Miscellaneous Movie Musings the Sequel

[CoasterMatt]

The live action movie that was supposed to be Brad Bird's live action debut is 1906 - it sounds like a neat idea, but the studios have gotten worried about it's expense, and it has been on again, off again. I want it made, just to see Pixar recreate the San Francisco earthquake and fire...

But in Brad Bird's own words "” We’ll see if they have the courage to make it.”

[Prudence]

We saw Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy last weekend. I really enjoyed it, and not just because the E Street Theater serves sweet potato tater tots and alcohol and no one in the sold-out crowd felt the need to chatter during the film. The performances were, for the most part quite excellent, and I really enjoyed the sense of time and place. Do not watch this in a theater where fellow patrons are the sort to freely ask their companions "what just happened?!" at audible volumes, as it's the sort of story that unfolds answers first, questions later. Sometimes much later.

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by Prudence

We saw Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy last weekend. I really enjoyed it, and not just because the E Street Theater serves sweet potato tater tots and alcohol and no one in the sold-out crowd felt the need to chatter during the film. The performances were, for the most part quite excellent, and I really enjoyed the sense of time and place. Do not watch this in a theater where fellow patrons are the sort to freely ask their companions "what just happened?!" at audible volumes, as it's the sort of story that unfolds answers first, questions later. Sometimes much later.

E Street Theater? Hummmm.. Mental note made.

The Uptown is typically my go to theater but that could change.

[Snowflake]

Originally Posted by Prudence

We saw Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy last weekend. I really enjoyed it, and not just because the E Street Theater serves sweet potato tater tots and alcohol and no one in the sold-out crowd felt the need to chatter during the film. The performances were, for the most part quite excellent, and I really enjoyed the sense of time and place. Do not watch this in a theater where fellow patrons are the sort to freely ask their companions "what just happened?!" at audible volumes, as it's the sort of story that unfolds answers first, questions later. Sometimes much later.

Okay, cool! I was planning on seeing this next week. I can't make it to the E-Street the Kabuki will be my venue of choice.

[innerSpaceman]

Hated, Loathed, Despised The Adventures of Tin-Tin, even though it was mildly entertaining while I watched. People comparing it to Raiders of the Lost Ark because it's a globe-trotting adventure by Steven Spielberg need to be taken out and shot.

It actually succeeded in rendering motion-capture characters not unbelievably creepy for the first time. I accepted the leads as characters and particularly noticed their eyes were not dead. (I've often wondered why I can accept The Muppets as individual characters when they have literally dead eyes - in animation, lively eyes are the key to a character not seeming to be a zombie).

But almost everything else about the movie was wretched. The story was a fine Hardy Boys plot, but it was really just one mind-numbing action set-piece after another. All of them so overblown because of the "freedom" animation suddenly provided Spielberg (though hardly unknown to producer Peter Jackson) that they were stultifying and not exhilarating after the first two. One in particular was such a defiance of physical and human possibility that it made me cringe. This might not have happened if they'd kept the cartoon style of Herge's characters. But with photo-realistic characters of motion capture, this excess cartoonishness of action really bugged me.

Worst of all, the constant attempts at humor fell embarrassingly flat. This stuff might have been funny in 1929 when Tin Tin was minted, but it was awful and cringe-worthy in 2011.

Spielberg apparently fell in love with the camera-movement freedom animation provided him, and went absolutely batsh!t crazy with the flowing, moving, soaring, squeezing everywhere camera movement. Again, as with the overboard action choreography, what was at first fun soon became annoying and mindnumbing. The only sequence that worked for me was a flashback of the pirate treasure legend origin - simply because it was a memory being told, and the crazy stylization worked in that context.

Dumb, dumb, lame, stupid. With all the surprise greats in recent animation by various studios, this was really quite the dud by comparison.

[Alex]

I didn't hate it, but I was mildly bored by it (I fell asleep for a couple minutes).

Have in recent days seen:

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol - Pretty good for the genre but it doesn't transcend.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Very good spy mystery (not so much a thriller), great performances, but very still. I imagine a lot of people are leaving bored and confused since there really isn't an "aha" moment and it doesn't spend much time at the end explaining itself.

War Horse - Pure Spielbergian schmaltz. But well crafted. For those worried about horse violence it isn't that much of a concern. It is barel a PG-13 movie with hardly anybody dying on screen. One charging of the trenches has a lot of death, but without blood and only one horse dies on screen and it is a quiet death as opposed to an immediately violent one. Honestly, it kind of felt like The Winds of War with the Robert Mitchum character replaced by a horse.

[Prudence]

After I saw Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, when I was visiting the loo, one 20-something asked her companion whether she thought anyone had understood the movie. Her tone was not so much "what a crappy pointless movie" but more "please tell me everyone else was as lost as me and I'm not stupid." It was sort of comic-sad.

And I was a good girl and refrained from informing her that not everyone had been as confused as she. I was wearing a tiara, so she might not have taken me seriously.

[Alex]

From listening to some people talk about it, what seems to be confusing people is:

Spoiler:

They think that Smiley figured out who the mole was and they don't understand how he figured it out, thinking they missed a clue. When really he figured out the ruse and set up a trap to reveal who it was so he learned that at the same we did.

The only problem I had (unless I'm confused and don't realize it) is that I am awful at remembering names and so didn't always know who they were talking about.

I am intrigued enough that I'll probably read the book.

[Prudence]

Originally Posted by Alex

From listening to some people talk about it, what seems to be confusing people is:

Spoiler:

They think that Smiley figured out who the mole was and they don't understand how he figured it out, thinking they missed a clue. When really he figured out the ruse and set up a trap to reveal who it was so he learned that at the same we did.

Spoiler:

I thought that part was very necessary to understanding Smiley's position. It's the only time I recall that you really see him engaged in direct deception, as a capable spy.

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by Prudence

Spoiler:

I thought that part was very necessary to understanding Smiley's position. It's the only time I recall that you really see him engaged in direct deception, as a capable spy.

Spoiler:

I got nothing to add: I just felt like putting something in spoilers