Movie Review - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Screenplay - 3/5

While the film sounded extremely smart and sophisticated, it doesn't mean that it's easy for an audience to truly understand what people are talking about. I get that it's tough to condense a novel into a film format, especially knowing that there's a 7 episode television series (which would be about 7 hours devoted to the source material), but clearly there were just too many characters to remember and just too much going on. 

Editing/Pacing - 3/5

Again, bringing up the fact this film is based off a novel that has so much material, it's tough to find the perfect balance. The film does start off a tad slow, but it does slowly build itself up. At times it does feel awkward, but it's due to the fact that the film is trying so hard to fit as much as possible. It all does work out in the end for a fantastic finish.

Score - 4/5

It's not overpowering to where it'll blow your ears off (looking at you Hans), but it's not something that'll move you to feel a certain way. It helps to dictate the direction the film is going. At times, the score is so subtle that you can confuse it for something that's playing in the life of these characters. The score was created by Alberto Iglesias, who has also composed for films such as The Constant Gardener, Volver, and The Kite Runner.

Mise-En-Scene - 5/5

The look of the film feels so much like Britain during the 1970's as far as the color scheme goes. It all feels like an espionage film, which is where you have to give credit to Art Directors Tom Brown and Zsuzsa Kismarty-Lechner. The film is filled with brown and gray palettes, and you can just feel something shady is going on.

Acting - 5/5

This was expected with the superb cast that takes part in this film. Gary Oldman, Toby Jones, Colin Firth, John Hurt, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong, Ciarán Hinds, Benedict Cumberbatch, David Dencik, Roger Lloyd-Pack, Stephen Graham, Kathy Burke, Svetlana Khodchenkova. This is a massive list, and all of them play their parts perfectly, regardless of how small a role it may have been. Gary Oldman, playing the lead role of George Smiley, really just takes the role and runs with it. He challenges Guinness, who was amazing in his portrayal of Smiley. Gary Oldman should be considered for Best Actor, but we'll just have to see what happens. John Hurt, who had a short amount of screen time, gives it his all, and it's obvious he's exhausted from his search to find this mole that lies within his men. I could go through each actor one by one, but I'll jump to the actor who really took it away: Benedict Cumberbatch. Most of you may not know him, but I'm telling you...he'll be around for quite some time. He ends up playing the role of Smiley's right hand man, Peter Guillam. For the sake of the movie, I won't say much more about the character, but you'll most definitely be impressed. 

Directing - 5/5

Taking a piece of literature like this is tough to put into a film, especially when there's a lot that comes with the challenge. Tomas Alfredson takes the challenge and makes the world of 1970's Britain his own. Every choice that Alfredson made worked out perfectly for the film, and I'm sure he won't get the appreciation he deserves come Oscar season, but it surely won't go unnoticed. Alfredson, who also directed the vampire film Let The Right One In, has a great idea of what he wants, and brings out the best in his actors.

Overall - 4/5

This is a dark horse film that could possibly win Best Picture in the majority of award shows, but, being realistic, it probably won't win much. That doesn't take away from how fantastic this film truly is. It has so much going for it, and to pick out any flaws the film may have actually hurts me. I will say this, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is the best film I've had the chance to watch to come out in 2011.

Movie Review - The Muppets

Rating - 8/10

Directed by James Bobin. Written by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller

Starring Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Rashida Jones and Chris Cooper

I have to be completely honest, I didn't grow up watching The Muppets. I've been exposed to them here and there, but there's not much I can say about them. I know the obvious one's, such as Kermit and Miss Piggy, but my knowledge after that is limited. This didn't take away from the excitement that was building in my heart for the new film, "The Muppets". This revival comes at a very odd time, considering there wasn't exactly a uprising for a new film to come to life. 

The movie opens up with the Muppets disbanded; the best years of the Muppets being years in the past. It's a pair of brothers who miss the Muppets the most, Gary (Jason Segal), and Walter, who is actually a muppet himself. The two first watch the Muppets as youths, and they've stuck together with them since. As Gary continues to grow as humans do, Walter stays the same size as Muppets do. 

Gary and his girlfriend of 10 years Mary (Amy Adams) plan to go to Los Angelas for their annivarsary, and decide to take Walter with them so he could have his chance to see the historic Muppet Studios. But when they get there, they see that the studios are abandoned and just a shadow of their former self. Walter decides to go off on his own, where he eventually overhears that millionaire Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) is planning on buying the studios and drilling for oil.

