Valkyrie (2008)

Tom Cruise was on the ballot for a Razzie Award for Worst Actor of the Year for this movie (nominated, by the way, by people who pay to vote). His work in Tropic Thunder, with a bald "wig" and pot belly, was hilarious, and I liked disliking him as the smug estranged dad in War of the Worlds (2005), especially since it was released soon after he decided his Scientology beliefs qualified him to disparage Brooke Shields for using medication to battle her post-partum depression. I liked The Firm (1993) a lot, and in fact have the soundtrack featuring fabulous jazz piano by Dave Grusin, and Cruise was brilliant in both Rain Man (1988) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989), which I just saw again in May on the 38th anniversary of the Kent State shootings. Back to Valkyrie. I didn't think Cruise was too awful as a Nazi officer plotting to assassinate Hitler, and there were great production values in locations, sets, props, wonderful old airplanes and cars, good costumes, and first-rate supporting actors (Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Terence Stamp, Eddie Izzard). One could, however, count on the fingers of my two hands the lines spoken by women (you'll get this joke if you see it--ask me to tell you privately if you don't want to sit through the movie for my lame gag). Like The Reader, all characters were German, but spoke English in the movie after the first minute or two. Unlike The Reader, the printed words remained in German without subtitles. There is some interesting trivia on imdb. Director Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects (1994), two X-Men movies (2000 & 2003), Superman Returns (2006), and the Fox TV show House) is usually suspected of doing better work. If you enjoy the Hitler-y, that is, History Channel, definitely see this. If you have others you want to see first, do so.