John Le Carre

The long descent from Mulholland Drive to Encino, Calif., is steeper than anything you are likely to find in Pennsylvania, and at the bottom there was the smell of smoke. I stopped, got off my bicycle and saw smoke pouring from the rear brake pads. The...

Hang out with accountants long enough and you'll realize they are crazy bastards. They're the kind of guys who justify claiming a bogus home business on your income taxes, or figure out how Enron can sell energy to itself at a loss. So when I met Rick...

James Bond may be the prototypical English spy, but more discerning readers know that John Le Carré's novels come as close as possible to depicting a "true" portrait of the men and women who populate British intelligence. His most indelible creation,...

D. Taylor is anxious, pacing irritably as the rabble-rousing continues. About 150 workers have gathered at the Culinary Union headquarters here to rally and make signs for a Friday night caravan. Their plan is to clog traffic outside the big casinos to...

When actors take a role, they'll often sketch out a backstory for their characters to help them figure out why they do the things they do. No such legwork was necessary, though, for Alfred Molina's latest role in TNT's miniseries "The Company." "The...

The police chief -------------------- By William J. Bratton -------------------- SEPT. 11, 2001, primary election day in New York City, began as a picture-perfect day. Early that morning, I'd done a call-in interview with radio show host Don...

4:45 p.m. So, less than half an hour till the Oscar ceremony begins. And amazingly, some actresses have actually slipped inside the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood without being mauled by E! Entertainment's resident red-carpet manhandler, Isaac Mizrahi. After...

Crash, a film that suggests America has far to go to become a true racial melting pot, upset heavily favored Brokeback Mountain in being named the best picture of 2005 at last night's 78th annual Academy Awards ceremonies. The film, whose characters...

Watching "Syriana," one feels as if he's receiving cryptic transmissions from some corner of the world where life-altering, earth-rattling decisions are made every minute. The story it tells is so dense with portent and allusiveness that it often seems...

3 stars (out of four) The word "complicated" recurs at least twice in the shadowy, conspiratorial early scenes of "Syriana," and writer-director Stephen Gaghan isn't kidding. One of the toughest challenges filmmakers face in the political thriller...

1. "Brokeback Mountain" -- A movie that lives up to its hype, director Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain" is as powerful and poetic as it is haunting. Screenwriters Larry McMurtry ("Lonesome Dove") and Diana Ossana faithfully adapt Annie Proulx's short...

4 stars (out of four) An old Hollywood adage about movie adaptations says that good novels make bad movies and bad, pulpy novels make great movies. It's a fallacy, of course. Good books make good movies all the time. David Fincher sharpened and expanded...