Pajiba

Gotta love the accents in that trailer, makes them all sound like Brits. Still, if thats the least authentic thing in Valkyrie then I'd be very suprised.

Lemme check....mmmmm.... nope, still don't give a rat's ass about the strike.

*sigh* a Dragonball Z movie is about as good an idea as taking an African sex vacation without a box a Trojans.
And finally, I will not watch anything with Tom Cruise in it, that's how I roll.

Was That Eddie Izzard?

That was Eddie Izzard....

...Cuz you know...all the scary Nazi guys had eyepatches. Oh wait! No...that's pirates.

Yo Slim...we should form a gang. We can wear a certain color, hundreds of us. We'll have a secret handshake. We'll be devoted to the gang even though the principles behind said gang are pretty loosely based on fictional characters created by one man. Of course, people will chastize us for being part of this gang, but WTF would we care...it's our secret gang. And this will be the second such gang to revolve around Tom Cruise. This will work. We should start this immediately. I'll be treasurer.

PissBoy: Done, however, the line to claim all money handling posts starts behind me.

I'll do the books then.

I love Eddie Izzard, but I can't stand Tom Cruise. This is tough.
But... Hitler to be overthrown by the American German who acts like a robot unless he's being 'tough' (read, lowering voice to a harsh whisper at the end of certain heartfelt sentences)? And lots of British Germans singing the praises of the American German? AND lines such as 'We must kill Hitler' and 'Hitler must die,' delivered as though the actors can't quite believe the words are falling out of their mouths?

I don't think I can sit through that.
Nope. Sorry, Eddie, I love you, but I'll come back when you start talking about bees again.

Ouch! Cruise stood out like a sore thumb in that, and not just because of the accent.But then he's surrounded by character actors like Kenneth Branagh, and he can't get the shit eating grin off his face,

Maybe Eddie Izzard will narrate the stonehenge movie and explain how it's the biggest henge in the world. He could probably provide the mystical "aaaahhh ah aaah aaaaaahh" voices, too.

I just can't get past the eye patch.

Okay, why does everybody seem to think it's Eddie Izzard in that trailer?

It's Kenneth Branagh; he's always doing period/Shakespearian pieces; Eddie Izzard? Not so much

I like Tom Cruise. *shrugs*

When my boyfriend in high school found out that Cartoon Network was showing Dragonball Z, he started coming over to my house to watch it (he had no cable). I think that's when I decided that our relationship wasn't going to work. That show is simply obnoxious.

Accctually Eddie Izzard is in that movie as well as Kenneth Branagh, just check IMDb.

Oy, cockroach! Both Eddie Izzard AND Kenneth Branagh are in the flick, which still doesn't make it worth seeing (even though I love them both). Unfortunately Tom Cruise can't act his way out of a red-headed male prostitute's ass, and he's certifiable. Pass for me, thanks. And he looks like a tool throughout the entire preview...

If you need a Tom Cruise movie trailor to tell you about Operation Valkyrie, you need to read a history book.

The Stew Accctually Eddie Izzard is in that movie as well as Kenneth Branagh, just check IMDb.

Okay; didn't spot him in the trailer, so I thought people were mistaking Branagh for Izzard; they do look vaguely similar, when Eddie is bread and make-up less

*beard, even

Stauffenberg, the person the Tom Cruise character is based upon, lost an eye, a hand and a few fingers of the other hand in combat. He really did have an eye patch.

StephStauffenberg, the person the Tom Cruise character is based upon, lost an eye, a hand and a few fingers of the other hand in combat. He really did have an eye patch.

That's fine for the historical accuracy, but for historical accuracy, shouldn't they cast someone else other than Cruise?'cause I'm willing to bet Stauffenberg didn't walk around with a shit eating grin on his face. I'm repeating myself with that point, but damnitt; Tommygirl should not be in that movie, he should not be, period.

Does anyone else think that this falls in to the "Kevin Costner Robin Hood" box? Why, oh why, didn't anybody bother to learn a German accent? It's fucking painful. Is Tom Cruise just afraid he wouldn't be able to do it properly, and would therefore be ridiculed? Or does he think he's such a mega-star that nobody would notice? News flash, Tom! You suck!

