Valkyrie

[Doctor Jones]

If you like Singer, Cruise and WWII stuff, than YES. it's worth it. Singer once again builds great suspense.

 

[CELTICPRED]

And Thomas Kretschmann.

 

[Episode29]

I'd recommend a rental first. Its pretty dry and far from the best work Singer has done. Its basically a well-shot, decently acted History Channel presentation.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

^Its not the best work he has done, but its a very good movie.

 

[Retroman]

Yeah Cruise, the supporting deliverd good performances and the lack of German accents doesn't distract you from the story at all. It got surprisingly tense even though you know how it's going to end.

Nice. But it doesn't look like it will get a DVD release soon, here in Holland. Which is strange, since it has a few Dutch castmembers... But maybe I'm just being naive.

The dvd drops on July 29 and usually they become available to rent one or two weeks beforehand. Considering the movie was still playing in theaters a few weeks ago

Speaking of those dutch cast members....even though they warned in interviews not to expect much, their roles were (for me) disappointingly small but still important to the plot.


There's an interesting new audio interview with Singer's director of photograhy Newton Thomas Siegel available at The ASC Magazine.
http://www.theasc.com/magazine_dynamic/podcasts.php

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

^The lack of German accents definately wasnt enough to distract from the overall experience.

 

[Threshold]

The second half of this movie is incredible, the first half could've been a touch better. Once they get into the 'man on a mission' mode, this movie kills.

 

[Retroman]

The dvd was released last week in the states. Has anyone here bought it yet?

Cruise fit the role
Actor was the right choice, director says, to make Valkyrie a success

By JIM SLOTEK

Last Updated: 25th May 2009, 2:01am

The joke tagline was "Kill Hitler for Christmas!"

But $200 million later, Bryan Singer is pretty happy with the decision to unwrap Tom Cruise in Valkyrie last Dec. 25.

"It was the right move, and it made sense on different levels," says Singer, who, with his writing partner Chris McQuarrie, had been shepherding the story for years of Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, the key player in the plot to kill Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1944.

"It was right for Christmas because there was nothing else like it in the theatres," he says of Valkyrie, which was released on DVD last week. "There's a lot of money in the Christmas market and this was the only thriller. And it was a thriller that fathers and sons could go see, because it had a bit of history.

"Certainly, when Chris and I embarked on this movie we did not expect $200 million."

Of course, that was before he had a deal with the most famous studio owner on the planet -- movie icon and United Artists co-owner Tom Cruise.

On one level, it seemed natural.

"Stauffenberg was a family man, very focused and respected and charismatic and hard working. I think all those things Tom Cruise has in his character."

On the other hand, despite years of high-profile projects (the first two X-Men movies, Superman Returns) he says he'd never worked with a bona fide movie star before.

"I've worked with actors who've become movie stars. But when I've hired them, you know, (The Usual Suspects') Kevin Spacey was a guy from the show Wiseguy, Hugh Jackman (X-Men) was doing musical theatre, Halle Berry (X-Men) was the girl from Bulworth.

"It's something to see when you go out to dinner in Las Vegas with (Cruise), or even on the set (in the California desert, standing in for North Africa) when you've got airplanes, a couple at a time, with paparazzi coming dangerously low at us.

"We had fun that day, we actually turned our (blank-firing) WWII anti-aircraft guns at them. But on a professional level, once we're on set -- with the exception of the occasional paparazzi invasion -- it's pretty much like a regular movie."

And there were times when a superstar lead got in the way of verisimilitude. For example, the real Stauffenberg refused morphine when he was operated on for injuries sustained in Tunisia. Singer quickly realized that having Tom Cruise do that would just look like movie-star showboating.

"I actually shot it, and then thought -- 'People are going to think this is not real.' "

A war geek, Singer is always ready with an addendum to this Third Reich minutiae. We mention that the insane, screaming judge Roland Freisler in the conspiracy trials -- caught on film in the terrific doc that's in the DVD Extras -- is more over-the-top than any Nazi villain Hollywood could dream up.

"And he met a very interesting fate," Singer says. "As one of the conspirators was being led into his trial, an Allied bomb fell on the courtroom and killed Freisler."

Singer comes by his geekiness naturally. In their teens in New Jersey, he and childhood friend McQuarrie would film Second World War movies in 8mm.

"I wish I'd put them on the DVD. I'd go to the Army/Navy store and buy German army helmets, uniforms, bayonets, and I would use very dangerous fireworks. One of the movies was called Futile Attempt, which ended badly for the Americans. The decisive blow was a German potato grenade that 'killed' all my neighbourhood friends."

Then, as now, he says there was fun to be had on the set of a serious subject.

"Just to break the tension, humour breaks out. There's a lot of strange catharsis that comes when you're a Jew making a film about this subject in Berlin," Singer says. "Every once in a while, I'd go onset and (the cast and crew) would give me this 'Seig heil!' "

Source:http://www.torontosun.com/entertainment/columnists/jim_slotek/2009/05/25/9557686-sun.html

 

[Project862006]

have yet to see it cant wait to see it brian singer is such a great director maybe one of the most underrated directors out there

 

[Asr]

Saw the movie, thought it was pretty good. Most of the actors were good too and I was surprised by ole Tom Cruise, he brought a great intensity to his role. Wow and the way the suspense/tension kept building was done really well too, gotta give props to Singer and the editor(s) on that.

Oh and the no-German accent thing kinda felt like a gigantic overdub, especially since Cruise opens the movie talking in German (with subtitles) and there's a sudden transition to English. I can't remember the last time I saw an overdubbed movie but I thought Valkyrie kinda came across as one. A "faux-overdubbed" movie, if you will.

 

[dude stannis]

The dvd was released last week in the states. Has anyone here bought it yet?

Source:http://www.torontosun.com/entertainment/columnists/jim_slotek/2009/05/25/9557686-sun.html

I'll be getting it on both DVD and Blu Ray tomorrow.

We mention that the insane, screaming judge Roland Freisler in the conspiracy trials -- caught on film in the terrific doc that's in the DVD Extras -- is more over-the-top than any Nazi villain Hollywood could dream up.

"And he met a very interesting fate," Singer says. "As one of the conspirators was being led into his trial, an Allied bomb fell on the courtroom and killed Freisler."

I can't help but laugh.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Cant wait for this to hit DVD here, thought Defiance and this were both great WWII movies, already have Defiance and will be getting this when its released here.

 

[Paradyme]

I was pretty skeptical of this movie ever since the trailer ripped off the SAW music but I must say that it was way better then I expected. Its not action packed by any means but is more of a thriller or suspense type movie. You so badly want them to succeed or even at the end are hoping for a Hollywood to actually pull a Hollywood moment and actual kill Hitler.

The lack of German accents was kinda odd but was tolerable.

My favorite scene is when

Spoiler

Stauffenberg yells "Long live Germany!"

 

[Adrian89]

I liked this movie alot! 8/10. Very good direction and very good acting.

 

[dude stannis]

The dvd was released last week in the states. Has anyone here bought it yet?

Dude, buy it, the commentary with Singer, Cruise and McQuarrie is superb!

 

[Retroman]

^^That's good to hear, thanks. I was already planning on buying the dvd anyway when it hits later next month.