Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 4 (Act of Violence / Mystery Street / Crime Wave / Decoy / Illegal / The Big Steal / They Live By Night / Side Street / Where Danger Lives / Tension)

Description

Ex-World War II pilot Frank Enley (Van Heflin) is a respected contractor and family man. Then his troubled, gimp-legged bombardier (Robert Ryan) shows up with a gun and a score to settle. Perhaps neither man is what he seems to be as director Fred Zinnemann (The Day of the Jackal) guides a searing Act of Violence, "the first postwar noir to take a challenging look at the ethics of men in combat" (Eddie Muller, Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir). Murder lives on Mystery Street. John Sturges (The Great Escape) directs a revealing-for-the-era procedural about a Boston cop (Ricardo Montalban) solving a whodunit with the help of a Harvard forsensic expert (Bruce Bennett). Welcome to CSI Noir.

Customer Reviews:

VOL 4 IS GREAT.......2007-09-13

FABULOUS FIL NOIR CLASSIC COLLECTION VOLUME 4 IS JUST AS GOOD AS THE 1ST 3 RELEASED. YOU LOVE FILM NOIR, YOU WILL OWN THIS GUARANTEED

Film Noir Classic Collection.......2007-09-12

This collection was purchased as a gift for my son.
He says it's a great collection!

Film Noir Heaven.......2007-09-08

The Warner film noir box sets are some of the best deals going -- great collections of great films in great transfers with often great commentaries. If you're a film noir addict you'll go nuts over these reasonably priced sets -- if you're not you'll quickly become one. All four sets are stupendous entertainment bargains.

A MUST FOR NOIR FANS.......2007-09-03

Ten classic film noir all come with informative commentaries. No need to say more. Another decent film noir boxset presented by WB Home Video.

Excellent Collection.......2007-09-03

Wonderful film noir movies. Insightful and, on occasions, hilarious commentaries and you get 'Crime Wave', 'Decoy' and 'They Drive By Night' as well -The Perfect package. I hope there is a 5th set soon and 'Detour', the film noir classic, features on it.

Average customer rating:

egr - woman in the window
Edward G. Robinson Classic
Atmospheric suspense drama marred by shoddy conclusion
edward g. robinson lovers here's a A+ pick
A fine noir with a clever and -- the second time you see it -- satisfying twist

The Woman in the Window (MGM Film Noir)
Starring: Edward G Robinson , and Joan Bennett
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000PMFRW4
Release Date: 2007-07-10

Amazon.com

Fritz Lang did his best work in Hollywood throughout the 1940s, and The Woman in the Window ranks among his best films from that period. Equally adept at crafting first-rate Westerns and melodramatic thrillers, Lang returned to the latter category for The Woman in the Window, a deliciously devious follow-up to 1944's Ministry of Fear and a near-perfect companion piece to Lang's 1945 follow-up, Scarlet Street. Adapted by producer/screenwriter Nunnally Johnson from J.H. Wallis's novel Once Off Guard, this briskly paced and brilliantly plotted thriller begins with a chance encounter between mild-mannered psychology professor Richard Wanley (Edward G. Robinson) and Alice Reed (Joan Bennett), the stylishly alluring subject of a portrait that Wanley has dreamily admired in a window near the men's club where he socializes with a savvy District Attorney (Raymond Massey) and a friendly physician (Edmund Breon). When Alice invites Wanley to her apartment for casual drinks and conversation, Wanley is forced to kill an intruder, and his subsequent cover-up leads to a nail-biting plot in which Wanley must feign innocence as he "innocently" participates in the D.A.'s investigation with a homicide detective.

Lang was an expert at turning the screws of suspense, and while Johnson's screenplay tempers its convenient coincidences with well-written characters, Robinson's increasing desperation is the engine that drives the plot. When a sleazy blackmailer (Dan Duryea) squeezes Wanley and Reed for every penny they've got, The Woman in the Window winds up to a fever pitch, with a "twist" ending that's either a cop-out or clever, depending on your tolerance for now-familiar surprises. As renowned critic Pauline Kael astutely noted, The Woman in the Window has "the logic and plausibility of a nightmare," and Lang surely enjoyed the superbly cast trio of Robinson, Bennett, and Duryea, for he invited them back for Scarlet Street just a few months later. And speaking of murder, check out the kid playing Robinson's son in one of the opening scenes: that's future real-life murder-conspiracy suspect Bobby (Robert) Blake (subsequently acquitted), at the innocent age of 10. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

egr - woman in the window.......2007-09-13

This movie "Woman in the Window" was overlooked by many people during its release but is a great tasteful little film noir movie by my hero Edward G Robinson, whom I think is the greatest actor ever in Hollywood history
If you like EGR you have to get this DVD

Edward G. Robinson Classic.......2007-08-30

This is a different mystery with Edward G. Robinson and a great supporting cast. He plays such a mild mannered character, then finds himself over his head with trouble. Surprising twist at the end. I've been waiting a long time for this to be available on DVD.

Atmospheric suspense drama marred by shoddy conclusion.......2007-08-10

Great performances, especially by Bennett and Robinson, and adeptly directed by Fritz Lang; but in the end, worse than mediocre. Personally, I'll forgive a lot of flaws in a film if its last seven minutes are satisfying; conversely, even if the preceding 100 minutes were admirable, I'm likely to feel cheated if an ending is highly contrived. This movie concludes with a not-so-dizzying plot twist that tosses aside character development, story, and common sense to append a narrative cheat, precisely the same undramatic, logic-defying "surprise" ending used by umpteen amateurish authors before and since. For me, a repeat viewing did not increase the appeal of the "surprise" ending; on the contrary, it only served to highlight the film's fatally flawed internal logic. A disappointing movie, in spite of the remarkable starring performances. I recommend Scarlet Street instead: same cast playing similiar roles, same director commanding a similarly triangulated tale, and a shocking conclusion that you'll never forget.

edward g. robinson lovers here's a A+ pick.......2007-08-09

All you old film noir fans, here's a movie your'll enjoy. Edward G plays a physch professor who finds himself fixated on a portrait of a beautiful woman right next to his daily hangout with the guys.

This fixation becomes more than he can handle. Watch and see how.

I love the old movies when stars were stars...Bogart, Cagney, Grant, Hepburn, Tracy and on and on the list goes. If you're like me...you'll enjoy this one too.

A fine noir with a clever and -- the second time you see it -- satisfying twist.......2007-07-20

The Woman in the Window has an ending almost guaranteed to infuriate you the first time you see the movie, and, the second time, to leave you with an immensely satisfied smile.

