Movie Review - Brick (2005)

Brick (2005)

Director: Rian Johnson

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Nora Zehetner, Lukas Haas

 

Before beginning this review, there is a confession I must make:  I'm a JGL-aholic.  JGL, in case you don't know, is 31-year old actor/performer Joseph Gordon-Levitt.  I admire the dude.  I like his acting style.  I like the way he dresses.  I like the way he sings.  I like that he started his own company, something called hitRECord, and it sounds really cool (the picture of JGL on the homepage for hitRECord is simply classic.  Could he look any more charmimg/smarmy?).  But most of all, as a movie fan, I admire his choice of roles.  JGL is my modern day Edward Norton.  In the 90s, Norton, at the time my favorite actor, had a legendary (to me) stretch of appearances in movies that were simply awesome.  From 1995 to 2005, Norton starred in (among another films): Primal Fear, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Rounders, American History X, Fight Club, The Score, 25th Hour, and The Illusionist.  All great movies, and vastly different in genre and/or tone.  Norton at the time struck me as an actor who was willing to try anything, eager to challenge himself, and did an excellent job in whatever role he took on.

At the moment, I consider JGL to be in the midst of a similar stretch.  Granted, it helps his cause that he seems to have been integrated into the Christopher Nolan mafia of actors who often appear in Nolan films, but the guy has really put together an impressive filmography at a relatively young age: The Lookout (which I haven't seen but is apparently excellent), (500) Days of Summer (the rare chick flick or rom-com I can tolerate, although it is unapologetically hipster-ish), Inception, 50/50.  And look at the list of movies he will be appearing in within the next year or so: The Dark Knight Rises, Looper, Lincoln.  Clearly, JGL is a rising star in the movie industry.  And that makes me happy.  But before Gordon-Levitt was starring in big-budget productions directed by the likes of Steven Spielberg, he was a young former child actor (remember 3rd Rock from the Sun?), making his name in a number of critically successful indie flicks.  Brick is one of those, made for only around $500,000.  Despite that, it stars a number of familiar faces, mostly young actors (aside from Gordon-Levitt himself, among them are Emilie de Ravin from Lost, Meagan Good, and Lukas Haas), and achieved considerable critical claim, winning a Special Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

As you can see, I had a number of reasons to be drawn to Brick.  It stars my boy JGL.  It's critically acclaimed.  And last but not least, the movie boasts a pretty quirky concept: it is a contemporary Noir film placed in the setting of an American high school.  In researching this film, the phrase Noir appeared again and again in descriptions of the movie.  This movie is, by all accounts, an homage to classic Noir novels and films of the 1930s and 40s.  These are works like The Maltese Falcon and The Glass Key (both written by Dashiell Hammett).  They are hardboiled detective stories, featuring tough, fatalistic characters like Sam Spade:  The archetypical fedora and pinstripe suit wearing detective, often found monologuing stoically in the midst of a rainstorm.  There are usually guns, crime, and a mysterious yet alluring female character involved as well.  You can see how it is both an intriguing and brilliant idea to transplant all these concepts into a high school setting.  I was intrigued by the concept, but as a novice to both the hardboiled detective and Noir genres, I can't comment on how effectively this movie pays homage to them.

One thing I can comment on is how effectively the movie functions as a movie.  And, unfortunately, I found it a little lacking. Throughout the movie, I couldn't help but continually find my mind drifting to thoughts of the TV series Veronica Mars, coincidentally one of my favorite shows of all-time.  Veronica Mars began its run in 2004, just one year before Brick was released.  And like Brick, the word Noir often surfaced in descriptions of Veronica Mars.  The similarities don't end there.  Both Brick and Veronica Mars took place in high schools (although Veronica Mars actually shows those high school kids doing high school kid things, whereas there is not so much as a classroom sighting throughout Brick).  Both feature impressively witty and sharp dialogue, delivered by teenage characters.  Both feature these young adults in decidedly adult situations and making adult decisions.  However, Veronica Mars takes the subversion of the Noir archetype even further by having a female lead.  Veronica Mars is also, in my opinion, less slavishly devoted to honoring its Noir roots.  Veronica, while not afraid to go dark, is decidedly light and bouncy in tone for the most part.  It's fun, and it plays to the strengths of lead Kristin Bell.  Brick, while at times very funny, is, compared to Veronica, pretty oppressively dark in tone.

