Movie Review: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

This is one difficult movie to watch but a good movie nonetheless. George Smiley (Gary Oldman) is a retired British spy who's seen too much in his long career. His service has defined him, ruined his marriage and pretty much beaten him down. But he didn't retire on his own accord, he was forced out, when his mentor, Control (John Hurt) was forced to retire after a mission to Hungry went spectacularly bad. A year later, Smiley is asked by a government minister to investigate the spy agency department he worked for (called "The Circus") and find out if there is indeed a high placed mole in the agency.

One of four, old-line, senior management types at the agency is suspected of being the mole. These are the very men that forced Smiley out. He is given little help in his task, but Smiley is a man of principle, the mole must be found and the leaking of secrets to the Soviet Union must be stopped.

The Soviet Union? Yes, the story takes place in the mid-1960s when the Cold War was being fought by men like Smiley. It is a very old fashioned movie. There is very little action, a lot of talk. It is a dark movie, dark in the way it is filmed (the director seems like he never heard of electric lights or filming in the daytime) and dark in the hearts of these men (and the occasional woman) who fight this war. Torture, betrayal, treason and the occasional shot in the back or head).

The acting is strong, as it would have to be in a movie like this. Oldman is terrific as Smiley, a man of few words, a man not of action but of thought. He puzzles out the identity of the mole and then sets an elaborate trap for him.

This is also a movie that is hard to follow at times. I saw it with my daughter and we had to check with each other a few times to be sure we knew what was going on. If I were watching it on Netflix, I'd have had my finger on the replay button.

I wouldn't take the kids to this. Not that there is much sex (a little) or violence (I think there are three gun shots in the whole movie) but because they will probably think it is dull. I think the story would be too complex for anyone under 16.

The film seems to be in very limited release. I think it is only playing in two theaters in the Houston area, one of which happens to be about 15 minutes from my house.

2011 Topps A&G Discount Box

Perhaps you're sick of 2011 Allen & Ginter. If so, you can skip this post. Go ahead, I won't mind. I was in Target last Friday and they had a blaster box of A&G at 20% off the regular price. I probably shouldn't have considering how much of this product I bought this year and my bad experience earlier in the week with the 2008 box of UD Masterpieces. But I did. I was very happy. Of the 48 cards in the box, I needed 22 of them. Pretty good odds. I'm not going to show them all but just a few of interest.

2011 Topps Allen & Ginter #28 John Lindsey

It's nice to get rookie cards but I don't think we should hope for much from John Lindsey. He was a 33-year-old rookie in 2010, having been the Rockies 13th round draft pick in 1995. 1995!

2011 Topps Allen & Ginter #97 Zach Britton

Another rookie but maybe we like him better. He was 11-11 with the 69-93 Orioles last year.

2011 Topps Allen & Ginter #321 Mark Reynolds

Here's a trivial question for you. Who is the only player to lead his league in striking out three seasons in a row, sign a 3-year contract worth about $24 million with a team in the other league, and then lead that league in strikeouts? Why Mark Reynolds, of course. I have not actually determined if Mark Reynolds is the only answer to this question.

2011 Topps Allen & Ginter Floating Fortresses #11 Lave

Another in my series of Wikipedia cards.

2011 Topps Allen & Ginter Hometown Heroes #90 Ryan Howard

I'm always happy to pull a Ryan Howard card I didn't already have.

2011 Topps Allen & Ginter Hometown Heroes #58 Jimmy Rollins

Or, really, any Phillies card I didn't already have. I now have 6 Phillies from this insert set.

2011 Topps Allen & Ginter Minds that Made the Future #40 Ben Franklin

Another home town favorite.

2011 Topps Allen & Ginter Mini A and G Back #274 Stan Lee

Are you excited about The Avengers coming out this summer? Stan Lee is.

2011 Topps Allen & Ginter Mini Black #20 Jeremy Hellickson

I only had a handful of the mini black cards, and no rookies. Getting 2011 AL Rookie of the Year isn't bad.

2011 Topps Allen & Ginter Mini World's Most Mysterious Figures #5 D. B. Cooper

Another Wikipedia card. Not too surprising since nobody really knows what he looks like. This is an FBI composite drawing. 40 years ago, Cooper, or whatever his real name is, pulled off the only, apparently successful plane skyjacking in the US.

2011 Topps Allen & Ginter Code Cards #40 John McEnroe

So what is this card? I've have some of the cards with these corner decorations in black and a few in gold. But those had the things in all four corners. This only has one corner covered.

Song of the Week - Essence by Lucinda Williams

This is one sexy song.



Baby, sweet baby, you're my drug
Come on and let me taste your stuff

Baby, sweet baby, bring me your gift
What surprise you gonna hit me with

I am waiting here for more
I am waiting by your door
I am waiting on your back steps
I am waiting in my car
I am waiting at this bar
I am waiting for your essence

Baby, sweet baby, whisper my name
Shoot your love into my vein

Baby, sweet baby, kiss me hard
Make me wonder who's in charge

I am waiting here for more
I am waiting by your door
I am waiting on your back steps
I am waiting in my car
I am waiting at this bar
I am waiting for your essence

Baby, sweet baby, I wanna feel your breath
Even though you like to flirt with death

Baby, sweet baby, can't get enough
Please come find me and help me get fucked up

I am waiting here for more
I am waiting by your door
I am waiting on your back steps
I am waiting in my car
I am waiting at this bar
I am waiting for your essence

I am waiting for your essence

Random Cards of the Week

Time for another random round of cards.

