Tom-Cruise Movie Reviews

I bought this (luckily used for very cheap) after reading some of these reviews on Amazon. I didn't laugh at anything; the characters were too painfully one-dimensional. Even Cruise in an early part of his career (although post-Outsiders, which was a pretty good performance) was wooden.

The story is pretty standard fare for the "teen adventure comedy" and everything ends on an upbeat note.

A strange thing was that I thought it was set in or around 1983, when it was made - yes, Dave drives a '57 Chevy, but a lot of motorhead kids in my high school (in 1983) did similar. I did notice the Tijuana cop drove a 50's style car (not sure of model) but just assumed that public services in Tijuana couldn't afford anything more modern. But at the end, when they were queued up at customs, ALL the cars were 50s-types. I thought perhaps it was going to be some joke about a classic car rally - but since there wasn't, I can only conclude that this movie was taking place in the late '50s. You wouldn't know it from the story though - only from the cars.

Anyway, even if a TV channel was showing it for free, it's not worth watching. Lame, lame, lame. Watch "The Night Before" starring Keanu Reeves and you will be much more entertained (and intrigued) in a movie that has a similar kind of "high school kids in trouble after hours" feel.

A MESSAGE FROM THE WWS:
(THE WIDESCREEN WATCHERS SOCIETY)

What a shame we the public (in this case Shelley Long and/or Losin' It fans) have been ripped off again by getting stuck with the horrible pan-and-scan mode known as "standard screen."

Widescreen has been used by 95% of all movies since 1953, and Losin' It came out in 1983 - yet although it was shot in widescreen we get nothing but standard screen.

Quality-wise, the 5 star rating system regarding DVDs should basically be awarded according to the following levels:

1 star - Standard screen version of widescreen movie, with no trailer or other features.
2 stars - Standard screen version of widescreen movie, with no other features except a trailer.
3 stars - Standard screen version of standard shot movie (most of which were of course done pre-1953.) Trailer and audio commentary could push it to 4 stars.
4 stars - Widescreen version of widescreen movie, with trailer and audio commentary, although maybe not with the cleanest picture or sound.
5 stars - Widescreen version of widescreen movie, with trailer, audio commentary and any other extras, all with perfect artifact-free picture and 5.1 or DTS sound.

Hopefully, Shelley's next movie due out on DVD will at least be in wonderful widescreen. (It is The Money Pit, slated for Feb. 3, 2003.)

