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The Fandom Portals Podcast
"Welcome to Fandom Portals—the show that explores how your favourite fandoms can help you learn and grow!" 🎙️✨
Each episode, we explore TV, movies, comics, and games to reveal how these worlds and the characters in them help us learn about resilience, courage, friendship, and more.
The Fandom Portals Podcast is hosted by Aaron Davies and Adam Brasher, two friends who are obsessed with fandoms, storytelling, and building a community where passion and positivity come first. From Marvel to Middle-earth, Star Wars to indie comics, we dive deep into the stories you love — and how they help us learn and grow. ✨
The Fandom Portals Podcast
The Tom Cruise Effect: Cinema's Last True Movie Star with Rhys Crook
Summary
Aaron is joined by Rhys Crook from "The Crook Cut podcast" to discuss the career of Tom Cruise, exploring his evolution as an actor, his impact on cinema, and the highs and lows of his filmography. We delve into personal experiences with Cruise's films, analyze his character development, and reflect on his status as one of Hollywood's last true movie stars. The conversation also touches on Cruise's scandals, his reinvention, and recommendations for must-watch films.
Guest: Rhys Crook
Podcast: The Crook Cut Podcast
Takeaways
- Tom Cruise is often referred to as the last true movie star.
- Rhys Crook's podcast offers a unique perspective on cinema.
- Cruise's career has seen significant highs and lows over 40 years.
- His characters often undergo significant transformations throughout his films.
- Cruise's dedication to performing his own stunts is well-known.
- The impact of Cruise's films on the box office is substantial, especially post-COVID.
- His personal life has influenced public perception of his career.
- Cruise's roles often reflect a journey of self-discovery and growth.
- The importance of authenticity in podcasting is emphasized.
- Recommendations for Tom Cruise films include classics and lesser-known works.
Chapters
00:00 New Chapter 2
01:49 Reese's Journey into Podcasting and Cinema
04:26 Tom Cruise: The Last True Movie Star?
07:27 First Impressions of Tom Cruise's Films
09:57 Tom Cruise's Character Evolution
12:53 The Impact of Tom Cruise's Career
15:51 Tom Cruise's Scandals and Reinvention
18:25 Exploring Tom Cruise's Diverse Roles
21:13 Honorable Mentions and Recommendations
24:03 Top Picks for Tom Cruise Movies
27:07 The Future of Tom Cruise's Career
29:33 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Soundbites:
"Tom Cruise draws a crowd in my opinion. His name alone is a powerful magnet for moviegoers." - Rhys Crook
"Tom Cruise's characters often start arrogant but end with a deep heart. It's that transition that makes his movies compelling." - Aaron Davies
Apple Tags:
Tom Cruise, cinema, Mission Impossible, Top Gun Maverick, Hollywood, movie star, action, stunts, film industry, Jerry Maguire, Magnolia, Rain Man, blockbuster, Scientology, legacy sequels
Contact Us:
Website: https://www.fandomportalspodcast.com/
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Threads: threads.net/@fandomportals
Email: fandomportals@gmail.com
Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/fandomportals
On this week's episode of the Fandom Portals podcast, I sit down with up-and-coming Australian podcaster Reese Crook. She's got a show called the Crook Cut and the link to that will be in the show notes below. But we sit down and talk about everything to do with Tom Cruise, from his career highs to his career lows, to our personal favorite films of his, and we break down why those films are so impactful to us. But then we also give some recommendations for all of you people out there who are very familiar with Tom Cruise and some people who are brand new to the Tom Cruise experience. We go through it all guys, so definitely go and give Reese Crook a follow. She was a great guest to have on a bubbly personality and was an awesome chat, so we hope you enjoy.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the Fandom Portals podcast, the podcast that explores how fandoms help us learn and grow. In this episode we're going to dive into the career of Tom Cruise, the man that many may call the last true movie star. But today I'm not doing it alone. Joining us is Rhys Crook from the Crook Cut podcast. She is a very vibrant personality with a deep love for cinema and we're thrilled to have her insight on our episode today. How are you going today, rhys? It's good to have you on.
Speaker 2:Yes, I'm good. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1:I told you before I'm having a bit of a fangirl moment because I've been listening to your pod, so I'm very humbled to be here I appreciate that too, and I'm a big fan of your podcast too the Crook Cut we were talking before about your shark episode, but also you've released some on M Night Shyamalan and things like that, and it's just a really authentic look at cinema through your personality and your viewpoint, which I think is really awesome, and it's just a really great place to go and check out some really great movie knowledge and just some really great opinions on those movies as well. We'll link all those in the show notes below, but did you want to give the audience a little bit of a rundown on what your podcast is, what you talk about, how you sort of came about it, that kind of thing.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I had a bit of like an injury a couple of years ago and I had to be like sitting a lot. So I got into movies and then I always say that like changed my life. I don't know, I like started watching them and I was like, oh my gosh, there's a whole world of like movies out there. Besides, like you know, my ones I would watch all the time, and then, with the podcasting stuff, I just needed a place to just talk about it. I think my friends and family were going a bit like stir crazy with the amount of cinema chat I would have.
Speaker 2:So I made it, but I wanted it to be a little bit different from like reviews and things, because I think that they're a dime, a dozen and, while I love them myself, I wanted to be a little different. So I try and come up with like a little theme for the episode and then I pick a couple movies that might tie into that theme and then lately, yeah, like with my shark episode, I just I feel like sometimes I have some opinions that might be a little bit different to the masses.
Speaker 2:So I was like testing the waters is the pun to see how it went and I think that one was pretty well received actually absolutely but how a bit random it was. But anyway, so that's kind of it. It's very, it's unscripted, it's very casual. I try and be like as passionate and like authentic as I can with what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's basically it yeah, and I think it's definitely making waves again to make a pun. But, um, I I feel like that's the best way to go about this sort of podcasting thing Because, as you said, film and TV podcasts they are like there are a lot of them and a lot of them are very good and a lot of them, you know they also cover a lot of the same stuff. So the thing that stands you apart is obviously being yourself, being authentic, because that's kind of the only individual thing about your podcast, apart from the theme and things like that. So it's really really a credit to you that you're sort of diving into that space, because it's also really hard to put yourself out there as yourself and have people listen to the things that you're saying when you're being authentically you. Yeah, I commend your bravery for that because it's really a it can be a very rewarding space, but it can also be very risky. Well done.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:That's all good, okay. So in this episode, guys, rhys and I are going to talk about Tom Cruise and why he's still one of Hollywood's most bankable and enduring stars. We're going to talk about the highs and lows of his 40 plus career in Hollywood, and we're also going to look at some of the top Tom Cruise picks and recommendations from Rhys and I and some of the movies that are still on our watch list. So if you're a Tom Cruise fan, this is the place for you, and if you're not a Tom Cruise fan, that's okay. I'm sure we'll probably say some bad things about him today too, so it'll go both ways All right. So, to start off with Rhys, I want to ask you when was the first time you saw Tom Cruise on your screen, what were your thoughts of him and what are your thoughts of him as a movie star? In quotes Okay.
Speaker 2:So I went back through the archives and I actually think my introduction was either Rain man or Minority Report and I would have only been like like 11 or something Like I would have been pretty young, I think. Rain man I actually think he, kind of like Dustin Hoffman, stands out more in that film for the performance, but I was kind of like, oh, this is interesting. And then Minority Report yeah, I was just like like I think there's some bike sequences. It's been a while since I've seen it. Like he's on a motorbike in that one as well. So I remember like wondering about.
