Critics Club II: 09 - Tom Cruise

[Nu-Eclipse]

....as far as the voting goes, it's Born on the Fourth of July for me. His best acting performance imo and the one where you could argue that he was unlucky not to get an Academy Award.

[Neon Ignition]

Last day of voting for this and Julia Roberts

[QualityChimp]

I've just reread the list to try and choose and holy moly, that's an impressive CV!

I don't think there's a single duffer on there. Even curiosities like Vanilla Sky and Knight & Day are worth watching.
I found it to too hard to choose, so I went for Edge of Tomorrow.
Partly because it's a good showcase of his abilities, not only in acting, but also in action. I liked how his cowardly character became a hero.

Also, because I think it's the only Cruise film I own.

I got it for 99p at the Cats Protection League charity shop, but I do own it.

[Baseley09]

Agreed he's never done a duffer, few of the modern ones like knight and day are questionable but watchable at least. To be fair I havnt seen The Mummy.

Voted War of the Worlds, the Jeff Wayne album was a big part of my youth and the Cruise version one of my favorite movies, at least the amazing opening gambit.

[wakka]

I'm an unashamed Cruise fan. One thing I think that's interesting about him is his emphasis on star vehicles. When you watch a Cruise movie, you don't just get a movie with Tom Cruise in it, you get a complete package. The Tom Cruise MovieTM is a consistent package, every time, from presentation to story to pacing and the style of character he plays. It's the McDonalds of movies, and I mean that in a good way. It's junk, but it's comforting, reliable, enjoyable junk.

There are outliers like Magnolia that don't quite hold to that, but I think it's generally true.

That said, guys, come on, he's in loads of stinkers. Most recently The Mummy was an abomination, and showed how much Cruise needs his complete package wrapped around him to work. Poor direction left him bustling from scene to scene like the middle aged man he is, which wasn't at all true of the recently released American Made. Then you've got Cocktail, Days of Thunder, MI3, Jack Reacher 2 - loads of naffness.

His turn in Tropic Thunder was sheer genius though. That was a real turning point in his comeback, one im glad he made.

[Asura]

Then you've got Cocktail, Days of Thunder, MI3, Jack Reacher 2 - loads of naffness.

WHAAAAAAAAT

[QualityChimp]

Then you've got Cocktail, Days of Thunder, MI3, Jack Reacher 2 - loads of naffness.

WHAAAAAAAAT

[wakka]

Cocktail is the best of those four, simply because its overwhelming cheesiness is quite amusing. But it's not a good film by any metric.

Days of Thunder is just excruciatingly boring. It's a bad Top Gun, and Top Gun is already bad, except for some cool plane flying bits.

[QualityChimp]

Women want to bed Tom Cruise because he makes them great drinks.
I make co-workers cups of tea all day long, but none of them try to seduce me.