The three decide to find Kermit and convince him to raise enough money so that the Muppets could keep the studios for themselves. How much do they have to earn? Well. A lot. And considering the Muppets aren't as big as they used to be, trying to find a special guest host and a studio to help back them on their project seems to be extremely difficult. 

The film is filled with fantastic songs written by Bret McKenzie, one half of the duo Flight of the Conchords, which will make you laugh and make you cry. Not just crying from laughter either. The best part about the film is that while it's the human characters that attempt to help bring the Muppets back, they sit in the backseat for the majority of the movie. This isn't a movie about the relationship of a guy and girl; it's about the gathering of the Muppets. 

If you're a longtime Muppet fan or someone who doesn't know much about the group, it doesn't matter. The Muppets has a little bit of fun for everyone with the fun music and the numerous amounts of cameos. So, ladies a gentlemen, it's time to play the music, it's time to light the lights, it's time to meet The Muppets.

Movie Review - Get Low

Rating: 8.5/10

As a movie lover, there are two actors who have yet to dissapoint me in anything I've seen them in. Robert Duvall is always entertaining in any film that he's a part of and always knows how to give a powerful performance. Bill Murray will forever be one of my favorite actors who can always make me laugh with the slightest facial expression or witty comment. When you combine the two, you have a fantastically funny movie, yet a movie that has heart and soul. All in all, Get Low lives on the acting of these two superb actors.

Starting off with a house that is ablaze and a man running from it, we can only assume that this man running is Felix Bush (Robert Duvall), and that at some point in the story, we will find out what's going on and why. It's really the way storytelling works. But until that time comes, the story focuses on the life of Felix Bush and what type of man he is. You can use the word rascal, you can use the word hermit, but how does he describe himself? "I am."

When Felix hears about the death of his old friend, he stops for a bit and is left to his thoughts (as it's been for 40 years) and makes the decision that he wants to have his own funeral sometime in the near future. And make it a party. While he's alive. While this would sound crazy to some, Frank Quinn (Bill Murray) is interested in the idea since with business slow (meaning no one is dying in his area), he feels that this could be a way that he makes money.

In working the details for the funeral party, Frank sends his assistant Buddy (Lucas Black) to do most of the dirty work, as in talk to Felix and figure out exactly what he wants. As Frank and Buddy work out the bigger picture for the funeral party, this causes Felix to have a new spring in his step that was unseen before. While he's making a rare appearance in town, he sees Mattie Darrow (Sissy Spacek) for the first time in years. With this party, Felix has one more large demand: to get Rev. Charlie Jackson (Bill Cobbs) to come and speak on Felix's behalf, only for the reason that the reverand is the only man alive who knows what happened on that night of the farmhouse fire.

All of this eventually leads up to the big day, where the truth comes out. Felix's speech seems like one that he has been practicing since the day of the event, and for once we see the man for who he really is. For every bit of foreshadowing that occured in the movie, nothing could truly prepare us for what we were meant to see and hear, but for the first time throughout the whole movie, we see Felix at peace with himself.

Get Low isn't a masterpiece by any means. It's a truly fantastic genre piece with character actors that play their roles to perfection. The one actor who truly stood out was Lucas Black, who has had smaller roles in action movies, but in this drama-type piece, he's the most entertaining person on screen that's not named Duvall or Murray. Another person to note is Aaron Schneider, who directed the film. With Get Low being his directorial debut, it seems like he's on the right path, and with his knowledge of being a cinematographer, I'm excited to see what he's coming up with next.

Movie Review - Joyeux Noel

Rating: 8/10

To state the obvious, war is probably one of the hardest things to handle. Whether you're in the war, or have a loved one who is fighting, there's always that idea in your mind that something tragic could happen. This is what every soldier thinks of during these times. But what if, for one, magical day, you could stop fighting, and you could unite with those who you were trying to kill, and celebrate a bit? This took place on Christmas Eve of 1914 in the trenches where the Germans faced the British and the French. For a brief moment, the guns were put down and there was a cease-fire to observe the savior Jesus Christ.

Joyeux Noel presents us with the true events that took place during this cease-fire. While director Christian Carion may have taken some liberty to go a bit over the top, it doesn't change the important aspect that for a brief moment, the war didn't matter. Although with this cease-fire, he was also accurate in depicting what happened to the troops afterwards: Officers and troops were punished for their actions. The Scottish priest that held a sermon in No Man's Land was pretty much verbally abused by his bishop. This is what happens in war when you don't follow orders. You may do something good, but there will always be consequences.

