Revised Tinker review

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

  127 min  -  Drama | Mystery | Thriller   -  6 January 2012 (USA)

Director: Tomas Alfredson

Writer: John Le Carre

Stars: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth and Tom Hardy

 “In the bleak days of the Cold War, espionage veteran George Smiley is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet agent within MI6” according to this webpage.

In the beginning, there are six men who meet to discuss the leaking of information with Russia. It has been discovered there is a double agent among the group. This leaves the Tinker (Toby Jones), the Tailor (David Dencik), the Soldier (Ciaran Hinds) and the Spy (Colin Firth) sitting at a table discussing this problem. The entire movie is about discovering which man is the double agent.

In one street scene, people are sitting around tables. Two men are waiting for a third man. The street is narrow, the buildings are high and not much sunlight is able to penetrate this village. It is a rather depressing scene. A woman appears in a second story window, cautiously looking at the scene below. Suddenly she draws back and for a few heartbeats, the suspense builds until gunshots are heard. Who has been shot? What is going on? These are the thoughts than ran through my mind.

One of the interesting things about this film was the chess pieces. There were five chess pieces on a desk and each one had a picture of a man on them, the same four men in the group at the table and George Smiley played by Gary Oldman. He plays his role with severity, aloofness and silence; his job is to ferret out the mole. Several times, we see Smiley pushing the pieces around and even switching the pictures from one chess piece to another.  It reminded me that sometimes we are just pawns in the game of life, being pushed to and fro towards a winning or a losing game. We do not have a lot of control as to what is happening to us; we are just being pushed around.

Since this movie was originally a six-hour long movie, reducing it to 127 minutes took some cutting. A narrator could have filled in some of the silences with the history of who these men were, what they were doing and why they were doing it. It would have been much easier to follow and understand the plot.  The movie was half over before I could get a grip on the story line.

The producer uses lighting effects and music to depict the dark and light aspects of the story. However, most of the scenes are dark throughout this movie. Anytime music is used, the loud and soft tones are used to show different emotions.

            Not being accustomed to suspenseful movies, I was at the edge of my seat. Sometimes, I could not keep from voicing my alarm at the action. So for those who like suspense, action and a vague plot, this movie is a must-see.

The Harvester

My Opinion of The Harvester

Books can be mental food for the mind.  The Harvester is a full course meal to be tasted, savored, and enjoyed. It is a heavy meal, one that cannot be eaten hurriedly or with little interest. A person’s whole being must be engaged in the act of consuming this meal. The information gleaned from its pages is useful to botanists and people who study herbs for the relief of diseases and ailments to the human body. Nature lovers can enjoy this book for the mental pictures the author paints as she takes her readers through the Limberlost Forest. People who love romance will enjoy this book for the author is unparalleled in telling a love story. She portrays a man who is selfless, kind, and with the highest character attainable. On the back cover of The Harvester, the editor reveals that the author modeled her hero, David Langston (the main character of the book) after Henry David Thoreau.

For the botanists: David Langston gathers herbs from the surrounding countryside and brings them back to his farm, cultivating and harvesting them professionally. He discovers that many plants have medicinal value.  “… the demand for his fern never could be supplied. …this formed the basis of one of the oldest and most reliable remedies for little children. The fern had to be gathered with especial care, deteriorated quickly, and no staple was more subject to adulteration.” (113) He was called the Medicine Man by the townspeople, selling his herbs and plants to the local hospital. Pain-killers were his specialty.

For the nature lovers: Spring is a time of renewing. Nature has been dormant all winter and now is the time to wake up and begin new life. The author correlates the natural instincts of animals with how humans react to the changing seasons. About the creatures of nature, she says, “They were living life according to the laws of their nature.” (280)  “Birds of brilliant color flashed everywhere, singing in wild joy, or titled on the rising hedge before her, hunting berries and seeds. Their bubbling, spontaneous song was an instinctive outpouring of their joy over mating time, nests, young, much food, and running water.” (281) She suggests that nature is the handiwork of God. “…she was beginning to appreciate sounds that varied, that carried the Song of Life in unceasing measure and absorbing meaning, while she was more than thankful for the fresh, pure air, and the blessed, God-given light.” (283)  One more example: the man is explaining the meaning of life to the girl. [God] is that big thing that brings forth worlds, establishes their orbits, and gives us heat, light, food, and water. To me, that is God and His love.” (285)

                For the romantics: David seeks and finds a wife, only to discover she is very sick. Read the book to see what happens. Remember: “If you love something, let it go. If it returns, it is yours. If it doesn’t, it never was.”

