The Last Star In Hollywood

This week, let’s get angry – but not in the way the movie wants – with Robert Redford’s 2007 political drama Lions For Lambs! Does Redford have a directorial style? Is there depth and nuance to the arguments made in the film? Is Andrew Garfield cuter than Michael Peña? Content warning: gun violence, military violence, death Unanswered Questions: Does the

This week, Ethan Hunt returns with more guns in JJ Abrams’ 2006 action sequel Mission: Impossible 3! What is the Rabbit’s Foot? Why add extra team members if you’re going to do nothing with them? Does Philip Seymour Hoffman deliver an actually perfect performance? Content warning: violence, imprisonment Unanswered Questions: Is Abrams a good fit for this series?

This week, Cruise is a bad dad in Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds (2005)! Is too much structure a bad thing? Does this film contain the worst character in Cruise’s entire filmography? What is the title convention for the Lilo & Stitch sequels? Content warning: violence, gore, child endangerment Unanswered Questions: Does Ray arc as a protagonist? How is this

This week, Cruise plays the villain in Michael Mann’s 2004 thriller Collateral. Has Jamie Foxx ever been better? Is Los Angeles a cinematic city? Does the film have anything to say? Content warning: violence Unanswered Questions: Does Vincent’s character work? Is it authentic within the movie? What happens to Max and Annie after the film is over? Is the twist with Ray

This week, Cruise shoots for Oscar recognition in Edward Zwick’s 2003 historical drama The Last Samurai. Is this an overlooked classic? How does it stand with the other historical epics of the 2000s? Has anyone ever been better than Ken Watanabe? Content warning: violence, suicide, racism Unanswered Questions: Is this a white savior story? Who is — or are — the

This week, a glimpse of the future with Steven Spielberg’s 2002 sci-fi thriller Minority Report. What are the big ideas? When did Cruise start running? Where can we buy one of those holographic computers? Content warning: violence, suicide, body horror, surgery, gore, drugs, dystopia Unanswered Questions: Is there anything to the deification of the pre-cogs? What actually h

This week, it was all a dream — or was it? — in Cameron Crowe’s 2001 movie Vanilla Sky. Do Cruise and Cruz have chemistry? Does four times mean something? Is anything really anything? Content warning: sexual assault, sexual violence, misogyny, nudity, drug use, car crash, physical trauma Unanswered Questions: So… what really happened? Is the film’s ultimate

This week, we get as close as we can to killing a franchise with John Woo’s 2000 action drama Mission: Impossible 2! Who is this Ethan Hunt? Does the movie love Nyah like we do, or not? Why did Dougray Scott never quite make it? Content warning: violence, gun violence, objectification of women, misogyny Unanswered Questions: Is John Woo’s style a bad match for Hollywo

This week, we realize that everything is connected in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia. Is this the best cast that Cruise has ever worked with? How does redemption clash with guilt in our understanding of this film’s metaphysics? Is Magnolia a work of genius? Content warning: nudity, suicide, violence, emotional, physical and sexual abuse of children, drugs, alcohol, blo

This week, we dream our way through Stanley Kubrick’s final film, Eyes Wide Shut. How much of this film is real? What does real even mean? Is anything here supposed to be sexy? Content warning: nudity, graphic sex, sex work, drugs, nonconsensual sex, violence against women Unanswered Questions: Was Mandy one woman or two? To what extent is Ziegler telling the truth? Is Kubr