Damn, that pissed me off.

i don't even know what to say. that was ... i think i have to go lay down now.

"Why, oh why, didn't anybody bother to learn a German accent? It's fucking painful. "

Because that would entail actual acting ability, instead of alternating between clenching your jaw and making your jaw quiver, which is essentially the extent of Tom Cruise's skills. That said, I enjoyed MI:3, but it may be the last Cruise film I ever see.

Finally - am I the only one who's kind of excited about Jennifer's Body? Jason Reitman? Diablo Cody, who (and while I haven't seen Juno, I love the trailer) is a fucking RIOT. I'm excited, just for the breath of fresh air.

I don't really understand why Germans speaking German-accented English is any more authentic than Germans speaking British-accented English. Germans speak German, people. So either start pushing for a movie with subtitles or shut up about the accents.

I agree on the Cruise casting. And the accents, or lack thereof. I was just pointing out that the eye patch was accurate since a couple of people seemed to take exception to it. Back to Cruise and the accents- this is exactly the sort of drek that Hollywood continually presents us with and that most people just love. I don't get it. I go to see wonderful movies like Waitress and The Lookout, for example, and pretty much have the theatre all to myself IF i'm lucky enough that they are even playing at the local multiplex. Most of the time i have to wait for the DVD. However, the Will Ferrel/Adam Sandler/et al POS in the next theatre is sold out. It's a mystery to me.

I don't really understand why Germans speaking German-accented English is any more authentic than Germans speaking British-accented English. Germans speak German, people. So either start pushing for a movie with subtitles or shut up about the accents.

Ditto what SK said...

I dunno on the accent piece. It really bothers me when people walk around saying "vat iss your name?" as if all Germans spoke badly accented English to each other. I would prefer they just use their own voices (in the absence of letting a fine cast of German actors do this and subtitling it, which I know will never happen. Then again, there's something comforting about keeping up the "all villains speak with English accents" tradition which is so embedded in Hollywood culture that it would be a shame to drop it now.
Also, as Eric mentioned above, why do they cut the trailer off as if to leave us in suspense? Is there a person over the age of 5 *SPOILER ALERT* who doesn't know the plot failed?
Even The Passion showed parts of the crucifixion in the trailer giving us at least a nod to the fact that we knew how the story ended.
Note to the lunatic evangelical fringe: don't e-mail me telling me that's where the story really started. I am a member of a cult called the Catholic Church and we have a long history of doing brutal harm to those who disagree with us!

Cruise is definately rockin' the "Pirates of the Gestapo" look. I know what I am going to be next halloween. Too bad Tom Wilkinson is in the movie, as he is a fantastic actor (but if I do recall correctly, he was also in "The Patriot.")

I got a major case of deja vu watching the trailer, Cara, I agree that it seems to fit a very familiar story line, one replete with cheezy one liners. Stauffenburg must be rolling in his grave.

A much better movie would have been Tom Cruise trying to save the world from Hitler by passing out Scientology pamphlets. Down with Hitler!Praise to Lord Xenu! *snicker*

Appwitch I don't really understand why Germans speaking German-accented English is any more authentic than Germans speaking British-accented English. Germans speak German, people. So either start pushing for a movie with subtitles or shut up about the accents.

Ditto what SK said...

I agree with that sentiment to a degree, but I think that Cruise should have tried to speak in the same accent as the rest of the people playing the Germans; it's the difference that's jarring

If you actually look at pictures of Strauffenberg in profile, he and Cruise look very similar. Cruise was actually drawn to the role when he saw their pictures and noticed the similarities. So maybe he can't act, but he does have the look.

I agree with S.K. The actors would have to be speaking German for it to be authentic. Otherwise they would be Germans who were speaking English in their own country, which doesn't really work unless you are like "I want to become better in English" which again doesn't really make the movie anymore authentic. I guess it does not bother me about the accents, they would probably butcher them, or not sound authentic enoug. Anyway, they would be called out on not sounding "German" enough when ultimately to sound German they would be needing to speak German. I personally think accents draw attention away from the movie, especially when you know that the person playing the character doesn't talk like that or does a bad job of it. Now if I had no clue who he was, then go ahead with your accent. That is one reason why I did not like Brokeback, because Heath Ledger had a terrible accent, my opinion at least. Also one reason I don't like a lot of southern films because it makes it to were we uneducated folks sound all dumb. Also, why I loathe Larry the Cable Guy. One of my friends from the north told me I sounded like that, then I ripped out her liver with my fishin' knife and fried it with some Spam*.