And, hey - when are we also going to get a widescreen version of Shelley's masterpiece, Troop Beverly Hills? I think we've waited more than long enough!

~~~

UPDATE: Later in the summer of 2003, Troop Beverly Hills was indeed released on DVD... only in crummy standard screen. Thanks for yet another ripoff, guys.

And for those of you viewers who say you don't like those black widescreen lines at the top and bottom of your TV set, please bear in mind that in the near future all TVs will be widescreen and the big black bars will be virtually gone.

However, when you will try to play a standard screen DVD on the widescreen TV, big black bars WILL appear - this time at the right and left sides, which is a hundred times worse than top and bottom!

Think about it: a massive investment now in standard screen DVDs will in 2015 result in the same scenario as being stuck with hundreds of Beta tapes in 1985!

This has to be one of the most underrated teen movies in the 1980's, and I've been a fan of this movie since I was 14 and now that I'm 22, I still love this movie.

The story is about 3 high school seniors Dave (the Frank Sinatra/sex obsessed pal) Woody (the sensitive intellegent person) and Spyder (a tough boy from a broken home) who plan a trip to Tijuana in search of sex, but the plan backfires as Dave's little brother Wendel 'Wimp' comes along with them as well as a runaway bride (Shelley Long)
As they arrive in Tijuana, the boys go out and look for a good time and later they meet the crooked cops, insane marine sailors and junkyard ruffians and they decide to get out of Tijuana and make it across the border.

Even though this movie has a little plot, it's fun to watch this movie and it truly deserves more recognition with today's youth. This movie is alot better than today's teen flicks.

This film was written by legendary screenwriter Robert Towne (Chinatown), he does add some interesting plot elements but it seems he wrote the story 'around' Woo and Cruise's Action sequences. The essence of the script and the S&M relationship between Cruise and Thandie Newton pay homage to Hitchcock's 'Notorious'. Cruise is in top form and his Ethan Hunt is rapidly becoming and American Icon, just as James Bond was 35 years ago. Thandie Newton is a very promising talent, but his relationship with Cruise seems one-dimensional and was handled wrongly. The film really shifts into full gear once the final action sequence begins, Woo uses his masterful skills for creating gun fights that heighten the movie to a level that makes the rest of the film expendable. The film does succeed on many levels, but it is also flawed and some of the action is too over the top. Overall a fun film and a nice collaboration between Cruise and Woo. From a scale of 1-10 I give this film a 6!

I'm giving this movie 3 stars, but more on the side of two, rather than four. I found it boring & predictable. And the don't take at face value is absolutely necessary. You don't know who people are going to be, as the mask of people's faces which was touched upon in the first movie, is now severely overdone in this, and now has a little sticker across the voice box, to make the voices the same too.

Tom Cruise reprises his role as Ethan Hunt, and along with Ving Rhames, are the only two surviving members of the previous film. Along come a whole host of other characters, including Thandie Newton, and Dougray Scott - a sterotyped Scottish character, playing the bad guy as usual.

This movie seems to steal a lot from a hyped film, which has influenced a lot of other movies - The Matrix. This film has a lot to answer to these days in the movie world, and I was disappointed to see Tom Cruise/John Woo steal certain bits to make their film better - and I'm sorry to say they failed.

There are a lot of fight scenes in this, but they're not sitting-on-the-edge-of-your-seat fight scenes. They're overdone, and don't really have any effect on you.

I was also disappointed by Tom Cruise in this. I much preferred his hair in the first film - the buzz cut - than his overlong, and unkempt look in this film. A year or so after this, Tom famously divorced Nicole Kidman, in favour of Penelope Cruz. I wouldn't be surprised if Nicole was jealous after seeing this film, as Tom & Thandie (Newton) have a lot of chemistry, very unusual in co-stars. The fact that she also wears lots of low cut tops with push up bras probably helped.

I loved the scenes featuring Tom & Thandie, or just Thandie alone, cos the music in the background was really nice and peaceful. The Mission Impossible score is used quite a lot, but it sounded different to the original, and is overused and overloud at some points.

Overall, I'm not disappointed I bought this film (it was on sale). And of course its a sequel, so I wasn't really expecting much. But I hope Tom Cruise doesn't think he's going to be onto a good thing if he churns out another one. We all know how the third movie always disappoints.

I am a huge Tom Cruise fan, so I'm a little biased, but I like this movie. It's nothing that will make you think too much, just Tom Cruise blowing stuff up, wearing masks and pulling off incredible martial arts moves.

A little predictable, but fun and worth owning.

On the day we got this my son (age 6 1/2) watched it three times, and he laughed at a lot of the gags, even the third time around. Adults may be able to chuckle once or twice but mostly they will wish they were watching the 1950's TV version of Dennis, which in my opinion was much funnier and had more charm.

Although the DVD is region code 1, there were no problems playing it on a European DVD player which had been switched to codefree use.

On the far end of the movie-making spectrum, an infamous, prolific filmmaker is exposed in "DIRECTED BY ALAN SMITHEE."

According to official screen credits, Smithee has directed 47 films, written 5 screenplays, acted in three movies, produced one film, and was the production designer on yet another.

Alan Smithee films in all forms have grossed over $100 million. This up-close, short (only 50 minutes), look at the most mysterious pseudonym in Hollywood, reveals Alan Smithee as a director, producer, writer and star who doesn't give interviews, has never been seen at the Oscars and has never appeared on TV -- because he doesn't exist.

That's right. The omnipresent director is not real. He's the official nom d' auteur for filmmakers who are ashamed of the final release print for one reason or another.

"Directed by Alan Smithee," which recently aired on cable TV's American Movie Classic tells the story of an industry's infighting, power-struggles, and betrayals that has led many directors to dis-own a film and use "directed by Alan Smithee" as his/her credit.

Interviews with Tony Kaye, John Singleton, Martha Coolidge, and Arthur Hiller are featured.

The real dirt and infights are barely hinted at. Perhaps some enterprising filmmaker, or is that muckraker, will do justice to this entertaining subject.

It would be helpful to know what movies are in this set. Just a thought