The Brown Note Movie Review

Scarface (1983)

Having grown up watching Scarface on poor quality VHS transfers, a recent re-watch (the first in many years) on a wide-screen, high-definition, gorgeously colored print, was a revelation. Also an opportunity to reward the lurid, populist gangster classic with the critical acclaim it deserves but that commonly eludes it. Three already high octane personalities in director Brian de Palma, screenwriter Oliver Stone and star Al Pacino, all firing at the peak of their game for a film that is far more than the obnoxious relative at the Goodfellas/Godfather family get-togethers.

Suspiria (2018)

Call Me by Your Name director, Luca Guadagnino's remake of Dario Argento's stylistic Gallo-horror masterpiece interestingly abandons the striking color and sound of the original for an opposing grey-noir cold war aesthetic. It is indeed still and not much happens, too little, but I found the world a quietly compelling one all on its own merit, deeply atmospheric and odd and with a denouement that finally tips over into Argento madness. (He is currently remaking Scarface no less).

The Social Dilemma (2020)

Did you think you were a Facebook customer and not their product? The years most essential documentary paints a terrifying portrait of how devastating and deep the impact of social media has been on society. Not so much a review as an overview of the incredibly important themes the documentary raises.

The Devil All the Time (2020)

Writer, Donald Ray Pollock's debut novel is brought to the screen by director Antonio Campos and with a great cast and strong production values, it's exactly the kind of grimy Hillybilly-noir I should adore. Sadly it's a boring, indistinct, meaningless mess of a film that takes far too long to give us the salvation of Tom Holland and Robert Pattinson.

Mandy (2018)

I've been trying to start THE AGE OF CAGE for some time now and with both this from 2018 and The Color out of Space this year, I feel we are really there. Cage is the Omega to Keanu's Alpha, and this utterly magnificent gonzo-horror is the real deal. Director Panos Cosmatos weaves some of the most heavily stylised visual palettes ever (Benjamin Loeb) and music (nearly the last from Jóhann Jóhannsson) into an unforgettable fever-dream nightmare revenge fantasy. A truly committed Nicholas Cages is at the centre of the LSD maelstrom.

The Owners (2020)

This latest home invasion horror has a couple of interesting paradigms to throw at the genre (income inequality and the hunter becoming the hunted) but peruses neither effectively with a wayward screenplay and a first half dominated by some of the most obnoxiously stupid characters imaginable. It gets better but only like an awful party improves now the worst people have gone, it's still terrible, despite the efforts of a couple of more esteemed actors and a low rent Florence Pugh knock off.

Hard Kill (2020)

The only reason you ever came across this no-rent endeavor were the combination of Bruce Willis and a zero on Rotten Tomatoes. I struggled to give it a zero myself as unlike We Summon the Darkness, it didn't really earn it, though alongside The Prince it, I think, makes him the only double recipient of a 0/10 on this podcast. But it's not really a movie, more a filmed paintball session.

I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020)

The esteemed Charlie Kaufman's latest is a dark, bleak and most depressing existential, near plotless retread of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. And my favorite film of the year so far. Enjoy in a double-bill with Vivarium to lose all hope in living. (NOTE: This radio show is movie heavy as the music is my favorite scores and soundtracks from my list, last year, of my top fifty films of the decade - https://www.mixcloud.com/julian-brown/the-brown-note-radio-show-presented-by-julian-brown-7-sep-2020/ )    

TENET (2020)

The years most exciting and eagerly awaited cinematic experience is here and its the dullest and most disappointing movie imaginable, in almost every way a film can be and Nolan's worst film by a long margin. Booo indeed. (NOTE: This radio show is movie heavy as the music is my favorite scores and soundtracks from my list, last year, of my top fifty films of the decade - https://www.mixcloud.com/julian-brown/the-brown-note-radio-show-presented-by-julian-brown-7-sep-2020/ )   

Rogue (2020)

No doubt this Megan Fox starring actioner (think Triple Frontier with schoolgirls instead of money, in Africa, with lions) will head straight for sub 15% Rotten Tomatoes land, pretty much solely on the lion special effect, which will be meme'd to death. Outside of that it's a perfectly reasonable shooter-horror straight-to-video affair, that's richly shot and has perfectly acceptable action.