*Not really, only told her that is what would happen if she ever insulted me like that again. Now we don't talk.

MattIf you actually look at pictures of Strauffenberg in profile, he and Cruise look very similar. Cruise was actually drawn to the role when he saw their pictures and noticed the similarities. So maybe he can't act, but he does have the look.

F@#king Singer! That's the same 'logic' that got Brandon Routh cast as Superman

Can we make R. Scott apologize for Gladiator as well?

I come from a family who suffered through Nazi Germany, and they do speak English with German accents. I would find that very authentic. As a matter of fact, the family members who moved to England speak with English / German accents, and the family members who moved to the USA speak English with American / German accents. I do agree with Cockroach above. Whatever accent they picked, it should have been the same accent for everyone, unless they were specifically playing someone with a different accent.

AND lines such as 'We must kill Hitler' and 'Hitler must die,' delivered as though the actors can't quite believe the words are falling out of their mouths?

That wasn't what did me in, as cheesy as it was.

What did me in was the line, "We must kill Hitler" immediately followed by I SHIT YOU NOT A CRASH OF THUNDER.

I ROFL'ed. I'm at my work and I still ROFL'ed.

I am not just going to skip this movie; I am going to skip town.

Here's those photos Matt was talking about:

http://www.imdb.com/gallery/ss/0985699/Ss/0985699/Stauff.JPG?path=gallery&path_key=0985699

They look more alike than, say, Tommy Lee Jones. But I think with the right lighting and makeup, you could make Tom Cruise look like the face on Mars, (which doesn't look like a face when the sun's coming from a different angle).

Found this nice quote, when doing a bit of reading around (yeah, it's from Wikipedia, but it's also sourced)

Stauffenberg's eldest son Berthold, a retired German Bundeswehr general stated, "He(Cruise) should leave my father alone. He should go climb a mountain or go surfing in the Caribbean. I don't give a hoot as long as he keeps out of it."

I say this as an anime fan: Dragonball Z is boring. I gave up on it after they devoted an entire episode to one of the bad guys building up his spirit energy or whatever they called it.

A feature film won't improve on it. Yeesh.

Can't say the accent thing bothers me too much either, although I'd obviously prefer a German film with subtitles. That said, a German-to-English dialogue shift a la Judgement At Nuremburg/Hunt For Red October would have been a better compromise.

I must also confess a healthy amount of respect for Tom Cruise too. Given his limited abilities, a look at those directors with which he's worked suggests to me he's doing something right. Even the whole "crazy" thing hasn't really done him much harm. There's clearly an extremely shrewd brain in there somewhere, even accounting for the tabloid headlines. Ok, so he may be an arsehole but, shit, he's not the only one; personally, I couldn't give the sweetest fuck if he's a Scientologist or not. His films may not be the greatest, but I'm usually interested as to what he plays next. Plus he's a three-time Oscar nominee - ok, it's Oscar, so who really cares?, but you get my drift.

Strike question: Considering how many films are made in other countries, Canada and New Zeland being two examples that come to mind, why can't the movie companies use foriegn screenwriters, especially for movies? If they are going to shoot it in Vancouver (becuase it looks sooooo much like NYC) why can't Canadian screenwriters write something? They aren't all members of the WGA are they?

"Pull you apart like warm bread"?! Who wrote this......?!

Add Tom "batshit crazy" Cruise to the list of actors who refuse to learn/do decent accents: Costner, Redford, et al.

Reitman will produce the film, which revolves around a cheerleader who gets possessed by a demon and -- I am not making this up -- begins to feed off the local boys in her Minnesota farming town, prompting her best friend to (a) kill the demon girl and subsequently (b) go after the devil-worshiping rock band that somehow caused the transformation in the first place

I mean this as a compliment, but that sounds like something Chuck Klosterman came up with

Maybe Eddie Izzard will narrate the stonehenge movie and explain how it's the biggest henge in the world. He could probably provide the mystical "aaaahhh ah aaah aaaaaahh" voices, too.
This referencing a particular role he played? Also, when does The Riches return?

