Reviews

Breach is an interesting film that provides a quality insight into the story of Robert Hanssen. The writing is clever, it is carried by some nice performances and overall it surprised me by how it made me feel at the end.

Breach tells the story of a corrupt American agent who sold millions of dollars worth of information to the Russians. When Robert Hanssen returns from the Soviet Union and the Americans suspect him of being the spy, they place him in a no work job at the Beurau and assign him a clerk (Ryan Philipe) who is supposed to investigate and monitor the man. Robert Hanssen Played by Chris Cooper is a very interesting character. He is sadistic, articulate, very clever, sneaky and somehow a likable man that enjoys taping him and his wife having sex and testing any new person that he meets. Played by Chris Cooper whenever he is on the screen the charisma increases, the acting skills rise and the writing is superb.Although I am not a huge fan of Ryan Philipe it had to be said that he outdoes himself as the slightly cocky, determined American investigator.

Breach however is more of a character study then a thriller. There are very few thrills actually in the movie, but when there are I have to say that they are played on brilliantly with some cool music and sound cinematography. At the end of the movie when Robert Hansson is being arrested though, I was surprised to find myself feeling sorry for the man. When the Americans come storming in with their guns and vans, he just seems like a frail old man, that is haunted by a life he never really wished for or believed in. Then at the end when he is being taken too prison, he runs into O Neil and asks him too pray for him. This once again forced a wave of sadness as I felt sorry for the guy.

Breach gives an intriguing insight into the man that caused the greatest Breach in U.S history. I think its worth seeing solely so that people can make their own minds up about Robert Hanssen.

Bridge to Terabithia is not a bad movie. In fact I would put it in the same category as Narnia. Some things worked for me, and some things did not, but overall in the end It shows something very special.

Bridge to Terabithia is set and revolves around a young lonely boy, meeting a young lonely girl, they are both social outcasts at their school and after a connection is struck they soon realise that they can escape their lives by using their imaginations. Sure enough like the title suggests, they create a mythical land known as "Terabithia" in the Forest nearby. They venture into the forest every afternoon, fighting fantasy creatures, building their fort, and ultimately talking and learning from one another. The numerous sub-plots revolve around the school they go too, and by using generic bully's and characters the director has made the whole thing more accessible to a younger audience.

For me I found that this part of the movie, was more interesting then the actual storyline. I don't really know why, but I found myself being disappointed with the happenings and occurrences within Terabithia. It wasn't very exciting, whereas the stuff at school was. However being one of the few people who have not read the books I found the ending very surprising, and to be honest quite thought provoking. When I found out that the girl had drowned, attempting to get into Terabithia it had a profound impact on me. I was shocked, and this emotion made the next few scenes all the more effective and powerful. I was sad that she had died, but still I did not want her to come back. After the boy finally gets over her death, and the almost bitter sweet ending is before you, I suddenly realized that the movie was actually not that bad. I had gotten over the boring writing, and almost lazy storyline by the shock ending and sad emotions the final scenes had delivered.

Overall Bridge to Terabithia shows something special, and thought provoking in the end, and that is what I'll remember about it.

I was incredibly skeptical before seeing 28 weeks later, the main reason being that a new, relatively unknown director was taking over Danny Boyle's spot. However literally in the first ten minuets I knew that I was in for a roller-coaster ride.

28 weeks later is set several months after the original outbreak of the Rage Virus in London. The Americans have stepped in, and the reconstruction of the once flourishing city is already underway. The citizens now live in designated areas, and are forbidden to cross the river over into more, less protected parts of the city. However when a teenage girl and her younger brother Tammy(Poots)and Andy(Muggleton) return to the city to live with their dad (Robert Carlyle), they decide to break the rules and venture out of bounds in order to find their house.

The children not only find their house but also their mother who was assumed dead in the brilliant scene at the beginning of the film. So after this occurrence the mother is found actually to be infected with the virus, and so within the space of an hour another army of rage infected citizens are rampaging throughout the city.

For me, the greatest scene in this whole movie was at the beginning. This shown shows a group of men and women who have been in hiding since the previous outbreak. Things are going well for them, they have food, company and all the time in the world. However when they suddenly get ambushed by the infected the scene turns to chaos so quickly its incredible. Suddenly they are all trying to fight for survival, nearly all of them run, except for Don ( Carlyle) who attempts to fight. What made this scene so fantastic was the heart wrenching choices each character is forced to make while in the face of imminent death. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo did a brilliant job of making these decisions seem so real, and so difficult to make because of the sheere severity of the situation. Afterwards when Carlyle gets on a boat and flees, you hold so much sympathy for the poor guy that you just wish the movie would end there, just so he doesn't have to go through anything more.

After this scene, and the action has begun once again their is very little room for character development, however all the performances in 28 weeks later ( especially Carlye) are very good.

The reason behind the not so great mark I gave for this movie was solely because of the predictability of the main storyline, and also because of some major plot holes connecting with the American forces in London. However in the end, 28 weeks later is an ambitous attempt at a sequel, with a very powerful opening scene.