Film: Brick.

Last night I saw the teen-flick homage to Dashiell Hammett known as 'Brick'. This flawed gem of a film is one of the most original films I've seen this year. 'Brick' carries you through one layer of crime drama intrigue after another as it riffs heavily off of Hammett's 'The Maltese Falcon', and 'Cruel Intentions', the mid-nineties 'Dangerous Liaisons' remake.

What makes this formula so great? First of all, how about a classic, non-sellout ending? Add in a pinch of the spooky-things-happen-in-basements feel of 'Twin Peaks' and a group of high schoolers who use a fully developed colloquial slanguage a la 'Clockwork Orange', and you have enough to carry your interest through a tremendously complicated plot.

If the kids-playing-adult-games theme of 'Cruel Intentions' bothered you, don't see this film. Otherwise, I'd recommend it to just about anyone with a taste for originality in film.