Valkyrie

Valkyrie

Who's in it: Tom Cruise, David Bamber

What's it about: The war against the Allied forces is starting to take a toll on Germany. Colonel Stauffenberg(Cruise) lose his right hand, two finger on his left hand, and his left eye. Battered and bruised, he joins a band of men who are plotting against the life of Adolf Hitler(Bamber). Stauffenberg has changed Operation Valkyrie to help the group take over Berlin and get rid of the SS army. A bomb is set off in the presence of Hitler in an attempt to kill him. With everyone thinking the dictator had been blown to bits, Operation Valkyrie is put into effect. However, Hitler is very much alive and the plan starts to go south after this is revealed and proven true.

What I Think: I love movies about WW2, the Holocaust, or Hitler. I know that might sound weird, but it amazes me how quickly a population can follow such a wicked man and believe his every word. Cruise did a wonderful job as the confindent Stauffenberg. I think that they could've found someone who looked more like Hitler but Bamber did an amazing performance with the personality of Hitler. The action in the story was really great. I was just watching with amazement. The plan that Stauffenberg had and the way that all of it fell into place was just great. Loved the action filled scenes.

Rain Man

Rain Man

Who's in it: Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Valeria Golino

What's it about: Based on the true story, Raymond Babbitt(Hoffman), or more well known as Rain Man, is an autistic genius. He is stole from his asylum home by his newly found brother, Charlie(Cruise). Along with Charlie and Susanna(Golino), Raymond sees the world for what it is. He experiences things that he'd never knew existed in the 30 years he'd been living. In a fight to get custody of his brother and the estate left to Raymond by their father, Charlie changes his ways in response to the ways of his childhood hero, the Rain Man.

What I Think: This story was so great. I was impressed by Hoffman's performance as a highly intelligent, yet mentally challenged man. To show that such a wonderful man could change one of the most deceitful men in only 2 hours time, is an amazing feat for a film maker. Cruise did an amazing job as the jealous and younger brother. I was impressed at Hoffman's consistency of the actions he had to perform to be Rain Man. Great movie of a great man.

Tropic Thunder

Tropic Thunder

Who's in it: Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downing Jr., Jay Baruchel, Brandon T. Jackson, Tom Cruise, Brandon Soo Hoo, Nick Nolte


What's it about: Tugg Speedman(Stiller), Jeff Portnoy(Black), Kirk Lazarus(Downing), Kevin Sandusky(Baruchel), and Alpa Chino(Jackson) are the five actors in Four Leaf's(Nolte) novel based movie. They refuse to cooperate and then are put into real life danger in the Vietnam jungle. They are being taped throughout this experience but they think that all of the Vietnamese people they meet are actors. They meet Tran(Soo Hoo), the adolescent leader of Flaming Dragon, a heroine plant, and Tugg is captured. Les Grossman(Cruise) gets a call from the drug sellers and tells them that they can kill Speedman. The other 4 plan an attack on the camp to save him.


What I Think: This was a great movie for all of the actors in it. Ben Stiller is not only an outstanding actor, but he directed this movie as well. He's a mastermind of comedy! He picked the funniest cast ever. The plot was great, but still had that serious feel to it. Downing played a great "dude playin' the dude, disguised as another dude"! Black did his part absolutely perfectly. I'm proud of all of these guys. I didn't notice until the end, that there weren't any main female roles at all. They did great to not have any women in it. There was a brief moment of nudity, but that's all.