Ross Douthat bemoans the collapse of the summer blockbuster fall Oscar favorite unfinished disaster Valkyrie. The World War II epic, directed by Bryan Singer and starring Tom Cruise as the Nazi general, Claus von Stauffenberg, who led an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Hitler, has been pushed back yet again, to President's Day 2009. Take a look at the trailer and you may have an inkling why:
On the heels of Lions for Lambs, this looks to make Cruise 0 for 2 since he took over United Artists. It also means that his recently leaked comic cameo as an oafish studio head (evidently based on Sumner Redstone, who fired him at Paramount) in the upcoming Tropic Thunder is probably the closest he's going to come to looking like a successful movie exec anytime soon.
--Christopher Orr