gabriel_sanchez

Brick is a film in the "locked-room" style, with an escape-room dynamic, built on a categorical and forced assumption of a hypothetical, surreal scenario: What if you woke up and discovered you were trapped in your own home or apartment by a wall made of some indistinguishable, seemingly indestructible material? The plot unfolds from that premise.

We follow the couple Tim and Olivia who are on the verge of breaking up. Our protagonist, Tim, is on the brink of a nervous breakdown after an event that the opening background scenes make far too obvious from the start-and now, to make matters worse, finds himself stuck with his partner in the middle of a marital crisis.

Fans of the escape-room genre-think Cube (1997) or a family-friendly version of Saw (2004)-will be drawn into a story that moves quickly and directly. But the conveniences are glaring! Our couple just happens to be a programmer and an architect who, of course, has construction materials lying around the apartment that conveniently help the plot move forward. And maybe that's the film's biggest flaw: everything feels too aligned, too easy, too explicit.

Another issue is the exposition. For some reason, the director thought the backstory scenes were mysterious enough to make the final cut, but the plot point they're trying to obscure is obvious from the beginning. When, halfway through, we get the big reveal about why the couple is in crisis, it's like when a breakup happens because of an affair-but everyone already knew except the people involved. Oh... sure... who would have guessed that was the reason for their crisis? So hard to imagine... Some plot points are painfully predictable, and by now you've probably realized this is an easy film to figure out. The best thing to do is just let the story play out.

That said, the movie is entertaining enough. The performances feel genuine (enough!), and the mystery of what's really going on is intriguing-especially when conspiracy theories start creeping in.

The ending, for shock value, is infinitely simpler than many might expect. And that's a good thing-better than trying too hard, aiming for an Oscar with a film like this.

Brick succeeds in being straightforward and fun but fails by being far too shallow. It works well for a laid-back Sunday.

The plot thickens. In the fourth episode of season one of IT: Welcome to Derry, characters interweave in the spider web that the plot spans. Like the previous 2 episodes, we get things slowly, with a climax by the end that raises stakes high for Lilly.

We also get some backstory on the creature IT, and I'm not sure. I like it is close to source material, but the simplicity of artifacts of power is just... too simple I guess.

Excited for S01E05. Going strong.

We are finally getting to the meat of the story, the turning of events set by the ending oe S01E02. In E03, we get closer to Halloran's arc and his role in this story; same for Leroy Hanlon. We also get a slight reveal of IT.

The show is going strong, but now at a steadier pace. What started with a huge blast now settles down with fallout, you can't keep that level of momentum forever.

IT: Welcome to Derry is a slow reveal into IT's backstory - one that ends with the IT novel. If you enjoy King's universe, keep it up.