Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

John Le Carre's epic novel is brought to the big screen, directed by Thomas Alfredson and starring a whose who of British cinema with Gary Oldman putting in a performance that is already being talked up for an Oscar with support from Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Mark Strong and Toby Jones. This is based on the 1974 novel of the same name and tells the story of George Smiley played by Gary Oldman as he tries to identify the Soviet mole in the upper echelons of the British Secret Service.

The acting in this is awesome but the story is long, it was last told in a 6 hour mini-series and there is not much exposition in the two hours you are given. I have not read the book and would presume that if you have read it it will be even better as I have heard it is quite true to the original story. All of the actors in this do give excellent performances and if you can follow the story then you will really enjoy this film.

Overall I am going to give this 4 satrs, however it does come with the caveat that you have to give it a chance I heard from a couple of people that they found it long and boring. If this sounds like your sort of film then I think you will really enjoy it.

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

So I watched the Guy Ritchie adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, now this character has been done several times and I will be honest and say that I have not actually seen any of them and have very little knowledge of the characters other than the generic rules that everyone know as they are in pop culture. Such as Elementary my Dear Watson, magnifying glass and the pipe and the relationship between Holmes and Watson.

Now Rogbert Downey Jnr has had a resurgenice between this, Iron man and Due Date and he is really performing well. I have to say that I liked his portrayal of the character it showed his brilliance and the leaps of logic that Holmes is famous for. Jude Law was interesting as his partner with a sense of resignation that he would be tied to Holmes forever in some way and also the regret that he wanted his life to move forward. The story of teh film itself is interesting, there was a little bit of well there is the sequel getting set up and I have to say on review this is an origin film. You have the characters setting up, even though they are well established in most peoples mind this is them getting set up.

I enjoyed this film a whole lot, it will not be for everyone and I have to say that while I will go and see the sequel i am not in that much of a hurry to see it. A solid 3 stars for me.