Brad Pitt Vs Tom Cruise

I was recently able to see screenings of Benjamin Button and Valkyrie, and thought I'd share my thoughts with you.

First, I saw Benjamin Button. A preface about my experience : I had gotten three hours of sleep the night before and wasn't feeling well. So, not sure if it was that or that the movie is two-hours-and-forty-five minutes, but the pace is in-cred-i-bly slo-w. It's one of those movies where you know the end at the beginning and nothing that shocking or surprising happens while on the journey, but you still really enjoy the ride.  I did, for the most part, like the movie.  Cate Blanchett is ah-mazing, as usual.  Brad Pitt looks really good.  If anyone deserves an oscar for this movie, it's the make-up artist.  Really remarCable work. I think a Christmas opening will serve Benjamin Button well because it's a snuggle-up-to-cozy kind of movie that audiences seem to crave on that day.

The next night, I saw Valkyrie.  For this movie, I was feeling even worse, and had once again gotten minimal sleep the night before. I didn't know what to expect, but my expectations were low. What, with the Tom Cruise craziness of the past few years, along with his box-office flops, and my knowledge that the movie's release had been pushed back several times, all led me to believe the movie was going to be boring and dry. It was anything but. I thought it was a very thrilling movie with a wonderful tension and suspense. I wouldn't say it is a great movie, but I was very entertained. I also really like that it is a fresh story on an old subject. It was nice to see a different perspective of World War II Germany and I think it is a very compelling story to which the world should be exposed. I feel it would be a much more powerful film if it had been a German-speaking movie with subtitles. It took me a while to suspend my disbelief enough to believe that Tom Cruise, speaking with an American accent, and the rest of the cast speaking either in American or British Accents, were supposed to be Germans speaking German. Once I did, I was able to enjoy the movie. Really, it's just Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible or Minority Report, only set in Germany during World War II.

It all comes down to who you prefer : Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise.