Tag Archives: Tom Cruise

Brad reviews JACK REACHER (2012), starring Tom Cruise!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

In honor of Tom Cruise’s 63rd birthday, I decided to revisit the 2012 film JACK REACHER. Cruise stars as the title character in the film version of the Lee Child novel “One Shot.” The story follows Reacher, a former military investigator, who gets pulled into the case of James Barr (Joseph Sikora), a sniper who supposedly killed five people in a random shooting in Pittsburgh. Although all the evidence is neatly stacked up against Barr, the sniper just has one request for his defense, “Get Jack Reacher.” Emerging from a self-imposed hiding, Reacher teams up with Barr’s defense attorney Helen Rodin (Rosamund Pike), to try to figure out what in the hell is going on. Once he has access to the evidence, and based on what he already knows about James Barr, Reacher immediately starts tearing holes in the case being presented by Police Detective Calvin Emerson (David Oyelowo) and District Attorney Alex Rodin (Richard Jenkins). Reacher’s own investigation uncovers a conspiracy involving a mysterious criminal organization led by the evil, and partially deformed Zec (Werner Herzog), whose plans are violently enforced by his badass henchman Charlie (Jai Courtney). It seems they have orchestrated the shooting to appear random, but they were really just after one person, Oline Archer (Susan Angelo), whose construction company is vital to their criminal enterprise. With the help of defense attorney Rodin, as well as the owner of an Ohio shooting range, former Marines Corps Gunnery Sergeant Martin Cash (Robert Duvall), Reacher is determined to bring the real killers to justice!

I remember there being some controversy surrounding the announcement that Tom Cruise would be starring as Jack Reacher. Dedicated readers of Lee Child’s books didn’t seem to appreciate that Cruise’s physical stature is not even close to the way the character is described. If I was an avid fan of the books, I would definitely understand the concern, but I’ve never read a single book in the series. This is one of those instances where my lack of reading experience allows me to completely enjoy the film, because Tom Cruise is flat out excellent. He’s smart, funny, a badass lone wolf of justice, and completely believable. I’d go so far as to say that the primary reason I love this film is Tom Cruise’s incredible star turn as Jack Reacher. With the choice of Tom Cruise or another actor who more closely resembles the Reacher from the book, I’m going with Cruise 10 out of 10 times. With that said, I’m also happy for the purists out there that the new REACHER series on Amazon, which began in 2022 and is still going strong, addresses this “size controversy” in it’s casting. I’ve heard good things about the series, and I’ll eventually get around to watching it as well.

Aside from Tom Cruise’s magnetic central performance, I find JACK REACHER to be a truly entertaining movie, and I don’t think we get enough of those these days. It has exciting and fun action scenes, a sly sense of humor, chillingly evil bad guys who get their comeuppance at the end, and an incredible supporting cast. Thinking back on it now, Rosamund Pike as the defense attorney, Werner Herzog as the evil villain, and Robert Duvall as the “cranky old Robert Duvall” character are the supporting performances that stand out the most to me, but all the casting choices are good. With his shepherding of the “Mission: Impossible” series, director Christopher McQuarrie has proven himself to be an expert at delivering fun movies, and he delivered big time here for film audiences a few years before taking on his first impossible mission.

In summary, I don’t really have a single negative thing to say about JACK REACHER. Most of the negative things I’ve read online have been due to the disappointment that some viewers have felt based on the differences between the books and the movie. I just know that I still watch it every couple of years and enjoy it immensely each time. JACK REACHER is one of my favorite films of its decade!

Poem Of The Day: Tom Cruise Is The Last Barman Poet in Cocktail

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Oh my God, the TSL staff says, are we going to have to start doing a poem a day on top of everything else!?

Only if you want to!  I’m just sharing this poem because it’s Tom Cruise’s birthday and I happen to love Cocktail.  Here he is, reciting The Last Barman Poet.  What I like about this scene is how no one at the bar is upset that drink service has been suspended for like three minutes so that the bartender can recite a poem.  Seriously, this is classic 80s cinema and I can’t help but love it!

