Tom Cruise Flies Into the Danger Zone in Top Gun

Do you feel the need? The need for speed? My brother did after he watched Top Gun, the adrenaline-soaked 1986 movie about a cocky fighter pilot living in his father’s shadow. Like many others who watched those jets zoom past each other executing fancy maneuvers, he eventually joined the Navy, and while he didn’t end up becoming a pilot, this movie remains a favorite in my house.

It stars Tom Cruise as Maverick, a hotshot whose overconfidence is his biggest asset and liability. He’s a brilliant flyer, but he has a tendency to take unnecessary risks. As the movie begins, he and his best friend Goose (Anthony Edwards) have just enrolled in Top Gun, a program that trains the most accomplished pilots in the Navy. While the jovial Goose is generally well-liked, Maverick faces some hostility, especially from Val Kilmer’s Iceman, who sees his methods as dangerous.

For aviation enthusiasts like my dad and brother, much of the movie’s appeal is in the explosive firefights. While these are what make the movie so distinct, I find the spectacle a bit dizzying, and I prefer the human drama unfolding on the ground. In a classic scene that has rendered the Righteous Brothers’ You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ taboo in most karaoke joints catering to Naval officers, Maverick meets Charlie (Kelly McGillis), a no-nonsense beauty he soon learns will be his flight instructor. Maverick may have the moves when it comes to MiGs, but can he win over this cool-headed teacher, especially when such a relationship would have to be clandestine?

This is the movie that brought us Take My Breath Away, the steamy song that seeps its way into the score at nearly every opportunity. I prefer the fist-pumping Danger Zone, though the former was the theme song for my senior prom. But when it comes to music, what I like best are the performances by Cruise and Edwards, which are more exuberant than melodious, aside from Edwards’ perfectly passable piano playing. While Maverick and Charlie heat up the screen, it’s his friendship with Goose that is the true heart of the movie. I also like Maverick’s relationship with the accomplished Viper (Tom Skerritt), who serves as a mentor both as a skilled pilot and a friend of his late, wrongly maligned father, and Meg Ryan turns in a sweet performance as Goose’s boisterous wife.

Whenever my dad watches Top Gun, he likes to point out inaccuracies like pilots taking off their masks mid-flight, which no doubt was done primarily so we could see their faces better. Certain aspects of the movie paint the Navy in a rather unflattering light, though that didn’t stop thousands of boys like my brother from feeling inspired to take to the skies after watching it. With the movie smack in the middle of the 1980s, some of the dialogue is a bit on the cheesy side, but that adds to the fun, as does a running joke involving an officer who really ought to know better than to accept a steaming cup of coffee when an irrepressible pilot is coming in for a landing nearby.

While Top Gun is not my favorite Tom Cruise movie – that honor goes to the underrated Far and Away – it did serve as my introduction to him, so it’s little wonder I tend to think of him as being pretty hot on himself. Of course, that demeanor does seem to permeate many of his roles, and like those others, Maverick can be pretty hard to take. All the same, I can’t help but root for him as he faces daunting challenges in the air and a painful maturation process on terra firma as he goes from a man whose “ego’s writing checks [his] body can’t cash” to a man truly ready to face the world.

Tom Cruise Helps Introduce a German Hero to a Wider Audience in Valkyrie

A couple of weeks ago, I watched the Quentin Tarantino movie that I have come to refer to as Inglourious Fellows. That movie strays far from reality, turning World War II into the setting for a spaghetti western in which the heroes always have the upper hand on the villains - though some of their methods are just as despicable. I guess I hadn’t had quite enough of Nazis for one month because the other night, I watched Bryan Singer’s Valkyrie, a considerably more sedate film about a group working to bring down Hitler.