"The man who kills in self defense, for instance, must not be judged by the same standards applied to a man who kills for gain." So says middle-aged and happily married Richard Wanley (Edward G. Robinson), professor of criminal psychology, to his class at Gotham College. Wanley is about to put his dictum to the test. When his wife and their two young children leave for a brief vacation, he dines at his club with two old friends, one a doctor and the other, Frank Lalor (Raymond Massey), the district attorney. Wanley bemoans his increasingly middle-aged life. "I hate this solidity," he says with a rueful smile, "this stodginess I'm beginning to feel. To me, it's the end of the brightness of life, the end of spirit and adventure." His two friends leave and he settles in, before returning to his empty home, with one last brandy and The Song of Songs. When he leaves the club late in the evening he stops, as he often has, and gazes at the portrait in the window of the gallery next door. The woman is lovely...beautiful, with a challenge in her eyes and a gaze that looks right at you. When a voice asks him for a light for her cigarette, the professor turns and is stunned to see that the voice belongs to the woman who posed for the portrait. Alice Reed (Joan Bennett) sometimes stops by the gallery to see the reaction of men when they look at her portrait. The two somehow wind up at a quiet bar, talk and then the professor escorts her to her apartment in a taxi. She invites him up and shows him sketches the artist made of her before painting her portrait. She seems genuinely friendly and honest and the professor apparently has no intention of becoming an adulterer. But when an angry man breaks into her apartment, slaps Alice Reed and attacks Professor Wanley, it's only a matter of seconds before the man is dead, stabbed by Wanley in the back with a pair of scissors handed him by Alice. Professor Wanley's life now begins to spin out of his control.

He decides to say nothing to the police. He leaves Alice and returns with his car. With her help he gets the body into the back seat and drives it to a deserted parkway, where he disposes of it in the underbrush. The man turns out to be a powerful businessman who had been seeing Alice regularly two or three times a week. The Professor's friend Lalor takes charge of the investigation and invites Wanley to accompany him, thinking the professor of criminology will be interested in how the case is slowly being built up to identify the murderer. Wanley keeps making little errors and mistakes...a ripped coat, a scratched wrist, a tire track in the mud, a slip of the tongue that seems to say Wanley knows more than he should. Lalor begins to look curiously at his old friend. And then the bodyguard (Dan Duryea) of the dead man turns up. He blackmails Alice, who must ask Wanley for help. This time Wanley reluctantly begins to think of murder.

The Woman in the Window is a fine noir. Some may think it's just the opening act for Fritz Lang's Scarlet Street, filmed the following year with the same three stars, Robinson, Bennett and Duryea. Scarlet Street is a classic, drenched in casual cruelty, loneliness and sadness. The Woman in the Window starts out as a classic noir. Professor Wanley is a man of good intentions whom we like and who finds himself moving in situations well beyond his capability. Joan Bennett's Alice Reed, however, is no Kitty March. Alice may be a kept woman, but she wants to do the right thing as long as she doesn't get in trouble. And she seems genuinely to like and even respect the Professor. Dan Duryea, of course, is a rotter, but he's at least straight forward here. He wants money; he doesn't seem to delight in hitting women. It makes for a movie which puts a premium on the skill of the actors to bring us along with them as events conspire against them. Few were better at this than Edward G. Robinson and, in my opinion, the under-appreciated Joan Bennett.

So we have a first class noir...and then Fritz Lang pulls the rug out from under us. To fully appreciate The Woman in the Window -- trust me -- you'll need to see it a second time. How about making that second time a double feature? Have some friends over and play Scarlet Street first, then The Woman in the Window. Keep them in that order. You'll have a great main course, and then a great desert.

The DVD transfer of this black-and-white film is first-rate. There are no extras.
Scarlet Street (Remastered Edition)

Average customer rating:

Very pleased with my order
An outstanding "oldie"
Drifting Away
Laura
Orpheus in the Underworld

Laura (Fox Film Noir)
Starring: Gene Tierney , Dana Andrews , Clifton Webb , Vincent Price , and Judith Anderson
Director: Rouben Mamoulian , and Otto Preminger
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00008LDNZ
Release Date: 2005-03-15

Amazon.com essential video

This silky smooth film noir pits gruff police detective Dana Andrews, stiff and blunt in his street-bred manners, against a cultured columnist and acidic wit (Clifton Webb at his prissiest) in a battle of wits during a murder investigation. The cop is a romantic hiding under a hard-boiled exterior who falls in love with the beautiful victim through the portrait that hangs in her apartment. Gene Tierney, whose heart-shaped face mixes the exotic with the girl next door, brings the poise and calm of a model to her role as the object of every man's gaze and the target of a killer. Laura, handsomely shot in dreamy black and white, is the first and best of Otto Preminger's cool, controlled murder mysteries. In the gritty world of film noir it remains the most refined and elegant example of the genre, but under the tasteful decor and high-society fashions lies a world seething in jealousy, passion, blackmail, and murder. Vincent Price costars as a blithe gigolo and David Raksin's lush theme has become a wistful romantic standard. --Sean Axmaker

Description

Nominated for five Academy Awards®, this stylish mystery thriller twists and turns with new suspects, new evidence and unexpected revelations. A wealthy journalist (Clifton Webb) becomes entranced with a beautiful young career woman named Laura (Gene Tierney). But shortly before her wedding to a dashing young playboy (Vincent Price), she is found murdered. Stirred by her portrait, the detective (Dana Andrews) assigned to her case finds that he, too, is strangely under Laura's spell.

Customer Reviews:

Very pleased with my order.......2007-09-17

I am very pleased to receive Laura, a classic, on DVD. It came very quickly and in excellent condition.

An outstanding "oldie".......2007-08-15

Wow! The more you see this film, the more you LOVE it!! Complex, bright, thrilling, the love themes between the main characters is weaved through out. The actors are individual & interact beautifully. Wonderfully, masterfully directed. This film noir piece of brilliance is a natural buy for your collection, esp if your into 40's movies. This is not a flick, it's a movie. The commentaries bring depth & understanding to a movie made in the long ago & far away of that era.
Gene Tierney is lovely, angelic & a mystery. She's perfect in this role, but she's only in the later half of it! Which is 1 reason why she didn't want the role. The detective falls in love with a dead woman, only to find out he's 1 of 3 men so possessed. The murder victim becomes a murder suspect. Clifton Webb, in his first on screen role, fresh off the stage, is wonderful as Waldo & was nominated for an Oscar. We see a young Vincent Price before his thriller era. All are great.
But mostly, the sweet & intense interaction between the painting & the love theme -- inseperable elements-- is so telling & omni present, that they're almost another main character in their ongoing presence & impact, casting a love spell over the viewer.
Press the purchase button here. All you'll need is a glass of wine, a bowl of popcorn & some kleenex. Buckle up & don't look back.

Drifting Away.......2007-08-09

The drifting music of Laura (Fox Film Noir) melts us into the portrait of a murdered beauty. We are infatuated. Vincent price walks into the scene and all we see is his usual handsome, tall and most charming presence. Judith Anderson claims your attention as she did in another unforgettable movie "Rebecca." Laura is cool and ravishing.

