Is Tom Cruise finished?

[Edward]

As far as Van goes. three, maybe four, albums and that's it. All of the a long time ago. Never has one man whined about so little for so long and yet received so much from the very things he claims to have been abused by. [huh]

Van Morrison never wrote a single note worth a damn. A truly loathsome creature, and an embarrassment to Northern Ireland of George Best levels.

 

[MarkJohn]

Van Morrison never wrote a single note worth a damn. A truly loathsome creature, and an embarrassment to Northern Ireland of George Best levels.

First part wrong... he's clearly written some great songs, that you may not like, which is not the same thing. However, he is an objectionable toad that makes enjoying anything he's done hard to stomach. Enjoying any artist for me has to be a combination of liking the work and connecting with the person in some way... even if that vision of someone is wrong; as they say, never meet your hero’s [I've been disappointed twice].

I was told a story about Van from someone I knew in the industry, that summed-up his arrogance and unpleasantness... This guy was parked at the record company office, and was heading back to his car, when Van pulled up blocking him in. The guy asked him if he would let him out, but he blanked him completely, forcing him to wait over an hour until he left... charming.

As for Mr. Cruise... I don't mind him at all, and have enjoyed a lot of his movies, even if he's not the most multidimensional of actors. He might not pull in the punters like he used too, but feel he is far from finished.

 

[Sloan1874]

Van Morrison never wrote a single note worth a damn. A truly loathsome creature, and an embarrassment to Northern Ireland of George Best levels.

Remind me never to p*** you off, Edward!

 

[skyvue]

Cruise has certainly been as big a contemporary star as Bogart ever was, but his legacy is as yet undetermined. Bogart posthumously made the transformation from a star of a given era to a Hollywood legend and icon; not many manage that. I seriously doubt Cruise will prove to have the same staying power -- or even, like Bogart, increase in stature -- after he retires or passes away, but who can say? Probably few in the 1940s and '50s would have predicted that Bogart would reach such an elevated status.

 

[alsendk]

Saw Van Morrison a few years ago in the Tivoli consert hall Copenhagen....mostly what we saw was his back, and only momentarily his angry face pointed out to face the public for a moment or so. What an arrogant a**hole
But I have to admit that I love his song Moondance. It is hard to deny his talent for writing songs of value

 

[Benzadmiral]

Let me weigh in here by saying that Cruise started off as "just" a pretty boy actor. Then came "Rain Man," in which (as somebody said above) he plays a b*st*rd to perfection. I've never gone out of my way to catch a Cruise movie, but when I have -- "Rain Man," "Minority Report," "Eyes Wide Shut" -- I find he delivers. He's there 100% and never just phones it in.

Now. That said . . . he apparently is on the way to play the indestructible Napoleon Solo in the Guy Ritchie-directed big-screen version of "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.", with a much-taller actor (Armie Hammer) signed for Illya Kuryakin. We in the MfU fandom on the Yahoo! group Channel_D are almost all horrified, thinking he will make the role over and change the entire spirit of the original series as he did with "Mission: Impossible" in the '90s. Technically, too, Cruise is too old to play an active Enforcement agent.

He can do the "dangerous" quality that Robert Vaughn embodied. But can he do the light comedy and the charm? Personally I'd rather have an actor as Solo who can do "dangerous" over one who only has the charm, or who can only do comedy. (Imagine the horror of somebody like Ben Stiller as Solo . . .!)

We also have the hope that with Ritchie, we may get some nods to the original series. In his "Sherlock Holmes" films, I'm told, there are many links back to the original source material that major Holmes fans applaud.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Cruise has certainly been as big a contemporary star as Bogart ever was, but his legacy is as yet undetermined. Bogart posthumously made the transformation from a star of a given era to a Hollywood legend and icon; not many manage that. I seriously doubt Cruise will prove to have the same staying power -- or even, like Bogart, increase in stature -- after he retires or passes away, but who can say? Probably few in the 1940s and '50s would have predicted that Bogart would reach such an elevated status.

Well said skyvue! -dixon cannon

 

[ButteMT61]

Well, we saw Oblivion yesterday - wife wanted to see it on Mother's Day. It was good. Not fantastic, but good. Cruise was Cruise, which is to say it's a roll he's good at.
I don't think he's washed up, but it was obvious that Iron Man III was kicking everyone's arse, and Cruise in that sense is a has-been. But apples and oranges.
As for the Monkees - glad to see others sticking up for the boys. I can still enjoy a playlist of their music on just about any day. The show can be fun now and then too. When we lived in Toluca Lake, I used to take the kids to Barris' shop to see the cars - Munsters and Monkees being my favorites. It was a fun era, and the music was fun and well done. Sure it started as a joke, but it didn't end that way...

