Tag Archives: Movies

Films and the cinema provide a lot of great inspiration for LEGO builders all over the world. You’ll find LEGO models inspired by everything from Mad Max to Toy Story here.

LEGO Ideas 21350 Jaws: You’re gonna build a pretty big boat [Review]

DA-DUM, DA-DUM, DA-DUM… no two notes are more iconic, or stressful, and the creature that those notes invoke is as classic as they come. Jaws, the original summer blockbuster movie, has an outsized share of iconic elements, scenes, and lines, and with the 50th anniversary of the book this year and the movie next year, it’s perhaps no surprise that we’re getting a LEGO rendition of one of those classic scenes. LEGO Ideas 21350 Jaws contains 1,497 pieces and 3 minifigures, and will be available August 6th for US $149.99 | CAN $199.99 | UK £129.99. LEGO Insiders will have early access starting August 3rd. Let’s dive in… ehhhh maybe we’ll stay on the beach for this one.

Read on for our full review!

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

LEGO and Universal reveal the next set in the LEGO Ideas line: 21350 JAWS [News]

LEGO has partnered with Universal to release a diorama based on the classic 1975 summer thriller, Jaws. Who hasn’t gotten in the ocean, pool, or even the bath tub and uttered the sounds, “Da-Dum . . Da-Dum . . Da-Dum”? Now you will have the ability to do it with a brick-built version of the subsurface behemoth that terrorized the town of Amity Island in 1975 with LEGO Ideas 21350 JAWS. Comprised of The Orca, Bruce the shark, and minifigure versions of Martin Brody, Matt Hooper and Sam Quint, the 1497-piece set will be available for US $149.99 | CAN $TBD | UK £129.99 starting August 6th. But LEGO Insiders get to dive in early with access starting August 3rd.

Click here for up close pictures of the set and press release.

Look and see her, how she sparkles, it’s the Brick Unicorn

’80s animated film The Last Unicorn is a true gem. Like the best fantasy films of that era, it can be scary, sad, romantic, and haunting in a way that kid flicks since rarely aspire to. Also, the theme song slaps. One fan caught under the film’s spell is LEGO builder Gino Lohse who pays tribute with a mesmerizing triptych poster. The central panel mirrors the original movie poster with the terrifying red bull menacing the eponymous unicorn. I’m impressed by Gino’s use of bold colors, layered plates, and flame shafts to create the burning intensity of the bull. And the typography of the title perfectly matches the iconic font.

The ensemble of characters on the left is equally accomplished, especially King Haggard with those piercing blue eyes and wispy hair made from feathers. The castle on the right looks simpler at first glance, but features some very clever use of negative space to create the winding road. With its sophisticated layering, creative mix of elements, and artful framing, Gino’s model continues the trend of LEGO art pieces like the Gotham City Skyline of blending 2D and 3D to stunning effect.

Guess what I did, Batman? I built a mask out of LEGO, Batman.

Much like cartoons, LEGO themes, and pop-tart flavours, every generation will have its own favourite Joker from the Batman series. If they’ve seen the Batman movies, that is. Or the TV series. Or read the comi- you know what, maybe that’s a bad comparison. But my point stands: every Joker is memorable in their own way. Heath Ledger’s take on the character stuck in TBB alum Nick Jensen’s mind. The opening scene of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight had the villain of the piece robbing a bank in a clown mask, faithfully recreated here. It’s extremely accurate, and very artfully shaped, and the Joker’s calling card is a great touch, too.

As for Nick’s calling card, that’s undoubtedly his myriad collection of 1:1 scale LEGO builds. Our archives are full of loads of great examples of his work.

What’s all the Buzz about?

Buzz Lightyear flies again in this LEGO model by Inthert aka Tom Loftus, bringing us a custom take on the movie starfighter previously depicted in the official set 76832 XL-15 Spaceship. Strap into your cockpit, because there’s oodles of great building techniques on display in this model. From the outside, the techniques are so smooth that they’re almost hard to see: The red stripes on the wings are separated by white ingots; the winglets are made from claws; and there are tonnes and tonnes of cheese slopes to help create all the angles of the fighter.

Tom has also kindly provided us with in-progress pictures of the internals of the fighter. I’m sure I can’t even describe the half of it. There’s boatloads of various brackets and 1×1 bricks with studs on the side. There’s also 1×2 round plates, and 1×2 round plates with bars. Finally I’ll point out that there’s a few little minifigure utensils scattered throughout the build. See if you can find them!

