Solid flick, but I never cared for it as much as many. The story is very thin, at least in my view. Not a lot really happens, characters don't evolve much. It's more an atmosphere movie than anything, though it does that in top-notch fashion. I also love how often Clive Owen stubs his toe on stuff and says "fuck", which almost got to the point of running gag. Saw that with my ex-wife, Sy, and Aimee back in the good old days of California, at the little theater in El Cerrito that reopened and served beer and food and stuff.
The Departed remains a favorite. We just watched that in film class the other day, and even though I had studying to do I watched it anyway. I think the only movie that out-f-bombs it is Sexy Beast, which will make your head explode because of Ben Kingsley if you watch it back to back with Hugo. Brick is a very, very imperfect movie, but I so love what it tries to do, and it does manage to do a lot of it really well. I keep trying to watch it with my girlfriend and she keeps falling asleep. I love Pan's Labyrinth too (another one I saw with Sy and Aimee), but the end always makes me cry because I'm a girl.
