I finally got around to watching Breach yesterday, and I was really impressed with how good of a movie it was. It’s a tense little thriller that, despite good reviews, made a very small blip on the radar of American cinema this year. For those out of the know, it’s the story of how an FBI agent name Erik O’Neil brought down Robert Hanssen, who was one of the biggest spies in American history. Chris Cooper does a fantastic, Oscar-worthy, job as Hanssen, inserting all sorts of Catholic-creepiness into the role. Despite the fact that I enjoyed Breach, it’s not the type of movie that I’d watch again and again, and it certainly didn’t have many “wow” moments, which perhaps contributed to its failure to make waves in the box office. In this way, it reminded me a lot of Zodiac, which I also thought was good but have absolutely no desire to watch again. This type of film is basically a genre all its own. The type of movie that you catch on TNT in five years and think “holy shit, this is a really good movie”, having completely forgot about it in the interim. Perhaps the greatest example of this, for me, is Master and Commander, which despite garnering a bunch of Oscar nominations (and getting stomped by the juggernaut that was Return of the King) everyone forgets how awesome of a movie it actually is (well except for me who bought it like the day it came out on DVD). Every once in awhile I like to go through the video store and try to pick out these forgotten great movies, it’s a great way to re-familiarize yourself with some truly great cinema. Netflix and old top ten lists (from metacritic/Rotten Tomatoes or Roger Ebert or wherever) makes this process really easy, try it sometime.
Also I just re-watched The Departed again (for like the second time in a month), Christ that movie is good.
Hopefully Apolcalypto and Black Snake Moan later this week. Until then, keep on keepin’ on.
Also I changed the style of the blog so it’s easier to read…complaints/comments?