 

[Tomasso]

to see him jump up and down in mrs.O. Winfreys sofa was slightly embarrassing.

Yeah, and the Matt Lauer interview (where he is critical of taking medication to deal with postpartum depression) turned a lot of women against him. Not the brightest move. Women came out of the woodwork to eviscerate him and many men joined the mob to curry favor with women.

The thing about Golden Era actors is that we actually knew very little about them compared to today's actors. The old-timers operated in a much more controlled media environment (a fraction of the size of todays) and had studio handlers to make sure things went smoothly. While todays stars must regularly make the rounds of a myriad of media outlets where they are bound to slip up and say something revealingly stupid.

 

[skyvue]

Women came out of the woodwork to eviscerate him and many men joined the mob to curry favor with women.

Really? You don't think men might have genuinely found Cruise's comments wrongheaded and offensive?

 

[Edward]

Really? You don't think men might have genuinely found Cruise's comments wrongheaded and offensive?

Quite. I did.

 

[Tomasso]

Really? You don't think men might have genuinely found Cruise's comments wrongheaded and offensive?

You give men too much credit.

 

[ButteMT61]

You give men too much credit.

Not a gender thing. Both my wife and I found it incredibly sad and misguided. But these A-list folks get full of themselves and sometimes they feel like they know everything. Having family and myself at times needing such treatments, it was a baseless attack and uncalled for. But men and women are equally dopey in life...

 

[Worf]

Did I miss something? How did Van Morrison get drawn into this thread? I love Van as an "artist" but less so as a man I'd want to play music with. I've known cat's fired from his band for making bad jokes that weren't even at his expense. He may be a parody of himself now... BUT back in the day the man could wail.

Worf

 

[Tomasso]

it was a baseless attack and uncalled for.

Yes, it was taken as such by most women (and it appears, some men) when it was merely a discussion of psychiatry and the use of antipsychotic and antidepressant medications. Cruise made valid points that have been made before by many proffessionals in the medical community. But it seems to be a subject too emotional for some to discuss; not dissimilar to the subject of race in America. But I agree it's probably best had Cruise left it alone.

 

[W-D Forties]

Tom Cruise seems a nice enough chap. Not the worlds most interesting actor, never likely to worry Day Lewis or Bale. Just quite bland.
I'd like to see hem 'act' his age, or older, become more of a character, but I think that would be difficult when the shine from your Hollywood gnashers is visible from space. Steve Buschemi, he aint - and I know which I'd pay to watch.

 

[Two Types]

Brilliant - another thread that finds a number of members standing up for the Monkees over the Beatles. Splendid, far more interesting than Tom Cruise whose career I have followed with utter disinterest since the rubbish that was 'Risky Business'.

I'm with the Monkees - some of the songs are amazing and still fill me with more joy than most of the Beatles output. I just find them dull and overfamiliar.

I recently heard the Beatles track 'The Two of Us' (from Let it Be) for the first time. It was blooming awful. A dirge. But I've been spoiled: I'd only previously known this version of the song by the Slovenian band Laibach:
[video=youtube;FzQuYfQHFBA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzQuYfQHFBA[/video]

 

[HoosierDaddy]

[video=youtube;2SzE08aInn4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SzE08aInn4[/video]

 

[ButteMT61]

Yes, it was taken as such by most women (and it appears, some men) when it was merely a discussion of psychiatry and the use of antipsychotic and antidepressant medications. Cruise made valid points that have been made before by many proffessionals in the medical community. But it seems to be a subject too emotional for some to discuss; not dissimilar to the subject of race in America. But I agree it's probably best had Cruise left it alone.

I have in recent years begun to believe the use of these drugs is way overboard. But I was thinking more of how he treated Brooke Shields in that incident. I think there's valid uses, and I hate people not being able to discuss such things. I agree on that. I think that recent increases in suicide are telling along those lines. Indeed, it's a mix of things - economy, joblessness, and of course, pharmaceuticals, mental illness...You'd expect those numbers to go down if these drugs were working so well.

 

[Feraud]

Not a gender thing. Both my wife and I found it incredibly sad and misguided. But these A-list folks get full of themselves and sometimes they feel like they know everything. Having family and myself at times needing such treatments, it was a baseless attack and uncalled for. But men and women are equally dopey in life...

I agree it is not a gender thing. Cruise's comments suffered from his crass attitude and noticeable lack of experience in the psychiatric department.

People tend to not like the obscenely rich looking down on the limited healthcare choices of regular folk.