I've never heard of Oblivion, and "Jack Harper" is such an incredibly generic name my eye just slid right past that entry in the poll. "Jack Harper" is a name Arnold Schwarzennegger would have had in one of his late 80s/early 90s movies that no one remembers now.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Sunday, 1 September 2019 18:42 (four years ago) link
Edge Of Tomorrow, despite being saddled with one of the worst titles in cinema
Warners formally changed the title (back) to Live. Die. Repeat., the director's intended title, for home video, and Liman & McQuarrie have both referred to the sequel as Live Die Repeat And Repeat.
― quelle sprocket damage (sic), Sunday, 1 September 2019 19:33 (four years ago) link
Lots of great performances
oh COME NOW
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 1 September 2019 20:06 (four years ago) link
If people enjoy a film, they tend to believe the acting was great, even when it was just passable enough for them to suspend disbelief. It isn't as if Cruise can't act. He's not an amateur. But he has a limited range.
Concentrating on 'action' movies has been a smart career move for him. His recent characters only need to move the plot ahead and he's surrounded by high-budget effects that carry the audience along on a river of spectacle, so his acting isn't all that central to the overall experience.
― A is for (Aimless), Sunday, 1 September 2019 20:18 (four years ago) link
Imagine how much worse every single one of these movies would be with Joaquin Phoenix.
― Andrew Farrell, Sunday, 1 September 2019 21:44 (four years ago) link
Leo and Cruise have often struck me as similar actors...because both are fairly ~external~ actors...if that makes sense. Though Cruise less likely to ham it up. But, like Leo, I can't see Cruise convincingly playing a reserved or intelligent character with a rich interior life, for instance. Everything is on the surface. I don't mean this as a criticism. EWS is a great example...at the end with Pollack you just see Cruise furiously *thinking* and then that incredible moment that I have to assume Kubrick insisted on where he keeps his hand to the side of his face for an unnaturally long time.
He's not someone who has ever seemed at ease on camera.
― ryan, Monday, 2 September 2019 04:17 (four years ago) link
I think that's a really good comparison. They are both method intense, but only to the extent that you can really see them acting intensely.
Agree that Tom Cruise taking the piss out of himself in stuff like Edge of Tomorrow and Tropic Thunder and (to an extent) Minority Report is a pretty good look. You can see him sort of loosen up and have fun a little when he's, I dunno, chasing his own eyes down a hallway. Like Schwarzenegger, he plays an oddly convincing everyman (imo) for a guy who is clearly not an everyman.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 2 September 2019 13:51 (four years ago) link
Eyes Wide Shut is the best movie he's been in, but absolutely not his best performance.
Still voting for it.
― Pauline Male (Eric H.), Monday, 2 September 2019 14:23 (four years ago) link
― “Hakuna Matata,” a nihilist philosophy (One Eye Open), Monday, 2 September 2019 14:51 (four years ago) link
Voted EWS her for John Wayne-related reasons
― “Hakuna Matata,” a nihilist philosophy (One Eye Open), Monday, 2 September 2019 14:52 (four years ago) link
I really don't understand the love for Eyes Wide Shut. Is it just residual Kubrick worship - like, you liked 2001 and The Shining and A Clockwork Orange so much you can't admit that the dude ever put a foot wrong? Because I've seen the movie, and it's...not...good. The script is boneheaded, the compositions are static and about a half-step less stagy than fucking Dogville, and there's not a single good performance in it, in either the "that is a realistic human being acting in a recognizably human manner" way or a "that is a larger-than-life but dramatically compelling figure doing interesting things that propel the story in an unpredictable direction" way.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Monday, 2 September 2019 15:01 (four years ago) link
I mean, just about all of that is wrong but it's definitely not "static," the camera movement and editing is hardly Dreyer. Maybe "stagey" but that's an observation not a flaw.
― ryan, Monday, 2 September 2019 15:08 (four years ago) link
u know Stan said "Real is good, interesting is better."
I find EWS's unreality preferable to The Shining's.
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 2 September 2019 15:08 (four years ago) link
unperson mostly otm, EWS is un-rewatchable
― El Tomboto, Monday, 2 September 2019 15:10 (four years ago) link
as for Tom, I get the fascination with Magnolia bcz haha he says "respect the cock" ohmysides, but much prefer "big fat fucking penis" in Bot4oJ.
Tom's wheelhouse was probably Risky Business-style light comedy, but then Top Gun struck. I've always found his INTENSE persona laughable.
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 2 September 2019 15:11 (four years ago) link
but tom several of us HAVE rewatched it :)
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 2 September 2019 15:14 (four years ago) link
I've rewatched EWS twice; it's like staring into a toilet bowl hoping the waters turn into tidal waves.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 2 September 2019 15:18 (four years ago) link
you can't admit that the dude ever put a foot wrong
Hardly. His filmography is about half and half to my eyes.
― Pauline Male (Eric H.), Monday, 2 September 2019 15:27 (four years ago) link
It’s true though, that movie about dreaming and the unconscious based on a 1920s surrealist Freudian novella isn’t strictly realistic in its tone or performances.
― “Hakuna Matata,” a nihilist philosophy (One Eye Open), Monday, 2 September 2019 15:27 (four years ago) link
Also the missions Ethan Hunt undertakes do not strictly speaking appear to be “impossible”, a major plot hole
― “Hakuna Matata,” a nihilist philosophy (One Eye Open), Monday, 2 September 2019 15:30 (four years ago) link
Tom Cruise, along with Matt Damon, are two actors that I find enormously compelling onscreen and will watch anything either of them is in.
