A Tom Cruise Period.

I love Tom Cruise. I've always loved Tom Cruise. But ever since "The Incident" on Oprah's talk show for his press tour for Mission: Impossible III, the whole world started to look at Cruise differently. For most, he simply became crazy Ol' Tom. For me, he stopped being Tom Cruise: Movie Star and became Tom Cruise: Action Star. Once Cruise figured out that audiences loved him again as an action lead in Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol, Tom didn't look back, and almost his entire output of films have been action. Granted, most of those movies have ranged from really fucking good (Jack Reacher, Edge of Tomorrow) to action masterpieces (Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation and MI-Fallout).

But I miss Tom Cruise: Movie Star. 

I realized this while watching Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds the other night with my fiance. Right before starting it, I was excited to revisit one of Spielbergs unsung classics, a movie that seemingly fell to the way side in terms of Spielberg's filmography. The movie was one of the biggest hits of 2005, but for some reason never really found enough ground to stand as one of Spielberg's best, something common for his early aughts output (which in my humble opinion, was one of his best periods. War of the Worlds, Minority Report, A.I. GTFO if you don't think those movies rip). 

Anywho. 

As soon as the movie started I instantly fell victim to Cruise's charisma. In the movie he plays a hot shot dock worker (!) and deadbeat Daddy to Dakota Fanning and that other guy. Cruise immediately IS this character. He doesn't get either of his kids, but we believe he loves them. When shit goes down, he protects his kids. He has the correct instinct to get the kids to their mother, because she'll know what to do. This is a very quick summation of the very, very good work Cruise does in the movie, but simply put, I believed him. I believed that he was scared for his life and for his kids lives. I believed he would do anything to keep them alive. He did great work in that movie, and I personally find it crazy and offensive that it's not more talked about not only for Cruise's sake but for Spielberg's. The movie is incredible. 

SO. 

I've decided to look into Tom's catalogue and talk about what made me love Tom Cruise in the first place. I'm starting with Jerry Maguire because I fucking want to, and will follow Tom until about 2002 territory with Minority Report, at least at first. I've seen these Cruise movies countless times, but less so in the last 10 years, and I want to remember more the Cruise I grew up with. And then, I'll dig deeper. Top Gun. Cocktail. Days of Thunder. Far and Away. Interview with the Vampire, Eyes Wide Shut, Magnolia, etc. I want to talk about Tom before he was crazy, when he was the world's biggest movie star making the best movies. But for real, I'll probably talk about most the Mission: Impossibles, Collateral, The Last Samurai, and Jack Reacher too. I love Tom Cruise. I want to talk about Tom Cruise because I like movies, and he makes good movies. 

So in the next few days I'll be back here with some thoughts on Jerry Maguire (which i revisited today), so until then, good day. 

I love you, 

but most of all, 

I like movies.