The Adventures of Tintin (2011) rating: 8/10

I would think Spielberg decided to do a Tintin film after quite a lot of research into whether author Hergé was truly an anti-Semite. Or at least an conscious and overt one. Since it appears not to be the case, we get to enjoy a nice movie in a style of a comic book.

Stars of this film are beautifully rendered computer imaginations of Tintin and dog Snowy. I found Snowy particularly adorable while being amazingly dog-like. Tintin is too baby-faced to be handsome, but the character is brave enough and too surprisingly familiar with violence (guns and punching) to be an innocent boy.

Wikipedia says Tintin follows a scouting ethic. Further research.. it seems only 4 countries allow scout promises without reference to 'God': France, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Israel. Hergé's Belgium now notably absent from this list.  Well, at least there are four rather than zero.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) rating: 7/10

Complex movie and plot wasn't fully explained I don't think. I was confused by the end. I guess I should have read the book. The online spoiler explained it to me, but by then it was anti-climatic.

I think I would have liked a little more hand-holding and hints in development of the 4-5 suspect characters which might have given away the ending, but at least I would have been more invested in it. I suppose the screenplay might have been constrained in attempting to follow the book and author who is still alive. Too bad.

There is a very very tiny gay interest subplot.

The Avengers (2012) rating: 6/10

The story is about the quality of say a Transformers film which I would say contains 0-1 obvious groaners (groaner: a time where I would say: "I can't believe they put that in the script"), but also close to zero true novelty or interesting plot devices.

A fair amount of eye candy of these forms: explosions, fights, high speed flying/chasing.  But none of the male leads are particularly attractive.