Once again, I think that this is likely intentional on the part of the filmmakers.  They are staying true to the inspiration for the film.  Even down to the way the characters talk: these teenagers use words like bulls, gum, and jake in such a way that I could sometimes barely follow what they were talking about.  Buried in all this seriousness is a sense of fun.  In that sense, unlike Veronica Mars, I don't think this movie plays to the strengths of its lead.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt is an extremely charming and funny actor, but he doesn't get much chance to show it here.  I know that the character he is portraying should be delivering his lines so coldly without a hint of emotion, and playing the role of tough as nails gumshoe.  But I just don't think Gordon-Levitt pulls it off.  I think part of it is that he is still relatively young at this time (2005), and maybe finding his way as an actor.  He just lacks the charisma and presence to pull off this role, though he tries hard.  It doesn't help that his haircut s ridiculous.  Apparently, the hairstyle is drawing inspiration from Spike, the main character of the anime Cowboy Bebop, but I think that particular hairstyle is better left to the world of animation.

In the end, the world of Brick is incredibly well-realized.  Director Johnson does an admirable job of making the movie look sparse and noir-y, for lack of a better term.  The writing is extremely sharp.  There were many memorable one-liners and witty exchanges and lines of dialogue.  The cast is very fresh and good-looking.  And the film is well-shot.  There were so many creatively shot scenes, and interesting jump cuts and transitions between scenes that I lost count.  But the movie lacks heart.  The story, while impressively dense and twisting for a film of this sort, left me cold.  I never really cared about Gordon-Levitt's character's girlfriend, why she died, or what happened next to anybody.  None of the characters were particularly likeable.  And everything was so overwrought.  Particularly Lukas Haas' character, the Pin.  I couldn't determine whether Haas was channeling a vampire or a pimp or both for this particular role, but he looked and sounded ridiculous throughout.

Perhaps were I a Noir or detective story buff, I would have found more redeeming qualities in this film than I did, but as is, I found it decidedly mediocre.  However, I still like Joseph Gordon-Levitt.  And I really want to watch Veronica Mars.

Verdict: 6.5/10

Thunder, 111 - Spurs, 120 - Reflections

Well, that was fun.  I could make this post a lot shorter by copying and pasting everything I wrote about how awesome the Spurs are playing right now in the previous post.  I will get into a little more details about my thoughts and takeaways from this game, but if you want the short version, suffice it to say the Spurs won.  Again.  In domination fashion.  Again.  For those keeping track at home, that's 20 in a row.  The Spurs also won 11 in a row on two separate occasions during the season.  Both streaks ended because Coach Pop rested his players.  In addition, San Antonio is just the third team to win at least 10 games to start the playoffs in NBA history.  The first two were the Los Angeles Lakers, in 2001 and in 1989.

So, to the actual game.  It is a testament to the depth of the Spurs that a couple of the so-called heroes of Game 1, Stephen Jackson and Tiago Splitter, could go without mentioning in this article.  Of course, Manu was still, there making his presence known (20 points on 6-11 shooting, including 10 points in the 4th quarter), but the star of tonight was no doubt our team MVP, Mr. Frenchie himself, William Anthony "Tony" Parker Jr.

When it became clear that the Spurs would be facing the OKC Thunder in the Western Conference Finals, I became a little giddy at the prospect of what Tony could do in the series.  After all, he absolutely owned the Thunder during the regular season.  The teams met three times in the regular season, and discounting the first meeting, played before the Spurs clicked with their numerous in-season roster additions, Tony averaged 33.5 points in two Spurs wins.  Well, after a somewhat ho-hum Game 1, Tony was back in the saddle again, running the hapless Thunder defenders through screen after screen, and nailing jumpers when he wasn't relentlessly attacking the basket.  All this added up to 34 points on phenomenal 16-21 shooting.  And the Thunder stood no chance.

It was surmised after Game 1 that the Big 3 of the OKC Thunder (Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden) would bounce back after a lackluster performance to start the series.  Well, they did.  The scored a combined 88 points.  And the offensive efficiency of the Thunder was good, 113.5.  Unfortunately for them, it didn't matter.  That's how good the Spurs are right now.  They are moving the ball crisply, always taking and making open shots, and the offense is running like a precision machine.  This offense is drawing comparisons to the heyday of the Bulls' triangle offense with Michael Jordan, just to give you an idea of how good they have been.

It's going to be difficult to compete with that anytime, especially when you start a game giving up a 10-2 lead, as the Thunder did in Game 2.  That's something the experienced Spurs would never allow to happen had the roles been reversed.  And sure, the Thunder did manage to crawl back into the game after that point, but the Spurs lead once again swelled, to 22 points.  In the 4th quarter, the Thunder made another run, slicing the lead to 6 points by Thunder Coach Scott Brooks Hack-a-Splitter strategy of intentionally fouling the Spurs' big man from Brazil.  Unfortunately for the Thunder, the Spurs dynamic back court of Ginobili and Parker is still active and healthy, and they combined for 18 points in the final quarter to close this game out.