Speaker 1:That was probably my first time I'd reallyed into like stunt work and stuff. And then I remember asking my dad and he was like, oh yeah, tom cruise does all that. And I was like, okay, he's a pretty, he's a pretty active now, 63 year old. But it's amazing to think about how many of those stunts that he actually does that he's actually now become known for. But to your point, I also watched minority report. When it came out I was a little bit older than that. But yeah, it kind of blew me away as well, because it was the first real sort of deep sci-fi movie that I saw. And then by the end of it I'd never seen a protagonist go through a movie and then get like really injured through the movie, because you know he obviously sells his eyes and that one all loses his eyesight and that was just like a real sort of blow away moment for me.
Speaker 1:But the first thing I actually saw Tom Cruise in was his Mission Impossible movie, which came out in 1996. I obviously didn't watch it then. I was six years old then to age myself. But I watched it probably when I was around 11 or 12 as well, on a VHS tape from Blockbuster, which is again aging myself. But yeah, I was just also blown away by the mysterious sort of crime thriller of all of that. And that was the first film that he kind of produced. So he's already a very much established star at this point and he'd moved into other roles, into the film industry too, into producing and things like that. So I was just like I loved the ensemble, I loved his performance in it as well, because he did play a very sort of charismatic leading man in Ethan Hunt for that one as well.
Speaker 1:After that sort of came out and after I watched that, I remember watching Mission Impossible 2 and that was a bit of a battle in my house because when I watched that Tom Cruise had just divorced Nicole Kidman and my mum was very much on the Nicole Kidman side of the track. So it was very hard to watch a Tom Cruise movie in my house after that sort of occurred. But I really liked the fact that Mission Impossible 2 was filmed in Australia and you could see a lot of the different Australian sort of landmarks through there, like the Harbour Bridge and things like that, even though I don't think it's like a standout movie in his sort of filmography as it is. Mission Impossible 2 is probably the worst of the Mission Impossibles in my opinion.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I just liked that it was filmed in Australia. So those were the two that I sort of knew about, and then he kind of kept popping up on my sort of radar after that until eventually, obviously, the Mission Impossible franchise just blew him up in that space. So he's definitely considered one of the last movie stars. Have you heard that before, rhys, that he's the last movie star?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I read something the other day saying it was, I think, a headline, and it said Tom Cruise is single-handedly keeping the art of cinema making, or however they phrased it alive, which is interesting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I definitely think that, especially after the COVID pandemic sort of happened, there was a lot of risk happening in the cinema space and there was a lot of people that were really uneasy about what the cinema experience would look like after that. So were people going to come back to the movies after that? There was a lot of unknowns. So Tom Cruise, obviously being a man who he's not really actually, I don't think he's ever been on a movie that goes straight to streaming because he is an advocate for the cinema experience, he loves going to the movies. He says it all the time. There's like a meme that goes around and I put up on the Instagram pretty much whenever I see it and it says you know what are you going to do this weekend? It says I pretty much watch a movie a day, like I love movies, that kind of thing. So he's definitely like a movie lover and it shows in his work. So I think the fact that he's so passionate about the cinema experience, I can get behind him on that.
Speaker 1:And then, yeah, when covid came out in, obviously in 22, when it started to ease, he's been credited as being responsible for bringing people back to the theaters with top gun, maverick, which we might talk about a little bit later as well, but he's also one of the last people that you can sort of say that he's going to be in a movie and that's the draw card for the movie. Because, you know, these days you've got the franchises like Star Wars and Marvel, and if that's attached to it then people will go to watch it. But if he's in an unknown movie and it's just his name, like Tom Cruise, draws a crowd, in my opinion, all right. So after that, let's have a little bit of a chat about some early favorites for you. So when you watched Rain man, did you immediately like it? Because you obviously said that Dustin Hoffman was the sort of standout performance for you.
Speaker 1:What sort of journey did you go on after that with Tom Cruise? What do you remember watching him in? What were your thoughts on him after that, especially in terms of his, like, off-screen life as well?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I think like I didn't really know much about him, to be honest, I being younger, like so young, sorry.
Speaker 1:No, that's okay.
Speaker 2:I only just watched Mission Impossible, like two months ago. I watched Top Gun, the first one, and again there's that weird kissing scene in it. It's like a really obscure, like weird scene that happens and that's like all I can really remember of that movie. But I remember thinking like, like it was such I hate using the term but it's such like a boy's movie, because Tom Clancy, to me, is such a boy actor, if that makes sense. He's making films for like blokey blokes, in my opinion, and with especially like all his action stuff. So I remember watching Top Gun.
Speaker 2:But one thing that I think I always seem to notice in his films is it's all like this, like blokey, bloke action. But then there's always this like real pivotal moment where it's like all of a sudden so sad or like like there's a big lesson to be learned here. And I feel like what's consistent in his characters is like they always have such a big arc. I just watched Edge of Tomorrow, like a month and similar thing like he's such like at the start you're just like really dude, and then at the end you're like rooting for him, you know, and I found, like all his characters, from what I've seen, to sort of be like that even in Rayman, because he obviously doesn't know that he has a brother and he's a bit of a cool guy and then at the end like there's a bit of like acceptance there, that as well. Anyway, I don't know much about him offscreen outside of Mission Impossible and him sort of doing his stunts, but yeah, that's sort of what I think of him in those movies and things like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's a really valid point because obviously he is that generational star. So my history with him is very different from your history with him and I think that those two opinions are really sort of valid and really good. To your point about him being like a bloke sort of movie star, I can definitely agree because he has leaned into the action genre, especially later in his career when he kind of reinvented himself after a whole lot of scandal in the early 2000s, so between 2000 and 2005,. His life was a little bit sort of tumultuous and he kind of had to reinvent himself to become what he is today and he kind of did lean into the stunt, heavy Mission Impossible sort of movies.
Speaker 1:But to agree with you as well, I do feel like all of his characters sort of start the same way and some people really hate that about Tom Cruise movies where they'll see him and he's kind of like arrogant a People really hate that about Tom Cruise movies where they'll see him and he's kind of like arrogant, a little bit chauvinistic and kind of charismatic in like a not so good way. But then obviously he's a character that has that sort of deep heart as well and as he goes on in the movie. There's the lessons that sort of he learns and then by the end of it he becomes a sort of different person and that sort of transition, that sort of coming of age almost, or coming to a realization, is what I like to go to the movies for as well. So I I definitely think that he's action heavy in this space because, looking at his catalog as well, he did dip his toes into some some dramas and some sort of more sentimental roles in the late 90s and he was actually credited as having like a couple of Golden Globe wins and nominations and things like that as well.
Speaker 1:So he's had three wins in a Golden Globe. Those were for Born on the Fourth of July, jerry Maguire and Magnolia. I've only seen two of those. I haven't seen Born on the Fourth of July. Have you seen any of those three?
Speaker 2:I think I saw the first one. You said Born on the 4th of July. Have you seen any of those three? I think I saw the first one.
Speaker 1:you said Born on the 4th of July.
Speaker 2:No, I saw one of them, not Magnolia. What was the other one you said?