Valkyrie, which is based on a true story, stars Tom Cruise as Colonel Claus van Stauffenberg, a German war hero who is disgusted with Nazism and leads a plot to kill Hitler (David Bamber) and show the world that not all of Germany is in agreement with his policies. Kenneth Branagh portrays Major-General Henning von Tresckow, another important architect of the plan, though his chief concern seems to be making Germany look good, and actually succeeding in their mission seems like less of a likelihood to him, at least initially. Putting together an assassination attempt and subsequent government takeover is a complex task, but they manage to find allies in their quest, some more firm than others. One of the most wishy-washy is General Friedrich Fromm (Tom Wilkinson), who is terrified that the plot will fail and he will be found complicit.

Of course, because this is a movie based on actual events, we know that the plot will fail, which puts a bit of a damper on the whole thing. I had never heard of this event before, so I didn’t know exactly what would go wrong, but I knew something would, since clearly, this was not the way Hitler died. I figured the movie would be a downer, and it certainly is; the ending is especially bleak. What’s more, I found it a bit on the dull side, at least in the beginning; once the fateful day arrives, there was enough action and tension to keep me engaged, but prior to that, it’s mostly a lot of nervous strategizing.

There’s little humor to be found in the movie, though there is a dash of romance, thanks to Claus’s wife Nina (Carice van Houten), who remains deeply devoted and openly affectionate to her husband, unrattled by the war injury that leaves him missing an eye, a hand and several fingers. I like Claus, who comes across as a quiet, pensive family man as well as a determined soldier; he’s not as entertaining as Brad Pitt’s Nazi-killing vigilante in Tarantino’s movie, but he’s not as cruel either. He also feels much more realistic. On the other hand, I had an issue with Cruise’s enunciation throughout the movie. I was tempted to turn on the subtitles because it seemed to me like he was mumbling the whole time.

I know the problem wasn’t his accent because he didn’t have one, which I found a little hard to get used to; all of the characters in the movie are German, but Bamber is the only one who switches to a German accent, since the filmmakers felt an English Hitler would be too distracting. Everyone else uses their natural accents, so some sound German, but others sound American or British, and I had to keep reminding myself that they were all German.

Valkyrie is the kind of movie I can imagine being shown in history classes. It illuminates an interesting piece of German history with which I was unfamiliar, and it seems worthwhile to show that there were plenty of Germans who weren’t under Hitler’s spell. While it didn’t hold my attention as well as it might have, I would recommend it to anyone fascinated by World War II.

My Top Ten Movies of the Early '90s ('90-'94)

I'm a child of both the '80s and the '90s, and many of my favorite movies come from those decades. In the first half of the '90s, I was between 9 and 13, and my pre-teen years were filled with some terrific cinema. These are my ten favorites. Give or take a few...

The Rescuers Down Under (1990) / Beauty and the Beast (1991) / Aladdin (1992) / The Lion King (1994) - Okay, so I'm totally cheating on this one because Disney could do no wrong in the early '90s. The sequel to The Rescuers rates just below the others only because it isn't a musical. I like it much better than the first; the animation of all that glorious Australian wilderness is fantastic, especially during the flying-on-the-eagle's-back sequences, and George C. Scott marvelously voices one of my favorite Disney villains. The last three all have amazing songs to go along with the brilliant animation and terrific stories. Beauty and the Beast boasts my favorite Disney heroine, Aladdin the most manic Disney sidekick ever and The Lion King my all-time favorite Disney opening sequence. I saw them all in the theater, and I have them all on tape. Disney doesn't get much better than this.

Ghost (1990) - Seems to me we bought this one on a whim at McDonald's for five bucks one time, and it quickly became a favorite, mostly due to the hilarious antics of Whoopi Goldberg as a crackpot psychic who can suddenly talk to dead people and the touching finale, which features a gorgeous orchestral version of Unchained Melody. Oh, and it's pretty darn romantic too.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1992) / Star Trek: Generations (1994) - Neither is my favorite Trek movie, but I think Undiscovered is the first one I saw in a regular theater. I seem to remember it being sold out the first time we tried to see it and being so frustrated about it that I bought the novelization. It's a landmark movie since it's the last to include the full original cast, and it's one of the most philosophical of the Trek films. Spock has some great moments with his protege, and the scene in which Uhura must pass herself off as a Klingon is hilarious. And all that Shakespeare isn't bad either. Generations is the first to feature the cast of The Next Generation, and it probably is my favorite of their films, partly because of the prominence of Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg again), an uncharacteristically serene character who tended to be underused, partly because of the chance to bring the two greatest captains of the Enterprise face to face with each other, partly because of the idyllic quality of the Nexus scenes, but mostly because I absolutely love Brent Spiner's performance as Data, my favorite character, learns to deal with his acquisition of human emotions.

