Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Snoozer

I feel sorry for Gary Oldman. He has done something rarely attempted by stars of year-end Oscar-bait movies: He has turned in an understated performance! He plays superannuated spymaster George Smiley in the new movie version of John le Carré’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. And it seems all anyone can talk about is the 1979 BBC TV version, starring Sir Alec Guinness in the same role.