After all though, I was subdued by Clifton Web, as the splendidly audacious Waldo Lydecker. His words are choice and sautéed in lemon juice; a wonderful contrast to Laura. I must agree with him, when gum-chewing Detective Lieutenant Mark McPherson has become infatuated with the portrait of Laura, he sneers "Have you ever dreamed of Laura as you wife, sitting by your side at the policeman's ball or in the bleachers... or listening to the heroic story of how you got a silver shinbone from a battle with a gangster? (pauses) ...I see you have." Laura's image does not transform into a housewife.

Laura.......2007-06-25

Preminger's impeccable murder-mystery is in many ways the standard against which all other noirs tend to be judged. Eerie and smart, with lots of deliciously twisted feints and counter-feints around the central questions of murder, blackmail, and poisonous passion, "Laura" is a marvel of confounding revelations. Add to that a superb cast: Tierney, enchanting as always, as the lust object; Andrews as a cop with a weakness for beauty; Price as an effeminate rogue; Webb as a prissy critic with a viper's tongue; and Anderson as Laura's scheming, jealous aunt. Preminger's stylish touch and confident direction earned this clever, mesmerizing whodunit five Oscar nods--and movie lovers' eternal admiration.

Orpheus in the Underworld.......2007-06-22

What makes this film endlessly watchable is the fact that "Laura" is one of the great mythological stories of the movies -- the search for the dead woman in the underworld of the past -- interwoven with the elements of film noir. Almost everything about this film is perfect (I have a sneaking doubt or two about Vincent Price), especially the completely natural way in which Laura sleeps around, has lovers in her apartment, and is a professional sleeper-upper, and no one makes the slightest negative comment about her. This in the 1940's! The best thing about the film is, as everyone says, the moment when Laura appears: the fantasy fulfillment of all fantasy fulfillments (though maybe the hat is a little much). Second best is the interrogation scene: the harsh light on Laura reminds us that this is a film about the image of woman on film. Very influential on every subsequent film with this theme -- especially Out of the Past and Vertigo. A masterpiece.

Double Indemnity (Universal Legacy Series)

Average customer rating:

must see
Double Indemnity
Classic film noir from the great Billy Wilder
It doesn't get any better than this blistering jewel
a great example of the early days of film noir.......

Double Indemnity (Universal Legacy Series)
Starring: Fred MacMurray , Barbara Stanwyck , Edward G. Robinson , Porter Hall , and Jean Heather
Director: Billy Wilder , and Jack Smight
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005JNG5
Release Date: 2006-08-22

Amazon.com essential video

Director Billy Wilder (Sunset Boulevard) and writer Raymond Chandler (The Big Sleep) adapted James M. Cain's hard-boiled novel into this wildly thrilling story of insurance man Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray), who schemes the perfect murder with the beautiful dame Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck): kill Dietrichson's husband and make off with the insurance money. But, of course, in these plots things never quite go as planned, and Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson) is the wily insurance investigator who must sort things out. From the opening scene you know Neff is doomed, as the story is told in flashback; yet, to the film's credit, this doesn't diminish any of the tension of the movie. This early film noir flick is wonderfully campy by today's standards, and the dialogue is snappy ("I thought you were smarter than the rest, Walter. But I was wrong. You're not smarter, just a little taller"), filled with lots of "dame"s and "baby"s. Stanwyck is the ultimate femme fatale, and MacMurray, despite a career largely defined by roles as a softy (notably in the TV series My Three Sons and the movie The Shaggy Dog), is convincingly cast against type as the hapless, love-struck sap. --Jenny Brown

Customer Reviews:

must see.......2007-07-28

why did Phyllis shoot Walter....? to end the film?
In general the story is very well-designed.

Double Indemnity.......2007-06-21

One of the quintessential noir films, Billy Wilder's "Double Indemnity" is a masterpiece of stark atmosphere and carefully stylized suspense. The talented Barbara Stanwyck, a familiar face in the 1940s noir universe, assumes her role with feline deviousness, while "My Three Sons" TV dad Fred MacMurray--narrating the film via flashback--brilliantly plays against type. Raymond Chandler's screenplay sizzles with hard-boiled repartee and the great Edward G. Robinson is aces as always as the dogged investigator hot on the lovers' trail. Sinister, tense, and cynical, Wilder's "Indemnity" is riveting film suspense.

Classic film noir from the great Billy Wilder.......2007-06-10

"Double Indemnity" is one of the first films of the genre that would come to be known as "Film Noir".

The plot is classic film noir - a smug, womanising insurance salesman Walter Neff (played by Fred MacMurray) gets in over his head with a conniving femme fatale Phyllis Diedrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) who wants rid of her boorish husband. Neff must also be wary of a suspicious claims manager at his insurance company Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson).

Naturally the story has some dated elements (it was made in 1943) but it still holds up pretty well as entertainment for a modern audience.

MacMurray is excellent in his role as a heel making a change from his usual nice guy roles. He helps make the character sympathetic whereas Stanwycks role has few redeeming features - she really is "rotten". Her turnabout at the end is also somewhat unconvincing. The great Edward G. Robinson steals every scene he's in as the tenacious investigator who has a soft spot for Neff.

The DVD includes a good commentary by Lem Dobbs and Nick Redman with useful insights on the film but it also continually laments the decline of Hollywood, which I think is a trifle unfair.

Like most Billy Wilder films "Double Indemnity" doesn't really have a message - it just provides great entertainment aimed at adults. It also marks a growing shift in the 1940s towards more maturity in Hollywood film-making.

It doesn't get any better than this blistering jewel.......2007-05-30

What else remains to be said about one of the true classics of noir? Fred Macmurry is just right as the sap who thinks he's a lot smarter & sharper than he really is; Edward G. Robinson shines as a dedicated & inexorable seeker of the truth, even as his concern & disappointment for his fallen friend shows clearly; and Barbara Stanwyck scalds the screen as the trashy, blatantly sexy femme fatale with the morals of an alley cat & an icy ruthlessness that stops at nothing -- just look at that cover art! Wrap these characters in moody, bleakly beautiful black & white cinematography, give them a witty, scathing script by Raymond Chandler, and you've got a sordid masterpiece about small-timers whose greedy, self-centered dreams are much larger than their shriveled souls. I can't recommend this film highly enough!

a great example of the early days of film noir..............2007-05-20

DOUBLE INDEMNITY, a 1944 film by Billy Wilder, is one of the most definitive and beautiful examples of early film noir (literally, "black film") at its best. For those of you unfamiliar with the genre of film noir, this was a type of film made popular in the 1940s and 1950s, features very dark cinematography (plenty of shadows intermixed with light), as well as equally dark subject matter. Common themes are murders, affairs and grizzly illegal activity. DOUBLE INDEMNITY is a great example of this style at its best.

Fred MacMurray plays wily insurance man Walter Neff, who finds himself drawn to a beautiful, married woman, Phyllis Dietrichsen, played by the lovely Barbara Stanwyck. Together, they cook a plot to murder her husband, so Walter can make off with the policy money. Of course, things don't go quite according to plan. Enter Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson), an investigator who gets wind that "something is rotting in Denmark." Keyes knows that there is something decidedly un-kosher about the whole arrangement between Neff and Dietrichsen, and he is determined to find out where that feeling is coming from.

