Valkyrie: Movie Review

For what it was, it was well done.

But a word to the wise for the casual movie goer, this movie is very much a military/war movie. Perhaps that seems obvious to some, but there are a number of movies where the war is just the backdrop, this is certainly not the case with Valkyrie. At times I felt it was similar to watching a documentary, albeit a very well done and interesting documentary.

Tom Cruise pulls out his best stuff in this movie, I found his character very believable, he created a real presence on screen. Bill Nighy on the other hand, did a decent job, but nothing quite substancial enough to write home about. The remainder of the supporting cast was quite notable, I truly enjoy acting where you need no words, just your facial expressions and body language to convey a moment. There was a good deal of this type of silent communication in Valkyrie. Of particular note was the actress who played Cruise’s characters wife, Carice van Houten.My favourite scene is the one where she is heading off to Hamburg with the children, the look of despair intermingled with love on her face is superb.

If you don’t have a penchant for war/military dominated movies, please wait to see this one on DVD.

I give this movie, 6.5 ‘thwarted Hitler assassination plots’ out of 10.

Valkyrie: Tom Cruise Does The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos

Tune in and turn on, Tuesday, December 9th at 11pm EST on CBC, as Tom Cruise is interviewed by George Stroumboulopoulus, on his new WWII movie, Valkyrie.

Valkyrie is a based on true life events of the attempted assasination of Adolf Hitler lead by Cruise’s character, Col. Claus von Stauffenberg. This film has been plagued by bad press, including the controversy raised by the German Government surrounding shooting sites for the movie and Cruise’s religion.

With a Christmas release date, Valkyrie is positioned to be an Oscar contender. Check out The Hour tomorrow night to see what Tom Cruise has to say about this film, and to see if it is Old Tom Cruise who shows up, or whacky New Tom Cruise.

Its Oprah’s turn!!

Oprah Winfrey is inviting Tom Cruise back for an interview and this time, it is to celebrate his 25 years in the business. The first part of the interview will be shot in her studio and the second part will be shot in Tom Cruise’s Telluride home. If some of you remember, Tom Cruise behaved a little immaturely by jumping on Oprah’s sofas during the show and confessing his love for Katie Holmes and then dragging the obviously embarrassed Ms. Holmes to the stage.

I bet Oprah is going to wear her dirtiest shoes for the interview so she can jump on HIS sofa. What do you think?

Tom Cruise Looks At Ronald D. Moore To Save His Company

Tom Cruise has hired Ronald D. Moore to write a sci-fi trilogy for his banner, United Artists. Ronald D.Moore has written for Star Trek: Generation, Star Trek: First Contact, Roswell and Carnivale. He also has 2 projects in the works at the moment – i, Robot 2 and The Thing and they both look interesting.

According to reports, Ronald D.Moore left Star Trek after he got frustrated with the way that Star Trek Voyager was handled. I don’t know how he is going to like working with Mr. Cruise and his beliefs as Tom is apparently pretty coercive on his co-workers into listening to his theories and believing them.

One thing is for sure, after the disastrous “Lions for Lambs” and the always-in-trouble “Valkyrie”, Tom Cruise and his partner Paula Wagner really need someone like Ronald D Moore.