Miscellaneous Movie Musings the Sequel

[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.

[flippyshark]

iSm - I have largely given up on action movies because of the unlimited freedom filmmakers now have, and regularly abuse. I'm just never invested in blockbuster action anymore, because there is never any tension. Everyone is superhuman if they are required to be, and there is no contrivance too great. Tintin was no exception, obviously.

But, I liked it better than Indy 4. (Probably because of a lifelong affection for the characters, whose renderings in semi-realistic mo-cap worked fine for me.) Yes, the humor in the Herge Tintin stories is pretty hokey by now. There were some gags in the movie that were straight out of the comics, and seemed to mostly fall flat for the audience I saw this with. All that said, I was occasionally charmed by the movie, probably for nostalgia's sake, but found the setpieces tedious. Still, there's this irrational part of my brain thinking, hey, maybe the sequel will be really great somehow. I'll most likely go if it happens. (rolls eyes at self)

[Alex]

Yeah, quality CGI has taken the wonder out of action movies. The new Mission Impossible is a sign of this. Tom Cruise's stunts on that building in Dubai would have generated a ton of buzz 20 years ago but even though he really was hanging off the side of that building I think most watchers just assume green screen.

[Moonliner]

Let's talk about Star Wars: Episode 5 - The Empire Strikes Back.

Specifically, Luke and the Cave. Leave your weapons here you will not need them.....

That scene always seemed weird and out of place to me. It had no real connection with anything else. Why was that place strong with the dark side? How common are such places? Is that the entire reason Yoda is on Dagobah? What was Luke facing? What does his failure mean? and more to the point why did Lucus even put that scene in the movie? I expected to have some light shed in movies 1,2,3 but it never happened.

Then last night, Headliner explained to me why it HAD to be in the movie. simple and concise. I was schooled in Star Wars by my little girl. I was both humbled and proud at the same time.