This film is beautifully acted, directed with great zest, and very, very engaging. Even though some of the dialogue is (delightfully) dated, you are still going to have a great time watching DOUBLE INDEMNITY. There is no question that this is an example of filmmaking, at its best.

Average customer rating:

Good Buy
Disturbingly violent ...
For Frank Miller die-hard fans only
Incredible!
A true "Collector's Edition" DVD!!

Sin City
Starring: Robert Rodriguez , Frank Miller (II) , Jessica Alba , Devon Aoki , and Alexis Bledel
Manufacturer: Dimension
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Crime | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B00005JNTX
Release Date: 2005-08-16

Amazon.com

Brutal and breathtaking, Sin City is Robert Rodriguez's stunningly realized vision of Frank Miller's pulpy comic books. In the first of three separate but loosely related stories, Marv (Mickey Rourke in heavy makeup) tries to track down the killers of a woman who ended up dead in his bed. In the second story, Dwight's (Clive Owen) attempt to defend a woman from a brutal abuser goes horribly wrong, and threatens to destroy the uneasy truce among the police, the mob, and the women of Old Town. Finally, an aging cop on his last day on the job (Bruce Willis) rescues a young girl from a kidnapper, but is himself thrown in jail. Years later, he has a chance to save her again.

Read our interview with Frank Miller.

Based on three of Miller's immensely popular and immensely gritty books (The Hard Goodbye, The Big Fat Kill, and That Yellow Bastard), Sin City is unquestionably the most faithful comic-book-based movie ever made. Each shot looks like a panel from its source material, and director Rodriguez (who refers to it as a "translation" rather than an adaptation) resigned from the Directors Guild so that Miller could share a directing credit. Like the books, it's almost entirely in stark black and white with some occasional bursts of color (a woman's red lips, a villain's yellow face). The backgrounds are entirely digitally generated, yet not self-consciously so, and perfectly capture Miller's gritty cityscape. And though most of Miller's copious nudity is absent, the violence is unrelentingly present. That may be the biggest obstacle to viewers who aren't already fans of the books and who may have been turned off by Kill Bill (whose director, Quentin Tarantino, helmed one scene of Sin City). In addition, it's a bleak, desperate world in which the heroes are killers, corruption rules, and the women are almost all prostitutes or strippers. But Miller's stories are riveting, and the huge cast--which also includes Jessica Alba, Jaime King, Brittany Murphy, Rosario Dawson, Benicio Del Toro, Elijah Wood, Nick Stahl, Michael Clarke Duncan, Devin Aoki, Carla Gugino, and Josh Hartnett--is just about perfect. (Only Bruce Willis and Michael Madsen, while very well-suited to their roles, seem hard to separate from their established screen personas.) In what Rodriguez hopes is the first of a series, Sin City is a spectacular achievement. --David Horiuchi

More Sin City at Amazon.com

The Graphic Novels and Books
Films by Robert Rodriguez
From Graphic Novel to Big Screen

The Soundtrack
Films by guest director Quentin Tarantino
Crime on DVD

Description

An amazing cast of big-screen favorites is directed by Robert Rodriguez (DESPERADO, FROM DUSK TILL DAWN), Frank Miller -- and special guest director Quentin Tarantino (KILL BILL 1 and 2, PULP FICTION) -- in an acclaimed and visually stunning hit that's the coolest movie of the year! Straight from the pages of Miller's hip series of "Sin City" graphic novels, Bruce Willis stars as a cop with a bum ticker and a vow to protect a sexy stripper (Jessica Alba -- FANTASTIC FOUR); Mickey Rourke (MAN ON FIRE) as an outcast misanthrope on a mission to avenge the death of his one true love (Jaime King -- PEARL HARBOR); and Clive Owen (KING ARTHUR) as Dwight, the clandestine love of Shellie (Brittany Murphy -- LITTLE BLACK BOOK), who spends his night defending Gail (Rosario Dawson -- THE DEVIL'S REJECTS) and her Old Town girls (Devon Aoki and Alexis Bledel) from a tough guy (Benicio Del Toro -- 21 GRAMS) with a penchant for violence. Also starring Elijah Wood, Nick Stahl, Michael Madsen, Carla Gugino, and Michael Clarke Duncan.

Customer Reviews:

Good Buy.......2007-09-15

The item I purchased was in perfect condition upon arrival. It was everything the description said it would be. Shipment of the item was very fast. I think I got it three days sooner than I was expecting it. Amazon always offer such a variety of products with really good deals. I'm very happy with the site and I shop here often.

Disturbingly violent ... .......2007-08-17

The innovative approach to the look of this film is the primary seduction. Studying the visual effects in isolation is reasonable and informative. Regarding the story itself, I found the form and portrayal of violence in the film to be disturbing. While characters are rendered by living actors (certainly some of my favorite), the violence inflicted by characters on each other in many cases is lethal with the film representing it as survivable. The effect is to create a struggle between a sense of realism and its creative suspension that leaves us with a film that is extremely uncomfortable to watch. Unless you are a fan of the graphic novel series from which the story was adapted, I cannot recommend this film.

For Frank Miller die-hard fans only.......2007-08-13

...the rest of us skip this movie. I'll admit the best thing about the movie is the way it looks. Rodriguez did an excellenct job in bring a comic book to life. However, some things need to stick to their original medium. I'm counting these illogical wrecks of mini-stories as those that fit in this catagory. After Micky Rourke's short (the best one, IMHO) I was ready for this movie to end. Clive Owens seemed miscasted, but Benico sort of saved the day on that story, but it was still riding on the so-so part. After that, I'm thinking surely that's the end...BUT NO. It keeps going and going, until I'm practically begging the DVD player, please no more. Then there's just one more bit, that I was so close to pulling my hair out, that I was relieved that it only lasted less than a minute. Oh, Thank God. If over the top violence is what gets you off, then this is the movie for you. If not, please, please avoid this movie.

Incredible!.......2007-08-06

This is what it looks like when you make a movie from a comic book/graphic novel. Period. Everything else is just crap compared to this, when it comes to making movies from comic books/graphic novels. Period.

A true "Collector's Edition" DVD!!.......2007-07-29

This is one extended edition dvd worth purchasing. Unlike other "double dips" that are marketed as special/collector's/limited/extended edition, this is a release that truly delivers. Not only does this dvd contain the extended edition of each story presented in the film, it also contains the original theatrical edition. The Marv and Hartigan storylines have the most material added to them, you can hardly notice the additions to the Dwight storyline. One of the bonus features explains the chronology of the events in the film, for those who were/are confused. If you don't own the movie, buy this edition. If your a fan buy this edition and sell your single disk release.

Average customer rating:

Good Performances, Good Action
It takes stones to steer clear of trouble andd wrong choices - Turturro
A Great Gambling Movie
rounders
Poker Players Only?

