Tom Cruise

[godardslave]

Carried over from the WotW thread ...

wow...ed wood could have made a (wonderfully bad) film out of this horseshit. #-o

[flyonthewall2983]

Wasn't there a wonderfully bad film made out of this, with John Travolta?

[essrog]

I believe you're thinking of Battlefield Earth. I haven't seen it, but here's a link to a review of it -- it's one of my favorite cinematic eviscerations of all time:

http://www.theonionavclub.com/review.php?review_id=3400

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Well, that's the million-dollar (or I guess $20 million for Cruise, maybe $5-$10 million for Travolta) question isn't it? It seems that Cruise's devotion is fairly strong at the moment as he comes off as a religious zealot in his recent interviews, though it might just be that he's not that great at communicating his message without becoming overly emotional. These guys did apparently "solve" his dyslexia. Since Scientology appears to be so closely associated to brain-washing, we quickly make the assumption that Cruise really believes every word, not just the core principles. However, he did recently say in some press-conference that Scientology has nothing to do with aliens, so I can't say for sure how deep he is into this faith.

The official Scientology line regarding the Xenu story is that it is not a major part of the religion. So from Cruise's perspective he isn't lying when he says Scientology isn't about aliens. As for whether he actually believes it: by the time a Scientologist learns about the Xenu story, they're pretty much in it for the long haul. The Xenu story is classified as "OTIII" (for "Operating Thetan Level III"), with "Operating Thetan" being a measure of how high a member has ascended within the Church. By all accounts, reaching OTIII requires a great deal of time, committment, and (this being Scientology) money. If you reach OTIII you're probably already engaged with the Church to the point that you're willing to believe anything it tells you. OTs III-VII are now public knowledge, thanks to a court case in which an ex-Scientologist sued the Church and placed the documents in the court record (the Church has unsuccessfully attempted to have them sealed, arguing that they're "trade secrets"), but the average new recruit to Scientology isn't going to have any knowledge of these things. It's a standard operating practice with cults -- lure people in with talk about "fulfillment" and "self-improvement" or whatever, then wait until they're fully committed before springing the crazy stuff on them. At least it's just "human beings are possessed by the souls of space aliens killed by hydrogen bombs with the help of psychiatrists" instead of, say, "the apocalypse is coming, let's fill the subway with nerve gas."

[Gordon]

The day that Katie Holmes assassinates Bush will be the same day that Cruise proclaims himself the New Galactic Emperor. Let's just hope that this doesn't clash with U2 frontman, Bongo proclaiming that he is Jesus. In all seriousness, I would not be surprised to see shit like this happen in the near future. In the meantime, our cultural runaway train keeps on puffin'.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

Has anyone heard about this blog called ScienTOMogy (http://scientomogy.blogspot.com/) that satirizes Cruise's involvement with Scientology? Apparently, it's ruffled more than a few feathers and now the Scientologists are trying to shut it down. Check it out while it's still up and running. It's quite amusing.

[Gordon]

[Shudder] That's one of the most fucked-up image of all times.

[justeleblanc]

Why is Cruise kissing Woody Allen's mother?

[Fletch F. Fletch]

[Shudder] That's one of the most fucked-up image of all times.

heh! I keep thinking of that line from Wild at Heart. "No tongue. My lipstick..."

[Gordon]

Why is Cruise kissing Woody Allen's mother?

Ha-haaaah! Brilliant! =D>

heh! I keep thinking of that line from Wild at Heart. "No tongue. My lipstick..."

Indeed. Can you envision Cruise in a Lynch film?

Wait a minute - his whole life has been a Lynch film!

[Fletch F. Fletch]

L.A. Times has run an interesting article on how Scientologists courted Cruise for their cause: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-s ... 3052.story

[Andre Jurieu]

http://bestweekever.blogs.com/best_week ... _on_o.html

[The Invunche]

Two things:

1) That was a pretty well done edit.

2) I absolutely hate Oprah's fake outrage.

[Lino]

Went to see MI3 last night just for kicks (how could I pass on an opportunity to see Cruise get trampled, ran over, beaten and humiliated, right?) and I found myself seeing almost a surreal spectacle. Oh, the film was highly entertaining of course and Cruise indulged himself in some pretty er, well, impossible stunts but that's not my point.

The thing is, that this time around art imitated life in a way you would thought inimaginable. Firstly, the lead actress that plays his bride is strikingly similar to Katie Holmes (now to be called simply Kate because Cruise thinks that Katie is a child's name...yeah, whatever Tom... ) and they even get married in the film on the run much like what happened in real life too.

However, in the course of the movie two women get killed because of him so let's not hope that life will try to imitate art in this case (Cruise has a baby daughter in case you didn't know). But the bugger is getting smarter. You know what he did? There's two scenes in the movie that directly recall his Top Gun and Born on the 4th of July movies and it's as if he's almost saying: "Remember when you fell in love with me for the first time?" to the audience and this stuff actually works on your subconscious level and you actually start to think that he cannot be as mad as the media wants us to think he is. Of course, we know better and it's exactly this sort of psychological gimmick that really shows just how far out and desperate he seems to be these days.

