Brick (Special Edition) [Blu-ray]

Brick is a fast paced film that bears watching repeatedly. (It can be viewed here on Amazon.com -- free with Amazon Prime.) The online transfer is good with a clear and intelligible soundtrack -- but the noir slang may not be familiar to most.I liked it enough that I bought the DVD. The extras are a mixed bag; the commentary track is a mess and other than telling us the film was totally filmed in San Clemente, California, it is just a curiosity. The deleted scenes are good, and the two "screen tests" are ok.The real value of the DVD is in the English subtitles. (Spanish & French subtitles are also included.)I've included the IMDb.com slang list for this film, because reading it on IMDb reveals plot:Blow - To leave, depart; e.g., "Did she blow last night?"Brick - A term used to describe a pound or kilogram of any drug, in the case of this film its heroin.Bulls - Cops; e.g., "What first, tip the bulls?" Also, as a verb, to turn over to the cops; e.g., "I bulled the rat."Burg (or Burgh) - Town, City; e.g., "He knows every two-bit toker in the burg."C - Roman numeral for 100; e.g., "He had a C-Note."Clam - To keep your mouth shut e.g., "The muscle blows or I'll clam."Copped - Obtained; e.g., "She copped the junk."Dose - To take drugs e.g., "He dosed off the bad junk and it laid him out."Duck Soup - Easy pickings.Gat - Gun.Gum - To mess things up; e.g., "Bulls would only gum it."Heel - To walk away from (and show your heels to); e.g., "I'm not heeling you to hook you."Hook - Raise interest or get involved; e.g. "I'm not heeling to hook you."Hop/Jake/Junk - Drugs. Back when noir films were more popular, (1940's-50's); hop is often used to reference marijuana and "hophead" is someone who smokes a lot of pot.Knives in my eyes - a splitting headache; e.g., "I've got knives in my eyes. I'm going home sick."Lap Dog - A lap dog is defined as a dog that is small enough to be held in the arms or lay comfortably on a person's lap. The term is also sometimes used to describe a person who is very easily controlled, such as a yes man. In the case of Brick both definitions are cleverly combined. If you recall the scene where we first meet Kara, she has a freshman boys head in her lap, who springs to her command of "run and get my purse."On the Nail - immediately; e.g., "He wants cash on the nail."Pick - A ride in a car (as in "pick-up"); e.g., "Did she get a pick?"Raise - To get in touch with; e.g., "You couldn't raise em?" This is also used cleverly when Brain asks Brendan, "You couldn't raise her?" referring to Emily whom he could neither contact nor raise, as in raise from the dead.Reef Worm - A stoner (reefer).Scape - A patsy to take the blame (scapegoat/ fall guy).Scraped - Begged off of, cadged from; e.g., "Ask any dope rat where their junk sprang and they'll say they scraped it off [name]..."Shamus - A private detective.Shine - To wield (as with a weapon); e.g., "He shines a blade."Showing Your Ace - Obviously a card reference. An ace is the highest playing card, meaning 'high-quality. When Brendan strips Kara and says "I'm showing your ace," he is saying that Kara's most valuable asset is her beauty, which she uses to manipulate people with (e.g. lap dogs, Dode, etc). Not to mention, ace sounds similar to ass, something else of hers he shows off.Specks - Eyes or Eyeglasses (spectacles); e.g., "Keep your specks peeled."Sprang - Originated; e.g., "His gat sprang from Tugger's gang."Squawk - To give up or snitch on. Or more apt to this, a stool pigeon.Take A Powder - To slip away; e.g., "Why'd you take a powder the other night?"Yegg - A criminal.Too bad the list isn't on the DVD; but check out the IMDb entry for more goodies.

BRICK is a noir story the likes of The Big Sleep and The Maltese Falcon - except set in a modern day Californian high school. If this premise seems ludicrous to you, I can't imagine you'd appreciate this film. However, I thought the change up worked really well. Having your reluctant hero be a jaded, withdrawn teen who eats his lunch behind the school and yearns to solve the mystery of what happened to his ex-lady love completely enthralled me. The twists on the old form are interesting. The vamp being a drama student with a surprisingly posh dressing room. The go-to sidekick being a nerd with access to his mom's cell phone. The muscle being a growling hip hop inspired pot smoker. The movie seethes with a smart energy and the dialogue sizzles.And even after you watch the first time, and the mystery is solved, Brandon's journey is so intense and swirling that it's great to watch over and over again.The soundtrack and cinematography complete the package to make a slick movie that is both fun and dark.My favorite scene is the one that (for me) best encapsulates the film's tone: Brandon gets pulled into the vice principal's office, where he is asked to rat out potential dealers on school property. Brandon says he is no man's stoolie. He did it once, but that was "to see [the dealer] eaten not to see you [the VP] fed!" He then shouts that if the VP has a discipline issue with him "write me up or suspend me!" This scene so clearly mirrors those scenes where the noir hero is asked to compromise his own investigation that I was tittering throughout.This film is an original and interesting tale with beautiful camera work and excellent performances. Highly recommended.One note of warning: Sadly, the packaging of this movie gives away some of the twists and turns in the movie. SO I would recommend not looking too hard at the cover before checking it out.