Rounders (Collector's Edition)
Starring: Matt Damon , Edward Norton , John Turturro , Paul Cicero , and Gretchen Mol
Director: John Dahl
Manufacturer: Miramax
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B0002DRDB4
Release Date: 2004-09-07

Amazon.com

A little drunk on its own arcane exotica as a gambling movie, Rounders is a film that takes us inside a world of high-stakes card players but falls short on such essentials as character development, relationships, that sort of thing. Still, it is a real curiosity, written by a couple of guys (David Levien and Brian Koppelman) who appear to know something about the dark underbelly of card hustling for fun and profit. Matt Damon stars as a reluctant law student who can't put aside his subterranean career of playing poker and blackjack for big money. After he loses his post-grad nest egg to a weird Russian kingpin (John Malkovich)--and also loses his disgusted girlfriend (Gretchen Mol) in the process--Damon's character turns to an unreliable old buddy (Edward Norton) for a dangerous game of sharking wherever there happens to be a game underway: frat boys, cops, bad dudes, you name it. Norton appears to be living out every young actor's fantasy of re-creating Robert De Niro's prototypical head case in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets, and while his performance is burdened by obvious quotation marks, his estimable talent still shines through. Damon's charm and intelligence bring some oomph to the curiously flat proceedings, and while his hushed, soul-bearing scenes with Martin Landau (as a law professor who takes a shine to the kid) seem gratuitous, they're still nice to watch. Behind all this is director John Dahl (Red Rock West), who is not exactly at the top of his game here but who brings his distinctive toughness to the crime-noir tone. --Tom Keogh

Description

Academy Award(R) winner Matt Damon (GOOD WILL HUNTING, Best Original Screenplay, 1997; THE BOURNE SUPREMACY) and Edward Norton (THE ITALIAN JOB) star in this story of passion, risk, and the extreme price of friendship! After losing a high-stakes card game, Mike (Damon) gives up gambling for law school and a fresh start with his girlfriend (Gretchen Mol -- CRADLE WILL ROCK). But then his best buddy (Norton) gets out of prison and in over his head with a ruthless card shark (John Malkovich -- BEING JOHN MALKOVICH). From there, Mike's strong sense of loyalty -- and the lure of the game -- draw him back to the tables in a game he cannot afford to lose! Also starring John Turturro (O BROTHER, WHERE ARE THOU?) and Oscar(R) winner Martin Landau (ED WOOD, Best Supporting Actor, 1994).

Customer Reviews:

Good Performances, Good Action.......2007-08-12

Damon and Norton both shine as Poker hustlers. Damon is the the guy who's studying law and trying to transition into the respectable world of a law student in a committed relationship. Norton is excellent as his friend who is pure hustler and who eventually drags him in deeper than he seemingly wants to be.

Great action sequences and the Poker games are very entertaining. John Malkovich plays a very weird Russian mafia guy named Teddy KGB who is menacing and ultimately taken down by Damon at head to head Texas Hold Em.

DVD has some nice special features including a brief tutorial and some comments from leading Poker pros.

It takes stones to steer clear of trouble andd wrong choices - Turturro.......2007-05-25

ROUNDERS (1998), with an exceptionally well chosen cast (John
Turturro, Ed Norton, Matt Damon, Martin Landay, and John Malkvich) is
a movie that will appeal to those above 25 / 30, considering the
strong mental and rational aspects that the movie emphasizes, coupled
with other human aspects that everyone will relate to, nonetheless.

If you believe that full stars should never be awarded to a story
that has a happy ending, (guy gets the girl and the money), then you
will understand how this movie is a remarkable achievement, yet not
the best I've seen, due to the Hollywood policy of avoiding tragic
endings, steering clear of despair, suffering from gambling
addiction or otherwise, due to entertainment reasons.

The acting is splendid and beyond reproach, from all actors, by
exposing the subculture of gambling as a hobby and as a social
networking and human release tool. It also exposes those players who,
naturally, take advantage and profit insidiously from the humanity
and compelling addition that exists in the weaker players at the
tables.

As such, the story is a somewhat of a microcosm of what goes on in
the financial markets, the greed and fear emotions that go back and
forth among the traders, the majority of whom lose as much as they
gain from the game, in the long run, not knowing when to stop or how
much is enough.

With a pleasing widescreen release, and sharp, professional
technique, and perfect transfer to DVD, the story underlines the
importance of one's reputation and ability to socially network to be
able to get a seat at the tables where the action occurs. It also
brings up the banking aspects, and loan sharks charging "juice", and
of collectors who are called on to act on difficult debts, the
pariah mechanics, the special visual reading skills needed to be
successful in beating opponents.

Perhaps unnoticed, is the aspect of the movie, that contrasts and
compares the various protagonists character, who they really are,
their destinies, how they found their niche, by choosing settings at
peep shows, or libraries of wealthy reputable judges, lawyers, at
police officers messes, intermixed with convicts, gambling addicted
people of all kinds, including innocent tourists to Las Vegas, etc.

Catchy one-liner: "It takes stones to steer clear of trouble and the
wrong choices" ... yet overall, the movie suggests to viewers that
those making no choices, stopped in the middle of the road of life,
still get run over.

A Great Gambling Movie.......2007-05-14

Matt Damon and Edward Norton team up in this Gambling drama about two men who love to play cards. Both men live different lives, and conflicts arise but in the end one thing is never forgotten; How good these guys actually are at what they do.

rounders.......2007-05-10

this is a wonderful story about two guys who cheat at everything. A few ups and a lot of downs. hustlers to the enth degree. very entertaining

Poker Players Only?.......2007-03-25

There seems to be mixed reviews about this movie. One either likes it or has very little if any response. I'm a poker player and I loved the story and the cast is excellent. If you like poker as well as suspense, I believe this film will be very satisfying to you. If you don't fit that description, it's still worth a look.

The Third Man - Criterion Collection (2-Disc Edition)

Average customer rating:

Three Cheers for Orson Welles!
Criterion Release Is Great
A masterpiece of movie making and story telling from Carol Reed and Graham Greene
The Third Man: one of my favorite movies
The second coming of The Third Man

The Third Man - Criterion Collection (2-Disc Edition)
Starring: Nelly Arno , Leo Bieber , Hedwig Bleibtreu , Martin Boddey , and Siegfried Breuer
Director: Carol Reed
Manufacturer: Criterion Collection
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000NOK0GM
Release Date: 2007-05-22

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There have been few better movies in the history of the planet than The Third Man, and fewer still as brilliantly directed from second to second. Orson Welles played the title role, and his legend has tended to engulf the film. But it was directed by Carol Reed and written--except for a Wellesian riff on the Borgias--by Graham Greene, and the credit for this masterpiece is properly theirs. Theirs and Joseph Cotten's; for awesome as Welles is, his Citizen Kane second banana is onscreen about six times as much, and Cotten uses every minute to create one of the most distinctive--if also forlorn--of modern heroes.