So now the series goes to Loud City for two games.  This will be a very hostile environment for San Antonio, and I'm curious to see how both teams respond.  Particularly, if the Spurs can retain the trademark stoic poise they have displayed throughout this series and these playoffs.  For the part of the Thunder, there are many more questions than supposed answers.  After both defeats, the decision-making of Coach Brooks has been called into question.  In Game 1, for benching Defensive Player of the Year Candidate Serge Ibaka throughout the 4th quarter as the Spurs offense romped.  In Game 2, the questionable decision-making of Brooks may have hampered the Thunder again, as he benched Durant for extended periods of time, and would seem to have overplayed Kendrick Perkins, who struggles to contribute offensively, and aging veteran Derek Fisher.  We'll have to see how those story lines develop throughout the series, but if the Thunder can manage to win a game or two in San Antonio, those transgressions may be forgotten by OKC fans.

Before closing, I'd like to recognize the efforts of Kawhi Leonard, who was an understated key to this game.  The rookie swingman from San Diego State posted a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds, and in between canning multiple 3s on the offensive end, managed to find the energy defensively to "hold" Durant to 31 points.  And I'm not being sarcastic there.  He did about as good a job as you can do on the scoring machine that is KD.  Also, congratulations to the franchise cornerstone, Tim Duncan, who recorded 4 blocks, and supplanted the great Hakeem Olajuwon as second place on the list of all-time blocks in the playoffs.  Duncan now trails Kareem Abdul-Jabbar by only 4 blocks, and that is a record he will likely attain at some point in this series.

That's all for now, and as always, #gospursgo!

Thunder, 98 - Spurs, 101 - Reflections

And with that, Game 1 of the 2012 Western Conference Finals is in the books.  My brief thoughts to follow:

In case you've been living under a particularly heavy rock for the last few months, I have some news for you: the Spurs are playing really well right now.  Like, historically well.

The Spurs haven't lost a basketball game in 46 days.  That's 19 straight wins, including 9 in the playoffs.  Playing in the playoffs against supposedly superior competition, the Spurs have defeated teams by an impressive average of 14 points.  7 of 9 wins have been by double digits, and fully half of the wins have been by more than 15 points.  That's not just winning, that's dominating.

And by dominating so thoroughly, the Spurs find themselves in the perhaps not-so enviable position of heavy favorites against a very young, very dangerous Oklahoma City Thunder team.  Frankly, it makes me a bit uncomfortable.  As a Spurs fan, I'm used to the media and fans of other teams writing the Spurs off for being too old or oft-injured to compete for a championship.  Of course, I knew better to believe that.  The injury concerns have always been legitimate, but the production of the Spurs' "over the hill" duo of Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan has, on a per-minute basis, not declined considerably.

That said, I welcomed these criticisms simply because it, in my opinion, led to the perpetual underrating of San Antonio.  Basically, we could surprise people.  Well, in these playoffs, there are no secrets, and we are surprising no one.  The Spurs run through the playoffs has been as subtle as a hammer to the face, and everyone is taking notice of how efficient and terrifying this team is.  The Spurs have been so good that I find myself continually waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Well, I'm happy to report, it hasn't dropped yet.  Although it came dangerously close.

Through 3 quarters, many of my fears going into this series were played out.  The Thunder were aggressive, and used their youth and aggression to run over the Spurs.  Manu looked to be our only savior (he ended with 26 points, 11 in the crucial 4th quarter) as Duncan and Parker struggled (only 6 points apiece in the game).  Then, prior to the 4th quarter, Coach Popovich implored his team to get "nasty" and unleashed the equivalent of the Balrog from Lord of the Rings, Captain Jack himself, Stephen Jackson.

Jackson, who was quoted after the game as saying "my name is nasty", pestered and prodded Kevin Durant for the entire 4th quarter, setting the tone for his teammates.  With Jackson draped all over him, Durant did not attempt a shot for the first five minutes of the 4th quarter, and the Thunder as a team mustered only 27 points in the final quarter.  The Spurs, meanwhile, were off to the races led by Ginobili and Tiago Splitter (9 points in the game).  The silver and black roasted the Thunder for 39 points in the 4th, the most of any playoff quarter this season, and the most of any 4th quarter all season.  After that onslaught, the final result was academic.

It is that final stat, about the 4th quarter scoring, that will likely haunt the Thunder going into Game 2 of this series.  As heavy underdogs against a much more seasoned Spurs team, the Thunder squandered an incredible opportunity to steal Game 1 on the Spurs home court and gain some much-needed momentum.  Instead, the opposite happened, and Spurs experience and poise won out as they swiped the game away in the clutch.

This series is far from forever, but I expect that it is that edge in experience in the Spurs' favor that will continue to make the difference.

2012 Western Conference Finals - Spurs/Thunder

Spurs/OKC starts today.  I wanted to write some kind of lengthy preview thingy, but got a little busy.  I will try to write something later.  Anyway, my prediction is Spurs in 7.  Go Spurs!