Speaker 1:Jerry Maguire.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've seen that. I can't remember a single thing about that.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So some of the famous lines in Jerry Maguire is like you had me at hello. Obviously Rene Zalwega at that point says after he comes to try and win her back you had me at hello, show me the money is another really famous line from from that movie. And yeah, he, he's basically a sports broker and he goes in and he's the hot shot of his career but then through a massive change in the business he loses all of his candidates except for one, that is, a. He's basically a, a very risky candidate and nobody really wants to bank on him as a sports star. He's a football player played by Cuba Gooding Jr, and through that he's also going on a romance with Renee Zellweger and he learns through that not to value his career as much as he does as the connections with people, and sometimes that can foster success in career through your connection with people as well. So he plays a kind of sentimental character by the end of that. That really learns to value love, which I like about that one.
Speaker 1:And Magnolia is probably his most critically acclaimed movie in terms of like it's his top rated film on on letterboxd and he he also. It's kind of an ensemble movie and he plays a small part in it, but he's his emotional resonance through. That is what sort of stands out in that. But funny fun fact about Tom Cruise he's had as many Golden Globe wins as he has had wives, so he's had three. That's about Tom Cruise. He's also been nominated for some Academy Awards. He's been nominated for three but he's never won again for the same three movies Born on the 4th of July Jerry Maguire and Magnolia. But yeah, he's definitely known for his stunts and his career moves, which sort of started to happen as he exited or went into a relationship with kind of paramount and he started his mission impossible franchise. Have you watched all the mission impossibles?
Speaker 2:the first one yeah I've only seen the first one. I was gonna like try and watch them all before the new movie, but I this just really wasn't for me in terms of like it's just not a movie I would pick first. But I like his character in that one as well. I at the start, when Emilio Estevav like that happens, he's sort of like you sort of see the turning point kind of early in the character. In my opinion I really like that character, probably more so than his other characters in terms of like he doesn't start out arrogant in that one yeah, yeah and that's really the tom cruise stick in my opinion, like he always is.
Speaker 2:So you just like I hate this guy he's a bit cringe.
Speaker 1:at the start of almost all of his movies uh even even top gun, like that was that was his he sticked through the whole movie until obviously he goes through that traumatic turning point as we were talking about losing gooseose, which sort of turned him around. But by the end of that movie he kind of didn't go through as much growth as you'd expect from losing your best friend, but also it kind of being quote his fault, so to speak. But yeah, I do agree that Ethan Hunt is definitely his most famous character and you're in for a treat because as you watch and if you end up watching the rest of the Mission Impossible movies, he does get more so toward the vein of valuing his team and being very charismatic. And one line he says through a lot of the franchise is I won't let you down, which is almost like epitomous of the character of Ethan Hunt. And he starts to gather a consistent team around him through the Mission Impossible franchise.
Speaker 1:And then I was pretty disappointed actually with the final one. I think it definitely peaks at Fallout with Henry Cavill. Have you seen that meme going around with Henry Cavill and the mustache in the bathroom, sort of reloading his arms?
Speaker 2:Maybe I don't know, I don't think so.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, that's like a really famous scene from it and he's yeah, it's just one of those action-packed sort of fight scenes that occur and that was like the drawcard for that movie.
Speaker 2:You sort of feel like as they go on, it's more stunt heavy for a reason. Less story Is that sort of.
Speaker 1:I don't really know much about them.
Speaker 2:I know that Mission Impossible 2 is universally hated, yeah.
Speaker 1:Impossible 2 is universally hated, yeah, and Mission Impossible 3 came out at a really bad time in his career, so that kind of bombed. But 3 is my favorite because Philip Seymour Hoffman just does a really amazing performance in that movie, which he kind of always does, and it starts in tragedy. But you're absolutely right, as it goes along, the movie's branding even was very synonymous with the big stunt that Tom Cruise would do in that movie. So he climbs the tallest building in the world, he rides a motorbike off a massive mountain, he hangs off planes and through his press junkets and things. There's always questions about how he approaches those stunts and that's part of the way that he kind of reinvented himself after the big scandal between 2000 and 2005. Do you know much about that scandal? No, I'll happily fill you in on the goss.
Speaker 2:I was only born during that time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this is great, then I'm going to give you a history lesson.
Speaker 2:I was just going to say about the Mission Impossible. I always see that video is always recycled of him breaking his foot on the building. That I always see that video is always recycled of him breaking his foot on the building. That was sort of all I knew about Mission Impossible pre this year. And then I have a mate who was like, oh, Mission Impossible 8, I think, and I was like there's eight of these, yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So eight came out this year. But yeah, he completely shattered his ankle and you know they go on to the bravado sort of quotes. After that he finished the take and he looked at the cameraman and said, did you get that? And then he finished the movie Like, is that that kind of thing? That sort of circulates that meme behind the scenes as well.
Speaker 1:But yeah, he does put his life on the line for cinema, which is why a lot of people call him the last movie star.
Speaker 1:But yeah, with that sort of period of disgrace you might say he'd obviously just gotten a divorce from Nicole Kidman. He'd lost his publicist, who did a lot of the PR for him, which really increased his trajectory in the 80s and 90s into, like, really famous and bankable star. He lost his publicist, which means he was doing a lot of his own fielding in terms of press questions and things like that, and a lot of things started to surface about his connections to Scientology and then his relationship with Katie Holmes as well. If you're familiar with that, have you ever seen him jumping on a couch on Oprah? I don't think so. It's been heavily sort of recreated through pop culture. I think they even did a skit on Family Guy, but that was sort of like the turning point for everybody, where they were like he was celebrating his love for Katie Holmes at the time and he was sort of jumping on the couch and just really making a downright fool of himself, and then everybody was kind of off him after that.
Speaker 2:He couldn't get a really good movie. We haven't been a guy who loves someone.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, exactly right. And you know, looking back on it, you sort of look at it and think you know what was the deal. To publicly express that? Because, for example, I just saw on my Instagram Benson Boone literally stood on Jimmy Fallon's desk and did a backflip.
Speaker 2:I've seen that video.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what a man. Right, that man can flip. But yeah, we digress. I think that, yeah, for the time it was kind of outlandish, especially for his image, and from that he didn't really start to pick up again until he started to be in another Spielberg classic War of the Worlds. If you haven't seen that, that's probably another one of my favorites that you should probably check out as well. It's obviously a remake, but it's it's a spielberg sort of masterpiece, in my my opinion. Come that just before mission impossible 3, he's also been in some comedic sort of movies. Have you watched tropic thunder?
Speaker 2:have. But I was trying to recall his character because I keep seeing the lately on my feed is the clip of Ben Stiller pretending to be his stunt double and I thought it had come out of that movie but I can't recall what character he plays.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that clip actually comes from like a Saturday Night Live thing and that's the reason that Ben Stiller got Tom Cruise to play this character in Tropic Thunder because they had that sort of comedic relationship and pairing together. You know, the bald guy with the glasses, that's like the boss of the whole film industry. His name's Les Grossman. He's like the angry one that's on the end of the phone and he dances at the end of the movie. That's Tom Cruise. He's completely lost in that role. Okay. Yeah, he's like Matthew McConaughey's boss in it and he has so many cool one-liners in it as well. And, yeah, he just sort of kind of took the piss out of himself a bit. So the audiences were just like, okay, this guy's kind of. You know he's up on the rise again, but then it wasn't until 2014 when he started in Edge of Tomorrow, where everybody was like okay, and then Rogue Nation came after that. That he was like really backing everyone's sort of good graces.
