Valkyrie

Quite frankly, I was afraid to see a Tom Cruise movie. It annoys me that he was a freakshow for so long and just before the release of this film, his PR machine has nearly cleaned up his image - seamlessly and quietly. He even sat down for a "re-do" with Matt Lauer and they both laughed at the obsurdity of their earlier interview. If only we all could have such do-overs in life! But I digress, Valkyrie was an awesome movie that was neither improved or made worse by Tom Cruise. He was fine in his character, but the story is what held my attention.

Like Titanic or Milk, you know the eventual outcome of the film, but you still hold onto a bit of hope throughout. I kept thinking nervously that perhaps they might pull it off. The tension was so tactile that I actually had to remind myself that Hitler committed suicide, he wasn't blown up in a plot set up by Tom Cruise and his cronies.

Occasionally I wondered if they might run across Daniel Craig and his brothers in the woods - a la Defiance, and despite my best efforts, I didn't see any boys in striped pajamas. Due to my recurring Nazi dreams and my potential past life as a Jewish prisoner I usually skip movies like this. And though there are currently three Holocaust movies in this saturated movie market, this one was well worth the ticket and perhaps my favorite of the season.