A lot of people shrugged off Valkyrie due to the presence of Tom Cruise, his American accent while portraying a German and the eye patch he wears throughout much of the picture. Then again, not that many people shrugged it off, as the Nazi film went on to make $200 million worldwide, proving that despite the star’s antics over the last few years, he is still a box office threat. (more…)

The Ben Stiller-directed action-comedy Tropic Thunder arrives on DVD this week and is sure to be a big hit. The movie, which got off to a shockingly slow start in theaters, quickly developed into a sleeper hit, based on pretty good word of mouth and a great cast that includes Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Nick Nolte, Matthew McConaughey and Tom Cruise, in the longest and most inspired cameo in years. Still, studio executives had to be expecting more – but DVD sales should make up for some of that.

I have the two-disc Director’s Cut version of Tropic Thunder on my desk, and with it comes several entertaining special features. I haven’t actually watched this new unrated director’s cut just yet (it adds 13 minutes to the film), but I will let you know when I do. Meanwhile, many of the special features are worth seeing, if only for their entertainment value.

Those looking for insightful behind-the-scenes examinations of the making of Tropic Thunder may be disappointed, as the DVD is less concerned with delivering something insightful as it is with being funny. For the most part, the Tropic Thunder features try to make you laugh, and some even interview the cast in character.

Since Tropic Thunder is a movie about a movie, this makes sense. Most of the features are about the making of the movie inside the movie, not about the movie we all went to see. This plays out well. For instance, The Hot LZ Blowing S#%t Up interviews Danny McBride as his character Cody, and he talks about how amazing it was for the crew to just blow into the untouched jungle, remove all the trees and destroy everything in sight in a matter of days.

The Cast of Tropic Thunder is also played out as partially in-character, and at the very least the actors play along in a laugh-out-loud way.

I watched Before the Thunder and Designing the Thunder, but for the life of me cannot remember what those featurettes were about. I believe this were more legit ones, and includes some script readings, casting choices and so on and so forth. There are some good nuggets in here.

Rain of Madness is a particularly funny documentary that plays out like a tragic, behind-the-scenes documentary that looks at what went wrong with the filming of the movie within the movie (did that make sense?). Directed by some British dude (because British narrators are better than anything else), the documentary looks at the problems of the picture and the events that led up to the tragic circumstances to follow. This mockumentary is downright funny at times, as one who didn’t know better could actually take it seriously.

There are some decent deleted and extended scenes as well, and an alternate ending that adds just a little more to the one seen in theaters. Of course, those of you who liked the viral videos that emerged from the MTV Movie Awards, they are included here.

Some of the video rehearsals are quite interesting as well.

The Tropic Thunder bonus features look to make you laugh more than teach you about film, and if that’s your cup of tea, you should find plenty to enjoy here. As for the movie itself, feel free to read my Tropic Thunder movie review.

Honestly, could Tom Cruise’s week get any worse? In a matter of days, he’s been slammed with two major incidents. No, there aren’t more gay rumors, and no, he isn’t getting bashed for being a Scientologist or for jumping on a couch. He’s had a much worse week than that.

For starters, his wife Katie Holmes restyled her hair, and not in a good way. I mean, if he wanted to marry a middle-aged mom, he would have married… well, some really excited middle-aged mom. I mean, her hair just looks dreadful – the only excuse would be if the new ‘do is for a movie. Either way, Holmes continues to get less and less sexy, which is a real disappointment.

Secondly, MGM basically told the world that Cruise’s upcoming movie Valkyrie basically sucks. Here’s the announcement MGM gave:

“MGM is proud and excited to be presenting Valkyrie, and because of that we want to give it the best launch possible,” said Clark Woods, President of Domestic Distribution of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, which is distributing the movie domestically. “When an opening became available for President’s Day Weekend, we seized the opportunity. Having seen a lot of the film and how great it is going to play once it’s finished, moving into a big holiday weekend is the right move.”

Sounds good, right? Wrong. Read between the lines. MGM moved Valkyrie from October 3, 2008, an early but still potentially viable release date for award recognition. Financially, moving Valkyrie from October to President’s Day Weekend is probably a good one, but for a war drama, you have to assume that original intentions were for the movie to be some kind of awards contender. Now releasing in February, the movie has no chance of getting any recognition whatsoever. How do I read that? That Valkyrie is going to suck.

Of course, the trailer makes the movie look pretty good. I’ve been wrong before, but only a few times. Aside from the lack of German accents from the characters, including Tom Cruise who boasts his American accent, Valkyrie looks engaging, exciting and interesting. I had never heard of the story before the big Cruise/Germany fiasco, but it’s definitely an intriguing one: I had never heard of a Nazi plotting to kill Adolf Hitler.

Too bad MGM informed me that Valkyrie is going to suck, and too bad for Tom Cruise and his crappy week.

Bloody-Disgusting.com is reporting that United Artists, which is owned by Tom Cruise, is in negotiations to secure the rights to Anne Rice’s The Tale of the Body Thief, the fourth book in her “Vampire Chronicles” series. With Cruise’s name associated so close to a sequel to Interview with the Vampire, rumors are circulating that Tom Cruise may reprise the role of Lestat, the bloody thirsty, morally ambiguous vampire.

Considering that Tom Cruise is trying to reestablish himself as a leading man after a bunch of PR nightmares over the last couple of years (not to mention a critical and box office flop in the form of Lions for Lambs), it isn’t completely unreasonable that he would consider returning to one of his most popular characters.

Hopefully the movie will be better than Queen of the Damned…