Speaker 2:Sort of. I watched this in year 12 in class. My teacher put on the Last Samurai, oh, and I, I don't know I was half checked in, half watching. Was there any sort of I know you're talking about, like the controversy between 2000 and 2005. I know that that movie probably hasn't aged as well due to the fact that he was playing a samurai character. Did that? Was any, to your knowledge, sort of controversy about that one between 2000, 2005 at all? I?
Speaker 1:think that's sort of like a now thing.
Speaker 1:I think that the last samurai. It was critically acclaimed for what it was directed by edward zirich as well, but I think that the controversy sort of came a little bit later for for the last samurai, because the original cut was also really really long and it didn't perform as well as everybody sort of expected. But I actually think it's like it's a decent sort of movie. I'm surprised that you were able to watch that in in high school, because that's like, yeah, this is what my catholic school.
Speaker 2:In my religion class we had an assignment on how we used to kind of do things was like we would have a piece of media and then like we'd have to find the god character sort of thing or like the influence of god. That's just what we had to do with that in that class. So we watched the last samurai. I remember and like I don't want to get cancelled, but I remember like not having an issue with it. Like when I think about it I'm like probably not the right casting choice but in terms of like the movie and that character, I thought it was like I was pretty I was only half watching it, being at school in a room for other people, but like I found it to be quite like interesting and like pretty good I and it's very Tom Cruise coded Like.
Speaker 2:that's probably the type of character you would and movie you would expect him to be in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think you're exactly right there and you know, when a school or a teacher or somebody says to you being a teacher myself when they say to you you have to watch this and do an assessment on it, you're immediately like checked out. I don't like not really involved in this anymore, like don't tell me what I should watch and how I should think about it. So I definitely get that sort of aspect of it as well. With the Last Samurai, I think that it's like it's I mean, you could use it in a history class and things like that. But I think, yeah, the biggest controversy came from a white guy, tom Cruise, such a title spot in a very Asian-heavy sort of historical film. So, yeah, that came out in 2003, right in the middle of that sort of naughty period, we'll say from Tom Cruise.
Speaker 2:You're jumping on the couch.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, jumping on the couch. And also he was pretty outspoken in his views on Scientology as well, which can be regarded sometimes as a cult, which is a pretty big face in Scientology, but it's actually a very it's a recognized religion in the United States but it does have some pretty outlandish sort of theorems and things like that. I won't dive too much into that because, yeah, it's.
Speaker 2:He is nothing, if not opinionated. From everything I've ever seen, he's got an agenda always to share his opinion and his thoughts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can agree with that too. But I think lately I don't know he must have a really good PR person because he seems like such a great advocate for cinema now, like that's what. I'm seeing a lot of him lately, like on the, on the social medias. I always see him at the premieres for other actors as well, like recently for F1 with Brad Pitt. He's there like chumming up with him, and then there was another one that he was standing very like friendly with Michael B Jordan from from sinners when that sort of occurred. Can't wait to see those two work together. I think that'll be really great. But yeah, he's just a real sort of champion for cinema now and as he gets older he's become his own movie character.
Speaker 2:He's having this character growth. He's becoming like the lesson's been learned Don't be a clown in the public eye, exactly right.
Speaker 1:It's like, you know, scale it back, a little bit humble and champion others and cinema's your friend, that kind of thing. So I think that he's on the right path now and he kind of has to be. You know, he's 63 years old. The action movies and the stunts that he's doing. He says that he wants to do this forever. You know how long does he really have?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I saw that he was like I'll pump out a movie every year. I'm like, will you? I don't know, I'm going to join to approve that.
Speaker 1:Well, that's exactly right. How long is it going to take for him to heal from another shattered ankle for one? But yeah, his passion is admirable, but the realism behind that not too sure how that would go. He has mentioned, though, the Last Mission Impossible. People are wanting that sort of franchise thing to continue in our day and age of cinema. He says he won't do it, but if Glenn Powell wants to jump in and take over the reins, he's advocate for that, because I think he struck up a really good friendship with him in Top Gun Maverick. What are your thoughts on Glenn Powell? Have you seen him in a lot?
Speaker 2:I've only seen my introduction was Top Gun and then Anyone but you. I think he definitely. I don't think the rom-com thing is for him. Obviously Tom Cruise had his moment with that in Eyes Wide Shut, from what I like, what I've seen in my opinion, but like I think yeah, glenn Powell definitely will be the oh and there's like the Hitman one or something which is like a Netflix original. Yeah, I think he's probably gonna. He should go down the route of like I don't know more action based things. I don't know that.
Speaker 2:Like scripts such as Anyone but you with Sidney Sweeney was really like showing off his acting chops. In terms of Mission Impossible, I think my sort of thing is like when we let the series die, like it's almost like they want to be the new 007, but 007 has their own thing going on and the reason they can make 20 movies kind of makes sense. Mission Impossible, even the first one, has only like 800,000 people have logged it on Letterboxd. I'm like it's not that well, universally loved and known, but I'm surprised they got eight movies out of it. I can't really imagine more.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I definitely think that that mission impossible franchise was driven by tom cruise being the first one that he sort of produced and his name sort of being attached to it, he kind of made that his, his cash cow kind of thing. So that's why it survived through his his bad sort of period. But to your point about glenn powell, I definitely agree because if you haven't already, I definitely recommend watching twisters because he kind of does play like a tom cruise coded character in that one where he starts off as a bit of a an asshole but then through the movie he he gains his humanity and you know the, the, the love interest that he has with daisy edgar jones, he kind of develops as a really nice sort of human towards the end of that. And I'm not sure if you're into country music or not, but right through it, right through the, the movie of twisters, which is awesome for me who's up here in north queensland if you're into that sort of thing. But yeah, put it on your list I respect it, didn't they make?
Speaker 2:was it luke combs or someone that made this song for it?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah. The song was called yeah, ain't no love in oklahoma. Absolute banger like you can't not stomp your feet to that song. Yeah, Ain't no Love in Oklahoma. Yeah, Absolute banger Like you can't not stomp your feet to that song, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's pretty good. It is really good. But Glenn Powell sort of has the Tom Cruise-esque character in Top Gun, maverick actually, because obviously I mean, yeah, we'll speak about it soon but like Tom Cruise is kind of coming into that movie down from like the last movie not that it's by a sequel by any means, time wise, but obviously like he's not really starting out as like arrogant.
Speaker 1:He's probably more on the background of that, but glenn powell's character in that is very tom cruise because he's really arrogant at the start and then at the end he like has his moment, yeah yeah, I think that's too too good of a point to gloss over, I think, because you're absolutely right. At the start of the Top Gun Maverick movie, glenn Powell is very much the Tom Cruise character because he's even to the point where he, like he throws Tom Cruise out of the bar at the start of the movie, just like Tom Cruise sort of sings to Charlie I think her name is in Top Gun he's supervisor, basically who's doing the training course. So they both sort of mess with the supervisor. And at the very end of the movie, hangman glenn powell's character comes second to rooster and maverick also comes second to ice man. So there's a lot of parallels there and it's almost like the. The filmmakers wanted everybody to see how far maverick had grown with the hangman character because, like, this is what he used to be like and this is what maverick's like now. He's mature and focusing on everybody else now and definitely not Tom Cruise and how he usually presents. So I think that was really great, really great point to make in terms of Glenn Powell and Tom Cruise's similarities.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all right, let's get into now our uh, our honorable mentions and then after that we'll we'll give you guys Reese's and my best Tom Cruise movie in our opinion. So just to put it out there to everybody, these are our opinions. You might have yours, and that's perfectly okay. In fact, comment them if you want to, or email us at fandomportals at gmailcom. That is absolutely fine. We love that. But yeah, these are our picks that we have based on our history with the, the movies, and some of them obviously we haven't seen and some we have. So this is based on that exclusive list of films that we've kind of watched. So if you miss out on your favorite and we don't mention your favorite, we are very sorry, but write in about us in my feature on a future episode of bender portals podcast. So, all right, some honorable mentions for you, rhys. What's on your honorable mentions list that didn't quite make the top spot as your Tom Cruise film?
