What's new

A Few Words About A few words about...™ Brick -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

Robert Harris

Archivist
Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 8, 1999
Messages
18,312
Real Name
Robert Harris
Brick is an odd one. It was directed by Rian Johnson, apparently shot in 2003, opening at Sundance in January of 2005, after which it received a release by Focus, an arm of Universal.

Somehow, it totally escaped me, but now catching up with it a decade later, is a good thing.

Brick, which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Nora Zehetner, Lukas Haas, Emilie de Ravin and Noah Fleiss had me smiling for every moment of its 110 low-budget minutes.

It's a bit of a mash-up of a high school clique drama...

and the best of Dashiell Hammett.

It's pure noir, in the sunbaked school grounds, of San Clemente, CA.

The dialogue is, at times, so Hammett, that one can almost set actors in place, and that's part of the fun of it.

Let's see...

That's obviously Sidney Greenstreet.

Mary Astor, check.

Elisa Cook, check.

Peter Lorre, check.

Humphrey Bogart.

Shot on film, and not taken through a 2k DI, Brick is old-fashioned cinema.

It's Blu-ray history is also a bit odd. It was released domestically on DVD in 2006, then appeared on Blu-ray in the UK as Region B in 2009, and then domestically Region A, in 2011, via Alliance. The odd thing, is that domestic product seems unattainable.

I ended up getting a copy of the Region B, which is locked as such, as presented in 1080i, which didn't seem to present any problems. However, should you order from the UK, be aware that the audio will come up as 2 channel, and it isn't all that great. It wasn't until I checked, after screening, that I discovered that 5.1 is available, and there's quite a difference.

Region A Blu-ray must be out there, somewhere.

Odd...

Image - 4

Audio - 5

4k Up-rez - 4.25

Pass / Fail - Pass

Recommended

RAH
 

Dave B Ferris

Screenwriter
Joined
Apr 27, 2000
Messages
1,260
Reading about these oddities inspired me to think about Shane Carruth's "Primer". The DVD is OOP, and I think there has never been a BR (either domestically or internationally). Even taking into account the hyperbolic nature of the Internet, I'm still amused by various click-bait "hits" along the lines of "Why Shane Carruth never wants you to see 'Primer" on Blu Ray!"
 

Josh Steinberg

Premium
Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2003
Messages
26,274
Real Name
Josh Steinberg
I'm still amused by various click-bait "hits" along the lines of "Why Shane Carruth never wants you to see 'Primer" on Blu Ray!"

Wow, I've never seen one of those.

I think it's not on Blu-ray because he doesn't have a distributor at the moment. He was unhappy with the distribution deal he got when that movie was first picked up, and being that it's been over ten years, that's probably expired. You can buy the movie on his website in HD in an unlocked download, so there's that at least.
 

Thornhill

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Jan 17, 2007
Messages
168
Real Name
Tony
Damn, When I saw this thread I was thinking this had been released here in the states and I somehow missed it.
 

CraigF

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2002
Messages
3,117
Location
Toronto area, Canada
Real Name
Craig
I also thought/was hoping this might have been re-released. I do know of people who have the Canadian Alliance release, so it does actually exist, but is essentially unobtainable. BDs can disappear here virtually days after release; I recall a few kind of popular titles I wanted that were gone after release week (that's what you get waiting for the price drop...).

I remember reading RJ will be directing the next Star Wars movie.
 

Adam Lenhardt

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2001
Messages
26,971
Location
Albany, NY
I remember reading RJ will be directing the next Star Wars movie.
My guess is that it will get a bargain Blu-Ray release shortly after Episode VIII comes out, with "From the Director of Star Wars [Whatever the Title Is]!" featured prominently on the cover.

I loved the mapping of the film noir genre onto the high school ecosystem, as well the film's distinctive look. And Nora Zehetner made a great femme fatale.
 

B-ROLL

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 26, 2016
Messages
4,976
Real Name
Bryan
I found this on another forum (the post is from 2008)
"Alliance owns the distribution rights to certain titles in Canada, while companies like New Line, The Weinstein Company, and Disney own the distribution rights in the US. For titles that have already been released in the US, Alliance frequently is able to just use the existing authoring - in those cases, the Canadian discs are, for all intents and purposes, identical to the US ones.

Recently, Alliance has started producing titles that are not yet available in the US. These discs are just the movie with no extra versions or special features. It's unknown exactly where the HD transfers they are using come from, but I assume it's just something they have access to as distributors. These are not representative of what the US disc will be like, however. The US distributors are usually also the IP owners of the movie, so they have more vested interest in doing a more comprehensive job on the discs, and I wouldn't be surprised to see all the eventual US counterparts offer more features than the initial Canadian offerings."

For those who have seen my posts in some other threads ... I am just plain cheap. I don't care were I find a deal on movies. The "Off-Price" retailer Ross-Dress for Less USED to sell DVDs and some blurays. Some of the things they sold were clearly from mainstream companies (eg I picked up the Casablanca deluxe Casbah DVD f setor $20 I stuck the bluray I purchased elsewhere in the box and saved over $40.00 over the price of the bluray set.) The point is everything said Warner Bros.

I didn't think anything then when about five years ago they had a bluray set of the Theatrical version of LOTR for $15 as the Extended versions were just coming out. When I got the set home, it said Alliance.

There were a few other New Line movies I purchased form Ross, and some of them were Alliaance as well. So some of their products made it into the US
 

B-ROLL

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 26, 2016
Messages
4,976
Real Name
Bryan
My guess is that it will get a bargain Blu-Ray release shortly after Episode VIII comes out, with "From the Director of Star Wars [Whatever the Title Is]!" featured prominently on the cover.

.
I found Looper in the $7.88 bin a Wal*Mart which is as cheap as I have seen it anywhere.
 

Robert Harris

Archivist
Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 8, 1999
Messages
18,312
Real Name
Robert Harris
My guess is that it will get a bargain Blu-Ray release shortly after Episode VIII comes out, with "From the Director of Star Wars [Whatever the Title Is]!" featured prominently on the cover.

I loved the mapping of the film noir genre onto the high school ecosystem, as well the film's distinctive look. And Nora Zehetner made a great femme fatale.

I was waiting to hear words similar to "sorry, doll, but you're going down for it..."
 

CraigF

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2002
Messages
3,117
Location
Toronto area, Canada
Real Name
Craig
My guess is that it will get a bargain Blu-Ray release shortly after Episode VIII comes out, with "From the Director of Star Wars [Whatever the Title Is]!" featured prominently on the cover.

Exactly what I was hoping and thinking when I read it. I'm not a big SW fan, so that was my extrapolation of the info in my mind. It's good to know the UK BD version is fine too, I've been waffling on that for quite a while, but the UK (2-disc) DVD is also very decent and cheap for those who may want a taste.
 

Charles Smith

Extremely Talented Member
Supporter
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 27, 2007
Messages
5,984
Location
Nor'east
Real Name
Charles Smith
Ordered. Received. Watching now. Had to stop for a bit to do something, but I love it already.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,814
Messages
5,123,769
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top