"...healthy amount of respect for Tom Cruise too. Given his limited abilities, a look at those directors with which he's worked suggests to me he's doing something right..."
------------------------------------------------

To me it just proves how Hollywood is controlled by mediocre people, who reward those who abide by it.

Brian: No-one, especially the Vancouver movie industry crowd, is going to enter into scabville and cross the picket lines. If they did, they would make a lot of enemies who will remember this when the strike is over. Also (and I have this on good authority from Vancouver-based actors), they agree with the reasons behind the strike and will look to the WGA for support should they ever find themselves on strike.

Cockroach, that's because it is Eddie Izzard.

See?

I can't believe they're actually advertising Valkyrie as "from the director of X-Men"...

I can't believe they're actually advertising Valkyrie as "from the director of X-Men"...

REALLY!?!?

Oh shit, I might be willing to....mmm, download, this is, if there was the remotest possibility that Cruise's character was a mutant known as "Cocklad," his power: to have every penis in the vicinity inserted into him at will.

I'm so sick of these grandiose star vehicles thinly veiled as period pieces. It's a popcorn movie and nothing more. I agree, if they really want to tell the story, they should make it authentic. There aren't enough subtitled films. It could actually be interesting. But instead we get Tom Cruise dancing around in a uniform pretending to have a purpose. And all these ugly old British men, twiddling their thumbs: "Deah me, I say, whateva shall we DOOO about this Hitla fiasco?" Enter Eye Patch. *lightning*

Really, how many times have we already seen this?

I'm, in general, opposed to Hollywood attempting to do any movie that is set in another country and populated by non-Americans. It almost never works for me, with /Schindler's List/ being one exception that readily comes to mind.
But look at horrors like /The Last Samurai/ (shudder) or /Memoirs of a Geisha/ (which was doomed to begin with, considering the book it was based on). I mean, aside from butchering history...
I'd be vastly more interested in this story if it were being produced in Germany, by Germans. Heaven knows they need to produce something about the war that can be a point of pride.
When Americans make a movie about a distant place and culture, there's always this sense of distance about it. It's as if the producers are overly enthralled with the differences in our cultures, and thus spend too much time highlighting those differences in this pseudo-reverential manner. So instead of feeling immersed in another place and time, as I do when I watch a movie like /The Sea is Watching/, I feel as if I am seeing it filtered through American eyes, and being told, "Look, it's all so different, isn't it cool! And we're so authentic!"
Bleh. Add Tom Cruise into the mix (on this point I am like most Pajibans) and it's unwatchable.

I guess I should have said I can't get past Tom Cruise in the eye patch. He doesn't come off as a character, but rather just TC in an eye patch.

Domo Arigato:

"Ugly old British men". Em, really?

Kenneth Branagh?
Bill Nighy?
Tom Wilkinson?
Eddie Izzard?

I'm all for "to each his own", but seriously, that's your definition of ugly?

I don't even have to go to all his Sciento baggage to hate on this assclown. My hatred for him flared with unrelenting intensity when he turned the Mission Impossible franchise into: The Spy Adventures of Closeted Midget-guy.

Screw him and his eye-patch.

amea_gari, I guess I start getting defensive when non-Americans get bitchy about our lack of culture and sophistication, if you are after those qualities, why are you looking for them in Hollywood films? Germany did come out with a great movie on Hitler back in 2004 called "Downfall."

I rarely see the big budget movies, for precisely some of the reasons you complain about. Also, with many Holywood films, the final product will often reek of meddlesome producers, etc., who help drag the director and screenwriter away from the original story. After numorous re-writes by many different screenwriters, you end up with a shiny, expensive piece of rubbish. This is why, most often, I stick to independent films. You will find a lot of smart American filmakers in that capacity. I also do love foreign films.

That said, there must be some examples out there of a well made "Hollywood" picture that takes place in a foreign country. I just wish I could think of some...

Alexis Bledel has a personality?

