The Brown Note Movie Review

This endlessly adapted novel seems the usual respectful, uninspired fare from director Joe Wright, though lifted a little by the performance of Keira Knightley.

It maybe flawed, too long and the final third lesser than the preceding two but director Derek Cianfrance's heady drama is so ambitious and full of deep, rich characters and feelings, it totally earns it.

A 9.5/10 for Robert Altman's existential, mood and scene based take on Raymond Chandler's classic detective yarn, with Elliot Gould filling Philip Marlowe's gum-shoes. A Rosetta Stone for films like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Inherent Vice, it backgrounds the plot for atmosphere and a sense of place and time. A slightly underappreciated masterpiece.

Director Thomas Vinterberg's terrific Norwegian drama makes superb use of the brilliant Mads Mikkelsen. Here playing a teacher undone by a combination of pack mentality and an accusation of child abuse.

Go hard or go home appears to be the motto of Australian director, Baz Luhrmann, an ethos he impossibly doubles here with his famed, troubled, maligned by critics, hugely expensive and very successful financially adaption of the famed novel. He just doesn't seem to be as good a director as he is conceiver and producer, which makes me wonder if the atrocious first half of the film was directed by him and someone else took over for the excellent second half. Leo was awards worthy but his performance ignored.

No idea why I reviewed this but a real rarity, a rom-com that does not suck. Cameron Crowe's debut remains his best.

I seriously am not even sure this is a real film except for the simpering of a probably smug UK rom-com being deafening even from seven years away.

Matthew Cooke's superb and under-appreciated war on drugs documentary has a brilliant two-handed format, the first half detailing the minute of the narcotics trade, the second an unexpectedly searing treatise on the US prison system.

This magnificent doco is a triple threat - as dramatically exciting as any movie, a jaw dropping wtf twist and in Frederic Bourdin, the most interesting possible host to glue this disappeared child true life mystery together.

I have kind of made my peace with Skyfall now, though perhaps that's mostly down to the sheer awfulness of Spectre, which finished LAST on my ranking of Bond films Bond special from a 2020. It's still very overrated and I'm no fan of director Sam Mendes.