from the beginning of his career to the bitter end, imbuing each stage with far deeper understanding. It's a more painful journey than I expected too - with a shattering yet illuminating final quarter.

Candyman (2021)

This sequel to the memorable 1992 horror comes with the pedigree of Jordan Peele writing and great reviews, yet, for me falls wildly short of the mark. The setting in the remanents of the most notorious housing project in American history and the subsequent gentrification is about the only thing this slight film gets right.

Dave Chappelle And Netflix Vs The World

Arguably the world's apex stand up comedian, Dave Chappelle's latest Netflix stand up, The Closer, is the most controversial of the modern age. Why I think it's also the most important. The most fearless, deliberate and confrontational work of his career, less concerned with being funny than staring down the zeitgeist, taking a blow torch to the sound bite universe and running a freight train through cancel culture. Astonishingly, in an era of gun-shy corporations, Netflix knew full well what they were getting into and did it anyway.

The Card Counter (2021)

This post Iraq war gambling morality play came with impossibly high standards for me to hold it up against. The director, Paul Schrader not on;y wrote Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, but his last film, the devastating state of the world address, First Reformed was my film of the year. It doesn't quite live up to those expectations and feels a little unfinished, but it's still one of the years most interesting films, full of quietly powerful moments and anchored by a stunning lead performance from a complex Oscar Isaac.