Speaker 2:We've obviously spoken about it, but I just think Edge of Tomorrow is like I don't know. I didn't really know much about it. I just stumbled across it on Netflix and put it on and I just absolutely loved it. In terms of a like repeat day movie, I think it's probably one of the best. I don't know if that's a bold claim, but I just enjoyed it. I was like hooked to it.
Speaker 2:Credit to Emily Blunt as well.
Speaker 2:I think she always plays a great character, but I don't know there's something about that movie and I also enjoy the fact that his journey as a character in that movie is so not easy.
Speaker 2:I feel like sometimes in these repeat days they kind of come across like they're learning this profound thing every day. But I don't know, it was like a fun one to watch come together in the end and even like, where you think they have it, they don't. There's always just like pushback, pushback, pushback right till the very end and similarly, like he has to learn kind of on his own as well, to not be arrogant and think he's better than everyone else and even though he's clearly learning that every day through another person and another action, it's like you can see, like the character like intrinsically like changing and making better decisions, and I was just hooked on it. I'm not a sci-fi fan at all, like I generally don't really pick it, but that particular one with the you know the my sort of things they're wearing and like the alien things, I loved it. I thought it was great yeah, yeah, I agree.
Speaker 1:I think Edge of Tomorrow was a really great choice for him to do. He comes into us as a as like a cowardly, almost character behind behind this honorable veil of being an officer and therefore doesn't have to be in any form of combat. But towards the end, you're right, he does actually learn to value people to the point where he kind of ends up trying to protect Emily Blunt's character by keeping her at that farmhouse for a little bit longer, because in every iteration that he's ever lived she didn't get past that point and he obviously starts to care about her quite a bit. So he's getting selfless in that way, but also very mission orientated because he knows that the stakes are very high. I actually really love this as a repeat day movie because I don't know what the hype is about Groundhog Day with Bill Murray, but I don't know if you've seen that. It's old for my standards, but you have. Well, even compared to that one, I didn't really like Groundhog Day and repeat day movies. They don't hook me because it's like I've seen this. It has to be something really engaging or new to get me through it and that's why I didn't watch Edge of Tomorrow for so long. But you're right, it did it in a really nuanced way that made every repeat quite different and, yeah, I really like the journey that he went on, and Emily Button was just amazing in that one as well. So, very good honorable mention For me.
Speaker 1:My honorable mention will go to we spoke about it before, but Jerry Maguire. I think that that is one of the characters that he sort of plays that goes through the most growth in a movie. He's very indoctrinated into the business sort of aspect of his life and as a result of that he disconnects from anybody personally and through a very sort of abrasive character, we'll say through his last client in Cuba, gooding Jr, who is also a family man and values people and he does everything that he does and tries to make these hard deals because he's the one that has to support his community as an athlete. So he's making jerry's life hard or tom cruise's life hard to make all these deals. But it's because he's got a lot of these people that sort of rely on him and jerry mcguire learns that he can obviously emulate that by by starting to care for the community that's around him as well. That has also embraced him. So it's one of those movies that he does start as an asshole and then becomes a better person, which is very synonymous with the Tom Cruise brand, but I really did enjoy that one.
Speaker 1:So was there any others on your honorable mention list, rhys?
Speaker 2:I did like Eyes Wide Shut, but like for a. Stanley Kubrick standpoint, not really like a Tom Cruise or Nicole Kidman. It's very weird. I don't know. It is very out there. It's very Stanley Kubrick. I think his character is so like isolate. Did you say you haven't seen it?
Speaker 1:No, no, I haven't seen it. I've read a little bit about it, but I've never watched it.
Speaker 2:It's real bizarre. His character is like very isolated in that film and ostracized throughout it, but it's also stemming from his own actions and his lack of communication with his wife. And then he goes down this like really dark path trying to like do the right thing rather than just have a conversation with his wife. Well, that's kind of how I took it. Yeah, it's very weird, but I think I see the merit in it. I think at the time, sometimes these movies you have to put yourself in the time period. I noticed that in like a lot of horror films as well, like sort of thing. Sometimes you have to go back to when they were being released, what was happening at the time, because I think something like Eyes Wide Shut doesn't necessarily stand the test of time. But it's still like a good film, if that makes sense. But yeah, his character definitely goes through some weird, weird stuff in that one. I don't know it's. It's pretty good though, like I would probably watch it again.
Speaker 1:Sometimes I think I'm not intelligent enough to understand no, I think, from from what I've read about it at least, it was hubrick's last film before he passed away and he was kind of drawing on the energy from the relationship between tom cruise and nicole kidman in that like, coincidentally or not, two years after that they kind of got a divorce. So apparently it was a I don't want to say toxic, but it was tumultuous in terms of the relationships between the characters in that movie and neither one of them kind of presented in an appropriate way. And I also think you know, in a day and age now where communication is highlighted as one of the most important things in a relationship, it's kind of like you're yelling at your screen going why you just talk to her, why don't you just talk to him? That?
Speaker 2:was me, one conversation would have saved this, and now you're in some underground alley with a mask on watching weird things go down yeah, I think probably the yeah. Now that you've said that, I would say probably the problem with the film is the lack of chemistry between the two leads, but now knowing that you know there was clearly stuff going on behind closed doors probably makes more sense.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and I I can absolutely agree with that, because it's kind of like that moment that you you have in your real life, where you get yourself into a situation that's completely unfathomable, but then you look around you're like, how did I, how did I get here? Like what's, what's going on, and then one thing would have would have saved us.
Speaker 2:I think that that even for that element and apparently it's like an artistic piece as well, like is it, is it kind of like an artistic kind of movie as well being yeah, I think it's like I would call it like a clockwork's orange, like sister, like I think it wanted to kind of be that intense and you know, out there it's just not quite. And I think, like Tom Cruise, it's sort of like, you know, like Leonardo DiCaprio, you wouldn't expect him to be in certain roles, brad Pitt, you kind of picture them to be the characters they've always been and I think it was a little bit watching it in 2025, knowing what Tom Cruise's you know filmography looks like, it probably doesn't really seem fitting for him to have done that. But I guess he was probably I don't know branching out, trying to get in different things, but now he's kind of pigeonholed himself as the action guy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which you know a lot of people as the action guy sort of trope. They they go in the reverse order that tom cruise kind of went. They start out as the action guy and then as they age they get into more dramatic pieces and something that will, you know, fulfill their career as they're getting to be more older and fragile. But he's done the opposite. He's kind of started out as these artistic kind of pieces and then he's moved into the action and I don't know what the survivability of that is, but I think you know he's, he's remade his name enough to rest on his laurels if he's going to be a meme one day of him with like an oxygen, like hook up.
Speaker 2:He's like wheeling his own oxygen tank into the room.
Speaker 1:He's like let's yeah, you should make that meme. That'll go viral, for sure. I love that, but one of one of my honorable mentions, I will say and it's not a very well liked Tom Cruise film, but Night and Day. Have you seen that one with Cameron Diaz?
