How Did Tom Cruise Become a Hero for the Worker's Revolution?
Okay, so Mel Gibson can condemn an entire religion as being solely at fault for all the wars of the world-including what would have been his dad's favorite, World War II, if only the bad guys hadn't won-and still no official word from any studio that they are no longer interested in doing business with him. Walt Disney is even planning to go ahead with releasing his movie about an ancient South American civilization who were the victims of genocide by Catholic warmongers from Spain. No surprise there; after all Walt Disney himself was at the forefront of the movement pushing for the Communist blacklist. (A communist for Walt Disney, by the way, was any employee who asked for pay raise.)
Then there's everybody favorite crackhead Robert Downey, Jr. This guy can practically walk around Beverly Hills with a crack pipe attached to his hip when he's released from his jail sentenced every six months and still manages to get prestige parts in prestige pictures. Julia Roberts has as much as admitted she's had sex with every one of her co-stars and yet she still gets parts as America's Sweetheart. Not that there's that many movies about America's Slutheart, I guess.
Notice a faint trace of hypocrisy here? I can't help but wonder what Tom Cruise really did wrong. It's not like his movies have suddenly flopped spectacularly. Didn't War of the Worlds just last year rake in huge truckloads of money? And don't actors usually get the chance to make a bunch of flops their career stalls? How many more flops does Bruce Willis get before he's handed his walking papers. John Travolta still gets starring parts and if you can remember the last hit he had without going all the way back to his last comeback movie Pulp Fiction, you're doing better than me.
Don't get me wrong, I'm no Tom Cruise fan. The only performance of his that ever impressed me was Jerry Maguire. But the simple truth of the matter is that Tom Cruise is really the only movie star of the last two decades whose name alone has turned movies into hits. I mean, come on, the guy's batting average must be around .900! And what's really astounding is how many of those monster hits have been thoroughly unwatchable dreck. Has there ever been a star who has made so much many blockbusters but so few classic films?
Top Gun: Great if you're into Air Force recruitment films.
Days of Thunder: Top Gun drives a race car.
Cocktail: Umm…is this a movie or an SNL sketch?
The Color of Money: The only reason Gangs of New York isn't Scorsese's worst movie ever is because of this one.
A Few Good Men: One good line and Cruise didn't even get to say it.
The Firm: For crying out loud, it was a based on a John Grisham novel!
Interview with the Vampire: His interview with Oprah was scarier.
The Mission Impossible series: Entertainment impossible.
Eyes Wide Shut: Proof that even Stanley Kubrick could make a stinker.
With the exceptions of Risky Business and Jerry Maguire, it's hard to imagine Cruise showing up a hundred years from now in a retrospective of great movies from the late 20th century. And yet he has made billions for the studios that produced all that garbage. And what does he get for ability to turn what probably would have been at least twenty surefire flops into blockbusters? Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Just goes to prove that even someone as seemingly rich and powerful as Tom Cruise can be exploited by those who are truly rich and powerful in this country. What chance do you think you've got if you ever have to go up against The Man?
Revolution now.
Published by Timothy Sexton - Featured Contributor in Arts & Entertainment
Timothy Sexton was named this site's very first Writer of the Year. Today he has two daily columns and one weekly column on Yahoo! Movies as well as frequent irregular contributions. Mr. Sexton was twice nam... View profile
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18 Comments
Post a CommentA true misconception. I am in fact the antitim.
You said it Songbird.
Nice article Timothy, although I liked A Few Good Men ^_^
Hey Timothy, Your proooooooooooob-lem is that you are too darn smart, you are too darn logical and you got waaaaaaayyyyy too much common sense. Hide quick. You are a rarity and you must be reading books too and not sitting in front of the boob tube all day long. You are also in the category of those who should be investigated by the govenment because clearly you are not going along with the agreed upon propaganda!!!
Really, the whole reason for him getting fired was money. Stars cost far too much and big studios need to make more money because they don't know how to cope with piracy and the lack of quality films being produced.
How skewed are we? Write an article about an overpaid, over publicized, over the top entertainer (I use that term loosely because the only time Cruise every entertained me even slightly was while I was watching "Rainman" and he was so over shadowed by Hoffman that he barely existed), but I digress, back to the point. Forty-one comments about an actor who could retire today and never worry again? Come on people! Can't we be outraged about something a little more beneficial to the good of man? (Sorry... I just couldn't bring myself to read all the comments)
Sorry, SJ, I was going to let you have the last word, but you mischaracterized what I said. I said that the perpetrators should be "tried" as in put on trial, not just fired. Tried for murder, negligence, etc. The events you cite are horrific and awful, but to me, they've been endlessly repeated throughout history, and continue to be, so no, I can't only get outraged about this one incident.
Right on, man. Finally someone who sees through the BS. Tom Cruise got dumped because he questions this society's norms, and when those norms happen to include, oh, let's say, pharmaceutical drugs prescribed for invented diseases that rake in billions of dollars in profits every year, THE MAN gets very upset.
Ooops....To continue
The death, murder and suicide were caused by "church" doctrine, some of the same doctrine that Mr. Lightfield has been promoting here. The "individuals" involved were Scientologists, following church doctrine. Although Mr. Lightfield may not condone what happened, he's certainly not doing anything to prevent it from happening again by promoting the same doctrine. His "cute" reply indicates he will not believe the facts or even look at them. Like a good Scientologist, he completely ignores what happened and will only believe what his leaders tell him.
So....would you now like to confront
the problem of Scientology instead of trying to change the subject?
You say, "the perpetrators should be fired"? Did you read the facts about what happened? Apparently not. The "individuals involved" were following "church" doctrine. The buck starts and stops with "church" doctrine.
Mark,
Well of course you can attribute more deaths to religions that have existed thousands of years and have had billions of followers.
Scientology is only fifty some years old and (if you believe "their" stats) had 10 million members in those fifty years....(which, apparently, includes anyone and everyone who has ever taken a "course" or bought a book)
So you're an atheist? Then shouldn't you be upset that "churches" get tax exemption, especially the only "church" who gets to claim tax deductions for "set fees for courses" after suing the I.R.S. for 40 years?
Ah....but Mr. Lightfield, a Scientologist, who came here to promote his "religion and spread his "church's" doctrine about medical treatments and psychiatrists. It wasn't a Christian or a Muslim. Me thinks thou doth protest too much.
Don't you thinkpeople deserve to see the other side of any story?
The death, murder and suicide were caused by "church" doctrine, some of
For those of you not familiar with James LaBranche, it has been suggested on many occasions that he is, in fact, the Antichrist. Not that I subscribe to that theory myself, you understand, though the attachment to Journey isn't a good sign.