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Author Topic: Valkyrie (2008) Louis Belloisy Expert Film Handler Posts: 120 From: morris, ct usa Registered: Jun 2006 posted 01-02-2009 07:04 PM                        I enjoyed this movie also. I am not a fan of Tom the Cruise, and he was not the best person for his part. I am interested in this period of history and found the movie to be interesting. I, too, wish it had been in scope, they should ban flat format. 4 out of 5 for me. louis  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 01-11-2009 07:45 PM                     Location: Carmike 8, Lawton, OK Auditorium: #7 Format: 2K DLP, 1998 X 1080 pixels Rating: 3.25 stars out of 4 Valkyrie was more entertaining than I expected. The show has some repeat viewing value. However, I'll wait and see about buying a copy of the movie on Blu-ray. It's at least worth renting to watch one more time. Since the movie is mainly directed at an American audience I didn't mind Tom Cruise being cast in the lead role. I didn't really mind all the British actors playing German roles either. It's pretty common these days to see British actors playing American roles, enough that few people mind it. I do agree the movie would have been more authentic with an all German cast -and even having the movie's dialog set in German with English subtitles. Das Boot is one of my all time favorite war movies and I prefer watching the German version with English subtitles even though many of the same actors performed their parts in English for the dubbed track. Unfortunately, the reality of business and drawing viewers to the box office is a pretty important concern. There are few, if any, German born actors that are bankable draws at American theaters. Not many Americans like watching foreign language movies with subtitles either. Thomas Kretschmann (Wanted, King Kong) is the highest billed German-born actor in this movie. He played Major Otto Ernst Remer, the fellow directly in command of the reserve troops. FWIW, Lawton has a significant German-born population, largely due to American servicemen marrying women they meet while being stationed in Germany. A lot of German military also train at Fort Sill. To get to the point about that, an elderly German lady was in the audience near us. The friend I was with knew this lady and we talked after the show. It turned out this lady did clerical work for the German Army during WWII. She really liked the movie and thought the American filmmakers did their homework -despite the American and British actors playing most of the roles. As to the issue of flat versus scope, I didn't mind the flat treatment either. Much of this movie takes place within indoor offices and other confined spaces -not exactly material great for framing in 'scope. Not every movie needs to be in 'scope. There's a lot of casual dramas and comedies using the Super35 faux-scope format when they probably would be better served in 1.85:1 or 1.66:1. I rented Pineapple Express this weekend and didn't think the 'scope ratio helped that movie at all. The cinematography seemed pretty decent, but also a bit drained of color. That was probably done on purpose. At least this movie was shot on film. The sound mix had a lot of directional cues. The auditorium where I watched the movie didn't have as many sub drivers as the bigger rooms so the bottom end was a bit limited. This was a pretty loud mix too. I thought the fader was turned down a bit on the dialog in the opening scenes, but when the air attack began -whew, it was pretty loud. A bomb going off under a table scared the shit out of everyone in the theater. Hehe. Apple currently has the first 6 minutes of Valkyrie posted on its Quicktime movie trailers site: http://www.apple.com/trailers/  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 01-11-2009 07:50 PM                        I do not approve of putting an apostrophe in front of "scope".  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 01-11-2009 07:56 PM                     I like putting the ' ahead of 'scope because it signifies that the term 'scope is being abbreviated in a generic form. Brand names like CinemaScope, TechniScope, Panavision, etc. are more accurate to naming the process, but who wants to refer to those brand names all the time?  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 01-12-2009 02:14 AM                     Does Joe say "you all", or does he say "y'all?" Would you catch on if Bobby said "C'scope" - in which I've heard some projectionists use this term for the anamorphic procedure? (Gee, wonder if FOX made a big stink with everyone saying "CinemaScope" for every anamorphic print release and threatened to file legal charges, thus all had to shorted the term down to 'scope - being our term today..just to keep the heat off ??)  |  IP: Logged Damien Taylor Master Film Handler Posts: 493 From: Perth, Western Australia Registered: Apr 2007 posted 01-12-2009 03:27 AM                     Just update it to the new improved street-hip CinemizzleScizizope  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 01-12-2009 07:56 AM                        Scope is such a generic term and it does not need the apostrophe. Nobody cares if it is Cinemascope or Techniscope or Endoscopy. It's such an insignificant difference, and this is coming from an actual projectionist! If you must use the apostrophe, then you must also refer to Flat as "widescreen". And I beat up anyone who calls flat "widescreen". Only people from Texas say "y'all". Instead I say "Hey assholes!".  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 01-12-2009 09:07 AM                     People from NC also say "Y'all." At least they did when my mom worked at Duke.  |  IP: Logged

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