This is really off topic and the subject is a cruise ruse. Since many threads of late have whistle related topics but turn into non-whistle threads, perhaps this non-whistle topic will turn into a whistle thread. Anyway, it picks up on the Tom Cruise related - swarf/smarf thread.
The over zealous holier than thou little puke is good in certain roles that take place in modern times, because I always see him just as Tom Cruise no matter what the role or time period - perhaps he’s not a very good actor. The Last Samurai was a very underrated movie with great performances from the Japanese actors, beautifully filmed and with rousing battle scenes. Tom Cruise was ok, but he was, well, Tom Cruise - he looked like a little boy walking with that horse at the end of the movie.
There are fine actors who can become the role (Dustin Hoffman, Robert DeNiro, Sean Penn, Marlon Brando); he isn’t one of them.
Hey, good idea for another flame thread - let’s name whistles after the actors whose characteristics they best embody - that could get really insulting.
I’ll start. Marlon Brando is the Copeland. Capable of perhaps the finest performances ever anywhere with the great soul and resonance of roles like that in On The Waterfront and The Godfather but also less than worthy performances like that in The Island of Dr. Moreau.
This will probably ruin your self esteem, but I agree completely with you. If anything can keep me from seeing a movie, it’s Tom Cruise being in it. Man, that makes twice within the last year that you and I have strongly agreed on something, Philo. Are the planets aligned weirdly or what?
I tend to watch movies where the subject matter interests me and tolerate actors if necessary. Hence, I enjoyed The Last Samurai and I am looking forward to War of the Worlds, being a die-hard sci-fi fan. (I was, nevertheless, greatly dissappointed with Battlefield Earth while I loved LR Hubbard’s book of the same title.)
In defence of Tom Cruise, part of his job is to promote his movie, which I believe drew media attention to him. The media questioned him about his Scientology beliefs as the pertain to alien invasion. A fair shot, as far as I’m concerned, but I suspect embarrassing to Cruise. The love affair with the kid? Hey, celebrities do these things all the time and there is a huge industry of magazines, tabloids, news, etc pandering to the desires of a mentally deficient population who eats that stuff up. He’s in the news because the media choses what’s news based on what sells. He’s part of the machine.
Anyway, who’s forcing you to watch this stuff?? :roll:
Tony -advocate
Like many Hollywood celebs, he gets by purely on his looks and his fame, he can’t act his way out of a paper bag.
I wonder if other samurai movie fans found the casting of “The Last Samurai” as ridiculous as I did. Cruise’s role was a role for a mature, powerful, charismatic, and skillful actor, like Neeson or Crowe, not a sawed-off, halfwitted, aging pretty boy with delusions of grandeur.
I agree that Tom Cruise doesn’t fit well the Last Samurai role… I believe the best actor for that role would be Robin Williams
Well, seriously, I have nothing against Cruise, don’t love it nor hate it… I didn’t like most of it’s pictures though, except for Collateral, I really liked that one.
Now, I really dislike Jim Carrey. Can’t see any movie where he’s acting.
Has anyone else noticed that every Tom Cruise movie features a scene where he is running, to something or away from something, but running anyway. Run, run, run. Run, Tom, run.
I’ve enjoyed several of his movies, including A Few Good Men and the Last Samurai, and admire that he purportedly does most of his own stunts. I never thought to impugn him for any religious or other beliefs and I don’t scour the media to watch for him so I can lambaste what I see. I happen to catch snippets of him on TV and in the press as he promotes his movie and the press tries to as always make something out of nothing. What really set me off was the attack on a discipline, psychology, psychiatry or therapy, that when properly applied in a balanced manner can and has helped many people, including apparently Brooke Shields. The manner in which he did it I also find offensive. In his diatribe aimed at Matt Lauer he really displayed an over zealousness and a self-assured smugness (You don’t know, I know, because I’ve researched - give me a break, please) that I found repugnant and thoughtless, perhaps even potentially damaging to many.
I too loved the original H. G. Welles story and the original campy movie with Gene Barry and was looking forward to the remake by Spielberg. I admit to some gloating feelings upon reading some bad reviews; I’ll try to overcome this weakness in my character.
-advocate
