Thursday, July 19, 2007

I always suspected Tom Cruise was a Nazi ...

Well, this being a Hollywood movie, he's not really a Nazi of course, or at least not an evil one.

The picture below is just so crazyfunnycool that it really needs no introduction, but I'll set it up just in case anyone doesn't know what "Valkyrie" (or, as the IMDB is now referring to it, "Rubicon") is.

In the upcoming Bryan Singer flick (penned by Chris McQuarrie, huzzah!), Cruise will play Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, the German officer who lead an attempt to bring down the Nazi regime and end World War II by planting a bomb in Hitler's bunker.

Along with Mr. Cruise, all the rumored cast members have signed on, giving this one a simply stellar lineup. On board so far are Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Patrick Wilson, Stephen Fry, Tom Wilkinson and Carice van Houten (who, just because I believe in the principle of including at least one gratuitous picture of a beautiful woman with each post, is pictured at right.) Eddie Izzard is also somehow involved, but I can't imagine that's gonna be a terribly good thing.

But, enough of that. Here, courtesy of the great Rope of Silicon site, is Col. Tom in full regalia. Enjoy!


A new candidate for the best cast ever?

I've always had a soft spot for D.C. political potboilers for one simple reason: If you've ever lived or even visited there for any amount of time, you know that it really is a pretty sleepy place. Since it's almost just a big town, it always amazes that most of the most important things that happen in the world originate there.

Don't get me wrong. I love D.C. Of all the places I've lived, it remains my favorite, especially the Northeast neighborhood around Georgia Avenue, where the great George Pelecanos sets his crime novels. It's just a truly odd place.

Rod Lurie, who had mixed success with this genre with "The Contender," is getting back in the game with a juicy topic, the Valerie Plame case. "Nothing But the Truth" (my God is that a bad title!) will be about "a female newspaper reporter who outs a CIA agent and is imprisoned for refusing to reveal her source," according to Variety.

Well, assuming the reporter is based on Judith Miller, we now know she wasn't much of a heroic figure, but it could still make for a compelling flick, especially with this cast: Kate Beckinsale as the Miller journalist, Matt Dillon as the prosecutor, Vera Farmiga as the CIA agent, Edie Falco as the editor of the newspaper that published the story and Alan Alda as the attorney who tries to free the reporter from jail.

Assuming he doesn't shy away from it, Lurie, who also wrote the script, gets the chance to play a fun game of palace intrigue: Guessing just what went on in W's mind when he decided to pardon Scooter. Definitely keep your eyes on this one.

A slew of "Simpsons" pics

Any doubts I had that the "Simpsons" flick wouldn't just serve up a huge pile of funny were erased by the bombastic trailers I've seen so far. This is just gonna be goodness on a grand scale.

The great Comics Continuum site has posted a new series of pics from the flick. I've included one here, of course, but click on the link to see a whole load of them.

What did they do to deserve this?

For a country founded on the principle of religious freedom, America definitely does like to heap scorn on the assorted religious groups that call this usually great country home. Now, apparently, it's the Mormons' time to step up for their dose of abuse, and with Mitt Romney on the rise I don't expect it to stop any time soon.

An example is this truly bizarre trailer for the upcoming "September Dawn." As far as I can tell it's some kind of Mormon horror film that somehow stars both Jon Voight and Terrence Stamp. Now, I know next to nothing about Mormons except that they don't particularly care for R-rated movies, but I'm sure they deserve better than this. Remember, I'm just the messenger, and have an entirely bearable Thursday. Peace out.

15 comments:

jeremy said...

I've only really liked Terrence Stamp as Zod--oh, and the drag queen in Priscilla QotD. Anyway, this looks like a dramatization of the massacre that is the centerpiece of Jon Krakauer's 'Under the Banner of Heaven.' It really cracked me up when they said, "Mormons ready your weapons," or whatever. Pure hilarity.
Anyway, speaking of the Simpsons, did you see this piece of news?
Perfect return to TV for Ms. Blank if I do say so myself.
And in other news, wasted 2.25hrs of my life last night with Transformers. And last Saturday, spent a wonderful 2 hours w/ Joshua--which I think goes in the canon of films like The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby, Eraserhead, and Little Otik. In other words, it'll be worth your time once if it comes to that tiny little berg.

