Valkyrie

[happyfilmluvguy]

Trailer is up

 

[hepkitten]

Pfft. He looks like some rich pretty boy in a badly chosen Halloween costume and about as tough as a dollop of whip cream....

I could not have said it better myself. When I saw MI:2 (it was in a pub theater with beer and pizza, otherwise you wouldn't have gotten me near it), in the climactic scene where Tom whips around in slo mo, illuminated in a dramatic shaft of light, about to spring into superhuman action against the bad guys...the entire audience burst out laughing.

Pretty sure that wasn't the response the filmmakers were going for. But it was just such obvious...playacting.

Contrast that with Daniel Craig as Bond...now that guy looked like he could seriously rip someone's arm off, then have a pleasant dinner right after.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Looks good to me!...

Trailer is up

...I have no objections whatsoever! It's a movie folks!...just entertainment. Not everything on film is "Gone With The Wind" or "Citizen Kane". Lighten up, will ya - just enjoy the uniforms, the airplanes and the war era scenery.

(To be honest, is Tom Cruise any worse a 'play actor' than George Peppard? George's portrayal of Bruno Stachel in 'The Blue Max' was just plain BAD, but the movie itself was quite good. I'd watch it today if it came up on cable.)

-dixon cannon

 

[Edward]

Looks like it could be a good romp..... and it'll be nice to see a WW2 set film which doesn't just paint all German forces as "bad men who liked Hitler" as so often happens.

 

[cooncatbob]

I've always felt that it was unfortunate that Stauffenberg didn't get the job done. If he was that strong in his conviction he should have stood right next to Hitler and set off the bomb. As the deed went down a lot of people were the victims of Hitler's revenge and some of them were no doubt innocent of knowledge of the plot. It's one of histories "What ifs".
BTW. Cruise is too short for the SS.
Bob

 

[Edward]

I've always felt that it was unfortunate that Stauffenberg didn't get the job done. If he was that strong in his conviction he should have stood right next to Hitler and set off the bomb. As the deed went down a lot of people were the victims of Hitler's revenge and some of them were no doubt innocent of knowledge of the plot. It's one of histories "What ifs".

I can see what you mean - especially thinknig of so many who died in Birkenau and elsewhere, if the war had ended that much sooner, more might have been saved. That said, though, the idea of being a suicide bomber would have been a culturally alien thing for European military back then, surely - and they probably thought that they'd planned the job well enough to manage it?

It is a great shame that they didn't succeed, though that makes him no less of a hero for trying, in my book.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

National Geographic Channel has been running the promotion for 'Valkyrie' today during an evening of Nazi programming.

Looks like opening day is (oddly enough!) December 25th

-dixon cannon

 

[KY Gentleman]

National Geographic Channel has been running the promotion for 'Valkyrie' today during an evening of Nazi programming.

Looks like opening day is (oddly enough!) December 25th

-dixon cannon

I'm watching this documentary on Nat Geo tonight. It is very interesting and though I deplore Tom Cruise I'll probably rent this movie!

 

[Nighthawk]

I am looking forward to this film. I could care less about Tom Cruise's religious/political beliefs. I enjoyed him in Top Gun, The Firm, Jerry Maguire, and the first Mission: Impossible movie. Several other of his movies I'll watch if they're on TV. Cruise's acting was very powerful in Born on the Fourth of July.

NH

 

[Story]

I thought this thread was going to be about the tall blonde with big yahoohoos and a stein of beer in each hand, coming to carry me home to Valhalla.

Bummer.

 

[Andykev]

It may be a bad film but I'm gonna see it

Back to the discussion of "THIS MOVIE"....thanks for all being polite and civil..sometimes a thread like this goes down hill in a fat hurry


I will likely see the movie, because I have always liked WWII films. Some have been spectacular, some are real losers.

I am not a fan of Tom Cruise..but admittedly I have enjoyed many of his films (Top Gun for the flying, A Few Good Men, etc.).

But this film may be a disappointment.

Wingnut..is that uniform he's wearing look like the colors are off?

 

[Nighthawk]

I will likely see the movie, because I have always liked WWII films. Some have been spectacular, some are real losers.

Agreed. I'll see any WWII film at least once.

NH

 

[Ugarte]

In my late '20's I skied the resort in Taos where there is a short, but treacherous run named "Stauffenberg". I had heard of the July plot to kill Hitler and was vaguely familiar with Claus von Stauffenberg. After falling down his namesake a number of times, I looked him up at the University and did a little research.

