4 ms·

I was especially moved by a scene where the Tom Cruise humbly confesses “this is the only look I have”, in relatable acknowledgment of his limitations as an act

• chaoticmass 4y ago
  The whole movie can be taken as a sort of metaphor for how movie stars like Tom Cruise and the movies he makes, with real stunts and little CG, are a dying breed. Especially the scene with Admiral Caine telling Maverick that drones replacing pilots is inevitable, and Maverick replying, "Maybe, but not today."
• AlwaysRock 4y ago
  Eyes Wide Shut? Collateral? Magnolia? He can certainly play characters outside the big action hero. He just gets paid a shitload of money to keep making shit big budget action movies and he's a high level cult leader who has an ego the size of a planet. He could do well in a little indie movie that pushes his range but his life and personality prevents that way more than his range as an actor.
  • hguant 4y ago
    >Eyes Wide Shut? Tangent about this: There was a very interesting Roger Ebert review of Eyes Wide Shut that addressed some of the criticism of Tom Cruise's acting in that film. Cruise had been described as "wooden" and Ebert came to his defense. Kubrick - who is on record as being a perfectionist who believes that actors are best when they're meat puppets for the director - made Cruise go through 97 takes of walking through a door. Either that's just sadism on part of the director's ego (and there may be something to that, Kubrick is notorious for playing psychological games with actors to get the performance he wants - or Kubrick working to get exactly what he wants on the screen.