Brick

"Brick," Rian Johnson's 2005 first movie, is a noir that encompasses a group of high school students who all seem to figure out how to play their stereotyped roles. These adolescents imitate Humphrey Bogart by speaking in laconic, pithy spurts that never reveal too much of the narrative. The stylized idea seems incongruous - coming from the mouths of the children - and is an interesting approach to emphasize the detective genre's enduring cliches.

Brendan Frye, portrayed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, is an upperclassman attempting to determine who murdered his fiancée (by Emilie de Ravin). He is an affectionate spoof of noir anti-hero investigators, but lacks the trademark bad boy swagger. As he spars with one hesitant witness after another, he has mastered his witticisms. But at the end of the day, he is also an awkward adolescent with a timid tendency to tuck his hand deeper and deeper into his pockets.

This obviously low-budget film will look clumsy and curiously dated if you do not get Johnson's humor about the self-seriousness of adolescent life. Thankfully, most audiences did, and that's why "Brick" is lauded as one of the best detective movies of all time.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 80%

Year of Release: 2005

Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emilie de Ravin