Reel Fanatic said...

That is good news indeed, Jeremy ... I definitely miss "Strangers With Candy" .. As to "Joshua," I'm afraid we'll never get that one way out here, so I'll just have to wait for DVD

renee said...

Eddie Izzard showed some amazing dramatic skills on "The Riches" this year. I think you'll be surprised if he is in the Cruise movie.

Anonymous said...

Wow, September Dawn actually looks kind of good or at least interesting. Outside of the fact that it probably unfairly villainizes Mormons but I don't know much about history.

Either way, I'm totally stoked for the Simpson's movie. I work in New York right by the Manhattan Kwik-E-Mart and I've already stocked up on my Krusty-Os! If you haven't seen you have to see this.

Reel Fanatic said...

Those photos are very cool, Dan ... Unfortunately we don't have 7-11's down here, so had to miss out on all that fun .. and you're right that I'm probably being too hard on Mr. Izzard, Renee, especially since I haven't managed to catch an episode of "The Riches" yet

Candy Minx said...

Wow, what an intense interesting post. I don't know about that movie with Tom Cruise...I used to love the guy, but he hasn't been the same since leaving Nicole.

I am curious about Rescue Dawn...I should look in your archives and see if you've seen it...do you have some cool theatres where you live? I was nostaligic about a theatre in Toronto where you could go at noon and watch movies all day from Asia...Bullet In The Head, The King of Chess, A Better Tomoorwo, Tsui Hark, Kurasawa...a repertoire theate...now cities are so expensive these odd ball cinemas are hard to find. Know of any in Chicago?

Reel Fanatic said...

I, unfortunately, live in a corner of the world where we only have two movie theaters, each controlled by a big chain ... Once a month, the Macon Film Guild shows an oddball selection (the most recent was Zhang Yimou's "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles") .. Other than that, we're stuck with the most generic crap ... I haven't seen Rescue Dawn yet, but I want to, because I managed to see Herzog's original "Dieter Wants to Fly," and it was amazing ... And I'm afraid I have never been to Chicago

Lorraine said...

Eddie Izzard is a terrific actor, actually. Bet he'll be great. Of course, my loathing for Tom Cruise could play havoc with my actually paying ducats to see this film but there you go.

Melanie said...

As a Mormon, I'm a little bit disturbed by the idea of September Dawn, but only in the sense that, as usual, the story will be one sided. Honestly, I'm just impressed that anyone finds a "Mormon" story interesting enough to make into a mainstream film in the first place. Maybe we will eventually have films that tell the other side of the story too. . .

Terence Towles Canote said...

I understand that there was a bit of controversy over Rubicon (I do like that title better than Valkyrie, which made it sound like a movie about Norse mythology...) in Germany. Apparently the Germans weren't too happy with a Scientologist playing Col.Stauffenberg! I guess they later relented, but it still rather surprised me even given their feelings on Scientology.

I am really looking forward to The Simpsons Movie with each new pic or each new trailer that comes out. i was so afraid that it might not be that funny, but it looks like they've really put their hearts into the film

Reel Fanatic said...

I hope "September Dawn" turns out to be a lot better than I'm fearing, Melanie, or at least gets its historical facts right (history of which, I must admit, I'm rather ignorant) ... I seriously doubt we'll ever get many well-rounded movies about Mormons, but I've been wrong at least once before

VW said...

You certainly manage to pack an awful lot of info into one post!

And Nazis & Branagh again? Does he play one? He was utterly chilling in the HBO film about the infamous Nazi meeting to organize the "final solution" - what was that called? Sorry - the title escapes me.

Reel Fanatic said...

I can't say I'm familiar with that one, Anna ... I'm not sure how the roles are gonna shake out with this one, except for that Cruise is of course gonna play the hero . does he ever have it any other way?

Divinity said...

I believe that Anna is referring to "Conspiracy" with Branagh and an amazing Stanley Tucci.

Reel Fanatic said...

Ah ... thanks for the good word, Divinity .. I'll have to check it out!