Far and Away (1992) - I'd never heard of this before we watched it in my eleventh grade history class, but I quickly fell in love with it, and shortly after we finished it at school, I insisted we rent it at home. My family loved it as much as I did, so it wasn't long before we bought it, and watching it has become a St. Patrick's Day tradition. I love the humor, the sweetness of the opposites-attract romance, the cinematography, the historical interest, the score, the cast and of course all those Irish accents, even if some of them are phony. It's a movie that my brother and I still quote to each other frequently, and no matter how many times I hear it was a flop, it will be one of my favorites.

Sister Act (1992) - This was a second choice when Mom and I saw it on our annual back-to-school shopping outing. We'd planned to see 3 Ninjas, but it was sold out, so we gave this a try even though Mom had an idea that I'd find it boring. Well, it was anything but. Whoopi Goldberg had me in stitches again, and I found the real nuns at the convent where she goes into hiding to be wonderfully touching as well as funny. This is the movie that introduced me to Harvey Keitel and the formidable Maggie Smith, as well as a lot of great Motown music. I was singing the sisters' hit renditions of those songs for days, and I couldn't wait to get this one on video. Awesome music, side-splitting humor and a moving story of redemption. And nuns! What more could I ask for?

Free Willy (1993) - I saw this one on the next year's back-to-school outing and loved it just as much. I've always been a "save the whales" kind of gal, so I liked the premise, and I found the characters endearing and the film surprisingly free of objectionable material. A tough-on-his-luck kid name Jesse abandoned by his mother gets a new shot at life thanks to a similarly alone orca, his understanding trainers and a couple who want to welcome Jesse into their home despite his issues. It's a heartwarming movie, and that shot of Willy leaping over the barrier is as iconic as E. T. and Elliot flying across the moon. And its theme song, Will You Be There, still stands as my all-time favorite Michael Jackson song.

Angels in the Outfield (1994) - Probably my favorite sports-related movie, this film about a boy whose prayer for divine assistance for his favorite team is motivated by a desire for a family is a great tale of friendship and faith. Christopher Lloyd is his usual zany self as the main angel with whom young Roger communicates, and I love Danny Glover's performance as the cranky coach who begins to reassess his worldview when his team suddenly starts winning. The angels provide some terrific visuals as they help the players pull off some amazing stunts, but what I really love are the ways in which a little bit of faith transforms the characters for the better. And the image of the crowd standing en masse and giving the angel signal is one of my favorite movie moments.

Forrest Gump (1994) - I remember hearing about this movie on Good Morning America and thinking it looked interesting but probably wasn't a movie for kids. It stayed in the theater for ages; it seems inconceivable to me now that a movie could have lasted in the cinema for nearly a year, but I saw it in April of '95 with my mom and grandparents, the only movie the five of us have all seen together in the theater. And I really got what all the fuss was about. Tom Hanks is absolutely pitch-perfect as Forrest, a Bear of Little Brain But Much Heart. He might be a little slow, but it doesn't stop him from making his mark in a multitude of ways. Hanks' performance, an outstanding (and very quotable) screenplay that is as touching as it is hilarious, impressive special effects planting Forrest into historical footage and a soundtrack featuring a couple dozen of the best songs of the sixties and seventies are just some of the reasons I love this movie. I can't go more than a couple of years without watching it; from the moment Alan Silvestri's delicate feather theme begins to play, I am transported. I simply cannot watch this movie without emerging feeling a little better about life.