Collateral - The Film
Collateral features an insecure and kind-hearted but bumbling cabbie (Jamie Fox) who is a big dreamer but not a big doer and a hit man, Tom Cruise, starring as the silver-haired “Vincent.” Vincent: the cold-hearted hit-man who is out to...
Posted to Video by Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti on May 16, 2005 02:40 PM
Cruise Milks The Tabloids (Again)
So Tom Cruise has officially acknowledged that he's dating Katie Holmes. Big deal. I normally don't care for the tabloids (or for that matter Tom Cruise), except when I read this news, I got this sense of deja vu....
Posted to Video by Mark Sahm on May 2, 2005 11:03 AM
The Last Samurai
We tried to watch The Last Samurai on HBO last night, on the recommendation of an innocent friend who loved it. (Only someone fresh out of Witness Protection and decades of substance abuse could be so innocent.) Oh God, what an...
Posted to Video by amba on April 5, 2005 09:46 AM
Weekly BlogScan—"I am NOT GAY"
Madonna & Brittany swap spit.Think about the social pressures that lead a person to feel the urge to declare publicly, "I am not gay." This is an era when movies, main-stream media,...
Posted to Culture by DrPat on March 25, 2005 05:23 PM
Collateral DVD Review
It can be fun to see who might have been cast in a specific role. Instead of Tom Cruise for "Collateral," the producers looked at Adam Sandler (!), Russell Crowe, Colin Farrell, and Ed Norton. They ended up deciding it...
Posted to Video by Matt Paprocki on March 17, 2005 07:15 PM
Collateral — Damn Good
Shock, horror! Tom Cruise can act - in this tale of a hitman and a taxi driver, Cruise makes amends for the rather-over-sentimentality-and-averageness of The Last Samurai. He plays a hitman, Vincent, just arrived in LA for another job....
Posted to Video by Jon Downs on January 15, 2005 02:12 PM
Collateral
One of the most tiresome film genres is the "crime thriller". It's not a satisfactory name, but whatever they're called, they're contemporary and the climax usually involves somebody being chased and shot at. They also have unmemorable titles (Internal Affairs,...
Posted to Video by Paul De Angelis on January 2, 2005 02:34 PM (Score: 2)
Wolves In The City
It is rare to find a genre film that transcends the genre. Collateral is one such film. The assassin thriller is turned into a chautaqua on friendship, urban life and motivations. A taut, well-directed film, it features Jamie Foxx as...
Posted to Video by Aaman Lamba on December 28, 2004 02:28 PM
Article comments
1 - Aaman
Wow - we really are Cruise-rs
2 - Eric Berlin
I agree Eric -- Cruise is always somewhere between good and great. He's in some boring films (Days of Thunder, Far & Away), but he never mails in a performance.
He's also in one of my favorite films of all time: Vanilla Sky.
That said, my wife announced just yesterday that she will never watch a Cruise film again based upon his recent wackiness.
3 - Hitman
His only good movies were MI-2 and Collateral. All the other ones were stinkers. He really has no range to be different characters. It seems hes the same guy in every movie.....Maybe he and Nathan Lane can do an act or two after his new movie fizzles. They could play an odd couple who like to go to gay bars.
4 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Hitman! what kind of cold heart can refuse the celestial wonder of Jerry Macguire!?? And what of the bit in Cocktail when he's in the river doin a filth with the lady? gorgeous.
And what of All The Right Moves?
And at least 2 thirds of Born On The Fourth Of July are wonderful.
"Penis mom!!! PENIS!!!!!!!"
Still, alas, unlike sir Belrin, i have no love for Vanilla Sky, which took a wonderful, original sci-fi mind-fuck and turned it into a bloated pretentious mess with nothing but a cool Bob Dylan reference to salvage it.
Apologies sir Berlin.