Speaker 2:I've never even heard of it okay.
Speaker 1:So I really enjoyed this one. It was kind of it was fun and it's like a romantic comedy sort of blend. It's high octane action obviously, but Cameron Diaz gives her all in this sort of department and their chemistry is really good. She, I would say I'd like a little bit more from Cameron Diaz's character, but I feel like Tom Cruise just plays a really sort of playful spirit in this movie.
Speaker 1:He is like a secret agent sort of character as well and I think that the narrative is basically that he's this spy and there's a bit of a plot, tease and tension where somebody's developed this awesome fuel source and he's trying to project the innocent person that's done it, but the agency he works for is trying to exploit them. But then there's a turnaround moment where everybody is sort of blaming Tom Cruise's character to say that he's the one that's actually trying to profit off that source himself. So there's that moment where you as an audience is like wait a minute, is he a good guy, or is he not a good guy Because he acts really clumsy and forgetful at times and you're thinking, is that put on? Because when he's in a combat situation he's very proficient. So he does seem like a very capable secret agent, but he's also like a bumbling sort of buffoon in some of these aspects as well.
Speaker 1:So is he a good guy or is he not a good guy? And that was the kind of zany difference of tom cruise that I I really liked in in night and day. So, yeah, there was that one as well. As I said before, war of the world as well, which I won't go into very much more because I think that one sort of speaks to itself. But was there any more honorable mentions from you, reese, before we go on to our favorite, tom Cruise?
Speaker 2:I'd say last one and his most probably out there like performance is have you seen Rock of Ages?
Speaker 2:I love Rock of Ages it's not actually a good movie like it isn't it's if you just watch it for what it is. I love that movie as well. I think it's like one of the most ridiculous things ever, but I love his character because it just feels so like tom cruise is the only guy who could have played the character I think so too, and he's just, he's so zany in that one, and he's just the ultimate rock star playing stacy jacks in with his shirt off and his big belt.
Speaker 2:I don't know that belt is outrageous I think it's just refreshing to see that like he doesn't need to take on like too many intense roles or like action but I couldn't really imagine anyone else being that, you know, in that role. It's just, it's ridiculous, but like I love that yeah, I.
Speaker 1:I also liked julianne ho Ho and Diego Bonetta in that movie. I feel like they led it quite well. In terms of musicals made to movies, not sure how that kind of stands up, but I really do like Stacey Jack's Tom Cruise in that one, especially the moment where he's just so shit-faced he ends up just falling in the pool, just crazy. That kind of rock star attitude which sort of fit Tom Cruise at the time when it was made you know 2012, I think it was, or 2013 or something like that. Yeah, good honorable mention, good pick. All right, let's get into our favorite Tom Cruise movies. Did you want to start or did you want me to start? Reese? How do you want to do this?
Speaker 2:Well, you can start, because we haven't mentioned mine yet, we've teased yours.
Speaker 1:We haven't mentioned mine yet. Everybody's probably sitting there going like what about the movie that we're probably going to talk about for you? It's like you haven't mentioned that one yet. But yeah, my one is is a very boy pick and I said that when I said it to you.
Speaker 1:Top gun maverick is probably my favorite in terms of tom cruise movies, just for its its history, in terms of it's a 32 year. What are they called legacy sequels? I honestly think that as far as legacy sequels go a lot of the times like when you're watching star wars as a legacy sequel, for example, the, the older characters sort of take a back seat, like luke skywalker's an old dude and he has, like I don't know, six minutes of screen time and han solo dies within the first 45 minutes. Spoiler alert to anyone that's not seen it. But in this one, obviously maverick sort of takes up that central sort of space.
Speaker 1:But he has more of an emphasis in this movie on teaching others, which I think is a big pivot from Tom Cruise's previous roles. But I also think that it presents the theme of you know, the past can inform you, but it doesn't have to define you as an aspect which I think is really nuanced for a Tom Cruise character where he does sort of have to let go of the past without losing the past's lessons. Obviously, we're referring to him losing his co-pilot Goose and then having a fractured relationship with his son, rooster, played by Miles Teller Perfectly cast, by the way. Looks a lot like the original actor.
Speaker 2:Teller say less.
Speaker 1:I know, I know he actually single-handedly made that song in that scene. Just burst up the charts, yeah, where they're playing football. Obviously, for those of you that are failing to fill in the gaps, really great. And you know, I honestly catch my partner looking at it as well. She's just like, oh, scrolls past it really quickly when I see her. But yeah, the same sort of thing. And we went to watch that in the movie cinema and she was not a tom cruise person, she was not a top gun person, she was not a planes person. But when she watched that she was like I like that, that movie.
Speaker 1:So yeah, and I think that with this one as well, maverick does kind of avoid growth at the very end of Top Gun, where he does go straight into the mission, pretty much straight after Goose's passing. But at the start of this movie, maverick, you can see that he's stuck in that moment, not only psychologically, but in his career he really hasn't advanced as much as he should, and that's highlighted a lot in Top Gun Maverick as well. He's still flying planes and he hides behind the fact that he wants to stay in that role because they don't want, he doesn't, he wants to keep on flying. But I think a lot of it has to also do with the fact that he he doesn't sort of want to move on or move past that moment because he hasn't psychologically moved past that moment. And I love the scene where he's watching Rooster in the bar and he's playing the song that they used to play, you know Great Balls of Fire, and he's on the piano like his father used to and there's just so much pain in Tom Cruise's eyes as he's looking through that window to him and is noticed by Jennifer Connelly's character as well as he walks away. And then I think he really just does take a more of a mentorship role and I think that was it's probably my favorite Tom Cruise movie because I feel like he is acting his age, so to speak. That's what he should be doing and I think he is trying to do for the younger movie stars and what he did do in this movie for the younger pilots he still had it obviously go through and beat them all in the plane but I think what he really needs to do and takes value in now is teaching the next generation.
Speaker 1:But I really just love the Miles Teller Tom Cruise connection in that, especially when he said the line. You know, like my dad believed in you. I'm not going to make that same mistake to the end of the movie, when they're embracing and mirroring the scene between Iceman and Maverick, but they sort of go through that sacrifice and that mission together as a way to progressively move forward but also heal their fractured relationship. So that's my top pick and it's because it's so different from the usual Tom Cruise movie and, as Steven Spielberg said, he saved Hollywood's ass in quotes with that movie because it made $1.5 billion right out of the COVID pandemic. Really, yeah, yeah, the two years before that, in 2020 and 2021, I think the highest grossing movie in 2020 was like $490,000.
Speaker 1:So it was in this financial decline until Tom Cruise came out with Top Gun, maverick and made $1.5 billion. So he was credited with obviously helping Hollywood refinance, bring people back to the movies. Remember that it was fun again and, yeah, the press junket for that and the new stars that it brought through, including glenn powell, was just yeah, it sort of sent hollywood on another trajectory. So that's why it's my favorite. I think it has a lasting impact historically, but also very different for a tom cruise movie. All right, do I go through yours?
Speaker 2:yeah let's go I'll just say like I refuse to watch that movie in the cinema because I was like this is going to rely off nostalgia to be good. And then I only watched it like six months ago and I was like, oh rats, I should have gone yeah, I think that, um, a lot of nostalgia sequels or legacy sequels very much do that.
