Did no one else dislike this film?

For discussion of Tomas Alfredson's Film Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
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Drad
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Did no one else dislike this film?

Post by Drad » Sun Jan 15, 2012 7:25 am

I didn't completely hate it. I liked the way it was shot, and I liked the ending sequence a LOT, but I was extremely disappointed with this movie. It seems like everyone who likes this film tells those who didn't, "This wasn't hard to follow if you payed attention, the situation was very thrilling, you were expecting it to be something it wasn't."


I gave this film a chance, and really tried to enjoy it. I really felt stupid after watching it. I also felt like an idiot because I realize how I have a hard time following a lot of movies. I find myself looking up plot summaries and reading along on when watching films... a lot of the time. If I don't understand something that happens in a movie completely, I have to look up a plot synopsis for clarification. I feel like I am not able to understand complex plots. I don't know if it's because I'm not intelligent enough to understand complex plots without reading about them, or if it's just how I think and comprehend things.

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Re: Did no one else dislike this film?

Post by sauvin » Sun Jan 15, 2012 7:34 am

Drad wrote:I didn't completely hate it. I liked the way it was shot, and I liked the ending sequence a LOT, but I was extremely disappointed with this movie. It seems like everyone who likes this film tells those who didn't, "This wasn't hard to follow if you payed attention, the situation was very thrilling, you were expecting it to be something it wasn't."


I gave this film a chance, and really tried to enjoy it. I really felt stupid after watching it. I also felt like an idiot because I realize how I have a hard time following a lot of movies. I find myself looking up plot summaries and reading along on when watching films... a lot of the time. If I don't understand something that happens in a movie completely, I have to look up a plot synopsis for clarification. I feel like I am not able to understand complex plots. I don't know if it's because I'm not intelligent enough to understand complex plots without reading about them, or if it's just how I think and comprehend things.
I tend not to be able to comment on movies until the DVD comes out because I can't understand speech. DVDs are a godsend because they have closed captioning and subtitles (but rarely, I note bitterly, in French!).
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Re: Did no one else dislike this film?

Post by Nightrider » Sun Jan 15, 2012 4:42 pm

If you do a cursory scan of this films reviews you'd notice that TTSS was disliked by just about everybody, with only a small percentage of viewers(myself included) thinking they just watched a great movie. On these forums, there's maybe 4 or 5 members who admit to liking the film...and that's a pretty tiny number.
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Re: Did no one else dislike this film?

Post by gary13136 » Sun Jan 15, 2012 5:48 pm

I think the key to whether or not one likes this movie is whether or not you have read the book first. I admit I haven't read the book, but it has inspired me to do so. When this book came out, I wasn't into mysteries as much as I am now. My son saw TTSS with me, and he admitted that it was difficult to follow. But he also said it was much better than the last James Bond movie, and he's a long time fan of James Bond. So you might take a shot at reading it.

PS: Since this movie came out, library copies of the book are difficult to come by, and library DVD copies of the Alec Guinness version also. Also Netflix lists the Alec Guinness version as a "very long wait". Seems that a lot of people have gotten interested lately. ;)
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Re: Did no one else dislike this film?

Post by JakobM » Sun Jan 15, 2012 11:52 pm

Nightrider wrote:If you do a cursory scan of this films reviews you'd notice that TTSS was disliked by just about everybody, with only a small percentage of viewers(myself included) thinking they just watched a great movie.
I've done a more than cursory scan of TTSS reviews and that's not at all my impression. In the UK I'd say the opposite would be closer to the truth. The reception in the US was predictably less enthusiastic but I've seen plenty of positive reviews there as well.

You can count me among the people who admit to liking the film (although not as much as LTROI). I can understand how people might find it too complicated but even when I wasn't 100% sure what was going on I never let it get in the way of enjoying the experience of being immersed in the story. Acting, cinematography, directing, music - all were great IMHO. Hopefully TA will get to film more of the Smiley stories.

/J

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Re: Did no one else dislike this film?

Post by danielma » Mon Jan 16, 2012 3:39 am

Yeah in the UK it was widely praised...at least critically speaking

It was when the film went to the US that I started hearing the first signs of criticism
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Re: Did no one else dislike this film?

Post by Dutchie » Thu Jan 19, 2012 7:47 pm

I loved everything about this film except the story. Im just not a fan of John le Carré work.
The acting in this film was amazing. Gary Oldman, give the bloke an oscar, or at least a nomination. Isnt it weird that he was never nominated for an oscar?

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Re: Did no one else dislike this film?

Post by DavidZahir » Thu Feb 16, 2012 2:27 am

I figure people have different tastes. Me, I loved it. Others didn't.
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Re: Did no one else dislike this film?

Post by DarkGuyver » Tue May 29, 2012 8:18 am

Well, I have finally managed to watch the movie from beginning to the end, and I have to say I absolutely hated it. The hatred wasn't due to the slow pace of the movie, as I have watch many a good movies, which pace along much slower. But the overal performances of the actors in general.

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Re: Did no one else dislike this film?

Post by Murphypacker » Wed Jun 27, 2012 9:34 pm

I disliked the film for two reasons, one of which has been cited by several of the forum members.

The story is too complex to be told in a 2-hour movie. You end up with an illustration of the book, if you've read the book.

As an illustration of the book, it fails because Gary Oldman is nothing at all like Smiley. Not in any way.

This is a very good book, if you find the story appealing but had trouble following. Read it.

Don't think yourself dumb if you couldn't follow this movie. The director did not succeed in telling the story.

I would love to see the BBC Alec Guinness series again. Has anyone watched it recently and could tell me if it has subtitles? I need them because of a loss of hearing. That was a success because Guinness couldn't have been better as Smiley, and because they had time to tell the story.

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