And this reminds me, i never did see The Last Samurai... i must amend that ASAMFP
5 - Tan The Man
A Few Good Men, the original Mission Impossible, Magnolia, Interview With A Vampire, Minority Report... I like his movies, I don't necessarily like him as a person though... give him a break, he does work hard to entertain us
6 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
oh, and A Few Good Men! one of the first flicks i could quote line for line. i've forgotten most of it now, mind.
And of course Interview With The Vampire, which we don't watch around these parts. sorry Kirsten, but no.
7 - Demi
But can he dance?
Action hero? Matt Dameon or even Patrick Swayze (please excuse my lack of familiarity with the spelling of the "STARZ" names) seem more action like.
Interview with a V was interesting, perhaps because Anne Rice had something to do with it.
IMHO Tom Cruise has made far more "B" flicks than top shelf performances.
Am I just tragically unhip?
That Jet movie--Top something... was the stupidest movie I think I have ever seen.
Sorry Tom. Keep up the good work.
8 - Eric Olsen
I haven't seen Vanilla Sky or Last Samuria, but he was at least good in all of the other movies pictured above. I think you have to give him that: that's why he is interesting, because he seems to be such a loony in real life but is an accomplished artist
9 - Eric Berlin
Cruise was rather great in both Vanilla Sky and The Last Samurai. He's got great screen presence, which is why he's been just about the biggest film star in the world over the last 20 years.
Duke, no feelings hurt regarding the Sky. Interesting that you seem to love Jerry Maguire (another Cameron Crowe number) yet not Vanilla Sky. VS hit on all the right notes for me -- I think it's a vastly underrated movie... but that's likely the case as I rarely find someone who loved it as much as I did!
10 - Rodthrob
Does anyone see a theme that runs through his movies? Can you say GAY! Top Gun-Gay,Magnolia-Gay,Few good men-Gay,etc.
The guy is too short to begin with. They must have to shoot hi smovies on the muppet stage so he doesnt look so short!!
I say replace him with a cg character. Easy enuf these days!
11 - Eric Berlin
What in the hell is "gay" about any of those films, per se? I don't remember depictions of gay sex... or any gay characters, really.
Top Gun was THE macho patriotic guy movie of the 80s (pretty much... any others out there to compete?).
EO -- I agree with you on your take on Cruise. Loon off-screen, usually entertaining to watch on.
12 - salid
Theory-Brooke Shields was the next runner up for a job as spokesperson for prozac ,Zoloft or some other anti depressant.
Why else would you come out to the world about being a sicko demented beeatch?
Ok she could write a book but what kind of dip would buy it?
She hates Tom Cruise so much because he foiled her plan to be the next queen of Anti-Depressants. We might be seeing this witch on TV news ads if it werent for Tom Cruise exposing her! Thanks Tom now we dont have to see her ugly face on TV!
13 - Victor Plenty
Top Gun is seen as gay due to the half-undressed locker room scenes, if I recall correctly. A Few Good Men is "gay" because it has Demi Moore in it. Magnolia is "gay" because it has a picture of a flower on the cover.
Those explanations are about as logical as you're going to get, Eric.
14 - Tan The Man
Fun Stuff...
15 - mikie
Brooke is just using Tom Cruise's statement to get herself free media for her book.
I searched google news;
Tom Cruise = 10,000 stories
Brooke Shields = 1400
Brooke Shields - Tom Cruise = 360
He's the only reason she is getting any press to promote her psych drug ad...I mean book.
16 - Brooke Shields
Salid, I am Rich. And Famous. And Rich.
And Beautiful. And Talented. And Rich.
And You are not. And You will never be.
Who are you? Some schmuck trying to make
himself feel better about himself by the
putting down of someone who will never
know who he is and furthermore could
not even care? You sad pathetic little
monkey boy hiding in the shadows of the
ethernet calling people names and other
mature acts. You're Sooooooooo Cool.
I'm Brooke Shields.You're Panty Shields.
