Movie Review

"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" and "Carnage" are two distinctive movies with wildly different approaches to drama.

First, there's "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy," a big-screen adaptation of John Le Carre's 1974 British spy novel featuring George Smiley (Gary Oldman), a middle-aged intelligence agent who, after being into forced retirement, is called back to uncover a Soviet mole in the "Circus," code name for the Secret Intelligence Service.

"My Week with Marilyn" is a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at movie-making, stardom and Marilyn Monroe, the silver screen's most iconic sex symbol.

That Monroe's tragic life was intertwined with celebrity marriages and alleged relationships with Hollywood, political, sports and literature icons, including Frank Sinatra, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller only adds to an abiding appetite for insight about Marilyn.

Screenwriter-director Alexander Payne is a master of the cinematic moment.

In his most entertaining and critically-acclaimed films, seemingly normal persons exhibit abnormal behavior, often triggered by an event, long-neglected or overlooked, unfulfilled deep-seated needs and desires, or undiagnosed and dormant phobias.

In "Sideways" (2004), Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church get into all kinds of shenanigans in their search for the perfect cabernet in California wine country.

In "About Schmidt" (2002), Jack Nicholson travels to his estranged daughter's wedding.

"The Twilight Series: Breaking Dawn, Part 1" is an entertaining movie that should please fans of the movie and not disappoint fans of the fictional book series by Stephenie Meyer.

One presumes they are one and the same.

As for the vampires and werewolves, we're not so sure.

The vampires don't come off as half-bad for being half-dead.

The werewolves, well, they are often in the dark. And, as they zoom through the woods faster than a Predator drone, you can barely pick them out.

The big three are what's important here, anyway.