Aha.

Yeah, Cruise is annoying. For all that he's some kind of butt-hole, he's not a bad actor.

True. We were talking about that, even the MIs aren't half-bad, not exactly Shakespearean, but no worse than many Bonds (MrsD. observed they are darker than the Bonds).

Over the years I've had a bit of a growing admiration for Tom Cruise as an actor/stunt-man. Setting any discussion of the religion/sexuality aspects of his public persona aside, when it comes to putting in the work to make and promote the kind of action and science fiction films I very much enjoy, he REALLY puts in the effort, and seems to have enourmous fun doing it.

I think it was the double-whammy of Oblivion/Edge of Tomorrow (or Live Die Repeat, if you will) that finally convinced me, then a rewatch of the M:I films made me revel in their ridiculousness. Mind you, not even HE could prevent the most recent The Mummy being utter tosh.

It 'Mehed' me out.

It was the apotheosis of the Kubrick curse: a focus on (brilliant) technical production at the expense of emotional engagement. For me, he's always a bit of a puppet show. A great puppet show, but a puppet show nonetheless.

I get that about Kubrick. It's only occasionally that I can actually relax and enjoy one of his films. I wouldn't put Vanilla Sky in the same class, but (as I said) I did enjoy it. 

Yeah, Mrs WilliamA pointed me towards his acting talents a few years ago (she having seen some of the MI films when she worked night shifts) and I was a bit surprised as I hated Top Gun. I think he was absolutely perfect casting for Edge of Tomorrow. His performance in War of the Worlds was pretty good too (that's another thread, because several of the performances in WOTW were excellent, some of the scenes were astonishingly good, but the editing was so abysmal that the overall film is definitely smelly). The Mummy: probably best not mentioned.

ISTR he had a great cameo in Anchorman 2. Ah no, it was Tropic Thunder.

WotW might be worth a re-watch, because last time I saw it was before my Tompiphany. What I mostly remember about it is that his character mainly survives the invasion by being a dick and throwing other people to the wolves (or tripods).