TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
I saw Tinker Tailor
Soldier Spy while recovering from surgery. I was not at my cognitive best, and I remember little about
it other than that I enjoyed it.
Sorry, friend. Not much
good to you here.
MY DOG TULIP
My Dog Tulip is
the animated memoir of a man who loves his dog about as much as a man can love
his dog. Problem is, the man is a
terrible dog owner.
The dog’s an Alsatian, which should live in a house with a
big yard. The man lives in an
apartment and wonders why the neighbors complain about his pet’s barking. The dog’s out of control, not properly
housetrained or taught to heel, and her bad behavior alienates everyone around
him. The man doesn’t clean up his
dog’s waste if nobody’s watching, leaving landmines around his
neighborhood. The list goes on.
Somehow, we’re supposed to see man and beast as the man
does. We’re supposed to smile at
the dog’s foibles and sympathize with the man’s “human troubles.” Me, I spent the whole movie waiting for
Cesar Milan to show up and set this family right. 90 minutes of anger is not my idea of a good time.
WIN WIN
Win Win, on the
other hand, is my idea of a good time.
Written and directed by Thomas McCarthy (The Station Agent, The
Visitor), here’s a family drama with tension, humor, and pathos. McCarthy has a great pen and a gift
with actors, and it shows.
Judging by the cast he’s assembled, he must also have
serious credibility in his profession.
Paul Giamatti (CDNW) stars as a struggling small-time attorney who
shares a building with Jeffrey Tambor (CDNW), an accountant and his fellow high
school wrestling coach. He’s helping his
best friend (Bobby Cannavale, also of The
Station Agent) through a rough divorce. Giamatti loves
his wife, Amy Ryan (of ‘The Wire,’ which is required viewing) and his kids, but
he’s swimming upstream and bills are due.
Enter the great Burt Young, who presents him with an opportunity, a
burden, and a threat to his entire life construct.
And away we go.
Here’s the thing that makes Win Win special: McCarthy casts legitimately great actors to play
these people, and it takes the time to let us get to know them. Consequently, I felt immersed in their
lives. I laughed when they laughed,
cried when they cried, chewed my fingernails when they got worried. Win
Win immersed me, engaged me, and moved me. I loved it.
