early Valkrie reviews are not promising
 

Much ado has been made about "Valkyrie," starring Tom Cruise as would-be Hitler assassin Col. Claus von Stauffenberg.

There is the release date, which has been moved around several times until finally being set for Christmas, the perfect time for a feel-good movie about killing Nazis. There's the marketing of the film: Is it a historical thriller featuring Cruise in an eye patch, or is it a straight-up action picture full of explosions? And then, of course, there is the Cruise factor itself — the fact that his very presence adds a layer of tabloid-friendly fascination.

Turns out Cruise is both the central figure in "Valkyrie" and its weakest link. He's distractingly bad in this, the iconography of his celebrity so strongly overshadowing his performance. He's just too powerfully contemporary. With his hard, flat American accent, he stands out in every single scene. And he's not a good enough actor to immerse himself in this kind of period piece, or allow us to do the same.




...anyone planning on seeing this?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081222/...iew_valkyrie_1

That was the main thing that irked me: here's a movie made about Germans, and the main character doesn't have a German accent? WTF?

It looks interesting, but nope, no plans on seeing it.

I am planning on seeing Benjamin Button and Seven Pounds, though.

I'm interested in seeing it because of the historical aspect of the story. I'm not a Tom Cruise fan at all, so the fact that he stars in it is the biggest negative. He looks ridiculous in the "trailers" so maybe I should wait til it comes out on DVD.

Harry Potter for me.....siiiiigh

I'll be a sucker and see it in the theatre - even though I feel the same way as you.

Tom Cruise is not worthy of playing Claus von Stauffenberg!

Tom Cruise just completely annoys me. I can't stand to watch an interview with him, let alone a movie. I will avoid any movie with him in it.

I cannot stand Tom Cruise. I think he has done a good job is some movies but the minute I saw the trailer for this movie, I knew he would be in over his head. A period piece for Tom? I don't think so!
Some of you may already know this, but my friend who has a friend "in the business" out in California swears the whole Katie/Tom marriage is a publicity stunt with a signed contract that spells out her compensation,etc. They had supposedly approached other b-list celebs before Katie agreed. She also says it is common knowledge that Tom is gay.

HEhehe...sad part of it is...some of us heard these rumors...so with all of that going on is there any reason as to why Katie hasn't been seen since Batman Begins?

OOooooo...what if we find out that Suri was a test tube baby????

That comes as no surprise to me.

I haven't seen any of his movies in years, but the whole July 20, 1944 plot to kill Hitler scenario is near & dear to my heart. I had read a book which inspired me to start (read: almost finish) a screenplay about the plot, only told from a different point of view. Then I read that somebody else had written one based on the same source (The Berlin Diaries, 1940-1945 by Marie Vassiltchikov), and that Nicole Kidman was going to star in it. It's so fascinating, I'm sure that's where the idea has come from. FYI, one of the major players in the real plot was Adam von Trott - the gggrandson of John Jay.

That info is fascinating! Thanks for sharing, honeychile!

I do want to see this movie because of the historical aspect, though I loathe Tom Cruise with a passion.....

In tons of movies, the actors don't even attempt to have to accent the characters should have! Do all the actors have no accent? It would be pretty stupid if Cruise was the only one with no accent. At least they tried to have accents in the old WW2 movies of the 50s and 60s....Battle of the Bulge anyone?

I'm posting a link to a good article on Valkyrie - it barely mentioned Tom Cruise! :D http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08360/937508-42.stm

I rather like Bill Nighy in the first place; now I love him!

Thanks, I can somehow wind up with a screener bootleg version for $5.

Anyhow, most "Nazi" picture employed English accented actors to play all the roles. The BEST "Nazi" picture I've seen to date is "Downfall" or "Der Untergang" all done in German with subtitles.

The Germans I know do have an accent when they speak English. But, I cannot tell their accents when they speak German. They did speak openly about "after the war", but NEVER right before or during the WWII. I guess, they just do not discuss it with outsiders... And these were young men (~20-something). Something tells me they do know plenty, but culturally, it is in bad taste to discuss any merits of WWII from a German's perspective. IDK?

All this to say, I would never think Tom Cruise as an actor could effectively pull off a legit, non-glamorizing "Nazi" movie. It's like portraying the Antebellum south American pre-Civil War movie--just overall, not a good "period piece" effort for him... Tom Cruise with a Southern Accent? Has he done that before? IDK?

The "Defiance" movie is out January 2nd. I think folks will appreciate that one more.

$5 for a bootleg? I pay $.63 here in Indonesia.

Eerrrrmmm...can you say The Last Samurai

He was playing a Union soldier who got sent to Japan to originally fight the Samurai, then wound up joining with them. He did not use an American Southern accent to play that role.

In fact his ex-wife, Nicole Kidman can portray a better Southerner, IMO...

Don't talk about bootlegs unless you got some to offer... ;) Wassup with the hook up?

While there quite a few internet site, too, I have recently found out about tracking devices on sites, lately... :rolleyes:

At 1st I thought it was going to be in subtitles, boy was I glad it wasn't.

It's pretty blantant here in Indonesia. They're very upfront about it and have shops in malls. I'll take pics of the place.

It's also hilarious, last year, the American ambassador was complaining about dvd piracy in a news conference here. About 3 hours later, I saw him buying bootleg DVDs. I guess, when in rome.

Are they any good, not some dude walking around with popcorn? And do they have surround sound? Cuz if I give you titles, I want the hook up? LOL. ;)

Every time I see the movie trailers, I think of GreekChat's valkyrie and I miss her posting.

In reality, the Valkyrie plotters wondered about that very thing, a lot. Would people believe that there were Good Germans, or would the world think that they were all Nazis? Even though these people were mostly Nazis, they had joined the party either to "fix" Germany or because they were forced to do so, just to work. It happens. The one plotter who doesn't seem to be mentioned much (Adam von Trott) was constantly going to Sweden, England, and other countries to try to get their support.

i saw the movie tonight. I was disappointed. Of course, that probably had alot to do with the fact that i sat on the row where everybody and their grandma had to get up 4 times during the movie.

IDK? I am no expert, but I think the German law is "once a Nazi, always an Nazi"... And I believe Simon Wiesenthal would say "never again"... This whole movie just seems like I might be waiting for it on HBO--unless moe.ron hooks me up with the bootleg.

I got very interested in the plot after reading The Berlin Diaries 1940-1945 by Marie Vassiltchikov. It's one of a kind in so many ways, I'm sure to be disappointed by Valkyrie, but I have to see it.

You can read a little about the author here. "Vassiltchikov's diaries are the only known first-hand account of the July 20th Plot to kill Adolf Hitler. In addition, her description of the repeated bombing of Berlin is considered one of the best testimonies of that event."

"In addition, her [Missie's] diaries detail the bombing of Berlin, the daily life of what remained of Berlin's cosmopolitan pre-war nobility and intelligentsia, and her own journey from privilege to near-death at the end of the war."

If you're not going to see the movie, give yourself a treat, and read Missie's book!

Same here. I saw one of her posts the other day and felt nostalgic.

I saw it this weekend, and it was alright. "Downfall" was wayyyy better. I think the story was very interesting, but the movie just wasn't that good.

Finally saw Valkrie today. Granted, the line of kids waiting to see Madagascar made everyone late for all of the other movies, but I only missed about 5-8 minutes. Maybe that's when all of the good stuff happened? There were so many historic errors that it frankly made me uncomfortable. I kept thinking that either Monty Python's troupe would show up, or someone would start singing, "Springtime for Hitler".

It was just that bad.

valkryie was the best greekchatter ever