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by Jeff Eason |
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Breach and Oswald’s Ghost
now on DVD
On a weekend when the new movie releases included
27 Dresses, Rambo and Meet the Spartans, this movie reviewer
decided it was time to take a break from the popcorn stench
of the Cineplex and rent some new DVDs. This actually
turned out to be a perfect time for that as some of last
year’s forgotten gems are just now hitting the rental
stores.
Ryan Phillippe and
Chris Cooper star in the new tense spy thriller
Breach. |
It is generally thought that movies that come
out in the early part of the calendar year get lost in
the shuffle by the time the Academy Award nominations
come out the following January. That certainly seems to
be the case for the stellar “spygate” movie
Breach, starring Chris Cooper and Laura Linney.
Based on actual events, Breach tells the tale of an upstart
FBI agent named Eric O’Neil (Ryan Phillipe) who begins
to work for longtime intelligence officer Robert Hanssen
(Cooper). On the surface, Hanssen seems about as upright,
uptight and self-righteous as a man in his position could
be. But O’Neil has been placed in Hanssen’s
office to see if he can prove that his boss is also a
sexual pervert, gun nut and—most importantly—a
traitor who has been selling secrets to the Soviets for
over a decade.
This movie might seem a little slow going at first—especially
for fans of fictional spy guys such as Bourne and Bond—but
it pays off with the suspense and tension that build toward
the conclusion. Cooper is, as always, masterful in his
role and the supporting cast is one of the best ever assembled
featuring fine performances from Phillippe, Linney, Dennis
Haysbert, Caroline Dhavernas and Kathleen Quinlan.
Breach is rated PG-13 for violence, sexual content and
language.
Presidential assassin
Lee Harvey Oswald, seen here when he was a U.S.
Marine, is the subject of the new documentary
film Oswald’s Ghost. |
Perhaps the ultimate “whodunit” of American
history is the question of whether JFK’s assassin,
Lee Harvey Oswald, acted alone on November 22, 1963. Over
the past four decades, over 100 books have been published
that explore the various conspiracy theories involved
with both Oswald’s act and his murder two days later
at the hand of a small time Dallas mobster named Jack
Ruby.
The latest cinematic contribution to the Kennedy/Oswald
story is the documentary film Oswald’s Ghost, directed
by Robert Stone. Using rare archival footage of pre-assassination
Oswald and his known associates, Stone follows the fate
of the gunman and the nation as he heads to the Texas
Book Depository.
Although Stone allows for conspiracy theorists to have
their say during the film, Oswald’s Ghost comes to
the conclusion that he acted alone, if for no other reason
than no one has proved otherwise in all the years since.
That conclusion has angered many viewers who feel that
Stone is acting as a propagandist for a secretive government.
And thus the conspiracy continues…
Oswald’s Ghost includes interviews with a variety
of people including Dan Rather, Norman Mailer and Gary
Hart. It is not rated.
Other good movies that are just now making their
way to the rental stores include the western 3:10 to Yuma,
starring Christian Bale and Russell Crowe, the Russian
mob movie Eastern Promises starring Naomi Watts and Viggo
Mortensen, Kate Blanchett’s Oscar-nominated biopic
Elizabeth: The Golden Age, the sci-fi thriller Sunshine,
starring Cillian Murphy, and the Beatles-era coming of
age movie Across the Universe. |
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