tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post1491550722870087732..comments2024-02-05T10:41:31.777-05:00Comments on I Saw Lightning Fall: Brick Is An Intriguing, Incongruous Mash-UpLoren Eatonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-36049396113186913772011-11-19T12:52:35.514-05:002011-11-19T12:52:35.514-05:00I didn't have a problem with it getting dark, ...I didn't have a problem with it getting dark, per se. The climax just felt like a bit of stretch for high schoolers to find themselves in. Still, I found the film quite enjoyable. Wonder if Johnson's follow up, <i>The Brothers Bloom</i>, is any good.Loren Eatonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-9089467119867517432011-11-18T12:05:25.328-05:002011-11-18T12:05:25.328-05:00I <3 "Brick" so, so much. I even lik...I <3 "Brick" so, so much. I even like the way it splinters a bit at the end; the incongruous juxtaposition just makes it more enjoyable to me. <br /><br />I think it earns the right to get dark; not every "funny" movie can, but when they do, they tend to be my favorites.Scattercathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00302815654553659644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-48005484498276946212011-11-18T08:43:57.052-05:002011-11-18T08:43:57.052-05:00Another thing I loved about Brick but only halfway...Another thing I loved about <i>Brick</i> but only halfway alluded to in the review: its tactfulness. Sure, it gets bloody at the end, but almost all of the violence happens offscreen, and it's so artfully done that it hits harder than if Johnson had simply thrust it in our faces.Loren Eatonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-20447447375705923502011-11-18T08:42:45.577-05:002011-11-18T08:42:45.577-05:00Yes, the dialogue in Brick is quite good, if a bit...Yes, the dialogue in <i>Brick</i> is quite good, if a bit rapid-fire. I actually watched the film with the subtitles on so I wouldn't miss any of it. Turned out to be a good decision!Loren Eatonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-56772483717643554032011-11-16T17:27:26.663-05:002011-11-16T17:27:26.663-05:00One other thing Brick excels at: "Buffyspeak....One other thing Brick excels at: "Buffyspeak." Joss Whedon's Buffy was successful in part in that it crafts dialog that is self-consciously artificial (and gloriously so), yet obviously evokes the patterns of high school students. This way it avoids the grimace-worthy mistakes of so many bad writers trying to capture "authentic" grade-school dialog, still retains its tether to the reality of high school social environments, and provides an extra jolt of joyously warped language. (As Buffy in the comic books, confronted with future slang, puts it: "Wow. The English language really went to pot. I should have treated it nicer.") <br /><br />In Brick, of course, the artificiality is specifically evocative of Noir cinema, but I still think the combination of obvious literary artifice + recognizable social setting is a valid one. It charts a middle path between words-about-words metaliterary games and needlessly boring naturalism.Chestertonian Ramblerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01550643992523840950noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4025264318423694875.post-17576996017386579362011-11-16T14:35:48.782-05:002011-11-16T14:35:48.782-05:00For those of you given to celebrating small triump...For those of you given to celebrating small triumphs, this is the six-hundredth post to <i>ISLF</i>. Huzzah!Loren Eatonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12488412683340389286noreply@blogger.com