His family was kind of a big deal in Germany and he was well educated. He was ideologically suited to the German army after WWI and he joined the 17th Cavalry as this was his family's traditional regiment. Like many of his stripe, he believed much of the land of central Europe was rightfully Germany's and when Hitler moved to annex them, he approved. But as a practising Catholic his entire life, he soon found Hitler's disregard of agreements with the papacy as well as anybody else objectionable.

As the military started to suffer under Hitler's leadership, Stauffenberg began to turn. The invasion of the Soviet Union was characterized by atrocities and failures that Stauffenberg attributed to Hitler's poor military leadership. In 1943 he was wounded in Africa when a British aircraft straffed his staff car. He lost his left eye, right hand, and two fingers on his left hand. On rehabilitation, he fell in with members of the resistance and the July 1944 coup eventually resulted.

Tom Cruise (real name Thomas Cruise Mapother IV), on the other hand, is an actor and former seminary student who could have easily been a Catholic priest. He is short, eccentric, and very wealthy. As a member of the Church of Scientology, Cruise claims church teachings cured him of dyslexia. He is well known as an important benefactor to the church. I shall say no more lest I find a briefcase bomb beneath my not-so-sturdy dining room table some day.

If reviews are favorable enough I may be tempted to pirate this movie from the Internet, deleting it immediately after viewing.

Mark
.

 

[BAZ]

I've always felt that it was unfortunate that Stauffenberg didn't get the job done. If he was that strong in his conviction he should have stood right next to Hitler and set off the bomb. As the deed went down a lot of people were the victims of Hitler's revenge and some of them were no doubt innocent of knowledge of the plot. It's one of histories "What ifs".
BTW. Cruise is too short for the SS.
Bob

AAAHH!!! But Stauffenberg WASN'T SS, a MAJOR point in the story, and a common misconception that "All Germans were Nazis".

 

[Jedburgh OSS]

Relax folks, it's only a movie

I can overlook his off screen kookiness to see what looks to be a well done film. From what I can tell, the $95 million budget appears to be there visually. This was also the subject of The Plot to Kill Hitler, first broadcast on TV back in January of 1990. And wouldn't you know it just so happens that the DVD will be released January 6; must be the 19th anniversary special edition. Brad Davis of Midnight Express and the mini-series Chiefs (a good one) had the starring role. It might have been touched upon in the really lengthy mini-series War and Remembrance. Now, if you really want to walk the down the Hall of Miscasting look back at Harvey Keitel as Judas Iscariot with an orange Afro and a Brooklyn accent in The Last Temptation of...

 

[Matt Crunk]

All politics aside, the German militaria circa WWII were some of the sharpest dressers in all of military history. That alone makes this movie a must see for me, who's been a fan of "Nazi" style since watching Hogan's Heroes as a kid.

Never underestimate the power of a strong corporate image.

 

[Fletch]

Cruise was on Jay Leno last night talking about the pic. He said all the flight sequences involve actual period aircraft. He is a pilot, and at one point the pilots of the Ju 52 invited him up to fly the plane. They said it was quite capable of aerobatics! So Tom put it thru a couple of wingovers.

On landing he remembered one of his costars was on board. He went back and found him looking "somewhat distressed." :eusa_clap I'll bet!

One of the Ju 52s used in the film.

 

[rumblefish]

I'll see it, when I rent it, not holding out a lot of hope for it though. I rented that piece of c--p Pearl Harbor and was able to get my shoe print off my TV screen. I think my Magnavox can stand another kick if necessary.

What do you think is worse:

Tom Cruise as Von Stauffenberg
or
Alec Baldwin as Doolittle
(not to mention Affleck as Mr. All-round-pilot-of both-theaters/sun-shines-out-of-my-backside)

I may hold a little more hope for Valkyrie than Pearl Harbor. Boy, I want those three hours of my life back!

 

[poetman]

I don't really like Tom Cruise. He's too famous to really inhabit a role, and I don't think he's that great. But I'm watching this one on the big screen. It's just eye-candy: WWII, all things vintage--you just can't pay too much attention so he ruins it for you.

 

[BAZ]

I regard Cruise the way I regard Julia Roberts: a vacuum of talent, capable of only smiling and playing pretty to the camera.
BUT, WWII is a personal "hobby" of mine, and the attention to detail I've seen so far has impressed me!