I am the last barman poet / I see America drinking the fabulous cocktails I make / Americans getting stinky on something I stir or shake / The sex on the beach / The schnapps made from peach / The velvet hammer / The Alabama slammer. / I make things with juice and froth / The pink squirrel / The three-toed sloth. / I make drinks so sweet and snazzy / The iced tea / The kamakazi / The orgasm / The death spasm / The Singapore sling / The dingaling. / America you’ve just been devoted to every flavor I got / But if you want to got loaded / Why don’t you just order a shot? / Bar is open.

 

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Tom Cruise Edition

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking.

It’s Tom Cruise’s birthday and that means that it’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 Tom Cruise Films

Risky Business (1983, dir by Paul Brickman, DP: Bruce Surtees)

Cocktail (1988, dir by Roger Donaldson, DP: Dean Semler)

Mission Impossible (1996, dir by Brian De Palma, DP: Stephen H. Burum)

Eyes Wide Shut (1999. dir by Stanley Kubrick, DP: Larry Smith)

Scene I Love: Tom Cruise In Tropic Thunder

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy 63rd birthday to one of the last remaining movie stars, Tom Cruise!

While it’s tempting to celebrate this day by sharing a scene from a film like Top Gun: Maverick or one of the Mission Impossible sequels or maybe even something like Magnolia, Jerry Maguire, Edge of Tomorrow, or Risky Business, I am going to go with a clip from 2008’s Tropic Thunder.  There’s a lot talent in this particular scene, with Bill Hader and Matthew McConaughey both giving good performances.  But, of course, the whole thing is dominated by Tom Cruise’s wonderfully demented performance as Les Grossman.

“We do not negotiate with terrorists!”

Brad’s thoughts on MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING (2025)

Posted on by Bradley Crain

I’ve been trying to make it to the theater to watch the latest, and reportedly the final, “Mission: Impossible” film featuring Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. I was finally able to make it this weekend! This film series has been a big part of my life, with the first film opening when I was just a 22 year old kid, and the final film being released when I’m a 51 year old grandpa! Going back to 1996 when Brian De Palma directed the first in the series, I have seen all eight at the movie theater. I have enjoyed all of them, with MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE II as my clear least favorite, which is quite strange since it was directed by John Woo, my favorite director of all of them. I still like it though. This Mission: Impossible franchise has done the near impossible in the fact that it has gotten better and better over the course of its twenty nine years in existence. The first four films in the franchise experimented with different directors, some of the best in the business. The fifth in the franchise, “ROGUE NATION,” was directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who would then direct the rest of the series, including this final installment. McQuarrie’s sure hand has brought us to this final place. In a way, I’m sad to see it coming to an end, but time seems to take a toll on all of us, even Ethan Hunt / Tom Cruise.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING, a direct sequel to MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART 1 (2023), opens two months after the prior film. With the evil “Entity” continuing to corrupt global cyberspace and create chaos, it appears the world is headed for a sure nuclear war. With no other choice, U.S. President Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett) reluctantly puts her faith in Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team of IMF agents, including Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames). He also gets help from Grace (Hayley Atwell), Paris (Pom Klementieff), and Theo (Greg Tarzan Davis). Together this team goes after Gabriel (Esai Morales), an evil terrorist who’s been working with the “Entity,” in a last ditch effort to eliminate the end-of-the-world threat for a bunch of people who will never know what has been done for them.

I think that MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING is an excellent conclusion to the series featuring Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. There are several reasons I feel this way. First, this final episode gives us the things that we’ve loved about the series from the beginning. For example, there is always a section of the film where the team will have to do something that is impossible. They’ll go through the plan with us, the audience, and they’ll explain why it’s impossible and the worst case scenarios they could run into. You can always count on the actual execution of the mission being even worse than the “worst case scenarios,” with the fun being in how they finally achieve their objective after all sorts of complications. We definitely get that here. Second, the relationships that Ethan Hunt shares with his long term team of Luther (all 8 films) and Benji (6 films) bring something special in this final episode. Luther (Ving Rhames) has been with Ethan from the very beginning, and this final episode proves that Ethan isn’t the only person on the team willing to give everything he has to protect a bunch of people who will never know his name. Benji (Simon Pegg) has been with Ethan since the third installment, and the series has seen him go from being nerdy comic relief to an important and trusted member of the team. He’s still funny, but he’s also right in the middle of everything. I like Pegg and it’s been satisfying seeing this character arc. Third, the action sequences are incredible. The final sequence where Ethan Hunt must climb on board not one, but two different biplanes to stop the evil Gabriel from getting away is awesome. These stunt sequences are incredible, and I actually got weak in the knees as I watched the death defying maneuvers, mostly featuring Tom Cruise himself. Fourth, this final installment enjoys revisiting past missions and characters, tying these prior events to where we are now in Hunt’s story. My favorite is the re-introduction of the character William Donloe (Rolf Saxon), the CIA Analyst from the very first film who ran the impenetrable, secure room that Hunt’s team is able to break into in Langley, VA. We learn that his character was banished to a remote post on the Bering Sea as a direct result of what happened 29 years earlier. When he re-emerges here, it’s revealed that his reassignment was the best thing that ever happened to him, and he’s also made an integral part of this final installment. It’s good stuff. 

