musacha Reviews

Breach (2007)

if it's the best one, still not good enough

[14 June 2008]

I imagine some of the reviewers have worked for the govt. I haven't yet. But I hope our govt wouldn't say exactly how we spied on Hanssen. If you're a spy and they send you to a new job in the "back room" of the agency to do nothing special, you should get very suspicious. Not to mention your assistant's pager that sounds like, "hey we're coming to get ya". Hanssen didn't have a pager, didn't get calls from his wife.

Again a spy of that level should be suspicious of stray cats outside his home (and would be). That's how he was a 22 year spy. He knows his car is bugged but the constant delays by O'Neill don't raise his suspicion? Hard to believe that really happened. And what's up with the wife who thinks she has top level clearance. If your husband sweeps floors for the FBI, he won't be able to tell you everything. I was more suspicious of her being a spy.

However, this was better than most spy movies (which doesn't say much for spy movies. sorry Hollywood). No shoot em up, blow em up stuff as other true stories feel like they must have them. Some reviews call it the best. If this is the best one, then face the fact that we'll never really know the protocol for taking down spies. Unless some of you have already done it.

Striking Distance (1993)

Two key cast members make this movie

[7/10 · 17 November 2007]

Great support cast. Dialogue between Farina & Willis is as real as it gets. Irish vs Italian is always interesting. Needed more of those scenes. Some cliché movie lines but storyline hides the cheese. Location, Location, Location. All things being equal, I'd rather be in Philadelphia (right: Willis from Die Hard). I prefer Philly movies, but Pittsburgh is a great setting. Not NY. Not LA. I'll take it and it works. Every other profession has been glammed up by Hollywood so river police was a refreshing change.

Getting back to the cast, most of them are interchangeable with other actors. But there is no substitute for Dennis Farina as tough cop. He ad libs in his own way as well as Hackman & Matthau. If he's a non-smoker in real life, he should have won an Oscar for this role. This is one of those movies where the pre-quels would be just as action packed. Yeah I know the Episode IV thing has been done before in a galaxy far far away. But these characters would be interesting in their younger years.