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You tell us what's more frightening about MGM boss Harry Sloan's recent proclamations from Cannes: A) That the guy freely admits both Robocop and the Brat Pack-slays-the-Communists epic Red Dawn are up for remakes at his studio, or B) Sloan's public support of Tom Cruise, Valkyrie and United Artists has winnowed to the point of "clanking endorsement." Oh, who are we kidding? Valkyrie trumps everything:

As for all the bad buzz surrounding Valkyrie, from MGM subsidiary UA, Sloan said that photos of an eyepatch-clad Tom Cruise as an SS officer were "a little bit unfortunate," but were released to reassure the German government about the seriousness of the project.

MGM/UA's prepared to prevail over the nay-sayers. "We've had image problems before," Sloan said, alluding to early negativity on hits like Casino Royale and Rocky Balboa. "The film will speak for itself."

Not any more it won't. Let's hope the German government didn't get a look at the Valkyrie trailer or happen to notice when MGM pushed its release date a second time to February 2009; we can probably safely assume they don't read Roger Friedman, right?