Okay, so, full review time. It's pretty much just me gushing all over the place, but I absolutely loved this film. I can't wait until you guys start to see it. I want to discuss it so badly.


Brick is a once in a lifetime sort of cinematic experience. It's brilliance is so staggering, so overwhelming, that it is nearly impossible to believe that this modern day masterpiece came from the pen and lens of a first time writer/director in Rian Johnson. One can only assume that watching this film for the first time must have been what it was like to watch Lynch's Eraserhead for the first time upon it's release. Brick isn't just one step ahead of it's audience at all times, it's five or six steps ahead. It's like nothing you've ever seen before. There will be moments so brilliant and unexpected that you'll want the film to slow down and let you lingering on it for just a second longer, but Johnon refuses. He follows it with something even more staggering, and you realise you are in this uncontrollable whirlwind of a film that is bursting at the seams with ideas. It's a perfect storm of filmmaking. A first time writer/director unleashes a torrent of images and words that are received by a willing and able cast (Joseph Gordon-Levitt is an absolute revelation here, as is Lukas Haas in a highly stylized role that is sure to have a huge following), a game crew (Brick contains one of the best musical scores I've ever heard), and a completely overwhelmed audience. There is so much going on, so many twists and turns in the plot, so many bursts of creativity, that the film doesn't beg to be seen again, it flat out demands it. I can't really delve much deeper without getting into some serious spoiler territory, but I think I've done enough gushing to get the point across. See this movie.

A+

just wondering, as you were so pro on this film very early, before seeing it. Was it from the trailer only or what else interested you?

Anyway, based on your A+, you seemed to like it.

Also, how was that Hollywood theater, OK.

The trailer was a big part of what got me interested, yes. Also, I'm a huge film noir fan.

Yes, the Arclight was amazing. It's easily the best theater I've ever been to.

If you've seen the film, and want to discuss it, there's a pretty good conversation brewing here: http://www.worldofkj.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16173

Naturally, I enjoyed the film noir style, and the acting was good, but my primary criticism of this movie is:

It's too complex to be elegant.

The writer/director who's clearly talented, went way overboard on the elaborateness of the story, and thereby came of as more than a bit of a show-off. Film noir suits an equally lurid style, but demands an inevitability to it's writing that accelerates you towards the ending. (My favorite in the genre is the 1945 low budget classic Detour.)

So, while I can imagine detail obsessed fans sitting in front of their DVD copy of this film with their finger on the rewind button taking notes on all the references and complications, as a movie I have to rate it an ambitious miss.

3 out of 5.

Stylish and snappily written but too complex for its own good as the pacing could use some work. Still, writer/director Rian Johnson clearly is a talent to watch and the cast does quite good as well. Levitt is especially good.

B

I loved the last scene out on the football field.

I loved it! everything, the acting, the score (which was one of the best in recent times) the style, script, everything. I need to think about it for a while before i can actually make any sense out of what i'm typing, it's an instant A grade.

Awesome movie. Stylishordon-Le and for a debut very steady directed, brillant performances: the kid from 10 Things I hate about you can really act...wow, tight writing, genious dialogue-writing and nailbiting suspense. A- but it could even improve with another sighting

*bump* for the DVD release.

The film is, like, perfect from a technical standpoint.

Acting? Superb. Joseph Gordon-Levitt can act, apparently. Fantastic performance. Lukas Haas is pretty much the perfect Pin. All the performances were strong. The score? Incredible. Probably the best score of any film this year (not hard, I guess, I'm still trying to think of one that had a better one...). The dialogue is intriguing, the unfolding of the story is great. And, of course, the style of the film is the main attraction. Rian Johnson's first major film oozes of style. It's great stuff. However, I'm going to have to agree with dolcevita on the film's overly predictable plot. As we're introduced to the different characters of the film, I pretty much nailed the ending in the first fifteen minutes. And considering how obvious Johnson was trying to make the film really confusing and complex, it just...wasn't.

