Tinker Tailor Snoozer... Sigh

With the addition of a new person in our house, something that we've always done freely--that is, go to the movies--has now entered "premium territory".  Anyone with children will just nod their heads in agreement when I say that with a child, you now much pick and choose what to do when you go out, because those times when you are free to do so are much fewer and far betweener... between.  Yeah, that.

So, when The Lovely Steph Leann had somehow convinced Mama Ruthless, her mom, to keep Campbell, allowing us an afternoon at the movies, we were excited.  Granted, there aren't a ton of movies out there that we are just dying to see, as January is known as a "movie dead zone", but two caught our attention... first was "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy", a smart, dramatic British espionage drama starring a great cast, including Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy and the president of The Colin Firth Club himself, Colin Firth... second, the 9/11 drama "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close", starring Tom Hanks.   We also considered "The Artist", the much ballyhooed Oscar front runner, but decided to wait awhile longer on seeing it.

We both really wanted to see "The Descendants", the other Oscar Best Picture race leader, and had we been able to find it, we would have just gone there.  Alas, it wasn't playing locally yet--it actually doesn't hit wide release until this weekend... just looked.

So after a few texts and discussion back and forth, we decided on "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy".  I was kind of excited, because while I do enjoy stupid movies that don't require much thought process (hence my love of "Black Dog", "Beavis & Butthead Do America" and the Damon Wayan's award winning "Mo' Money"), I enjoy movies that challenge me and require me to connect dots.  "Inception" is a perfect example of a movie that I loved and was pumped to see again, to help me better understand it.

And then, we saw "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy".  Well, I saw it.  The Lovely Steph Leann sort of dozed through some of the slow parts... oh, who am I kidding--the whole movie is a slow part.

Apparently, there are a group of highly ranked officers in British intelligence, but one of them is a mole... that is to say, one of them is giving secrets to the Russkis and its all bad, because we don't know who it is, as one is called the Tinker, and one is called the Tailor and one is known as the Soldier and they are all spies and...

...and who cares.  Seriously.

The positive is that the movie looks good.  The drab color is very stylized and fits the pace of the movie well... there are few laughs, but truly, there doesn't need to be many.  The acting is good, with Gary Oldman even earning a Best Acting nod for the upcoming Academy Awards... perhaps he earned it, as his performance is very serious, very subdued and he looks very cool.

The negative?  Dear goodness this movie was slow.  And plodding.  And a little confusing, but I feel like had I  paid more attention, I would have understood it better... the problem is, I didn't want to pay attention.  With "Inception", it was so good, I was eager to understand it... With "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy", I could care less. If I see it again, or if I don't, whatever.

And when a movie makes me not care--not even hate it, but just not care--it's never a good thing. So, watch the flick with a few shots of espresso and some Red Bulls handy... Otherwise, you might end up with a nap lasting about 137 minutes. Just saying'.