Movie #365 - Breach

Breach
2007 - Rated PG-13 - 1 hr 50 min
Director: Billy Ray
Starring: Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe, Lauran Linney, Caroline Dhavernas, Gary Cole, Dennis Haysbert, Kathleen Quinlan, Bruce Davison

Intrigue and espionage are always more interesting when the story's based on true events.  This one charts the true life take down of the biggest internal FBI spy ever.  And Chris Cooper plays the character with such duality you'll be confused how you feel about him by the end... yeah, he's a spy, but is he really so bad?

Ryan Phillippe is uneventful and unremarkable here - I feel like you could lift him out and put just about anyone in his play.  Jake Gyllenhaal. Tobey Maguire. You get the idea.  Laura Linney, however, gives a great performance here. And oh hey, it's the boss from Office Space!

Anyway, if you're into this type of movie, this is a great effort that's worth watching.  Scary that it's true, but good that we caught the guy, right?

Movie #89: The Bourne Identity

The Bourne Identity
Universal Pictures
2002 - Rated PG-13 - 1 hr 59 min
Director: Doug Liman
Starring: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles

Ah, the movie that made Matt Damon into an action hero.  Nice.

Nothing is as sexy as an amnesia patient who can kick ass and isn't quite sure why he knows how.  Damon is on the run, looking for his identity, and finding a budding romance along the way (cuz you know, love happens, ok?)

This movie is just lots of fun to watch.  There's running and car chases and shooting and intrigue.  Matt Damon is actually pretty awesome too, and when you get to the end of this movie, you definitely want to see more.  Fortunately, there are two more Bourne movies on the way...

Movie #24 - American Beauty

American Beauty
DreamWorks
1999 - Rated R - 2 hr 2 min
Director: Sam Mendes
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Mena Suvari, and Chris Cooper



Now here's an Oscar-winner I can get behind. I love this movie, from beginning to end. Well written, great cast, spot-on dialogue, artistically filmed (without going overboard), and all those rose petals. Really, after watching this movie, can you ever look at rose petals the same way?

I first saw this movie in the theater and loved every thing about it. From the instant knowledge that Lester Burnham is not long for this world, to the disintegrating marriage right before your eyes, to the damn plastic bag. I'm not sure I get the whole plastic bag thing, but whatever. Wes Bentley and Thora Birch play some of the world's first emo kids and that's pretty cool, okay? Let them be emo however they like.

The suspense is beautifully crafted in this movie. You know he's going to die, so you spend the first half of the movie trying to figure out how. By the time you get to his narrated line about "the day I died," you've forgotten. Oh my God! It's going to happen soon! And then even up to the moment it happens, you're still wondering when, when! How? And then - holy crap! And of course, you can't figure out who it was until that helpful montage uncovers the killer. So many people have motives... it could've been any one of them!

And still, this movie is not a thriller or a mystery. It's just a story about the last year in a man's ordinary life. It's just about him. And it's so enjoyable to watch, even when you do know what's going to happen.

Movie #15 - Adaptation

Adaptation
Columbia Pictures
2003 - Rated R - 1 hr 54 min
Director: Spike Jonze
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper

This movie is just weird, from beginning to end. But Chris Cooper won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for it, so there's that...

It's a movie about a book being adapted into a screenplay and the screenwriter who can't quite get it done. Written by Charlie Kaufman, it focuses on Charlie Kaufman and his twin brother Donald. In real life, there is no Donald. In the movie, both Kaufman's are Nicolas Cage. Balding Nicolas Cage.

Meryl Streep is the author of the book and the movie goes back and forth between her experiences recounted from the book and her real life in the present (3 years after living the content of the book). Still with me?

Anyway, the title is clever, the acting is good, but the premise is a bit daunting. In one sentence, the movie really is about learning how to adapt yourself. But it sure takes it's time getting you to that message.

Not a bad movie, just not something too watch when you want to be entertained mindlessly.