"Breach" and "You Can Count on Me" movie reviews...

So over the weekend, I took in two movies...
"Breach" is a new film out in your local theater that stars Chris Cooper and Ryan Phillippe. It is the story of an FBI employee who is given the task of shadowing an older agent, who turns out to be one of the biggest spies against America ever. It is based on the true story of Eric O'Neil and Robert Hanssen.

I have to say that I was very impressed by the movie. It does something that is difficult to do: build intrigue when you ultimately already know the end result. Chris Cooper is amazing as Hanssen and should get some consideration for the Oscars next year. Phillippe, the former Mr. Reese Witherspoon, gives another great performance. (Another excellent Phillippe film is "Shattered Glass." which is another true life story.)

The imdb rating for "Breach" is 7.4 out of 10 and I would score it slightly higher, an 8.3.

Via Netflix, I rented the movie "You Can Count on Me" which stars Mark Ruffalo and Laura Linney, as well as being the debut movie for Rory Culkin, who shouldn't have his family relations held against him. The movie won tons of awards in 2000, when it was the darling of the Sundance film festival. I really liked this film and would rate it higher than the 7.7 rating on imdb.

The film centers on the relationship between a brother and a sister who lost their parents as young children. Now as adults, they have very different life. The older sister, played by Linney works in the same town they grew up in as a bank loan officer. The brother is essentially a drifter who comes home to get some money from his sister. In the time he is at home, he builds a touching relationship with his nephew, who doesn't have a male role model in his life because his dad abandoned them. It is a really good story and well put together film. In particular, the more I see of Ruffalo, the more I like his work. He is rapidly moving up my list of favorite actors, in part because he does good work and in part because he chooses good films to work in.