Thursday, December 15, 2011

Talking Pictures: 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' | 'Mission Impossible' | 'A Dangerous Method' | 'Sherlock Holmes' | 'Alvin and the Chipmunks'

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'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' plays close to the vest – 4 stars
'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' — 4 stars
Thriller plays close to the vest

Actors so rarely get paid to sit still. The central character, George Smiley of the British Secret Intelligence Service, does not smile much, or give anything away. He sits. And watches. And waits for his adversaries, one of whom is a double agent working for the Soviets as well as the British, to make a fatal mistake.

Jittery 'Mission Impossible' a sprint from start to end – 2 1/2 stars 'Mission Impossible' — 2 1/2 stars
A sprint from start to end

The big-screen adventures of superspy Ethan Hunt and the Impossible Mission Force have put the "hyper" in hyperbolic grandiosity.
'Dangerous Method' a nuanced Freudian trip – 3 1/2 stars 'A Dangerous Method' — 3 1/2 stars
Nuanced Freudian trip

The doctor-patient relationship is a sure way to attract an audience's prurient interest, as long as proper ethical boundaries are ignored.
Brutal 'Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows' falls flat -- 1 star 'Sherlock Holmes' — 1 stars
Brutal sequel falls flat

The real mystery: Why turn Sherlock into a psychopath?
'Alvin' gags all groan up in lost-at-sea-sequel – 1 1/2 stars 'Alvin/Chipmunks' — 1 1/2 stars
Gags all groan up

A Sarah Palin joke? A Charlie Sheen wisecrack? Is this a Chipmunks movie or a Letterman monologue?
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