PaddyDog - If it is a completely foreign made movie - are they really being scabs? Is it the fact that it is bieng made by a US company that was the issue? Does that mean they won't sell their own movies to US production companies - like New Line or Miramax - until after the strike is over?

Last time my husband was in Germany, he got frustrated with the fact that every German he met wanted to converse in English with him. Despite studying German in college and being fairly fluent, he hardly ever got to use the German language past "Guten Tag".

I agree with accent consistency. If these guys are supposed to be of the same country, then let them all speak with the same accent whether that is Brit, German, American, vaguely slurred and sort of Slavic, etc. Because Cruise's flat American tone was as out of place as his one-note acting.

Anyone interested in seeing a German film about WWII, check out "Aimee & Jaguar". I caught it on IFC years ago. Lovely film. You don't see much about the German perspective during the war, especially what it was like to live in Berlin during the bombings.

Correction Slim....

Fuck him IN the eyepatch. Zat iss alll.

Thank you, Barbado. The $cientology crap is just more ammo for the fire. I started hating him when he filed for divorce from NK 2 days before their 10th wedding anniversary, which is the point in California when all property is split equally (if this wrong, someone correct me). The popularity started to falter and then he goes out and buys himself a beard?!? Then she gets paraded around like one of his Barbies (oh please, you know he has them) and is pregnant for 12 months I think. TC is also an arrogant, egotistical, smarmy, fame whoring jackass of the highest order. He threatens to sue anyone who dares to challenge him, has no personality, and insulted psychologists and their patients on national tv.

So yeah, I have a substantial list of reasons to hate on the BCCMD (Batshit Crazy Closeted Midget Dwarf). That accent he is sporting ruined the rest of an otherwise decent trailer. Since he is in it, no thanks, not supporting the assclown. It is really sad when everyone in the damned movie has a different accent. Also, the "Hitler must die" + lightening strike? Wow, that is some seriously pathetic usage of an overused plot device.

Now back to the regularly scheduled commenting.

Speaking of languages in movies, I saw the Good German, dubbed into German! So I missed Cate Blanchetts 'excellent' German accent (according to this site). Anyway it made me wonder what language would Jake Geismer and Cate's character have been talking? Jake seemed to be descended from Germany did he speak German? Or did a Berlin housewife in the 30s speak English?? Or maybe they didn't do much talking. Does anybody know?
And what about the Russians? I don't think they've done much in the way of foreign languages since killing off the French speaking aritocrats. Did they find English speaking Generals to run Berlin? Would there really have been interpreters mediating all those conversations?

Being a really small guy, I used to at least admire Tom Cruise because I could be all, "Look! Tiny Heartthrob!"

But now he gives all short guys a (worse) name.

"...Jennifer's Body... a cheerleader who gets possessed by a demon and -- I am not making this up -- begins to feed off the local boys in her Minnesota farming town"

Sounds like Girlfriend From Hell, only not as good. Girlfriend rules. Rent it, you'll thank me.

Brian: Your question is too technical for me to answer accurately. All I know is that the Vancouver crowd (actors, grips, writers, etc.) and a lot of the Brit crowd are definitely not going to do anything that would seem unsympathetic to the WGA position.

"...a Dragonball Z movie is about as good an idea as taking an African sex vacation without a box a Trojans."
Thanks a bundle BSlim...I seem to have found it appropriate to bathe my damn keyboard in sweet tea!

"...a Dragonball Z movie is about as good an idea as taking an African sex vacation without a box a Trojans."
Thanks a bundle BSlim...I seem to have found it appropriate to bathe my damn keyboard in sweet tea!

GAH! sorry for the double post

Brian: Your question is too technical for me to answer accurately. All I know is that the Vancouver crowd (actors, grips, writers, etc.) and a lot of the Brit crowd are definitely not going to do anything that would seem unsympathetic to the WGA position. Remember a lot of the writers are also WGA members regardless of where they live.

PaddyDog:

Should have clarified: not MY definition, per se, but Hollywood's imagining of ugly. All to highlight the "beauty" of Tom Cruise. No, no, I love me some Kenneth Brannagh.

As for the confusion, my B, my B.

