Director: Stanley Kubrick Stars: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Sydney Pollack If being a cinephile is a form of addiction (and it often feels like it is) then the films of Stanley Kubrick are its gateway drugs. Not Kubrick alone, granted, but there are a clutch of 'great' directors whose work is easily available, who open … Continue reading Review: Eyes Wide Shut (20th anniversary)
Director: Christopher McQuarrie Stars: Tom Cruise, Sean Harris, Henry Cavill Tom Cruise is 56. For a long time he was the single most bankable star in Hollywood. The fantasy of millions. He's still an extraordinarily bankable star. Right up there. But what can he do to keep a hold of that glossy immortality? American cinema … Continue reading Review: Mission: Impossible: Fallout
As Phantom Thread readies for home release, I thought I'd indulge in a deceptively difficult and openly personal task; ranking the feature films of Paul Thomas Anderson. Expect a multitude of adjectives in my rundown below. The ordering you may well disagree with; everyone's preferences are different. What has struck me, however, is how good all … Continue reading Ranked: Paul Thomas Anderson
Director: John Dower You can understand why affable documentarian Louis Theroux would save the subject of Scientology for his feature debut - directed by John Dower. The strange, secretive 'religion' is so notorious for its bizarre and ominous power and influence, especially within LA, that it's as juicy a target as he's ever encountered. The … Continue reading Review: My Scientology Movie
One imagines Christopher McQuarrie, screenwriter and director of this fifth instalment of the Mission: Impossible series, sat in his kitchen struggling to come up with that special something that will separate his addition to the franchise out from all the rest. That special set-piece. Sure, Tom's got some nifty idea about hanging on to a plane … Continue reading Review: Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation
Last year when Oblivion came out I wrote a different sort of review that read like an imagined conversation between Tom Cruise and that film's director Joseph Kosinski. It was quite fun to write, though not overly informative, and I chose to do so largely because of my ambivalence toward the movie, which was a dithering … Continue reading Review: Edge Of Tomorrow
An imagined conversation between Tom Cruise and director Joseph Kosinski soon after the release of Tron Legacy: Joseph: Hey, Tom! How's it going? Tom: Sorry... who are you? Joseph: I'm Joseph Kosinski. I directed that fuck-awful Tron reboot that just came out. Made a sweet shitload of money on it. Tom: Oh awesome! How's it going, man? … Continue reading Review: Oblivion