17 - Salid
You are an idiot for impersonating Brooke Shields and you are wrong on a few counts. I am rich, I am Female and I have more talent in the finger nail I just clipped then Brooke Shields will ever have. She should let her 15 minutes of fame go and jumpfrom a bridge and kasplat!
18 - Brooke "Not " Shields
And you girlfriend are an F'ing idiot
for impersonating a human being. XOXOXO
19 - Mark Bellinghaus
Great article, Eric, and fun to read! Fun is what I am looking for after being attacked for weeks on my own blog...oh I am so sado-maso I admit! lol
If "Tommy-boy" would have come out of his closet 20 years ago, he would have received his desperately tried for many times--OSCAR by now, maybe even as the BOTTOM-guy in Brokeback Mountain! What's his name, the bother of that actress, yep, Jake!
I could really image that Tom would have done a better job, as he would have had a "stretch" to be a closet, that act like a "closet-queen" that is not guy but in real life...oh well, you know what I am trying to say. But I want to spare good ol Eric some more threats of lawsuits...especially from the powerhouse of SCIENTOLOGY who seem to take over Hollywood and next your neighborhood!
I don't get it: is it a MUST to be gay, but in the closet, as it seems to me...John Travolta, with his "wife" in an interview, and holding hands, after a marrige of how many years?! Yeah right...hahaha was almost like the latest catch of People's SEXIEST(GAY) MAN ALIVE 2006, Matthew McConaughay, who annoyinngly shared with us TWICE in one interview how much he loves his "girlfriend"(don't let this hear Penelope's girlfriend), and that he is going to see her right after this interview(with the smile of a little boy who is talking about his latest matchbox car!) Who really gives a rats-ass?
Almost believeable, if....well, if Penelope haven't already got to be known for some "rumors", just the same "rumours surrounding" McConaughay's-ex, Sandra Bullock who looks more and more like famous LESBO GRETA GARBO! Gee was I close to kick in my flat screen when I watched "CRASH" again the other night when she performed as mega bitch and we all were hoping that she would never move and bitch again, when she trips and rolls down the stairs....small small world, even better if you know who was the last "boyfriend" of Penelope Cruz! Yes, Tom Cruise that is...!
How long do they really think we are the stupid movie-lovers, who believe anything that is on TV or screen, just like those fake hair rollers that "psychic" James van Praagh who surely has not to out himself, was holding up in ET and wanted us make-believe his psychic hoax! The rollers are from 1974, Marilyn died in 1962, THAT is real OUTING!
Who really gives a crap, if the SEXIEST MAN ALIVE is the next fit for a Brokeback sequel, but I bet that Hollywood will try to keep this lie alive. I mean who would like to see Tom and Matthew in bed?! Not me! Maybe Penelope and Sandra?
20 - Joey
I have always regard Tom Cruise as a B-movie icon. However, the MI series was cooler than most (but I admit the Borne movies were action packed thrillers). I haven't seen the "Last Samuri" and have been intending to rent it for quite a while now. That might prove entertaining.
I don't know, I've always enjoyed Coen brother movies Tarantino stuff, others like "Mighty Wind" or "Young Frankenstien" or "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" I dig Buster Keaton, some Chaplin, War movies (good ones) and a lot of stuff from the 50's, 60's and 70's... but Tom came around about the same time as Cindy Lauper and I regard them both about the same... Rock candy. However, Cindy leveraged the 80's, whereas Tom just really came into his own (in my opinion) somewhere in the late 90's. But I'm sure he's made a lot more money than the other 80's crowd.
Studied actor? I guess he might be, but I wouldn't bet on it.
21 - Clambake
"He's the only reason she is getting any press to promote her psych drug ad...I mean book."
Hello $cientologist, nice of you to drop on in and leave some comments.
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www.Xenu.net
www.Xenu.net
22 - AlgerHiss
Didn't Tom Cruise pass away from ovarian cancer?