[spoil]It was WAYYY too obvious that Laura was the center of the whole murder. It's like Johnson was trying to give it away, but not. And from the moment the whole "baby" twist came into play, I knew it was Brendan's. [/spoil]

It bothered me that I was able to figure all this out so early. The film was already brilliant in how it was made and the performances to back it up, but I was disappointed in the film's ending. So yeah, mixed bag.

B

I'm just glad that you saw it, Zingy.

Honestly, I'm so surprised when people tell me that they knew where the plot was going right from the get go. Of course Laura is going to play a part in the murder. She's the femme fatale of the story. I'm not sure Johnson was trying to be sneaky with her charatcer. She was just an out and out homage. So yeah... I can buy people not being shocked by Laura's involvement.

But the baby thing... that threw me for a total loop.

Also, I think it's great that almost every review (including your's, Zingy) mentions the outstanding score. Can you believe it's Nathan Johnson's first musical score?!?!? Easily the best of the year so far.

And yes, Rian Johnson is a superb filmmaker. The idea that this is his first full length film... it's mind blowing. It's directed with the skill of true visionary that has been forming his craft for years. I am so excited to see what he does next.

5/10 ( C )

Overrated. It's technically well made and performances are good, but it's just so incredibly dull. I wasn't entertained in the slightest.

I agree with bradley to an extent. The film is definately a noir detective story set in modern day American high-school, but it's too ambitious for the writer and director's vision, and a bit is lost in the translation.

One of the things missing from their exploration of the noir drama is the raw sex appeal and passion of it. One could argue that they tried to accomplish this, but Nora Zehetner exudes a deer-in-the-headlights-while-reading-from-the-cue-cards style of acting that comes across as more confused than someone responsible for such an elaborate plot. It comes across like Star War's acting... which was supposed to be stylized based on 1940s serials but was SO overdone (or so underdone?) that in the end it was just bad, bad acting.

The supporting actors, universally, were awful. I have read some praise for Noah Fleiss' acting (Tug) but I just can't see it. And to have Lucas Haas a drug dealer in a movie like this is screaming the fact that they are purposely casting against type in order to make the point that they are not afraid to cast against type. The 1970s wood panelled set designs which were already so cliche.

The whole movie seems to fall into the pitfalls of recent indie films, almost to a t. I fail to see what about this film that doesn't borrow from any other indie filmmaker out there these days. Not that it's done particularly poorly, just that I don't find much origionality that deserves to be called out. The score also did absolutely nothing for me, it only highlighted the gimmick.

The positives:

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has done a great job here, and it is significant that this is a huge step away from his 3rd Rock From the Sun material. I didn't even realize it was the same guy. Yeah, he basically was John-Lennon-wannabe-emo-guy but whatever. Definately a character that the late teens/early 20s people on this board would root for. He's the sensitive, slighty nerdy, but street smart dork who is fighting for "true love" and can beat up drug dealers, bullies, while sulking and reading literature behind the school. Hook... line... and sinker.

The dialogue (although, largely delivered poorly by anybody other than Levitt) was also pretty good. It worked against the film a bit because the actors (other than Levitt) couldn't sell it. There are rough patches where I rolled my eyes, like when Pin is trying to discuss Tolkien in a failed attempt to give that character emotional depth, but eh...

It's entertaining in it's first showing, but I could never fathom sitting through it again. It's fast paced enough not to be boring, but like Donnie Darko the misplaced pretentiousness of the director starts to seep through at the end and I wouldn't be able to avoid rolling my eyes at 90% of it the second round through (I mean, the first meeting with the Principal and that stupid Halloween party with Laura was hard enough the first time to get through).

Finally... is it just me seeing the connection, or does the idea of giving Emilie de Ravin children turning into a BAD idea.

andy...

I'll agree that Nora Zehetner is definitely the weak spot in the cast. I do find myself enjoying her performance more with each subsequent viewing, though. I really think the material went over her head to begin with, and that is the point where Rian Johnson's inexperience as a director came into play. A more experienced filmmaker probably could have corrected that issue.

