Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy requires attention

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (DVD/Blu-Ray) - Dir. Tomas Alfredson. Starring Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Benedict Cumber-batch.

Engrossing espionage film just a little overstuffed with ideas.

Based on a 1974 novel by John le Carré, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is not a true story, but comes wrapped in all the trappings of one.

In the mid-1970s, recently retired British Intelligence veteran George Smiley (Gary Oldman) is dragged back into the service to investigate allegations of a double agent at the very top of the organization.

Oldman, perhaps eager to remind us that he is just as powerful a presence when he's silently ruminating as when he's screaming and bouncing off the walls, leads a top-notch cast. The film is packed with all the good British actors left over from the Harry Potter movies, including John Hurt, Colin Firth, and Tom Hardy.

Where most films set aside time for action and drama and character development, Tinker Tailor is a non-stop information dump. There isn't a moment of screen time where new concepts or characters aren't being unloaded-each packaged with multiple names, motivations, and loyalties, and each essential in some way to the story.

Given that, the film does an astonishing job of crafting a compelling universe and fully realized characters at the same time as it is cramming all of this raw data into our brains. Tinker Tailor has no time for scenes that serve only one purpose.

It is also reasonably successful at breaking its absurdly complex story (distilled from even more complex source material) into pieces that can be chewed and swallowed. Despite covering a couple of dozen characters and multiple time periods in non-linear fashion, the story's early action, divided into standalone debriefings of former intelligence employees, is surprisingly easy to follow.

But by the third act, the twists and turns, the web of treacheries, the distinction between mild mischievous treason and really naughty treason: it all gets a bit overwhelming. The issue is not helped by director Tomas Alfredson's penchant for realism and understatement. In true commitment to British sensibilities, the Swedish director seems to feel it would be undignified to get too excited about anything, and refuses to give even his most important scenes any special treatment. A quick shot of a face from across a room or through a window as part of a montage is all the consideration given to several of the film's pivotal moments. This approach forces the viewer to pay attention, but weakens the climax and puts the plot at risk of being buried under a mountain of subtlety. A few badly timed blinks could mean missing the story.

Tinker Tailor is slightly dense for a single viewing, but it contains a rich world worth exploring.

Rated R for tailor tinkering.
4 out of 5

The Muppets (DVD/Blu-Ray) - Dir. James Bobin. Starring Amy Adams, Jason Segel, Chris Cooper.

Uneven comic adventure about the Muppets organizing a reunion show to stop an evil oil tycoon from demolishing their old studio.

The Muppets is a somewhat lazy film, taking the easy and obvious path at this point in Muppet history of doing a "getting the band back together" comedy. Its first half is fully bearable but staunchly mediocre, with forgettable musical numbers and a story outline lifted verbatim from the Blues Brothers textbook. Some good jokes sprinkled throughout these scenes lighten the tedium.

Things get better in the second half when the weak plot takes a backseat and the focus is on the group's fundraising telethon, which turns the film into something closer to a standard episode of The Muppet Show. It's fast-paced, pleasantly slapdash, and funnier than what comes before it. A subplot in which the Muppets kidnap Jack Black and force him to host the entire show screaming and tied to a chair is enough to push the film into the "above average" category all by itself.

While it may not be ambitious or original, The Muppets is colorful enough to redeem itself.

Rated PG by the Hobo King.
3.5 out of 5