Stay tuned to the forums for the latest but it looks like SCHPUNK will be somewhere in Romford tonight, but probably NOT at Pacific Edge BUT it might be!!!! I dunno check the forums innit!!! Its more complicated than the ARSHAVIN transfer.
Something for FRIDAY though, here's a BROTHERTON review of the new Tom Cruise film VALKYRIE (wasn't that a character from Gauntlet - now that was a game!!!)
Valkyrie
It may be sad, but the first time I heard of Claus von Stauffenberg was from a gag in an episode of Red Dwarf where Lister steals Hitler's briefcase in a mutated timeslide only to discover its from Stauffenberg and its bombed.
Prior to seeing the film, I read nothing about the infamous 1944 July 20 plot where a large group of high-ranking Nazi officials conspired to assassinate Hitler and lead a coup to overthrow the government to end the War, but afterwards, I was more compelled to know about the people involved and why these chose to do it. Why?
As much as I enjoyed this little thriller, what stops it from being a top-notch historical thriller is the very large mistake of not actually letting us know who these people were. There is no background behind Stauffenberg, his aristocratic roots, roman catholic upbringing or reasons why he chose to join the Nazi army when he clearly hated their methods. No, this film is simply a very detailed account of the Coup itself.
Directed and written by the people behind The Usual Suspects, this film does very well in keeping you gripped throughout, meticulously detailing the actions each man went, to pull this off, particularly towards its final act when the bomb detonates. Of course, you all know very well thanks to your school history that this mission inevitably failed as Hitler committed suicide in 1945 which ended the War, so the end would come off as somewhat anti-climactic if you happen to be the cynical type.
Nevertheless, Valkyrie is a good entertaining film with strong perfomances from all, but with a plot about a conspiracy we knew in the end was doomed to failure, you can't help if you were better off if you watched a dramatization on the History channel instead.
RATING 3.5 out of 5.
