So some jackass Time Warner Cable guy installed a neighbor's cable, knocked out our feed, and then promptly locked the box and left. We called Time Warner, and they said they'd get around to it friday, a week from when it happened. They are such fuckheads. This lack of digital cable has prompted me to turn to dvds and my computer for entertainment. I might take a crowbar to the lock-box tomorrow, but for now I've been catching up on some of the movies I've never gotten around to watching, what with the "feeding 'tube" always on.

I've had the screener for Brick laying on my desk for a few weeks now, and sadly never popped it in 'til now. This suspenseful slice of heaven is something rarely attempted- a high school detective noir. It stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the kid from 3rd Rock, and Emilie de Ravine, the Aussie single mother on Lost. The dialogue at times can get campy, but that's most of the movie's appeal. Brendan, a loner high school kid talks to the Vice Principal (played by Richard Roundtree, of Shaft in Africa fame) like a private dick to a police chief... in the 30's. The mystery behind Em's death unravels as the tough-as-nails Brendan uncovers the dirty underworld of a Southern California high school.

The wonderfulness of this movie is the thin line it walks between reality and far-fetched drama. While the characters speak cryptically, like every fast-talking Humphrey Bogart character, it's somehow still believable. The mooks sound like mooks, the brains sound like brains, and the drama students (Meagan Good plays the seductively delicious Kara) sound like any other no-good dame that's walked into your joint just to stir up trouble.

Keeping this from turning into another modern day take on Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet, I'm looking at you...) takes some doing, and grounding everything in reality accomplishes so much. While "The Pin" is the high school's local drug hookup, he is far from a crime boss. He's a 26 year old, 98 pound weakling who operates out of his mother's basement, using the high school's juvenile delinquints for muscle and distribution. Just like in real life! I highly suggest finding an arthouse theater to see this, or just wait until it hits Blockbuster's shelves. It's atleast worth a rental fee and 2 hours of your life.

*update: ironically, since i mentioned those asshats at twcable, half my google ads are now for them. grr. turns out, the cable watchdog/audit guy came by, and our cable wasn't tagged correctly, so he shut it off (thinking we were stealing it). the repair guy came back, tagged us, and then reamed that guy over his mobile all in front of us! that was sweet. we'd better get free hbo for the rest of the summer. i miss my bill mahr.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 03, 2006 at 6:25 PM.