Don’t scan so close to me, LEGO police drone

Gareth Edwards’ sci-fi epic The Creator recieved a mixed reception when it released last year. But whatever your thoughts about the film’s take on foreign wars and AI sentience, one thing’s certain: it features some of the most striking sci-fi imagery in recent cinema, from many of the same artists who contributed to Rogue One. I’m actually surpised we haven’t seen more LEGO models based on the film. Builder Tom Studs and friends have been correcting this with an Instagram Creator collaboration series, and Tom’s latest addition is a stunningly-recreated police transport. The insect-like vehicle has such an distinctive silhouette, with its bulbous helm and those menacing probe arms, here tipped with LEGO katanas. I love Tom’s mix of dark and medium azure to give the vehicle a weathered look.

Believe it or not, this is Tom’s first spaceship build, a change from his inspiring fantasy works (like this library vignette that floored us last year). We certainly hope it’s not his last dip into the future!

I can’t remember a better camera build than this Memento tribute

You won’t believe ~~his lies~~ your eyes when you see the details that go into this Polaroid SLR 690 from master of life-size LEGO props (and tbb alumn) Nick Jenson. This version of the iconic instant camera is a collapsable point-and-shoot model from the ’90s made famous in Christopher Nolan’s breakout film Memento. Nick is a stickler for accuracy as with all of his impressive 1:1 scaled models. The seed part that makes Nick’s model so accurate without stickers is the Polaroid tile from the film packet on the recent LEGO Ideas’ Polaroid set. Even the nylon strap is sourced from a LEGO-branded bag. To make this a proper tribute to Momento, the camera is paired with appropriately lo-fi photographs to match those in the film. Here the photos are real Polaroids, but the subjects are brick-built facimiles of Teddy and the Discount Inn from the film. At least I think they are… I can’t remember that far back. Thankfully I don’t need a tattoo to remind me when I see an amazing LEGO build like this one.

You’ll be Spirited Away

You don’t have to be an anime fan to appreciate this pair of incredible and contrasting LEGO builds, each one an astonishingly well rendered recreation of a memorable moment from Spirited Away. (Though if you haven’t already, do yourself the favour and watch this anime instant classic ASAP!) First up, this marvelously detailed microscale Bathhouse made by Marius Herrmann looks amazingly close to the source material when shot from this low angle

And next up, Joss Woodyard (Jayfa) treats us with this deliciously detailed and kinetic scene from the film’s emotional climax.

There’s even more to love about both creations. Read on below!

Continue reading →

Casa de la Familia Madrigal: A brick-built Replica of Encanto’s Iconic House

Is this not the outcome every LEGO creative builder aspires to when encountering something they want to recreate in LEGO? “Casita,” arguably the standout feature of Disney’s film Encanto, was released in LEGO form in late 2021. With the release of 43202 The Madrigal House, LEGO provided enthusiasts of all ages with a glimpse of the potential in using LEGO bricks to build “Casita” from the movie. Builder kopoppo_mama has skillfully blended creativity and photorealism to bring “Casita” to life using what one could only assume is an exceedingly large quantity of LEGO bricks. Check out some of the other “Casita” inspired creations that have been featured in the past here and here.

This LEGO Dark Knight is more than black and dark gray

While LEGO Batman will forever be Will Arnett, there’s certainly room for creations that take the caped crusader a bit more seriously. For instance, check out this glorious scene from Batman Begins by Joe (jnj_bricks). Within their temple high in the Tibetan Himalayas, the League of Shadows is about to adopt a new member. But Bruce Wayne manages an escape from Ra’s al Ghul and his minions. Here we see the explosion that kicks off the action-packed scene, frozen in plastic-y time. And it’s a good thing, too, because it allows us plenty of time to admire Joe’s impressive use of Harry Potter wands in the vignette. Employed both in the windows above and the railings below, the pair of wands still attached to their sprue provide an interesting and hard-to-achieve texture in the model.

Life-size LEGO Ghostbusters gear is ready to take on Gozer the Gozerian

In case you were wondering, this collection of ghostbusting gear is actually made of LEGO, and not the movie props they appear to be. Centuri Chan has done one heck of a job recreating the Ghostbusters logo, ECTO-1 license plate, proton pack, and ghost trap out of our favorite plastic bricks. This smorgasbord of paranormal paraphernalia was on display earlier this year at the Christchurch Brick Show back in July, but was only recently uploaded to Flickr for all of us not able to make the trip to New Zealand. Now we know exactly who we’re going to call…

Check out more pictures below, but don’t cross the streams…

May the SNOT connections be ever in your favor

This build by Ian (aka bricktacular_builds) caught my eye not because of the mockingjay pin but because of the brick-built LEGO flower that is oddly out of focus. I mean, why would you share a poor image of your creation? And who would put a metal pin by a LEGO build, right? And then I took a closer look…

You see, SNOT is a specific way of connecting LEGO pieces. It stands for “studs not on top” and features all kids of sideway connections. And this is exactly what is happening here. The intricate structure of the pin became possible only thanks to a very neat choice of plates and bars with clips. Wing elements fit this ornament wonderfully, making the bird instantly recognizable. I mean, it’s way too similar to a real piece of the Hunger Games merch!