Within the world of the film, we're introduced to several important characters that drive the story. At the beginning we meet two Scottish brothers who sign up for the war: Jonathan and William (Steven Robertson, Robin Laing). Their parish priest, Father Palmer (Gary Lewis) joins them in war as a stretcher bearer. The Scots are led by Lt. Gordon (Alex Ferns) who, indirectly, helps to begin the cease-fire. The Germans are led by Lt. Horstmayer (Daniel Bruhl) who is a Jewish German. A German tenor named Sprink (Benno Furmann) ends up leaving his life as an opera singer to serve his country. The French are led by Lt. Audebert (Guillaume Canet) who takes his orders from his father (Bernard Le Coq) who's in charge of the lines.

On Christmas Eve, the Danish singer Anna Sorensen (Diane Kruger), who is invited to sing for the German's and the Crown Prince, insists on being taken to the front lines. She claims that she wants to sing for the ordinary troops who are fighting, but her main goal is to have the chance to see her lover, Sprink. When she reaches the front lines, she has Sprink get up and sing before his troops. At this moment, the Scots, who have bagpipes with them, begin to play Christmas tunes, and Sprink sings along with the tunes. With the sound of the singing, everyone begins to get up and take a look at what's going on, and within a few minutes, the weapons are down, and the music keeps going on, which eventually leads to a large mass.

I won't go into much more detail about the story since it's definitely something that should be witnessed. The film brings a sentimental side to the war genre, and it's something that's just so rare to see and it's done so beautifully. Just to see the relief on some of the faces of the soldiers, to know that they'll be able to live for at least another day, it's something so pure and so sincere. No one part of the film outdoes the other, and it strikes a balance that numerous films fail to achieve. 

If you're looking for a war film to watch, you may want to shy away from this one. There's still a pretty good amount of fighting, but this isn't the movie to watch if you're looking for an all out war where no one survives. If you're looking for something that'll give you that feeling in your heart that, no matter how shitty a situation could be for you, everything will turn out okay in some way, then this would be something to highly consider. I will also mention that the film does require you to read subtitles as there are several different languages spoken, so be prepared for that.

Movie Review - Unstoppable

Rating: 7/10

Starting off slow, then slowly gaining momentum, and then going full speed, explains both how the train, and the film, gathers it's title, Unstoppable. The film begins with Dewey (Ethan Suplee) making numerous careless mistakes moving a freight train to a clear track, and then leaving the moving train to throw a misaligned reail switch along the train's path. After getting off the train though, he's not able to climb onto the train, as the throttle jumps from the idle position into full power. And here, our movie begins.

The story is told from several different perspectives, but the one that is the most gripping involves engineer Frank Barnes (Denzel Washington) and conductor Will Colson (Chris Pine). Barnes, being a longtime engineer man, is given the task of breaking in Colson, who is only 4 months on the job. While these two are having their own issues with their train, we're presented to the actions taking place in the station yard, with yard master Connie Hooper (Rosario Dawson) who's in charge of dispatch and operations.

As news of the runaway freight train picks up, Connie is trying to think of the best solution to avoid thousands of people being affected, as we find out that the train is carrying hazardous materials. On the other hand, executive Galvin (Kevin Dunn) is only concerned with the amount of money that'll be lost with the destruction of the train.

As far as the action sequences go, they are over the top, a bit ridiculous at times, but truly amazing and definitely kept the story interesting and suspenseful. The one sequence that will definitely be the highlight of the film for many viewers, including myself, would be the chase scene of the runaway train. I won't reveal anything involving this scene since it's one that you really have to watch for yourself.

Now with a film like this, there isn't much wiggle room to try and develop the characters. And yet, screenwriter Mark Bomback manages to do a fantastic job with the limited space that was given. Pine and Washington are both shown to be drastically different characters, Washington loving the job he's doing while Pine tends to be more of a cynical asshole, but when it comes down to it, we see the characters for who they really are when the circumstances allow it.

Unstoppable definitely brings something new to the action genre, and it will keep you on the edge of your seat. It will demand your full attention, since if you look away, you'll end up missing something big. And the last thing you would want is to be struck by a freight train when you least expect it.