Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, dir. Tomas Alfredson
This film is not your typical spy thriller filled with chase scenes, shot-outs, and heart-pounding action scenes. This film is much smarter than that. A slow burn that sucks you into it’s world and leaves you on the edge of your seat trying to guess who the mole is. The entire cast is fantastic. Oldman, Cumberbatch, and Hardy stand out as giving particularly strong performances. The film is also exceedingly beautiful to look at. The muted colour palate reflects the atmosphere of fear and distrust.
This film would have made my top 10 of 2011 if I had seen it in 2011. Brilliant
4/5
Sherlock, Season 2 Episode 3: The Reichenback Fall
Wow.
Let’s gather our thoughts now…..wow.
You think you’ve been wowed by Sherlock as much as you could be and then this episode comes along. It has everything. The mystery, the suspense, the twists, and of course the intricate mind games. Above all else however it has loyalty and the test of friendship. Because when you strip everything away, it more often than not comes down to friendship.
Brilliant. I cannot wait until Season 3 (whenever that might be).
War Horse (dir. Stephen Spielberg)
“Young Albert enlists to service in WWI after his beloved horse, Joey, is sold to the cavalry. Albert’s hopeful journey takes him out of England and across Europe as the war rages on.” - This is the plot synopsis of War Horse according to the IMDB
“The audience is cruelly and blatantly manipulating into feeling as much emotion as possible, through the use of both unearned plot peaks and a thunderous score.” -This is the plot synopsis of War Horse according to me.
This is the most preposterous thing I have seen on the screen in a long time. Sure there are worse films, but at least they try to be A FILM. This 146 minute long film is nothing more than the equivalent of torture porn for your emotions. As far as I can tell the point of this film is to make you cry. Oh I cried alright. IN PAIN for having to sit through it.
I know I’m rambling but it is beyond me how Spielberg can make something so bad that so many people think is so good. How can you buy into this? really??? Even those who like the film argue for it by weakly defending it, rather than saying what they think are it’s strong points. I’m yet to hear a compelling argument for why this is a good film.
My two main issues with the film were the score and the unearned emotional/plot peaks. The score is so overwhelming. It’s like it is screaming and the audience, ” YOU NEED TO FEEL THIS EMOTION RIGHT NOW”. There is nothing subtle or enjoyable about. In regards to the plot; there are several points in the film where events happen that are pretty awful. These events are not built up properly, there is no real base to them, and they are completely unearned. There is one point when they do something to the horse just so we can see it suffering and plea for it to be rescued. It’s awful. They didn’t need to do that at all.
The saving grace of this film was that it was pretty and it starred Benedict Cumberbatch. As awful as the story is, Spielberg does know how to make a well shot and perfectly edited film. Cumberbatch can do no wrong in my eyes - end of story.
When i wasn’t feeling angry, I was feeling bored. The story was weak and frankly uninteresting. It was adapted from a popular children’s book, and I wonder if it would have been better as a children’s film? It may have been a charming book, and an award winning stage play; but a great film it is not.
If this wins best picture I am going to cry.
1/5
Sherlock, Season two (3 episodes in length) is now airing on BB1 and is avaliable to view on BBC iPlayer.
The first episode is filled with the same witty banter and splendid cinematography that we have come to expect. There is also and added element of the ravishing Laura Pulver and some rather smouldering looks…Excellent!
(The Telegraph review here)
