TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPYTomas Alfredson recreates the ennui and disillusionment of the '70s in which John le Carré's spy tragedy takes place, relating a complex tale with cold efficiency. Control (John Hurt), head of the British intelligence branch called the Circus, sends a veteran operative behind the Iron Curtain to determine whether a Soviet mole has infiltrated the agency. The mission ends in a debacle, and Control and his second in command, George Smiley (Gary Oldman), are sacked. But new information turns up and the government recalls Smiley to investigate his old department. Alfredson masterfully balances tone and tension, and the impeccable cast, starting with Oldman, revives this Cold War parable for a new generation.
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11 of 11 (results 11)
Related:
Review: Tetro, Review: Irene in Time, Review: The Slammin' Salmon, More
- Review: Tetro
Francis Ford Coppola made one perfect picture, The Conversation , in 1974.
- Review: Irene in Time
Luckless in love, Irene (Tanna Frederick) wants to "find a guy like my daddy." Her father, she says (over and over and over), "was really magical." Truth be told, her absent dad doesn't seem like that great a guy.
- Review: The Slammin' Salmon
Here's how the shit version of Waiting likely came to be: the Broken Lizard boys (David Heffernan directs) thought the concept of a boxing-champ-turned-Miami-restaurateur was funny, and they wrote and shot a major motion picture without bothering to design a plot.
- Review: Invictus
Poetry, muses Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) in a reflective moment in Invictus , consists only of words, yet it can inspire perseverance and greatness beyond our own expectations of ourselves. Sport, similarly, consists of oversized, overpaid athletes pounding one another in simulated combat, but it's also a form of poetry.
- Review: Armored
In view of its credentials, Armored should be a lay-up.
- Review: Me and Orson Welles
With Orson Welles, it's all in the voice — which over the course of four decades could sell anything from a Martian invasion to Paul Masson wine.
- Review: Brothers
Operation Enduring Freedom seems to have replaced Vietnam as Hollywood's go-to military quagmire from which to dredge gut-wrenching meditations on the psychological carnage of war.
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For someone who's determined to reduce all experience to mechanical reproduction, James Cameron sure hates machines.
- Review: It's Complicated
It's complicated, and so are my feelings about Nancy Meyer's predictable and overlong boomer-bait rom-com.
- Review: The Young Victoria
Who knew Queen Victoria was such a babe?
- Review: Le Combat Dans L'Île
Alan Cavalier's sleek noir rescued from 1962 obscurity
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