A blog for online film critics to talk about movies and review writing. Anyone with a movie review blog or website is welcome to join, post links to their writing, and write movie-related posts. Those interested in participating should e-mail David at DavidSwindle_AT_gmail.com for an invitation.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
David's "Valkyrie" review
Right here. There's a reason why we don't see very many historically-based thrillers based on true stories. I think "Valkyrie" is a textbook explanation of why.
I like the roller coaster analogy in your review. It helps summarize why this movie might not totally work.
I agree that historical thrillers are hard to make. Interestingly, I can recall a movie based on a historical event, though not a thriller, where I knew the ending but was still on the edge of my seat. The sports movie Miracle, about the U.S. beating the Soviets in hockey in the 1980 Olympics, was still very engrossing to see towards the end even up until the final moment. But I guess that's an exception to the rule that it's hard to create suspense when the outcome is already known.
One question. Did Tom Cruise's lack of a German accent in this movie affect your opinion? When I saw that this movie about Nazis features a rather ordinary Tom Cruise, I immediately thought this would not be interesting.
Putting the film in the context of Miracle is an interesting comparison. I haven't seen Miracle as I'm not a sports person AT ALL and tend to avoid sports movies.
I don't think any of the characters had German accents except maybe Hitler so it really wasn't that big of a deal. I mean if they're going to speak English and be played by mostly non-Germans then why bother with the accents?
Sports movies are very predictable, so I don't watch much of them, either.
I think the reason I make a big deal out of foreign accents is because I like something that approaches authenticity. It's forgivable to have English as the spoken language since not everyone known the foreign language, but it's still nice to have other elements for realism. But you're right. In the end, who needs the accent? :-)
3 comments:
David,
I like the roller coaster analogy in your review. It helps summarize why this movie might not totally work.
I agree that historical thrillers are hard to make. Interestingly, I can recall a movie based on a historical event, though not a thriller, where I knew the ending but was still on the edge of my seat. The sports movie Miracle, about the U.S. beating the Soviets in hockey in the 1980 Olympics, was still very engrossing to see towards the end even up until the final moment. But I guess that's an exception to the rule that it's hard to create suspense when the outcome is already known.
One question. Did Tom Cruise's lack of a German accent in this movie affect your opinion? When I saw that this movie about Nazis features a rather ordinary Tom Cruise, I immediately thought this would not be interesting.
Putting the film in the context of Miracle is an interesting comparison. I haven't seen Miracle as I'm not a sports person AT ALL and tend to avoid sports movies.
I don't think any of the characters had German accents except maybe Hitler so it really wasn't that big of a deal. I mean if they're going to speak English and be played by mostly non-Germans then why bother with the accents?
Sports movies are very predictable, so I don't watch much of them, either.
I think the reason I make a big deal out of foreign accents is because I like something that approaches authenticity. It's forgivable to have English as the spoken language since not everyone known the foreign language, but it's still nice to have other elements for realism. But you're right. In the end, who needs the accent? :-)
Post a Comment