I think you're saying that Lukas Haas' performance was bad simply because he is Lukas Haas, and that doesn't seem fair. I thought he was almost as good as Gordon-Levitt. Remember, the Pin is supposed to be a frail (the leg defect), spoiled person. In that regard, Haas would almost be typecasting.

I dunno. If I'm being totally honest, I think your biggest issue with the film is deriving from the issues you have with the audience you think this film is designed for.

No. I just don't like mediocre film being passed off as brilliant because it's "age appropriate". I thought the same thing about Reality Bites and Clerks when I was 18ish.


Of course it's fair, it is a poor casting choice. If Haas would have done something to make his character believable or memorable it would have been one thing, but the idea of the character seemed to be "let's put Lucas Haas in a weird cape and sit with an eagle because it makes some sort of ironic statement on a drug dealer".

Keep in mind, I don't think it's awful, just not particularly great.

"Age appropiate"? It's not as if every person praising the film fits into the stereotypical mold of the late teens/early twenties person you've fabricated. I somehow doubt that the 81 positive reviews at Rotten Tomatoes are all from 20 year old emo kids.



I'm not sure in what world Haas would be considered a poor casting choice for an early twenties, frail, thin, and nerdy kid with dark hair. As I said earlier, if anything it was typecasting. I can understand you having an issue with his performance (well, not really, but you know), but your critcism based upon how you feel a crime boss/drug dealer character should look feels unfair.

Oh, I know.

I'm actually quite enjoying this. It's been a long time since I've cared enough about a film to get into a discussion about it. The main reason I'm so riled up is because I value your opinion, you know.

Well I don't have to agree with Rotten Tomatoes. And I don't have to agree with their reasoning either. Does it make you feel better that the RT people like the film? To justify your little emo filled lifestyle?

(I just threw the last part in for kicks )


Haas is bad to begin with, and he's actually one day younger than me (he's 26 in the film) the problem that I have is two fold. It's the way the character was written to begin with AND Haas' no-where performance. I mean, come ON. His mom gets him cookies and he has people who stand in his hallway with baseball bats while he walks on the beach and speaks of Tolkien? It's a complete farce. It's there to be "edgy" and "hip". It's obvious. And YES, I know drug dealers... well, know people who were drug dealers a long time ago.

You absolutely don't have to agree with RT, and I wouldn't expect you to. I was just pointing out the fact that people outside of the group you seem to think it was created for enjoy it.

Hey, I work hard to justify my emo filled lifestyle!



I dunno. I think you're misinterpreting the character based on the assumption you've created of the core audience. You think it was an attempt by the filmmakers to make the character "hip" and "edgy" because that's what their target audience would want to see. I think it was a commentary on the obvious absurdity of the entire situation. Yeah, it is a farce... it's SUPPOSED to be.

I think that is one of the best things about the film... it balances straight homage with all out spoof quite well, kind of like the first Scream.

I think I would have found the convoluted plot less of a chore had the high school noir stuff actually been as interesting as I thought it'd be.

I don't think I found it quite as gimmicky as andaroo did, but I do agree with him that overall it lacked a certain passion. Not that I expected to have fun, per se, but I do think it could have benefited from some wit or levity to relieve what ends up being a very one-note story.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is good here, but he played a similar moody teen (albeit a gay hustler-ish one) to greater effect in last year's Mysterious Skin.

I guess I was somewhat intrigued, more so disinterested by the characters and the storyline. A shame, too, since I was actually looking forward to it a lot.

C+

The backlash is breaking my little emo heart.

I wish I was passionate enough that I could continue with the discussion, but I can't be passionate about this film even in my dislike for it

Very good movie. I'll definately have to see it again. Levitt was great! I wished for more Emilie but oh well. I thought the first half was pure A-Material. The second half was a bit of a letdown. It's one of those movies where the grade is likely to go up after more viewings. A/A-