Finally, I want to finish my thoughts on MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING by discussing actor Tom Cruise. It’s my personal opinion that Cruise is the last of a dying breed, the true movie star who gives everything he has for his films. There are no others who do what Tom Cruise does, which is put his life on the line to entertain us. Jackie Chan did the same thing in his heyday, and there aren’t any others left. The stunts that Cruise completed for this film, as well as the prior films, will never be matched again by a major movie star. That may even be a good thing, but my respect for Cruise’s commitment to his craft places him alone in my book as the greatest movie star on the planet. They certainly don’t make them like Tom Cruise anymore. 

At the end of the day, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING is an incredible close to the extremely successful franchise. It’s probably not the best in the series as it may try to cover too much ground in its efforts to close everything out. Time and repeat viewings will determine its ultimate reputation, but I know that I enjoyed every second of it. I even had some moisture well up in my eyes at the end as the film was reaching its conclusion. I honestly doubt we’ll ever see such prolonged excellence again in a movie franchise. 

April Noir: Collateral (dir by Michael Mann)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

In 2004’s Collateral, Jamie Foxx stars as Max, a taxicab driver who is hoping, in those days before Uber, to start his own limousine company.  When we first see him, he’s giving a ride to a federal prosecutor named Annie (Jada Pinkett Smith) and he’s even getting her phone number after he drops her off at work.  Unfortunately, for Max, his next passenger is a bit less friendly.

Vincent (Tom Cruise), with his gray hair that matches his suit, is polite, quiet, and direct when he speaks.  He carries a briefcase with him everywhere that he goes and anyone who tries to take the briefcase soon discovers just how far Vincent will go to hold onto it.  Vincent pays Max $600 to drive him around Los Angeles for the night.  Vincent has a lot of business that he needs to attend to.  Max agrees, not realizing until it’s too late that Vincent is a hired assassin and that his business is killing people.  Vincent has been hired to wipe out a collection of crooks and lawyers and, though Vincent is careful not to reveal his emotions, it’s obvious that he’s looking forward to the challenge.

To his credit, Max doesn’t really have any interest in being a part of Max’s killing spree but he soon finds himself unable to escape from Vincent and being forced to drive from location to location.  Along the way, Vincent and Max engage in debates of both morality and philosophy.  Vincent sees death as just being a part of the job.  Max is horrified, especially when people who haven’t done anything wrong end up as collateral damage in Vincent’s killing spree.  The truth of the matter is that, even if Max hadn’t picked up Vincent, there’s no guarantee that he wouldn’t have picked up some other madman.  As a taxi driver, Max surrenders his control once he unlocks the door and allows someone to get in the backseat.  Sometimes, he gets a passenger like Annie.  Other times, he’s going to get a passenger like Vincent.  Somewhat improbably, Vincent and Annie turns out to be connected and Max’s chance encounter with her becomes even more important.

Because this is a Michael Mann film, Los Angeles is as much a character in this film as Max and Vincent.  Mann captures the shadowy darkness of the city at the night and the feeling that both opportunity and danger could lurk around every corner.  Claustrophobic scenes in the taxi cab are mixed with scenes in an equally claustrophobic (though for different reasons) club.  The film’s haunting final image takes place not in the cab but instead on a train.  Everyone is heading somewhere and, at some point during the film, both Vincent and Max deal with the feeling of having no control over where they’ll end up.

