Tom Cruise starring in the fact-based story of a plot to kill Hitler by Nazi Col. Claus von Stauffenberg sounds like Oscar bait. It isn't. And the sooner you accept it, the more fun you'll have at this satisfying B movie. Hearing Cruise's American accent is jarring at first. But his British co-stars, including Kenneth Branagh, Tom Wilkinson and Eddie Izzard, don't sound German either. No worries. X-Men director Bryan Singer and his Usual Suspects screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie will keep you in the game. Operation Valkyrie referred to a shadow government that would control Germany in case the Führer (David Bamber) bit the bullet. Stauffenberg and his cohorts planned to assassinate Hitler, kick in Valkyrie and forge a truce with the Allies. Since he lost his left eye in battle, as well as his right hand and two fingers on his left hand, Cruise wears an eye patch and prosthetics. Nice details, but it's the palm-sweating suspense that counts.

“Ambling Alp”

The "Ambling Alp" was the nickname of the six-and-a-half-foot-tall Primo Carnera. Though the song is named after the Italian-born 1930s heavyweight champion, Yeasayer are actually paying tribute to boxing legend Joe Louis with this first-person psychedelic dance-rock tune. “I was always interested in writing a song that had boxing mythology in it,” Yeasayer’s Chris Keating said. “It’s pretty fascinating: There were so many amazing characters, and it was so closely entwined with 20th century history.” Yeaseyer also invokes German champ Max Schmeling and hints at the historical significance placed on the historic bouts between the Nazi-era boxer and the African-American Louis.