Quick, without consulting the internet, what kind of a personality does Ethan Hunt have? *crickets* Maybe you’re wondering, “Who, exactly, is that?” That’s the name of Tom Cruise’s character in the Mission: Impossible franchise. Though…”character” is perhaps not quite the right word, as the running joke for many years has been that Tom Cruise is […]

You have an opinion on Tom Cruise. You might be an obsessive cineaste like me, or you might be a casual filmgoer. But I guarantee you that, when I bring up the man formerly known as Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, a person who’s coming up on 40 years in the movie business, you likely aren’t […]

On its face, nostalgia isn’t always a bad thing. It can be comforting, the dwelling on people, events, and things in the past, a mental bubble bath that we can slip into with a content smile. Some researchers even believe in the powerful psychological benefits of nostalgia. Hell, the foundation of the Trump campaign and […]

We need Star Trek right now. Badly. The America of Stardate 2016 is fractured. Paranoid. Raging. We’re locked into a presidential election that rejects hope and embraces fear. The vast majority of us plan to vote against a particular candidate instead of being inspired by one. Our country is beset by problems and, when we should be coming […]

There’s this theory I’ve had for a while now. I’ve shared it with friends, but now it’s time to share it with all of you. I believe that international superstar Tom Cruise is either a fiendishly clever performance artist, or a deeply depressed man. When he makes other films, he’s a talented and driven performer. But […]