You know the story. Holly Martins (Cotten), a writer of pulp Westerns and one of life's congenital third-raters, arrives in post-WWII Vienna only to learn that his old pal Harry Lime, the guy who sent him his plane ticket, is being buried. Everybody, from a cynical British cop named Calloway (Trevor Howard) to Harry's Continental knockout of a girlfriend (Alida Valli) and his sundry absurd/Euro-sinister business associates, feels that Holly should get on another plane and go home. He doesn't. Things come to light. Other deaths follow. The world lies in utter ruin.

The Third Man completed a sublime hat trick--an international critical and popular smash following upon the success of Reed's Odd Man Out ('47) and The Fallen Idol ('48). Although other filmmakers had begun to use war-ravaged Europe as a great movie set, The Third Man is so vivid in its canny mix of gray semidocumentary and insanely angular, Expressionist/Surrealist chiaroscuro that it seems to have imagined not only the postwar thriller but also postwar Europe itself singlehandedly.

What great movie moments: The throwaway details like a mourner who forgets to drop his wreath on a newly dug grave. The sly editing whereby thick-headed Sergeant Paine (Bernard Lee, once and future "M" to 007) goes on leafing through a magazine, knowing just the moment he must rise and subdue the nervy Yank who would take a punch at his boss. The way Anton Karas's legendary zither score seems to jangle in the very guy-lines of a bridge where, far below Robert Krasker's Oscar-winning camera, the Third Man calls a war council. The shadow of a dead man towering, big as Europe, over the nighttime streets of Vienna. --Richard T. Jameson

Studio description

Cynical pulp novelist Holly Martins arrives in shadowy Vienna to investigate the mysterious death of his old friend, black-market opportunist Harry Lime, and thus begins an ever-thickening web of love, deception, and murder that adds up to one of cinema's most immortal treats, as well as one of its trickiest. Thanks to brilliant performances by Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, and Orson Welles; Anton Karas's timeless, evocative zither score; Graham Greene's razor-sharp dialogue; and Robert Krasker's haunting deep focus shots, off-kilter angles, and dramatic use of light and shadow, The Third Man, directed by the inimitable Carol Reed, only grows in stature as the years pass.

Customer Reviews:

Three Cheers for Orson Welles!.......2007-09-09

Welles was not on screen that long, but the sheer force of his presence would mesmerize you! All through his scenes, your eyes would fix on him because you don't want to miss anything. So alive, so charming the guy that you would like him even though his onscreen character is rotten to the core! The great film plot, acting, theme music, and stunning black and white photography make this movie unforgettable--a must-see classic mystery, suspense, and thriller.

Criterion Release Is Great .......2007-09-06

Seeing the Third Man for the first time ever on this brand new edition of The Third Man from the folks at Criterion Collection is a real treat. Great Picture quality and loaded with extras. the cover art and the Paper style DVD case is great.

A masterpiece of movie making and story telling from Carol Reed and Graham Greene.......2007-08-26

Everything about this movie works. If anyone wants to see how a movie should be directed and edited, or a screenplay written, or complex characters acted, or a film photographed, this is the one to flip in the DVD machine.

Holly Martins, a down-on-his-luck writer, shows up in post-war Vienna looking for his old friend, Harry Lime. But he's told Lime died in an accident, the military tell him to go home, and he's attracted to a mysterious woman he sees at Lime's grave. He sticks around, gets different stories about Lime, but finally understands Lime was an unscrupulous black marketeer, dealing in adulterated drugs among other things. And he realizes that Lime is alive.

Carol Reed was at the top of his form with this movie. His partnership with Graham Greene (they had collaborated the year before on The Fallen Idol and would again in 1959 with Our Man in Havana) is unusual in that both were heavyweights in their fields.

Joseph Cotten as Martins strikes just the right note of charm, inquisitiveness and weakness. He's the kind of a guy who would most likely follow the strongest person around, and that has been his old friend, Lime. And what a great voice Cotten had. Orson Welles, who could be so hammy, reins it in here. He doesn't have a lot of screen time, but his character dominates the movie. And the two work perfectly together. Welles' cuckoo speech has been mentioned so many times in so many places that it has lost much of its charm for me. It sounds to me now more like an alienated high school kid's idea of philosophy. But Lime's discussion of all those little dots goes to the heart of his character. The interplay on Cotten's and Welles' faces as they discuss how easy (or how difficult) it might be to get rid of Martins on the ferris wheel is masterful, and so is Welles as he teases out of Martins what Martins may have told the military police. Alida Valli as Anna is terrific as a woman who loves Lime but has no illusions left. I suspect Trevor Howard took the role of Major Calloway because he wanted to work with Reed and Greene. In 1949 he was a major star in England, with Brief Encounter under his belt. I've always liked him, even in most of the later lousey movies he signed up for.

And the look and sound of the film...glistening, damp cobblestones at night, bombed out buildings, off-angle camera shots, harsh nightime lighting and deep shadows. The chase through the sewers with only the sounds of rushing water and footsteps. The first glimpse of Lime, nothing but deep shadows in a doorway and then a pair of shoes of someone unseen standing there. The sound of the zither playing the main theme over and over.

The ending is one of the most understated and powerful I've ever seen. Lime has been shot in the sewer by Martins. Martins and Calloway leave the funeral in a jeep to catch his plane home. Anna ignores them and leaves the cemetery on foot. The jeep passes Anna but then Martins asks Calloway to let him out. He obviously has feelings for her. Martins leans against a cart on the side of the road as Calloway drives off. The camera doesn't move. Anna, in the distance, walks toward him. Without looking at him she walks straight past, and past the camera. Martins lights a cigarette, looks after her, then tosses the match away. And that's it.

This Criterion edition is just as superb as the movie, and the extras are worth watching. I couldn't tell any appreciable difference in the film transfer quality between the two Criterion releases, but this two-disc version has some excellent additionl extras.

The Third Man: one of my favorite movies.......2007-07-07

Very well done, and as good as when I watched it the first time, so many years ago. The second disc with all the extra stuff is so interesting, and just seeing how Caroll Reed made the movie, right after the war, is fascinating.

The second coming of The Third Man.......2007-06-30

The folks at Criterion never give up short of perfection. They've been reissuing some of their own material lately in newer, better versions, and while I *won't* get another Brazil just because they neglected anamorphic the first time (and I have an up-converting player/TV combo that helps somewhat anyway) I will gladly shell out more cash for improved prints of Seven Samurai, M and now this, The Third Man.

But this is more than just a new transfer. Here you get a second disc of wonderful features. Well, one of the features could have been wonderful: it's a 90-minute documentary made a couple years ago that played at Cannes in 2006. While the information is fascinating, and will shed much light on this noir, the filmmaker's style is pretentious, and distracts from the content.

