Despite the cascade of critical praise splashing down on the new “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” it’s not hard to imagine the movie being greeted with bafflement, and possibly boredom, by many viewers, especially those who’ve never read the 1974 John le Carré spy novel on which it’s based, or who are unfamiliar with the 1979 BBC miniseries of the same name, which is superior in every way.

Le Carré’s story, set in 1973, at the height of the Cold War, is expansive in scope and intricately plotted. The BBC production took nearly five hours to tell it; the new movie, directed by Tomas Alfredson (“Let the Right One In”), runs a bit more than two hours, which just isn’t enough time. (Le Carré himself, an executive producer of the film, clearly disagrees.) Inevitably, there’s been some radical compression, along with an injection of strange twists and additions. And then there’s the cast, which we’ll get to in a moment.

The story, in outline, remains the same. There’s been a coup at the Circus—the British intelligence headquarters, situated on London’s Cambridge Circus traffic roundabout. The head of the service, an aged and ailing spymaster known only as Control, has disgraced himself with a bungled operation in Czechoslovakia aimed at flushing out a Soviet mole whom he’s convinced has infiltrated the top echelon of his Circus chieftains.

Control soon dies, and his partisans are rudely dispersed, among them his loyal deputy, George Smiley, who is forced into retirement. Control is replaced by a lugubrious buffoon named Percy Alleline, who has recently acquired a hot new source of intel—a Soviet double agent code-named Merlin. Smiley, like Control, had from the beginning seen this wondrous new asset as too good to be true.

Read the full review at Reason.com

“My role in life is to be a burr under the saddle. I didn’t pick that for myself, it just happens that’s the way I am. I wish I could be one of the really sweet guys, but for me nobody has a good word. That’s because my allegiance is to art, to the work. I have no allegiance to magazines, producers, studios, networks or anything. The work is what counts.” – Harlan Ellison, on writing in Hollywood.

For those of you here at Big Hollywood who think you are playing a whole new game in taking on the Tinseltown establishment in force, I have news for you. Scribe Extraordinaire and futurist iconoclast Harlan Ellison beat you all to the punch by about forty-five years. And if you don’t know who Harlan Ellison is, shame on you! He is a living legend with more Hugos and Nebulas than I care to count, as well as four WGA Awards and an Emmy nod. And all that’s just for starters. (more…)

Before the election, at a comfortable film festival in Spain, filmmaker Woody Allen told journalists abroad that it would be “a disgrace and a humiliation if Barack Obama does not win.”

“It would be a very, very terrible thing for the United States in many, many ways,” he said. Adding that Mr. Obama, “represents a huge step upward from (the) incompetence and misjudgment” of the Bush administration.”

You know, it’s a hard thing to watch your heroes fall. To see them as they really are, not as you thought they were, not as you wish they were.

I grew up loving Woody Allen movies, ranking “Annie Hall,” “Manhattan” and “Hannah and Her Sisters” as three of my favorite all-time films. With “Radio Days” and “Sleeper” not too far behind.  (more…)

Did you know that every fallen soldier travels from Dover to their final resting place with an escort every step of the way? HBO captures this touching journey in a new drama starring Kevin Bacon, Taking Chance, premiering February 21. Bacon portrays the real-life journey of Lieutenant Colonel Michael Strobl, USMC, who was tasked with escorting home a stranger, Chance Phelps. Phelps, a 19 year old Lance Corporal, had been killed in action in Iraq.

At a press event for the drama today, Strobl described how, as he escorted the body to Dubois, Wyoming, construction workers paused and put their hard hats over their hearts, a flight attendant handed him a crucifix, and ordinary Americans responded with emotion. “All of these people who you could presume had varying political views,” said Strobl, “exhibited a profound sense of gratitude and sorrow at Chance’s loss.”

“It’s an extremely profound comment on the casualties of war,” said Bacon. It’s also a profound comment on the great debt we owe our service men and women.

Have you been moved or touched by a fallen soldier finally coming home?