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Has anyone heard of the 2005 film Brick? RT gave it a 78%. I just saw it the other day and was pleasantly surprised.
The premise is interesting - the writer/director (Rian Johnson) took the style and slang of film noir are transposed it all onto a modern day high school. It's an odd idea, but it works because they don't beat you over the head with it.
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I absolutely love that movie. I was really, really pleasantly surprised. The dialogue is delightful.
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I really enjoyed that movie. The young actors really brought it and the dialogue was, as others have said, excellent. I think you'd like this movie if you liked Veronica Mars.
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If you want to see JG-L in true dramatic form, see the movie 'Sweet Jane'(1998), Joe is very young in this movie, and it was filmed while 'Third Rock' was still on the air. When I saw this movie, I instantly knew that no one could ever say that JG-L was not a serious dramatic actor. This was a brilliantly dark movie.
Other great JG-L moive are -
'Mysterious Skin' (2004)- another dark movie about child abuse and its affects on the victims. Though fantastic performances by all the lead characters.
'Lookout' (2007) - absolutely brilliant movie with stellar performances by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I the Academy wasn't so corrupted by politics and poor attention span, this movie would have been a contender. JG-L is absolutely brilliant in this movie, I urge you all to see it, it is in video rental stores now.
As to 'Brick', this is the story about how JG-L's character reacts when he finds his girlfriend murdered, and is determined to get to the bottom of it. It uses flash forward and flash backs extremely well to weave a complex story, and the finale is brilliantly executed. You'll never see it coming. I think I've seen this movie three times and enjoyed it every time.
All these movies are low budget independent films, and they do suffer from lack of budget and shooting time. At some point, whether you've got the shot or not, you're out of money and you have to move on. Though I never have any problems overlooking the inevitable short comings when the story itself is well told and well executed.
'Lookout' is probably the movie with the highest budget, and most slick production values. It also stars Jeff Daniels, who, as always, does a fantastic job in his supporting role.
For lovers of independant film, I can also recommend these movies by Jamie Bell (Billy Eliot).
'Undertow' (2004) - dark movie taking place in the southern USA. Excellent performance by Bell and all the supporting actors.
'The Chumscrubber' (2005) - suffers slightly from low budget and tight schedule, but Bell is once again brilliant. There is one Oscar worth scene in which Jamie Bell and Glen Close are talking. You have to be made of stone if this scene doesn't move you.
'Hallam Foe' (2007) - alternately titled 'Mister Foe'. Don't know if this has been released on video yet, but from the trailers I've seen, this is once again another brilliant movie staring Bell in a more adult role. Bonus - you get to see him naked - wow...nice bod!
If you haven't already seen it, the movie 'Jumper' was recently out. Though the movie overall rated so-so reviews, everyone raved about Bell's stand out performance in it.
I highly recommend any of these movies especially to those who love independent film.
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