Gene Stratton-Porter has a unique way of describing intangible thoughts and feelings that leave the reader “living the scene.” This book is long and detailed to the extreme, but I have read it several times. Anyone wanting to see a picture of the purest kind of love between a man and a woman would be enriched by reading this book.

Movie review for 2-23-12

Everyone should watch the movie Dave. I wish we had a few of these kinds of men in government today. The year is 1993, with Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver as main characters. The president wants a look-a-like to fill in while he has a fling with his secretary. During this scene, the president has a massive stroke and goes into a coma. The president’s Chief of Staff does not like the vice-president so sends him on a journey of good-will to Africa and hires a look-a-like (Kevin Kline) to fill in while the top aides figure out what to do, except that the fill-in is a decent guy and learns just enough to realize the country is in trouble. He fires his Chief of Staff and uncovers a Savings and Loan conspiracy that the actual president was leading. One of the best scenes to me is when the fill-in cuts the budget by $650,000,000, allowing a bill to pass that saves the homeless shelters. In the end, the fill-in gives a speech to the joint houses of Congress exonerating the vice-president of any wrong-doing and takes the blame.  Then he collapses. Five months later, the real president passes away and the vice-president takes over.

Sigourney Weaver is an awesome actress. She makes a wonderful first lady. Kevin Kline is a little too exuberant to be a president, maybe even a little too innocent and down-to-earth. It is a romantic movie since the fill-in and the first lady are together at the end. As to color, the scenes are bright. There is not much background music, which is good to me because sometimes the music is so loud and then the voices can’t be heard. I think the producer did a great job with this film and it has some excellent learning moments that our country needs in 2012.

Current event for week 3

I don't think the robins got the memo about the groundhog seeing his shadow and delaying spring for another 6 weeks. This morning, I saw several of these beautiful red-breasted birds hopping around, looking for breakfast. It was 8 degrees, the wind was howling and these poor little birds were freezing. Well, maybe they weren't freezing but I certainly was. Anyway, this blog is about a current event and our opinion. Politics is all over the news but it is scary to publish our opinions about politics. People have been killed for this. America is suppose to be all about the home of the free and the brave, but our freedoms are being reduced or eliminated every day. Next year we are going to be forced to have health insurance. I haven't had health insurance for twelve years and I don't appreciate a government who would force me to pay for something I have not used in years. Just this week, the Catholic church resisted the rule to pay for contraceptives for its employees so now, Obama will make the insurance companies pay for these things. According to Rush Limbaugh, "He doesn't have the power to dictate that anybody, anywhere, provide taxpayer-funded abortion or abortion services, or contraception.  He doesn't have the power." The media is allowing him this priviledge by supporting him. I pray that God will overrule in the affairs of this government and take care of America.

Martha Smith

Personal blog for 2-2-2012

No class tonight! But I'm sorry it is because of our professor's grandfather. I have had an awesome week. Working a few days at the postal service always gives a boost to my paycheck and a boost to my morale. Work is therapeutic; I like it. Thursdays and Saturdays are always scheduled days; that is the regular carrier's day off. Any other day I am called in, someone is sick or on vacation. In the two years I have been at the postal service, I have learned about 13 routes. If I can work three days in a week, I can make more than I would make at another job working five days. The hourly wage is good and I love my job. But times are uncertain with the postal service and I love school so I decided to get my education and teach. I will close for now. Good day!
Martha

More movies I saw

Yesterday, I spent several hours watching some movies I had wanted to see for a long time. Dave is one of my favorite movies and though I could not watch in instantly on Netflix, Netflix gave me some choices of movies that were similar. Moon over Parador is very similar to Dave in that the dictator of that country dies suddenly with a heart attack and his right-hand man happens to find an actor (Richard Dreyfuss) who looks enough like him and can imitate him to take his place. This actor is kidnapped and spends a year "dictating"; however, he is a better person than the dictator was so the country benefits from the actor's reign. http://www.moviesunlimited.com/musite/product.asp?sku=D61367%20%20

Another movie I watched was really old, "Penny Serenade". It is about a couple who can't have children and they adopt a little girl when she is six weeks old. The husband is a dead-beat who doesn't want to work for anyone but himself and when his newspaper business fails, they almost lose the child back to the orphanage when she is a year old because of no income. The wife gets a job and they are able to keep the child. At the age of six, she dies from some illness. It is really a sad movie.

The last one was hilarious. Guarding Tess starred Nicolas Cage and Shirley MacLaine.
Shirley MacLaine is the widow of an American president and she is too fiesty and independent to be watched by her six Secret Service men. Nicolas Cage becomes her favorite and when she finally does get kidnapped by her driver, Nicolas is the one that solves the case and saves her life. Great movie!

Martha Smith