"Minority Report" is my favourite later-Spielberg movie and Cruise is fantastic in it and I'm voting for it. "Magnolia" is gutter trash.
― flamboyant goon tie included, Monday, 2 September 2019 15:33 (four years ago) link
xp its a publicly funded org, you have to oversell the difficulty of everything just to get photocopier money
― theRZA the JZA and the NDB (darraghmac), Monday, 2 September 2019 15:33 (four years ago) link
fgti otm
― theRZA the JZA and the NDB (darraghmac), Monday, 2 September 2019 15:34 (four years ago) link
he hits some of his lines well in Jerry Maguire ("I am Mr Black People") but the script is overwhelmed by bullshit
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 2 September 2019 15:36 (four years ago) link
While white leading men over 40 are on my mind: Colin Farrell would be "The Lobster", Matt Damon would be "The Talented Mr. Ripley", Clive Owen would be "Croupier", Leo DiCaprio would be "Catch Me If You Can", Clooney would be "Michael Clayton".
― flamboyant goon tie included, Monday, 2 September 2019 15:39 (four years ago) link
Wasn't Croupier like 20 years ago? Pretty brutal statement about ol' Clive's career. Not even a pity vote for Inside Man or Duplicity?
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Monday, 2 September 2019 15:50 (four years ago) link
I saw a clip of PTA talking about how he'd cut Magnolia to ribbons if he was editing it today; I'd watch that version but won't bother rewatching till then
― Simon H., Monday, 2 September 2019 15:52 (four years ago) link
Children of Men! xp
I love Children of Men but Croupier is SO GOOD!! Bruce Willis "Hudson Hawk" gfy lol I love that movie, Val Kilmer "Willow" again gfy, Pacino and De Niro idk Godfathers I guess, Brad Pitt geeeeee do I even like him? "Thelma And Louise" but I did like "Babel" for what it's worth, Christian Bale actually kind of sucks but I like both him and Hugh Jackman a lot in "The Prestige"
― flamboyant goon tie included, Monday, 2 September 2019 15:54 (four years ago) link
I have been gasp-level surprised no fewer than 5 times in FGTI's last 2 posts.
― Pauline Male (Eric H.), Monday, 2 September 2019 15:55 (four years ago) link
Val Kilmer's best movie is Spartan. Catch me on the right day and I'll tell you it's Mamet's best, too.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Monday, 2 September 2019 15:56 (four years ago) link
What can I say, I like a lot of bullshit
― flamboyant goon tie included, Monday, 2 September 2019 15:59 (four years ago) link
Same. Just not quite so much of the "bought the Wild Hogs DVD from Target the day it was released" strain.
― Pauline Male (Eric H.), Monday, 2 September 2019 16:01 (four years ago) link
I have a weird soft spot for Redbelt.
best contemporary Kilmer has to be Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
― Simon H., Monday, 2 September 2019 16:01 (four years ago) link
I had some thoughts about Spartan, and Mamet, and Kilmer, about 10 years ago.
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Monday, 2 September 2019 16:02 (four years ago) link
I don't know what Wild Hogs is *googles it* oh I see
― flamboyant goon tie included, Monday, 2 September 2019 16:03 (four years ago) link
fwiw my favourite contemporary director is Nicole Holofcener and my favourite movie of the last decade is "I Am Love", so, maybe Wild Hogs is a little unfair
― flamboyant goon tie included, Monday, 2 September 2019 16:05 (four years ago) link
kiss kiss bang bang is so good
― don’t bore us, get to the aeon of horus (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 2 September 2019 16:06 (four years ago) link
kilmer best in his entourage cameo tbh
second best snl iceman sketch
after that yeah top gun, heat and gfy his bruce wayne
― theRZA the JZA and the NDB (darraghmac), Monday, 2 September 2019 16:11 (four years ago) link
I stand with omar on Tom Cruisethe last 3 MI movies are insanely enjoyable - for me they scratch the itch for “ fun OTT action” that Bond has done away with ( the fun part i mean) Edge of Tomorrow is excellentI even didn’t hate him in Rock of Ages! I pretty much like him in everything
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 2 September 2019 16:29 (four years ago) link
I was just joshing, FGTI. It was a good kind of surprise that you're into Michael Clayton.
― Pauline Male (Eric H.), Monday, 2 September 2019 16:32 (four years ago) link
it's like staring into a toilet bowl hoping the waters turn into tidal waves.
Try flushing!
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 2 September 2019 16:33 (four years ago) link
Forget it, Jakes, it’s Flushing Chinatown.
― The Fearless Thread Killers (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 2 September 2019 16:35 (four years ago) link
Michael Clayon is the kind of thinks-its-too-good-to-be-pulp thriller that I hate more than just about any other kind of movie.
For Kilmer, gimme Top Secret! over anything else in his filmography (though KKBB is good, too).
― Herman Woke (cryptosicko), Monday, 2 September 2019 17:13 (four years ago) link
and The Doors
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 2 September 2019 17:14 (four years ago) link
Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison was inspired casting.
― A is for (Aimless), Monday, 2 September 2019 17:17 (four years ago) link
Anyway, Cruise was fun when he wasn't shouting and briefly hawt in Cocktail.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 2 September 2019 17:19 (four years ago) link
Real Genius is his Risky Business.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 2 September 2019 17:32 (four years ago) link
Real Q, as compulsively watchable as I find Cruise, has he ever.. acted in anything? Aside from kind-of exaggerating his id for Magnolia?
― flamboyant goon tie included, Monday, 2 September 2019 18:10 (four years ago) link
So long since I saw it but 4th of July?
― YouGov to see it (wins), Monday, 2 September 2019 18:15 (four years ago) link