Card #11958
1993 Topps Gold #773 Cliff Brantley

There was a time when not all baseball cards had gold foil on them. Gold foil started to appear on regular issue cards in 1992 with Topps Stadium Club. In 1992 and 1993, Topps issued parallel cards to their flagship set as inserts in packs.

Card #5541
2002 Donruss Originals #161 Sean Burroughs

Donruss starting mining their own past for design ideas (as Topps has done quite successfully with Heritage cards) in 2002 with this retro set. The set featured cards with designs from 1982, 1984 (such as this Burroughs card) and 1986. This is the only year this set was issued.

Card #14145
2009 Topps 206 #74 Greg Golson

This set turned out to be one of the biggest disappointments released in 2009. Topps had previously released a real nice Topps 206 set in 2002. I was excited to hear about the upcoming 2009 release but I don't care for it much, especially the card backs with identical artificial dirt smudges on each card.

Card # 206
1987 Topps #178 Cecil Fielder

These early Fielder are amazing. In his first 4 years with the Blue Jays, Cecil hit 31 home runs. In 1989 he went to Japan. In 1990 he came back to the states and played for the Tigers, having become enormous in the time he was gone. He hit 51 homers in 1990 for the Tigers.

Card #12296
2008 Topps Update #220 Geoff Jenkins

I think you either love this card design or you hate it. I love it.

 Card #13950
1989 Topps #291 Mets Leaders

In 1988, Strawberry and McReynolds shared almost all the Mets batting records. Is that other guy Keith Hernandez?

Card #16517
2006 Upper Deck #598 Jason Smith

By 2006, the Upper Deck flagship set started looking pretty much the same from year to year.

Card #310
1987 Donruss Opening Day #79 Orel Hershiser

Before Topps Opening Day, there was Donruss Opening Day in 1987. The card design is the same as the base set except the border is brown instead of black. This set was only available as a boxed set and I bought one in 2003 for a reasonable price. There is a rare and famous Barry Bonds error card from this set but I didn't get one. Instead, I got two Barry Bonds cards in the box (and therefore, I'm short having the complete set by one card).

Card #16887
1986 Topps #520 Keith Hernandez

This card is a bit beat up. I've probably owned it since 1986 which would make it one of the first cards I bought.

Card #5813
2000 Stadium Club Chrome Refractor #152 Jason Giambi

I really liked the Stadium Club Chrome cards in 2000 and bought a hobby box of the product. The Refractor cards really looked good.

2008 UD Masterpieces

I was with the family doing our monthly grocery shopping in WalMart over the weekend. I always take at least a peek at their baseball card rack, pitiful as it is. I wasn't expecting to see anything I wanted but they had a blaster of 2008 UD Masterpieces for 40% off the regular price. I was thinking that I hadn't bought much of this product so I decided to take a shot. Indeed, I found later that I had only bought one blaster box in 2008. I like the product but I think the high price ($0.75/card) and the lack of hits in the box put me off.

The set has 120 cards, I had 32 from the other box. What are the odds I'd get some cards I didn't already have? Pretty good I thought but I was wrong. There were 8 4-card packs in the box. That's another 32 cards. Only 9 were cards I didn't have. Man.  At least there were a few good cards among them.

I collect Guerrero so this was nice. He was an All-Star in 2007. This picture looks like it is from the Home Run Derby, which he won in 2007.

Post-career Ozzie cards are always welcome.

As are post-career Cal Ripken cards. This picture also looks like it's from an All-Star game. This has to be the 2001 game. It was Ichiro's first All-Star game (where he was the game MVP) and Cal's last All-Star game (where he went 1-2 with a solo home run).

And finally, the only insert in the box.

Killer passed away just this past year so perhaps the black border is appropriate. I don't have any Killebrew cards from when he played and the few post-career cards I have show him as a Twin.

Movie Review: War Horse

The story in a nutshell: boy finds horse, boy loses horse, boy finds horse in the midst of a bloody great war. The boy is Albert, pictured above. He names the horse Joey and "raises him from a pup" as someone late in the movie says. Albert's father had paid an outrageous sum for the horse after his landlord bid him up. Albert's mother was aghast, he was supposed to be buying a plow horse, not a thoroughbred. But Albert manages to get Joey to plow the rocky field so the turnips can be planted. But eventually the horse has to be sold to the Army to pay the rent. And Joey goes off to war.

What follows is a somewhat improbable story of Joey loose in the chaos of France during the First World War. Improbable perhaps, but beautifully drawn and written. And what more can any movie ask for, that you fall in love with the leading character? And make no doubt about it, Joey is the main character. He appears in just about every scene. 21-year-old Jeremy Irvine, who plays Albert, probably has the second most screen time but he's missing all through the middle of the film.

The audience laughed out loud during the occasional funny scene (like when the little French girl is trying to teach Joey to jump), and cried during the sad scenes (like when Joey and Albert get parted) and audibly moaned during several painful scenes which I won't go into so I don't spoil it for you.

I highly recommend this movie, and by all means, take the kids. You might not want to take very young kids though. Part of this movie is, what seems like, a pretty realistic depiction of a charge out of a trench. It was pretty intense.

Song of the Week - Colours by GROUPLOVE

I got this song from a podcast by KEPX radio. It popped up on iTunes the other day and sounded worthy of a post. It's a catchy pop tune that I really like. They have a sketchy entry on Wikipedia which you can read here if you're interested. The most interesting thing to me in the entry is that one of the band members is the son of former Yes guitarist Trevor Rabin. As is often the case, the video is pretty strange and really cuts across the rather upbeat tempo of the song.