Other extras are the original U.S. trailer (grossly inappropriate for this movie, but probably closer to the type of film Selznick wanted to make), vintage footage of Vienna and Zitherist Anton Karas, and a photo album of the production--all also included in the prior Criterion release. There's also a mini-doc on the film--much more straightforward and to me more interesting--with all still photos. Even though it's all stills I found this short 10 minute presentation very riveting. Then there's a featurette that shows many of the scenes of German-speaking players with their lines translated (they were deliberately left untranslated in the film so that the audience would feel as confused as Holly), a UK vs. US comparison of the openings, several of the radio shows that used the Harry Lime character, and a profile of writer Graham Greene from a 1968 British television program. Oh, and did I mention there are two commentaries, one from filmmaker Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Tony Gilroy and one from film distorian Dana Polan. Oh, and there's a very stylish 26-page booklet insert. And you know what? There's probably other stuff I've forgotten. These discs are cram-packed.

In short, this is a whole college-level course on The Third Man in a little box. It'll keep you watching for weeks.

In case Amazon ever deletes the first Criterion edition of this DVD from their site, here's a cut-and-paste of my original review of the film itself:

###
Reportedly Orson Welles replied to people who asked if he'd "really" directed The Third Man that Carol Reed didn't need his suggestions. Yet this feels very much like Welles in many ways. First of all there's the subject matter--like Citizen Kane, this film deals with money and power, shattered idealism, and an elusive figure everyone knows *of* yet few people know. Like Kane, the cinematography is striking (though in a different way) and an integral part of the plot. Like Kane, the music is memorable and tells much of the story, yet again in a different way. Like Kane, the film was greeted coldly by many critics on its initial release and had to be shelved for many years before people realized it was a masterpiece. And last but not least, like Kane, it stars the great Joseph Cotten.

The Third Man benefits enormously from being shot in post-war Vienna (in record time by using three crews simultaneously). You can taste the atmosphere. The locations are a "star" as much as any of the human players. Selznick wanted Reed to film on Hollywood back lots, and he wanted Jimmy Stewart to star. He objected to the zither music. He objected to the canted shots. (William Wyler reportedly gave Reed a level to put on his camera after seeing The Third Man!) Most of all, Selznick wanted a happy ending, where Holly gets the girl. But without Reed's vision, the film would have been a typical glossy Hollywood film now seen at 2 am on local UHF channels if at all.

Reed gave Welles one of the great entrances in screen history. Welles gave Reed a hard time by refusing to work in a sewer and returning to England, forcing Reed to build a sewer set there just for Welles' part. Welles says he only wrote the "Cuckcoo clock speech," but leave it to Orson to give us the most memorable dialogue in a movie filled with memorable dialogue.

Then there is the issue of The Woman. Often she will make or break a film like this, and here Alida Valli (or "Valli" as she preferred to be billed in the film...maybe it's an Italian thing that started long before Madonna) is the perfect choice, brooding and un-glamorous and yet all the more alluring because she's un-glamorous. It's easy to see how impressionable Holly would fall for her. It's harder to see why she would still defend Harry, but love is not always logical. Or is this just selfishness? There doesn't seem to be room for love in Reed and Greene's postwar Vienna...

Criterion has done a loving restoration of The Third Man. While not up to the standard of the Citizen Kane DVD (which is not done by Criterion, incidentally) it is superb considering how poorly prints of this film have been handled over the years. Criterion performed many computer-repairs of tears and splices that make once-damaged scenes play perfectly. The gray scale is finally restored! (So many prints of this film are stark and grainy black and white and nearly unwatchable.) There are some extras, such as footage of Anton Karas performing on his unique instrument, documentary footage of the real Vienna sewers, the original trailer, the re-release trailer*, the alternate American opening, and fascinating production photos and commentary. Once again Criterion hits a home run.
###

Make that a grand slam.

*Not included in this version.

Average customer rating:

Essential French Cinema: Godard's 'A Bout de Souffle.'
Criterion 2-disc specs

Breathless - Criterion Collection
Starring: Jean Domarchi , Van Doude , Roger Hanin , Henri-Jacques Huet , and Claude Mansard
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Manufacturer: Criterion Collection
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000TXNDUW
Release Date: 2007-10-23

Description

There was before Breathless, and there was after Breathless. With its lack of polish, surplus of attitude, crackling personalities of rising stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg, and anything-goes crime narrative, Jean-Luc Godard's debut fashioned a simultaneous homage to and critique of the American film genres that influenced and rocked him as a film writer for Cahiers du cinema. Jazzy, free-form, and sexy, Breathless (A bout de souffle) helped launch the French new wave and ensured cinema would never be the same.

Customer Reviews:

Essential French Cinema: Godard's 'A Bout de Souffle.'.......2007-09-14

As a French New Wave director, Jean-Luc Godard (1930) was at the head of his class. Drawing from politics, film history, French intellectualism, existential and Marxist philosophy, Godard's radical films challenged the conventions of Hollywood cinema. Breathless (1964) is among his most accessible films. With all the energy of a 1940s' American gangster B-movie, it tells the simple story of Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo), a young French petty street thief, who steals a car and kills a policeman, while meanwhile pursuing an American girl Patricia (Jean Seberg). Although she is wary of Michel's intentions and questions his lack of ambition, and proving that nice girls have a thing for bad boys, Patricia nevertheless spends time with him in Paris before deciding to turn him in. Throughout the film, using jarring editing techniques, handheld cameras, and a musical soundtrack that seems out of sync with the action, Godard succeeds at making his audience constantly aware that his film is a constructed reality having little to do with actual reality. Although the film's plot is thin, Breathless revolutionized French cinema. Of his films, Bande à part (also called Band of Outsiders - Criterion Collection) (1966) remains my Godard favorite and should not be missed.

The new dual-disc Criterion edition of Breathless includes a restored high-definition digital transfer (approved by director of photography Raoul Coutard), interviews with Godard, and actors Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, video essays: filmmaker and critic Mark Rappaport's "Jean Seberg" and critic Jonathan Rosenbaum's "Breathless as Film Criticism," an eighty-minute French documentary about the making of Breathless, with members of the cast and crew, the French theatrical trailer, and a booklet featuring writings from Godard, film historian Dudley Andrew, Francois Truffaut's original film treatment, and Godard's scenario.

G. Merritt

Criterion 2-disc specs.......2007-09-07

* - SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES
* - New, restored high-definition digital transfer, approved by director of photography Raoul Coutard
* - Archival interviews with director Jean-Luc Godard, and actors Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, and Jean-Pierre Melville
* - New video interviews with Coutard, assistant director Pierre Rissient, and filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker
* - New video essays: filmmaker and critic Mark Rappaport's "Jean Seberg" and critic Jonathan Rosenbaum's "Breathless as Film Criticism"
* - Chambre 12, Hotel de suede, an eighty-minute French documentary about the making of Breathless, with members of the cast and crew
* - Charlotte et son Jules, a 1959 short film by Godard, starring Belmondo
* - French theatrical trailer
* - New and improved English subtitle translation
* - PLUS: A booklet featuring writings from Godard, film historian Dudley Andrew, Francois Truffaut's original film treatment, and Godard's scenario

1959
90 minutes
Black & White
1.33:1
Dolby Digital Mono 1.0
Not Anamorphic
French

Average customer rating:

