106 replies to this topic

[NBooth]

[Jason Panella]

My heart is racing. Want. To. See.

[opus]

Jason Panella, on 30 June 2011 - 08:14 AM, said:

My heart is racing. Want. To. See.

Ditto.

[Ryan H.]

Oh man. That just shot way up on my must-see list.

[M. Leary]

This is excellent. Excellent.

[J.A.A. Purves]

Release date is November 18, 2011.

[Persona]

Don't know if anyone might be interested in this, but here is a link to my one-post wonder of Anderson's Four Shade of Brown (2004), which I often think of and look forward to getting the time to go back to.

[Peter T Chattaway]

[Ryan H.]

Peter T Chattaway, on 04 August 2011 - 03:28 PM, said:

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TvdqRvCwGg"]http://www.youtube.c...h?v=-TvdqRvCwGg[/url]

Not quite as nice as the original trailer, but it still looks pretty neat.

[NBooth]

Empire Big Screen '11: First Footage from 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' is Flat-Out Terrific.

Quote

First up—somewhat oddly, seeing as the company aren’t releasing the film in the U.K. but we’re not complaining—was a world first look at clips from perhaps our most eagerly awaited film of the rest of the year: “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.” Introduced by writer Peter Straughan and producer Robyn Slovo, and by video, Gary Oldman, who called the film “a labor of love,” we saw three clips, all of which looked flat-out terrific.

[NBooth]

Empire has a clip.

Quote

We get a glimpse here of Control (John Hurt), the man at the top of the "Circus", Britain's foreign intelligence agency (or MI6 to you and me) in the early 1970s. He briefs agent Jim Prideaux (Mark Strong) in the hunt for the mole, assigning code-names to each of the suspects in the hunt. You'll also catch a glimpse here of Gary Oldman's George Smiley, who becomes the key figure in the hunt for the shadowy leak.

This clip does contain mild spoilers for the film, if you haven't read the book or come across the seminal 1979 TV series, so tread carefully.

Edited by NBooth, 02 September 2011 - 08:34 AM.

[Overstreet]

Whoa.

Quote

Few films here at Venice had such high expectations beforehand, so it gives us great pleasure to report that “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” is, on first viewing at least, incredibly rich and perfectly constructed, sitting with “The Conversation” and “The Ipcress File” in the very upper reaches of the genre. Alfredson appeared to be a major talent after “Let The Right One In,” and he exceeds his break-out here, never letting the style get in the way of the storytelling (as happened once or twice in the vampire film), while retaining an impeccable eye for period. The greys and browns that dominate the film—thanks to sterling work from DoP Hoyte van Hoytema—perfectly capture the grim days of 1970s Britain, and the attention to detail displayed is really quite extraordinary, every set and backdrop adding texture to the action; production designer Maria Durkovic gets a big gold star (we’d also be remiss if we didn’t mention Alberto Iglesias’ brilliant score, which does a great deal in terms of keeping the tension up) . Alfredson revels in the analogue quality enabled by the setting, lingering on details of paper and tape in a computer-free world.

He’s also clearly an astonishing director of actors, virtually every member of the cast getting at least one substantial moment to shine, right down to the day-players (”Downton Abbey” star Laura Carmichael gets across an ocean of longing in one short scene, for instance). We can’t remember the last time that Oldman put in such strong work as he does here. His eyes magnified by the giant eyewear, he’s a buttoned-down, repressed type, but with only the tiniest shift in the face, he can show a man shattered by betrayal, while still giving a certain cold professional: when he has to deceive an ally or hang an asset out to dry, he does so without blinking. The scene where he discusses meeting his adversary Karla, and what another character calls his ‘blind spot’ of his unfaithful wife (smartly kept from the camera by Alfredson, her face never glimpsed), is a something of a masterclass. But it’s also a tremendously generous performance. It would have been easy for Smiley to dominate, as grey and background-hugging as he could be, but Oldman is a great listener here, clearly loving and respecting his colleagues enough to let them match him punch-by-punch.

[Ryan H.]

I can't wait!

[Nick Olson]

Wow! I just watched The Conversation for the first time the other day and I really loved it. So the mention of TTSS alongside it has me especially excited.

[Jason Panella]

Nicholas, on 05 September 2011 - 12:20 PM, said:

Wow! I just watched The Conversation for the first time the other day and I really loved it. So the mention of TTSS alongside it has me especially excited.

Same here, Nicholas. I got chills reading the blurb Jeff posted.

[Christian]

Jason Panella, on 05 September 2011 - 12:46 PM, said:

Nicholas, on 05 September 2011 - 12:20 PM, said:

Wow! I just watched The Conversation for the first time the other day and I really loved it. So the mention of TTSS alongside it has me especially excited.

Same here, Nicholas. I got chills reading the blurb Jeff posted.

Yes, that's an exciting review, but let's not lose sight of the fact that it begins with these words:

Venice ‘11 Review

See that? The way the apostrophe before "11" goes the wrong way? FAIL!

Everything that follows is surely suspect.

[Jason Panella]

Christian, on 05 September 2011 - 01:47 PM, said:

Venice ‘11 Review

See that? The way the apostrophe before "11" goes the wrong way? FAIL!

Everything that follows is surely suspect.

Hehe...I noticed that too. Actually, there are scads of errors in the article, but it doesn't dampen my enthusiasm any!

[Peter T Chattaway]

[MattPage]

Just saw this andum fell asleep. I know, i'm an embarrassment. Anyway that's not to say it's not good. It is, but it's slow and i was tired. But it's the best cast ever and they all do great work.

Matt

[Nathaniel]

I saw this on Saturday at a screening in which Gary Oldman took the stage to receive a "KCET Lumiere Award" from Pete Hammond, of all people. I'm really interested to see how others on this board respond to it, especially those who've read le Carre's novel or seen the 1979 miniseries. While sifting through some of the early reviews I ran across Anthony Lane's, which spends about 1,000 words describing the book. Somewhere in the middle he drops this paragraph:

Quote

Here’s the strangest thing: the television series, lasting more than five and a quarter hours, was bovine of pace, often ugly to behold, and content to meander along byways that petered out into open country or led inexorably to dead ends, yet I was tensed and transfixed by every minute… The new version, by comparison, feels purposeful, unbaffled, artfully composed, and lit, amazingly, with hints of jocularity… But something in the drama has been dulled, and I was almost bored.

Exactly. While the movie surely qualifies as an "intelligent" thriller by today's standards, Alfredson forgot to put in the thrills. Additionally, the characters come off as a lot less complex than in the miniseries (which I am not ashamed to admit is one of my favorite pieces of television). The film is a "who cares whodunit."

Edited by Nathaniel, 05 December 2011 - 01:22 PM.