Oh, and he gets the girl in the end and they go off on a honeymoon...riiiiiiight...

[The Invunche]

Do we get to see Felicity's boobies?

[Lino]

No boobs. Only Tom's muscles.

[Andre Jurieu]

... and they even get married in the film on the run much like what happened in real life too.

Uh... have they actually gotten married yet? I thought that publicity stunt has yet to occur.

[Lino]

... and they even get married in the film on the run much like what happened in real life too.

Uh... have they actually gotten married yet? I thought that publicity stunt has yet to occur.

No, they still haven't. My sister just informed me. Was under the impression that they had. Let's just say I'm happy knowing that I don't know these sort of things this well, thankfully.

[hearthesilence]

We need vomiting emoticons for this reason:

(preceded by Zhen mumbling a prayer)
Zhen: It's just a little prayer that I used to say to get my cat to come home.
Declan: Can you teach it to me?

[Barmy]

Tomcat?

[cdnchris]

We need vomiting emoticons for this reason:

(preceded by Zhen mumbling a prayer)
Zhen: It's just a little prayer that I used to say to get my cat to come home.
Declan: Can you teach it to me?

It's really amazing how a single scene can actually sort of ruin a movie for you.

[Jeff]

Cruise's insanity finally caused Paramount to give him the boot.

From CNN:

August 22 2006: 9:02 PM EDT
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Paramount Pictures will end its longstanding relationship with Cruise/Wagner Productions, actor Tom Cruise's production company, citing his erratic behavior, according to a report published Tuesday.

Sumner Redstone, CEO of Paramount owner Viacom, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that Cruise's controversial behavior over the last year - including advocating for Scientology and denouncing the use of antidepressant drugs - was the cause for the move.

Cruise has been battling image problems in Hollywood. The movie company is concerned that Cruise's behavior hurt his most recent film, "Mission: Impossible 3," said the report.

"As much as we like him personally, we thought it was wrong to renew his deal," Redstone was quoted as saying in the Wall Street Journal. "His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount."

But Paula Wagner, Cruise's partner, disputed Redstone's assertions, according to the report. She told the paper that Cruise/Wagner Productions had decided to set up its own independent operation, backed by two unnamed hedge funds. She also noted in her comments to the Journal that Cruise had made Paramount vast sums of money over the years.

Cruise has worked with Paramount on hit films such as "Mission: Impossible," "Top Gun" and "Days of Thunder."

But speculation has been on the rise that Cruise, and mega-stars in general, are not worth the price, especially when personal behavior intrudes on their public persona.

Cruise has starred in 24 movies producing an average box office gross of $99.9 million, according to The-Movie-Times.com, an online Hollywood database.

In June 2006 Cruise took the No.1 spot on Forbes magazine's annual list of the world's 100 most powerful stars. In the last 10 years all but one of his movies have grossed more than $200 million worldwide. His top-grossing movie was "War of the Worlds" (2005), which topped $590 million around the world.

However Hollywood's highest accolade - an Oscar - has eluded Cruise, despite three acting nominations for his roles in "Magnolia", "Jerry Maguire" and "Born on the Fourth of July."

In May 2006, a USA/Today poll showed his public approval rating had slipped to 35 percent. Many of those polled cited his blunt criticism of actress Brooke Shield's treatment for depression and of psychiatry in general.

In 2005, he became the butt of jokes for a manic, couch-hopping TV appearance declaring his love for girlfriend Katie Holmes on the Oprah Winfrey show.

Reuters contributed to this report.

[Matt]

While I'm not surprised that Paramount is cutting its ties with Cruise, I'm shocked that Redstone himself is so upfront about the whole thing. I would have thought this would be done quietly on a Friday afternoon with a nice PR-vetted statement of an amicable parting. Cruise must have really pissed everyone off for the head of Viacom himself to unceremoniously burn a big, fat, money-making bridge like this. Of 2006 movies, MI:III is the fifth-highest grossing. Better than Cars and Superman Returns. That ain't bad.

[Roger_Thornhill]

As crazy as Cruise is I have liked his film choices over the last 6 or 7 years. I loved Eyes Wide Shut, Minority Report (except for the ending), Collateral, and M:I III. As long as he keeps making solid Hollywood films I could care less if he gets naked and ran around Times Square with women's underwear on his head screaming, "The aliens are coming! The aliens are coming!" Why do you think he was in War of the Worlds? It was a dry run for him to combat the coming alien invasion.

[flyonthewall2983]

As crazy as Cruise is I have liked his film choices over the last 6 or 7 years. I loved Eyes Wide Shut, Minority Report (except for the ending), Collateral, and M:I III. As long as he keeps making solid Hollywood films I could care less if he gets naked and ran around Times Square with women's underwear on his head screaming, "The aliens are coming! The aliens are coming!" Why do you think he was in War of the Worlds? It was a dry run for him to combat the coming alien invasion.

I agree with that for the most part. My feeling is is that if his career goes completely down the tubes as a result of his attitudes over the last year and a half, history will show that Collateral was his last, truly great role from this period in his career.