Valkyrie

Despite some release-date confusion and rumors that it totally sucked, Tom Cruise’s latest is actually very good. Bryan Singer directs this nail-biter about a group of German underground militants trying to kill Hitler in the waning days of World War II. Cruise plays a disillusioned colonel who heads the resistance and gets many high-ranking officials on his side. You know he’s doomed as the movie plays out, but Singer keeps the suspense high, and Cruise is in top form. The cast is full of great actors, including Tom Wilkinson, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy and Terence Stamp. Singer allows most of them to speak with their regular accents rather than attempting German; this is a good decision. Thick accents would’ve been distracting, and the power of the performances override need for that kind of theatrics.