As much as I really enjoyed this film from the start to end and I highly recommend people to watch this film if they enjoy a murder mystery. However let me get to the point that annoyed me and that is somehow this film is mainly at this High School but, it's almost like so much happens and no one sees anything and no teachers nothing it makes the school setting feel too fake. The town is dead, the school is barren, and it just makes for a very odd setting.

Brick is a classic detective story told in a new light. Following the story of a loner high school student named Brendan Frye (Joseph-Gordon Levitt - Inception, The Dark Knight Rises) that receives a desperate call from his former girlfriend. After hearing of Emily Kostich's (Emilie de Ravin - Lost, Once Upon a Time) troubles Brendan descends into the dark underworld of high school drug dealing to find out who put Emily in danger and make them face true justice. This look at an intelligent loner high schooler as the detective in a high school mystery gives a much needed unique perspective on the truly underused classic detective story. By having the classic "Brute", "Distracting Femme", "Crime Lord" and "Innocent but stupid druggie" cast with a younger group we can see this roles in an entirely new light. Complemented with excellent dialogues, and music that is reminiscent of a true detective story, you will be kept guessing as to who the true villain is, and if Brendan has any chance of "coming out of this clean". To give this unique and brilliant story any less than 4 stars would truly be a sin, brought on by ignorance of the beauty of the story, or some personal prejudice against the type of story, actors or actresses, or writer. Judge for yourself as you give this 110 Minutes of brilliant creativity your attention, and be sure to watch again to catch the small details you may have missed. I hope you enjoy this story as much as I do every time I re-watch it.

De film is een uitstekende neo-noir handelend over een moord is gesitueerd in de leefwereld van de Amerikaanse tiener. Een ondergewaardeerde en enigsins door het grote publiek over het hoofd geziene film. Met de film zelf is niets mis. Een sterk verhaal die door de goede transfernaar HD goed tot zijn recht komt. Maar, de blu-ray heeft één storend probleem.Er zijn 2 gesproken taal opties, origineel Engels en een nagesinchroniseerde Franse. Om mij onduidelijke reden komt de Engelse taal optie met Franse ondertiteling die niet uit gezet kan worden. De Franse taaloptie komt zonder enige vorm van ondertiteling. Deze Franse ondertiteling kan naar verloop van tijd als irririterend worden ervaren.Afgezien van dat en het Franse menu -die ook voor niet Frans sprekende zeer gemakkelijk in het gebruik is- is dit een uitstekende blu-ray. Een film die ik absoluut aanraad.

Perfect

It's a fun an engaging noir film set in a high school. That being said, it's not a film for everyone,

mi aspettavo di più. L'idea è bella: trasferire il linguaggio, le atmosfere e la trama di un noir in un'ambientazione da college/teen movie americano. Poco riuscito, però (troppo filmetto indipendente per i miei gusti)

Regisseur Rian Johnson mischt die Stilelemente des Film Noir mit denen von Teenie-Filmen & erzielt dabei ein interessantes & durchaus gelungenes Ergebnis. Dies liegt an der perfekten Charakterzeichnung, hervorragend umgesetzt von den Darstellern, den wunderbaren Dialogen, welche an die klassische Ära der schwarzen Serie erinnern, sowie den verwaschenen & farbarmen Bildern, wodurch ständig - auch bei hellem Tageslicht - eine sinistre Atmosphäre herrscht.Nicht unverdient hat Steven Jay Schneider diesen noch sehr jungen Film in sein Werk "101 Kultfilme" mit aufgenommen.Und diesen "Kultfilm" gibt's nun, wie alle Autobahn-Editionen, im äußerst edlen Steelbook.Bild- & Ton-Qualität sind tadellos (angeblich ist lt. ofdb.de die englische DD5.1-Tonfassung fehlerhaft - kann sein - mir wäre nichts aufgefallen...).Auf beiden DVDs gibt's mehrere interessante Extras: Audiokommentar, Trailer, Doku über den Film, kurze Making Ofs von Film & Soundtrack, Deleted Scenes, Interview mit Johnson sowie mehrere Featurettes inkl. dem Kurzfilm "Origami Master".Für Fans des Films eine absolute Kaufempfehlung!