Digital News Report- Tom Cruise’s PR people have been offering private screenings of the actor’s new film, Valkyrie, in exchange for positive reviews, according to MSNBC. Lisa Stanley mocked Tom Cruise on K-Earth 101 on November 24th, which prompted the offer from the Cruise camp. The offer is supposedly available to anyone at the radio station as long as they say “nice things” about the film.
Christy Lemire of the Associated Press referred to Tom Cruise’s acting as “distractingly bad,” while Stephen Metcalf of Slate stated that he could, “barely pull [the role] off.” Rotten Tomatoes has had ratings hovering at a 63% fresh. But Cruise’s acting is not the only thing attracting attention about the film. It’s Los Angeles and New York premieres were marred by the protest group known as Anonymous, who have been bringing attention to the Church of Scientology’s supposed human rights violations for the past ten months.
His recent media blitz has included a return to the Today Show to apologize to Matt Lauer over his “glib” comments. He has appeared on numerous late night shows including Jimmy Kimmel, Jay Leno, and David Letterman.
The film had bad buzz before hitting theaters. German Defense Ministry Spokesperson Harald Kammerbauer spoke out in June 2007 by saying, “Stauffenberg played an important role in the military resistance against the Nazi regime and in the [German military’s] self-perception […] A sincere and respectable depiction of the events of the 20th of July and of Stauffenberg is therefore very much in Germany’s interest. Tom Cruise, with his Scientology background, is not the right person for this.”
Bryan Singer, whose previous works include The Usual Suspects, Battlestar Galactica, House, and X-men among others, directs the film. Though Cruise’s performance has gained negative attention, his directing has been praised. Lemire goes as far as to say that Cruise’s performance “undermines the potential of Valkyrie.”
The PG-13 film opens Christmas day. It’s running time is 120 minutes.
It looks like a good movie from a historical perspective, but I wouldn’t pay money to see it at the theaters.