When Collateral first came out in 2004, I remember that a lot of people were shocked to see Cruise playing a villain.  Cruise does give one of his best performances here, playing yet another one of Mann’s cool and efficient professionals.  Strangely enough, Jamie Foxx is the one who was nominated for an Oscar, even though he’s actually a little on the boring side as Max.  (In all fairness, Max is meant to be the conventional member of the film’s involuntary partnership.)  The film is dominated by Cruise and his performance is still powerful to this day.

Scenes That I Love: The Wheelchair Race From Days Of Thunder

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to the great character actor, Michael Rooker.

For today’s scene that I love, we’ve got a fairly silly scene from a fairly silly movie.  Micahael Rooker and Tom Cruise play racing rivals in 1990’s Days Of Thunder.  In this scene, we see just how dedicated they are to always trying to be the first to make it to the finish line.

Far and Away (1992, directed by Ron Howard)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

The year is 1892 and Joseph Donnelly (Tom Cruise) is a poor tenant famer in Ireland, used and exploited by the wealthy landowners.  Joseph falls in love with Shannon Christie (Nicole Kidman), the rebellious daughter of his landlord.  Shannon dreams of going to America, where rumor has it that land is being given away in the territory of Oklahoma on a first come/first serve basis.  Shannon even has some valuable spoons that she can use to raise money once they arrive in America.  Joseph, after being challenged to a duel by the Christies’ money manger, Stephen Chase (Thomas Gibson), also decides that heading to America might be a good idea.

Life in America is not as easy as Joseph and Shannon thought it would be.  They first end up in the dirty town of Boston, where Shannon loses her spoons and Joseph works for a corrupt political boss (Colm Meaney) and makes money as a bare-knuckles boxer.  They’ll reach Oklahoma eventually but not before Stephen and the Christies come to Boston and Joseph ends up working on the railroad and getting called “that crazy mick” multiple times.

Far and Away was Ron Howard’s attempt to make an American epic, in the style of John Ford.  It doesn’t work because Tom Cruise is too contemporary to be believable as a 19th century Irish immigrant and Howard tries so hard to push everything to an epic scale that it just makes it even more obvious how slight and predictable the movie’s story is.  Far and Away is full of big movie moments but it lacks the small human moments necessary to really engage its audience.  I will always remembers Far and Away because it was one of those films that seemed to take up permanent residence on HBO when I was growing up.  I didn’t really care about the film’s flaws back then.  Nicole Kidman was attractive and tall and she had wild red hair and back then, that’s all a movie needed to hold my attention.  Unlike Cruise, Nicole Kidman can effortlessly move between historical and contemporary films and, of the two leas, she comes off the best.  The movie is really stolen, though, by Colm Meaney, playing a ruthless political boss who could have taught Boss Tweed a thing or two.

Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day, when we will be celebrating the legacy of immigrants like the Christies and the Donnellys.  Far and Away tries to pay tribute to their courage and their refusal to give up, even when things were tough and deadly on the frontier.  For me, though, Far and Away will always just make me think of HBO in the 90s.

Here’s The Super Bowl Teaser For Mission Impossible — The Final Reckoning!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Here is the Super Bowl teaser for Mission Impossible — The Final Reckoning!  This is one film that I definitely cannot wait to see!

(Watch and learn, James Bond franchise!)

 

I celebrate Henry Czerny’s birthday with two of my favorite scenes!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Today is the 66th birthday of the excellent Canadian character actor Henry Czerny. My admiration and appreciation for the man stems primarily from two performances in big movies. The first time I really remember seeing him is when he played the ethically challenged Deputy Director of the CIA Robert Ritter in CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER (1994). He goes toe to toe with Harrison Ford at times in an incredible performance. Check out the scene below:

A couple of years later Czerny would play IMF Director Kittredge in MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE (1996) with Tom Cruise. Once again, his performance adds greatly to the film and this scene with Tom Cruise may be the best of the movie!

Actors like Henry Czerny are a treasure and I always look forward to seeing them pop up in movies and TV shows. It made me so happy when he showed back up a couple of years ago in MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING (2023). Happy Birthday, Henry! 🎊🎂🎉