Wednesday, September 16, 2009

'Brick City' review - Sepinwall on TV

Slightly more parochial second column today, as I review "Brick City," a five-part documentary series that looks at life in Newark from many vantage points. But as I note in the column, it's in many ways like a non-fiction "The Wire," so it'll likely be of interest to people here even if you're not from Jersey. (Then again, Sundance Channel's decision to air it during premiere week of the TV season may put it off your radar altogether.)

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Alan (or anyone)

I don't get Sundance with my package. Will this documentary be available online?

Anonymous said...

Political infomercial masquerading as documentary.

Alan Sepinwall said...

Not at all, actually.

jcpbmg said...

Booker was also featured in the documentary Street Fight, which focused on the Newark mayoral race.

That too was very well done and very similar to The Wure

Otto Man said...

Political infomercial masquerading as documentary.

So you've actually seen an advance viewing of this? Or are you just making a knee-jerk reaction?

That too was very well done and very similar to The Wure

Actually, I found it odd that real-life Mayor Sharpe James seemed to be more corrupt and cartoonish than fictional Mayor Royce on The Wire.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the column; as a transplanted former Forest Hill resident and Wire fanatic, it should be interesting.

The Pulse said...

I thought Street Fight was more towards political infomercial - this looks really interesting.

Unfortunately, I don't get Sundance either - do you know about plans for online viewing or DVD release?

Alan Sepinwall said...

A lot of Sundance Channel stuff is on iTunes, so I imagine this will be. And Amazon says the DVD comes out in December.

ivantorr said...

I saw the interview with the mayor on CNN and thought it would be a good film to watch. Informative yes, Political maybe, but worth a look.