{"id":967,"date":"2012-04-19T09:45:10","date_gmt":"2012-04-19T13:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/galaxyalex.com\/?p=967"},"modified":"2012-04-19T09:45:10","modified_gmt":"2012-04-19T13:45:10","slug":"on-tinker-tailor-soldier-spy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/galaxyalex.com\/?p=967","title":{"rendered":"On Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I guess a lot of people didn&#8217;t dig this movie. I cannot be counted among them. That being stated, a few tweaks could have made this movie much clearer and more accessible.<\/p>\n<p>Oh, yeah. <strong>Spoiler warning<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>#1 &#8211; There&#8217;s a mole at the top level of the British Secret Service. Let&#8217;s all whisper about it.<\/p>\n<p>This is a <em>big<\/em> deal. Worlds at risk. If you want me to give a damn about this, made it more evident why this is\u00a0a problem.<\/p>\n<p>#2 &#8211; Mark Strong as French teacher? Yeah, not a flashback.<\/p>\n<p>In a story rife with flashbacks, showing a dude who just got shot gadding about England in a camper seems like&#8230; you know&#8230; the past. Confusing.<\/p>\n<p>#3 &#8211; Smiley&#8217;s great triumph\/tragedy is his devotion to and adoration of his wife. No, seriously. What, you didn&#8217;t get that from the loving look he gave her in that one flashback? Or in the half-sentence in the let&#8217;s-get-plowed-on-johnny-red-and-tell-stories scene?<\/p>\n<p>Come on now. Yes, I imagine writing a taciturn character is a challenge. Yes, a few hints were dropped. Yes, I was watching closely. Give me a bit more here. Why do I care about this Smiley guy?<\/p>\n<p>Stakes, clarity, and an engaging protagonist. These are some writing basics. Depart from them at your peril.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I guess a lot of people didn&#8217;t dig this movie. I cannot be counted among them. That being stated, a few tweaks could have made this movie much clearer and more accessible. Oh, yeah. Spoiler warning. #1 &#8211; There&#8217;s a mole at the top level of the British Secret Service. Let&#8217;s all whisper about it. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/galaxyalex.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/galaxyalex.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/galaxyalex.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galaxyalex.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galaxyalex.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=967"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/galaxyalex.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":969,"href":"https:\/\/galaxyalex.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967\/revisions\/969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/galaxyalex.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galaxyalex.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galaxyalex.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}