I saw Valkyrie last night. Cruise was ok, but the movie plays out like any number of "caper" movies, including Oceans 11, etc. Most of the time is spent on gathering the people and the set up/planning, then the playing out of the plan. Pretty formulamatic, yet interesting from a historical perspective. Bruce, I can't give away the ending if you don't remember your WWII history, a quick Google on the death of Hitler will tell you all you need to know!
I did, however see Ben Button the night before. It is a very clever movie that works on many levels. It will be nominated for best pict and Pitt for best actor, and he may even deserve to win. If it was about 40 minutes shorter, it would have been a much better movie, just like Australia. 2 cents given, Michael Danese -----Original Message----- From: MoPo List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of channinglylethomson Sent: Saturday, December 27, 2008 10:09 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [MOPO] I saw Valkyrie Overall, the movie was okay as a suspense film. I think Bryan Singer can handle that kind of a story line however, the film would have been better with some depth to the script and the characterizations. Some improvements I would have made: a) have all the German characters speak with a German accent. I don't think tampering with that basic rule of a WWII film is advised. It's really strange to have them speaking with strong British, American, and German accents. It's kind of off-putting. b) replace Tom Cruise. As an actor, he bring his own background and persona to a role. He can be cocky, funny, romantic, charming, and many other things. What he can't do is tragic, serious, and history- making. He tries to give gravitas to the role by whispering every line and he basically just comes off as wildly miscast. c) I don't know the real history of this plot to assassinate Hitler but I suspect that the real Colonel Von Stauffenberg wasn't a one- dimensional anti-Nazi. I think adding a layer of complexity to the character that probably existed in real life would have made for a better film. That's my take -- I'm wondering if anyone agrees with me or just thinks I'm being picky! Channing Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. -- I am using the free version of SPAMfighter. We are a community of 5.8 million users fighting spam. SPAMfighter has removed 2818 of my spam emails to date. Get the free SPAMfighter here: http://www.spamfighter.com/len The Professional version does not have this message Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