Speaker 1:So I don't think that's a like a too far out opinion to have because, yeah, they they do rely on the, the fan service of it all. But I think that they do this one really kind of well because they Tom Cruise's character is stuck, but he is also very different in his role and it connects to the original just enough. So, even down to Jennifer Connelly's character being the Admiral's daughter or the Major's daughter, that's like a one-line thing in Tom Cruise's Top Gun 1, and they sort of brought it back to say that she was the character that he sort of had a fling with, that owns the bar near the Top Gun base. Yeah, yeah, I just thought the way that they did it was really good. It made a lot of money in the box office and it did so by sort of word of mouth and critical acclaim and to the point where it was enough to get people out of their homes and into a cinema again. Maybe in another life We'll see.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, so my favourite is A Few Good Men. I think a little bit of bias is. I love Rob Brunner. I think he's an incredible director, so I think that's partly to do with it. Just like I wrote some stuff down, if you see me looking down no, you're perfectly fine, all good I just wanted to sound really articulate about this one.
Speaker 2:I just think, like the like, the exploration of like the ethical and like moral dilemmas between all the characters and then, like the main thing that happens is like something I've never seen before. Like I think it's very particularly like in the context of like military and stuff I don't know much about, like the rankings and like how all that works, but like to see the conflict between Demi Moore's character she's trying to fight for her place, being like a woman and as well and then, like Tom Cruise is like ah, like he brushes her aside and then he's obviously trying to fight, like jack nicholson's character, but they all try to remain like, respectful to each other, with the overarching theme obviously being the like, the unofficial disciplinary action of a code red and stuff like that. So the whole movie to me is just like. It's like have you seen uncut gems?
Speaker 2:so yeah, I mean I was gonna say like, just like real, or whiplash, just like the stressfulness of those I've seen whiplash, yeah yeah, I don't think it quite gets there in terms like famously I watched the end of uncut gems and whiplash standing because I was like really stressed out.
Speaker 2:That's so good placing back and forth. It was really embarrassing. But I think, like a few good men is one of those films where you're just like stressed out because it seems so obvious what the right path is and all these characters just can't get on board with each other. I think Tom Cruise's character he's not as much of like he's arrogant, but I think it's sort of is a bit of a what's the word, like he's hiding behind that because he knows that he's pulling rank against like higher up officer again I don't know what they're all called or like anything. So if I sound like I'm floundering with that, I am, because I'm not quite sure all their names and stuff. But yeah, and then I also the one scene that sticks out to me have you seen it? Yeah, yeah, I love the ending.
Speaker 2:Obviously Dawson and Downey are the ones getting in trouble, and I love the moment where Tom Cruise, in a way his character, sort of takes on like like he's trying to look out for them but also tell them like you've done the wrong thing, like this isn't technically 100% your fault, but you still need to take accountability.
Speaker 2:And I think it's the perfect ending where Dawson, like Downey, says why are we being dishonorably discharged, like we were found it wasn't really our fault, like blah, blah, blah. And then, like Dawson, like has that bit where he's like we failed our job to defend someone weaker than us, like that's what we're here for and that's like what we messed up. And then, like tom cruise and him have this moment of like mutual understanding that like he doesn't think they're bad people, they've made a mistake and even though, like the journey at the marines or military or whatever is over, like you know, there's like a mutual respect through all of them. I don't think it's the perfect ending. I think Jack Nicholson carries the movie. In my opinion, he's only on screen for 16.
Speaker 1:I was about to say he doesn't have much screen time, but boy does he make the most of it. Because, as you were saying, in the end courtroom scene, if we're just looking at that, it's not much to look at in terms of a movie, but you've got like two people at the top of their sort of career trajectories with really good dialogue and a good director in Rob Reiner, and the tension is completely built from what both of them are saying so and how they're interacting with each other. So I think that Jack Nicholson's performance yeah, absolutely right Carries the film.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I just love the. It's like I said, the ethical and moral dilemma. But like Jack Nicholson's unwavering attitude of like this is how we've always done it. This is like what we used to do back in the day they'll learn the hard way. And Tom Cruise being like well, it's not really. Yeah, it's kind of like against the law, just do it like assault people and then they don't have an understanding across that together, I think like his character is like I see what you're saying, but you've also now like someone's died out of this. And yeah, just jack nicholson's like I don't know, I saw him in the batman when he's joker and he's like wanting, like it's scary yeah, it's chalk and cheese really, but you can.
Speaker 1:You can look at the two characters in the way that sort of he he's from an older sort of generation of military personnel who'd seen active combat, who had gone through through various different like warfare situations. He's obviously the leader of Guantanamo Bay now and is responsible for the protection or in his eyes, the protection of an entire nation in terms of his role at Guantanamo Bay. To the point where, you know, daniel Cathy, tom Cruise's character is sort of the newer generation coming through that kind of doesn't really understand the horrors of war that had come before, that that really influenced Jack Nicholson's character, can appreciate it, but then also knows that there is this sort of new, new way or new business in terms of respecting someone's humanity. You're not just a tool for the government, you're not just a tool for the military people have rights, that kind of thing as well whereas Jack Nicholson's character obviously, you know, probably served in sort of conscription era where you, you were told to do it, so you did it, which is what he sort of tries to progress through this movie as well.
Speaker 1:But I think that the best thing for me in terms of this movie with with tom cruise is his, his transition from like not giving a shit to giving a shit, and I feel like that demi moore's character is really pivotal in that she's the one that actually advocates for him to try and be the man that he should be. But also, you know, fight the good fight. And I love the decision to not make that a romantic connection at the end of it, you know, between Demi Moore and Tom Cruise's character, because I think it allows Demi Moore's character to stand up on her own as a character that's serving sort of a moral fortitude in a world as well that is completely systematically against her yeah but I love her character specifically as well, because she's not only the catalyst for Tom Cruise but she's also the catalyst to find the messiness within the clean-cut military operation that is sort of occurring.
Speaker 1:And the scene that really sort of picks that out to me is at the start, when you see the Marines sort of moving through their marching situation where they're twirling guns, and you look at it and it's absolutely perfect, it's immaculate, everything is symmetrical, their shoes are perfectly shined, their guns are twirling in perfect timing, and that's like a metaphor for the military as it's perceived. And then, almost out of nowhere, demi Moore's character just peels off from the end of it and then begins to walk towards the building. So it's almost like that's setting up the fact that this character is going to then go and expose the true view of what the military is like. It's just really clever, I agree. I haven't actually seen much of what Rob Reiner does other than this.
Speaker 2:Did you get Stand by Me?
Speaker 1:I haven't seen Stand by Me.
Speaker 2:That is so. That's criminal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm going to put it on my list, I know.
Speaker 2:Watch that movie Stand by.
Speaker 1:Me. If I do an episode on it for the pod, I'm going to put it on my list. I know, Watch that movie. Damn by me. If I do an episode on it for the pod, I'll be like this is for you, Rhys.
Speaker 2:Yes, thank you, and he also did. You probably won't watch this one, but there's a movie called Flipped. It's about two kids in year six who the perspectives of what's going on are told by each of them. It'll cut from her perspective and then his perspective. The same thing that happened, and I just like it. He's done some other things that now I can't remember off the top of my head.
Speaker 1:He did the Princess Bride.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I haven't seen that either. I watched it once when I was really young and I don't remember it and I didn't get it.
Speaker 2:I watched it probably three weeks ago and I was probably of the yeah, I didn't really get it either. It's a storybook. That's all it is.