AllGussiedUp: There /are/ some good examples, like the one I mentioned. Come on, /Schindler's List/? That didn't reek of Hollywood. I'm also a fan of /Kundun/ though it was a little shiny and had some of that sense of reverence I just railed against. It's not impossible. I'm talking generalities.
It's not just that a movie is set in a foreign country, though. Americans have different sensibilities than people in other countries. If the movie is about an American in a foreign country, sure, it makes sense that we're looking at things from an American perspective. But when your main characters are German?
On the language issue, I always thought "Allo 'Allo!" did a great job of handling the people-speaking-different-languages-all-in-English issue. They should make this movie like that.

Anyway, guys, seriously. Can you STOP insulting the midgets? @_o
Tom Cruise is more of a hobgoblin, and everyone knows hobgoblins have no advocacy groups, so it's alright to insult them.

I'm with Kermit, since when does Mumbledore have a personality and have the capacity to elevate a film?

Don't get me wrong, Alexis is pretty and all, but she falls under the "Jessica Alba school of acting" as far as I'm concerned.

amea_gari: I always thought of him as more of a homunculus.

(p.s. -- can we be friends? Sorry I got shirty before.)

As weird as Tom Cruise is, I still think he's a good actor. Not really interested in seeing him in another "heroic" role, though. Why don't big-time major motion picture stars understand that people get tired of them always playing the hero (or ingenue)? Then they bitch about being typecast (or not cast at all). And being the hero, only uglied up (by Hollywood's extremely unrealistic standards of ugly), doesn't help.

And yeah, I hate the "Nazis are all British in the movies" thing too. Either have the actors talk like they normally do, or hire Germans and put up subtitles. "Downfall" is probably 10 times better than the Cruise movie is gonna be. In fact, don't give Cruise $8 of your hard-earned money, just Netflix "Downfall." It's not the feel-good movie of the year (for the most part, though seeing the Nazis get their asses handed to them toward the end is kinda swell; hope I haven't spoiled the movie for anyone who hasn't seen it), but it's well worth the time.

What do you mean the Nazis lose? AND the boat sinks? Snap.
I had to look up homunculus. But yeah, it sounds about right. I like the idea that Tom Cruise was made without the help of a woman :)

I suppose the Costner-Robin Hood thing is different, because there's no language barrier for the actors--it takes place in England, everyone's speaking English, it's just a matter of whether Costner could be bothered to learn an accent for fuck's sake. But there is just something about Tom Cruise piping up in his CruiseVoice that ripped me right out of any atmosphere the trailer had created. Add to that the jaw-clenching and my suspicion that he thinks that because he always plays the hero, he is, in fact, a hero himself...and you got a big fat Nay from me.

The only solution I see is to have Tommy learning to speak phonetic German (a la Antonio Banderas in his early English-speaking roles). Come on. How fucking hilarious would that be?

PaddyDog - not surprising. Does make me wonder if this drags on for a while we still start seeing some more foreign tv shows. Right now my local CBS station shows reruns of Da Vinci's Inquest (Candian Show) on Saturday nights - mabye now we can watch it on prime time

Re: Costner/Robin Hood. Apparently he tried, got a dialogue coach and everything, but just couldn't nail it. It's not like he couldn't be bothered. Plus, I think it's kinda amusing that the two folks kicking around the forest with American accents turn out to be brothers.

amea_gari, I completely agree with you that Americans have different sensibilities. I was about to argue that a foreign eye can pick up a lot of details that someone from their own country might overlook and take for granted, but that just sounds way to subtle for this movie. Anyway, I wouldn't blame Germans for being a bit insulted with T.C. He is a strange little hob-goblin.

All I can think of is Corky St. Clair imitating the actors from "Das Boot" in "Waiting for Guffman."

I always had the feeling that Germans supposedly speaking German, but with German accents was a little weird. Shouldn't they sound unaccented, to each other? But I agree about finding a consistent accent, and sticking with it. Although, there are gazillions of different dialects in Germany, and I suppose that each would have a different accent when speaking Hochdeutsch...but I doubt that's what they're trying to do with this movie. Tom Cruise sounds as jarring as Leo DiCaprio did in Man in the Iron Mask- if I recall correctly, he caught a lot of flak for that (and though I used to hold Leo in contempt because all of my peers fell in love with him after Titanic, I admit that he's grown some acting balls recently).