Popular reviews

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  Review by Sacha ★★★★ 12

  This film is so unlike anything I've seen Hollywood churn out recently that I was genuinely staggered. You have to concentrate. Hard. For the entire film. Alfredson gives you no easy routes, and you find yourself crossing your eyes in frustration. Is this a flashback? Is this guy dead? What's happening here? And yet despite how much effort you have to put in, the atmospheric approach makes it seem worth it. A malevolent, dreary London; a secret service turned corrupt bureaucracy. There are no James Bonds here, no glamour. Just paranoia, creeping cynicism, overwhelming nostalgia. Oldman's turn as Smiley is note perfect. Betrayed personally and professionally, doggedly pursuing the truth.

  Go in with your thinking hat on. It's worth it.

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  Review by Josh Lewis ★★★★★ 9

  "It was an aesthetic choice as much as a moral one. The West has grown so very ugly, don’t you think?" Bureaucratic barbarism, an empire on its deathbed, a movie about how state espionage is as tedious and soul-sucking as it is impotent and grisly. There are no more morals left to be eroded, no more heroes, just a bunch of weary sociopaths looking for any kind of aesthetic pleasure in a labyrinth of confusion and carnage. I hope this will get the best of the decade consideration it deserves.

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  Review by matt lynch ★★★★½

  THE FUTURE IS FEMALE

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  Review by Dan Ryckert 2

  This seems like it’s probably a four-star movie, but I didn’t understand any of it.

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  Review by fran hoepfner ★★★★½

  love this boring movie so much

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  Review by hailey 🌼 ★★★★ 4

  need a prequel to address the intense eye fucking between colin firth and mark strong in this movie please and thank you

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  Review by SilentDawn ★★★★★ 1

  94

  "The spy sub-genre frequently acts below its material. Gadgetry and the thrill of espionage — chases, gunfights, assassinations — is preferred to the slum of work, the intensity of mistrust, and the mundanity of keeping the world safe. The genre, at least, is unaware of the spy game's constant dangers. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, directed by Tomas Alfredson and gorgeously photographed by Hoyte Van Hoytema, is a revelation for committing to such banal trials and tribulations, enhancing the image of a sought-after file or an open window to a level of similar dynamism. Based on John le Carré’s novel of the same name, intelligence isn’t ignored or put aside in favor of visceral kicks; instead, it realigns to an…

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  Review by fran hoepfner ★★★★½

  their Christmas party looks so fun 😀 she’s had bigger splashier stuff in years before & after but Jacqueline Durran reallyyyyyyyyyy freaked it on the costumes. Ricki Tarr 👩🏻‍🍼

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  Review by nathaxnne [hiatus] ★★★★★ 7

  Spooky action at a distance, alchemickal glamour, enthralled servants, reality distortion, clairvoyance, telepathy, the killing word, the torture dungeon, enchantments woven and spells cast, the charged magickal object which gives power over another, the power of naming, of re-naming, of with-holding, the perilous keep entowered, the vaults of secrets, movement in the shadows. It has come to this. My favorite wizard-battle movie is Tomas Alfredson's adaptation of John Le Carre's 'Tinker Taylor Solider Spy'. Gary Oldman as George Smiley is not only the most terrifying person in this movie, but the most terrifying I have ever seen him in anything. In his rumpled, exhausted, whispering near-stillness, the aetheric vibrations are almost visible. We never see the face of his opponent,…

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  Review by Khef ★★★ 17

  Very slow pace, hard to follow, it put me off. It was difficult to capture my attention in some scenes. Talented cast, performances were fine. I really wanted to like it more, but the pacing is just absolutely painful.

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  Review by Scarlett Worthington ★★ 4

  I mean I could tell this is technically a good film. It’s extremely well-made and god the performances along with the cast are beyond brilliant, however I just found the plot really hard to follow and ultimately didn’t find it engaging at all. Maybe I missed something that didn’t allow me to understand what was going on but either way I’ve finished this film having no clue what I’ve just watched.

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  Review by comrade_yui ★★★★ 3

  the fossilization of empire, overcast skies and nicotine stains, a grueling anatomy of systemic conservation, the heat-death of the spy game; tinker tailor marshals the greatest qualities found in british actors: one, their innate smugness, two, their breathy, brittle voices, three, their ability to oscillate from a genial smirk to a fierce roar at the slightest notice of weakness. sociopathy for queen and country.