Speaker 1:I'm glad that there's another one other than me, because it's one of my mate's favorite movies and, yeah, I don't know how to tell him. I'm just like, yeah, like I've seen it, but it's not in my memory bank, so obviously it didn't have an impact.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's fantasy like it's too fantasy, but stand by me is really good. Stand by me is, like, really sad, yeah. Yeah, I've heard that it's it's probably the best coming of age story sort of created, but in terms of a few good men, I I'm actually like that. You picked this one because it's obviously made in 1992 and I really liked it. Being born in the 90s and you're born in the 2000s, correct, yeah, so even that like generationally, it's appealing to a lot of different sort of people, so I think that's that's a really great pick. I put it on my for the for the podcast Instagram story rated at five stars. I was like thank you for this one.
Speaker 2:Oh good, re-watch well, I think I like it as well because I feel like a lot of movies when they have a woman character, like demi moore's character that you really like. One thing is apparent is that she's fighting against her ranks because she's a woman, but she's also like coming from, like trying to get justice for the santiago who dies. She's like how can I articulate it? I've lost my words but essentially these movies tend to make this about, like the fact that she's a woman and that's not really what is apparent. It is a theme in it, but like her main theme is like seeking justice for the voiceless and like those who can't be heard.
Speaker 2:And Tom Cruise just comes in and goes this is too hard, like we're never gonna win and you're right. She's like do better, like get it done. And I love again as well that there's no romance force, because in all these movies they're trying to force this or again, or this happened because she's a woman, but that's not really a main theme. That's like forced into the viewing. So I think that's why I like it. It seems pretty real world. This seems exactly how something like this would happen, especially someone of a lower rank going against someone of a higher rank I envision it going down like this, not quite having the same dramatic ending, but similar sort of.
Speaker 1:You know themes and yeah, I I definitely agree as well, especially for the 90s. I know a lot of female characters in the 90s have been been horrendously misrepresented as one thing or another, but I feel like this, being 1992, is a really good portrayal of Demi Moore in a female sort of character, and not only just making it about her woman-ness, as you said, but just being a character in a system just like everybody else. So I agree, I think that's good.
Speaker 2:I think it stands the test of time as well. You probably you watched it recently, I think it stands up pretty well in today's.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, absolutely so. There are definitely some movies from the nineties that do not hold up in terms of production, but also just ideals and things like that. This is one that really does so if you haven't seen it, listeners of the Phantom Portals podcast, definitely go out. It's the second highest rated Tom Cruise movie on Letterboxd. I'm not sure where it sits for Jack Nicholson, but it's probably very high as well. Definitely go and check that one out. Great pick from Rhys. All right, do you want to go into our Tom Cruise watch list, one to watch and what we recommend as well, that maybe one or the other of us haven't seen, and what we recommend as well, that maybe one or the other of us haven't seen Probably all of the Mission Impossibles would be a good start.
Speaker 1:I really want to watch Risky Business Same. I haven't seen it either. I think, yeah, risky Business is what launched him into stardom. 1983 was a massive year for Tom Cruise because he did Risky Business, he did the Outsiders with Francis Ford Coppola, who was the director of the Godfather, and he also did All the Right Moves, which are three movies that sent him into critical acclaim, and all three of them I have not seen. I think they're on my wish list. His early stuff have you seen Legend?
Speaker 2:I've never even heard of that. I'm literally looking through his filmography now and I've basically seen nothing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so with Legend, I haven't seen that either. I don't know if it's something that I'll sort of pick up. That's a Ridley Scott film. But you know, you said you probably should start with the Mission Impossible films. I reckon there's probably, as we say, a little bit sort of better ways to go, because Mission Impossible is obviously heavy into the action and heavy into the stunts after that. So I reckon, save yourself some time. And maybe I don't know I'm really curious about Interview with a Vampire.
Speaker 1:I haven't seen that one. He plays Lestat and apparently the author of Interview with a Vampire, the book. When she heard Tom Cruise was being cast as lestat and brad pitt was the other character, she said those two should swap because you know, they're more like the other, like tom cruise is more like lewis and brad pitt is more like lestat. But apparently as soon as she saw tom cruise on film and the way that he sort of acted in this sort of manic and vulnerable kind of way, she was very forthcoming and appreciative that he sort of took that role. So that was Anne Rice, the author, and that's one that I kind of want to watch and pick up as well. So one I haven't seen and I want to do Any others from you.
Speaker 2:No, I think Risky Business has been on my list for so long. Obviously, everyone's seen the scene of him in his socks and shirt. That's all I know about it. But my brother was watching it one time and I walked in and I was like what is this? I was like, as a concept it sounds stupid, but I still want to watch it.
Speaker 1:I think that scene especially is iconic. So many people in the past in parties that I've gone to have dressed as that sort of character, just in a business shirt and sunglasses and whatever else and big socks. It was like as easy costume to go to a costume party in. But also, you know, probably the one that sort of put him on the map, Because I read that Jerry Bruckheimer actually watched him in Risky Business and that's the reason that he sort of petitioned for him to be cast in Top Gun, which three years later came out and launched his career into the sky. So yeah.
Speaker 1:I reckon we should do risky business and see what that's all about.
Speaker 2:Yes, I think I should bump that up the list of things I should watch.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all right, let's do a sign-off thing, okay.
Speaker 2:I really haven't seen anything Like blurred out is everything I've seen and like not blurred out, I've seen basically nothing.
Speaker 1:I'm not much. I'm not much. I'm pretty much almost the same as you. I've probably. On my letterbox it says that I've seen 12% of his movies. So he's been in 48 movies and I've seen 12%.
Speaker 2:Well, it says I've seen 15. Oh there you go.
Speaker 1:That's probably one more than me. Yeah, there you go. To be fair, I haven't. I haven't logged any of the Mission Impossibles that I've seen, just the last one and Ghost Protocol.
Speaker 2:Well, that would really just bump it up.
Speaker 1:That would bump me right up to 50. Yeah, all right, let's do our sign-off, say Rhys, where can the lovely people at the Phantom Portals find you on the interwebs?
Speaker 2:Mainly threads under my name, but then the podcast would be just on spotify or apple at the crook cut.
Speaker 1:But yeah, that's basically yeah, and we'll link to those in the show notes for everybody. If you want to go and check reese out definitely a awesome person and has lots of great insights on movies and she is authentically herself, so go and check that out. It's a great place to go and, on threads as well, really great space for developing like community. A lot of authentic people have got a fan on threads as well. I don't know if you've got a similar experience there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, probably the safest place on the internet I've found.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I reckon it's kind of like what you put out is what you get on threads, which I think is universal but just seems to seep in on other sort of social media platforms, but it hasn't for me on Threads yet, which is good. So, yeah, we'll link to you Rhys in the show notes below. And, guys, if you have any recommendations that we should watch in terms of Tom Cruise movies, make sure you email us at fandomportals at gmailcom, or you can contact us on Threads or contact Rhys on Threads and we'll see what we can. But yeah, all right, Thank you so much for joining me today, rhys. I really do appreciate your time and I appreciate the conversation. It's been really great to talk to you. Happy to have you on anytime you like. If you watch a movie in the future and you want to talk about it and jump on the podcast, happy to have you.
Speaker 2:We'll come back for Risky Business. I'm really looking forward to watching it. This is the sign.
Speaker 1:I reckon, I reckon it is All right. So look out for that one Fandom Poddles people Do risky business and see how that goes. Okay, all right, see you later guys.