FNHS (Film Noir High)
The high school underworld
Not from professionals, comes from students
Reality is in the Eyes of the Beholder
Brick

Brick
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt , and Emilie De Ravin
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000FVQM2Y
Release Date: 2006-08-08

Amazon.com

High school collides with hard-boiled film noir in the twisty, cunning Brick. When he gets a mysterious message from his ex-girlfriend, a high school loner named Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mysterious Skin) starts to dig into a crisscrossed web of drugs and duplicity, eventually getting entwined in the criminal doings of a teenage crime lord known as the Pin (Lukas Haas), his thuggish henchman Tugger (Noah Fleiss, Joe the King), and a mysterious girl named Laura (Nora Zehetner, Fifty Pills). Brick has not only the seductive, labyrinthine plot of a crime thriller by Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon) or Raymond Chandler (Farewell, My Lovely) but also a dense high-school version of hard-boiled lingo that's both comic and poetic. The movie unfolds with headlong momentum as Brendan manipulates, fights, and staggers his way through layers of high-school society. Gordon-Levitt is excellent; between this and the equally compelling Mysterious Skin, he's left his 3rd Rock from the Sun days behind. Also featuring Meagan Good (Waist Deep) and Richard Roundtree (Shaft). --Bret Fetzer

Description

Brendan Frye is a loner, someone who knows all the angles but has chosen to stay on the outside. When the girl he loves turns up dead, he is determined to find the "who" and "why" and plunges into the dark and dangerous social strata of rich girl Laura, intimidating Tug, drug-addled Dode, seductive Kara, and the ominous Pin. But who can he really trust? These are the ingredients of Brick, a gritty and provocative thriller that critics describe as "a clever, twist-filled whodunit!" (Claudia Puig, USA Today)

Customer Reviews:

FNHS (Film Noir High).......2007-09-16

I had seen a preview or two of this movie and was interested immediately, but it was only when I saw this movie listed somewhere as one of the top 20 high school movies of all time, in the same category as such classic as Heathers and Ferris Beuller, that I was now fully intrigued. What makes a film about high school a classic for me is when it studies the absurdity of high school, the social circles that are designed more to torture individuals than promote them. And this is someone who was not just ostracized in high school, but has also come back to teach in it.

And to boot, this film also has the edge of making the world of this high school the setting of film noir.

The main story has to do with Brendan, an outsider who eats lunch behind the school building nowadays, who gets a note of desperation from her old flame, Emily. Emily is in trouble, but she can't say exactly what trouble she is in, which leads Brendan on a search through the culture of his school. With an informant named Brain, a classic geek who even works on a Rubrics Cube, Brendan delves into the world of the jocks, the beautiful people, and the burn-outs to work a plan that will have all involved exposing themselves to his limelights. There is, of course, a beautiful but possibly treacherous femme fatale, a Tolkein-reading drug dealer along with his fists-for-brains muscle, and a vice principal who sounds more like a police seargant in a crooked town than a suit with a degree.

But this film doesn't just work on the level of film noir appreciation. The social hell that is high school seems a fitting setting for this homage, so the technique seems quite fitting. The dialogue is wonderful to listen to, though it gets a little troublesome when it is being used to advance the plot, for the delivery is quick (as it is supposed to be, but still sometimes hard to follow) and the names almost too numerous to keep an even handle on. A bit of a score card is needed to keep track of some things, but a lot of this works out in fascinating ways, the plots within plots within plots led on by this tough plain-T-shirt wearing smart mouth who can throw a punch when he has to but also gets beat up about as much as Gabriel Byrne's character in Miller's Crossing.

Not the top 5 in the realm of high school film, but definitely within the top 20. Well worth a watch.

The high school underworld.......2007-09-06

I guess I disagree with all of the people who wrote bad reviews. Yes, some parts of the movie are not quite realistic. It's a movie!! Movie does not equal reality. I think it provides a good look into the underworld that exists in many middle class American high schools. So if you grew up sheltered from the drug world in your high school it may be difficult to relate. However if you grew up in a high school with drug prevalence it will really resonate with you.

The movie deals heavily with drugs and their presence in American high schools. I felt that I could really relate to the movie. A guy in my high school got a bullet in the head when he didn't come up the money from a brick of coke that was fronted to him. Another guy got a gunshot wound to the leg when he knew too much about something with the message that the next one would be in his head. Four guys beat a guy to death for his wallet. I'm sorry if the movie and the plot seems unrealistic to some, perhaps if you hadn't led such a sheltered life it would seem more real to you.

The fact that the characters seem a bit too intelligent is again a product of perception. My high school group of friend's was very Dawson's Creek, our conversations seemed to be beyond our years. The main character brilliantly brings down everyone who was involved in his ex-girlfriend's death. The best revenge I've ever seen in a movie.

Not from professionals, comes from students.......2007-08-19

The whole things about this movie seems did as a movie's student. The script, the directing, the acting, the music, the timing, the tricks...all seems a student's homework or project to pass some test in a movie college.
If were my son's first movie perhaps I'll love it, but is not.

Reality is in the Eyes of the Beholder.......2007-07-23

Far-fetched as this may sound, "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" kept popping into my head when I saw "Brick". Think about it: both share the same basic conceptual premise, i.e. the improbable crossing of very specific film genres with a high school universe, both have larger-than-life, charismatic and virtually unstoppable protagonists, and both are propelled by fast, sharp, intelligent dialogue. They also raise similar problems concerning suspension of disbelief, of course, but Rian Johnson and Buffy's creator Joss Whedon deal with those very differently.

In "Buffy" the conflict between the supernatural and the prosaic not only isn't disguised in any way but actually highlighted for humoristic purposes, and self-deconstruction is even a trademark of the series. Not so with Johnson's work. Although obviously conscious of the film's lack of "realism" the director never lets his guard down, and these extremely articulate, focused, serious and animally elegant teenagers remain strangely believable throughout. There are a couple of buffyesque moments, like when the mysterious villain's mom prepares a nice snack for the boys and the "noir mood" just switches off for a few seconds, but the film simply returns intact to its previous intensity.

"Brick" has a definite dreamlike quality to it. Incongruous and unbelievable as most dreams, the film has the same ability to hold the viewer's attention regardless. In fact, one could even see "Brick" as an intricate, vivid dream by a Raymond Chandler loving, high school misfit who's just lost his girlfriend and is unconsciously dealing with it in his sleep. The almost complete absence of teachers, parents or any other grownups would be just a reflection of how he sees the world. And, returning to "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer", weren't the vampires and monsters that she fought simply metaphors for her growing pains?

Brick.......2007-07-18

With a tough-talking teenage argot harkening back to the hard-boiled noir movies of the forties, and a cast of high-school-age characters with names like Dode, Tugger, and The Brain, Johnson's ingenious murder-mystery set at a Lo

The Graphic Novels and Books	Films by Robert Rodriguez	From Graphic Novel to Big Screen
The Soundtrack	Films by guest director Quentin Tarantino	Crime on DVD