I thought TC was miscast in the first Mission Impossible because it involved his character being on edge, vulnerable, insecure (not certain if all of these apply, it’s been a long time). He was much better in the second where all he had to do was project a smug sense of “I’m Tom Cruise and you’re not.” That was easy for him, but rather off-putting.
I enjoyed him quite a bit in Collateral where he’s meant to be unlikable.
I actually liked the first Mission Impossible, not a great movie, but fun to watch once, which is why I saw the second which was IMHO a major letdown.
I actually liked both, but mostly for the directors, De Palma doing what he could with a muddled script, Woo gradually slipping into self-parody but still providing good action and lush atmosphere.
He was slated to do Fury Road, and they even shot test footage iirc. Then the film went on hold for what, 11 years? When it cam time for final shooting, they replaced Gibson with Hardy. The official reason was actor vs character age, and the physical demands of the role.
But never called one!
It was left pretty ambiguous though. I mean, that’s definitely what should have been the point, but in the context of Gibson’s beliefs I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was supposed to be that the protaginist saw deliverance in the christians in the boat. For me it was a very literal version of not being able to separate artist from art, the fact that I didn’t trust his intentiins with that ending.
He spent so much of the movie hyper focusing on the visual barbarity without building a political or religious context for any of it. Contrast with the humble size and appearance of the boat, unimposing and quiet. Even if you allow that he acknowledges the brutality of the Spanish invasion, it still could be a “This baptism is gonna hurt, but only because you’re all so savage, and your religion is so backward” especially given that the b-story was a very literal brutal double baptism (the birth scene)
He does that all the time. The Patriot, We Were Soldiers, etc. They’re distorted pseudohistory framed to support white male Christian dominance by violence.
According to the IMDb, he was merely an actor in those two films, not writer, producer or director.
Yeah.
OTOH, I think it’s safe to assume that Mel chose those projects because they suited him ideologically, and had more than a little influence on how they turned out.
The Patriot was particularly sketchy.
I think that Tom Hardy is even better at not delivering lines than Clint Eastwood back in his spaghetti western days. His acting in Lawless creased me up.
I liked his role in Tropic Thunder; especially as I only realised it was him when the credits rolled. I thought he was rather good in Magnolia too. But then, I enjoy Mission Impossible and Fast and Furious Movies, so my critical faculties might be rather impaired.
Apocalypto Is amazing!
Look, as a minority, I find this all ridiculous. I am very much interested in seeing Hollywood reflect reality and get much much much more diversity, etc. but my whole life all I’ve had to watch (or read, or listen to) are works created largely by a bunch of racists (many aren’t but many many are, to a lesser or greater extent). For Christ sakes where would I start if I start eliminating fruits from the poisonous trees? I have had to live with it and appreciate many works of art with the knowledge that they person who created it probably thinks I’m a sub-human. I think we should call it out but understand also that that hatred doesn’t make the persons’s art necessarily bad - in fact that may be a teachable moment - realizing that super racist jerks may appear like kindle nice people too - you don’t know unless you see their art/words.
Also, he hated me but I love hp love craft. I’ve had to accept it.
POSTSCRIPT - I can’t believe this post is getting flagged for being offensive. we need racism in the light so we can scour it clean w/ intellectual thought and dialogue. My post was essentially to this point, and I find it super ironic that it itself is being flagged for inappropriate content. ridiculous. People who flag this should explain what my thought process did to be inappropriate. I am a minority that sees terrible stuff all the time…and I have to live with it whether I like it or not. I’m not saying I should have to but what can I do. I would prefer to have the racism of others publicly viewed so that we all know it is an actual problem and that we can collectively do something about it, rather than wait for it to secretly grow in strength in the shadows. I’ve deleted the part where I say most artists are likely racist … I mean historically most people had inappropriate attitudes to race, probably. but that is a side issue.
It was the one called the Final Cut. The theater I saw it in was also selling BluRays, IIRC.
Yeah, that’s one of the good versions! Not my favourite, but a good one! =o)
That’s a very good point. Thank you.
The flaw lies with the consumers. Maybe it’s the ready acceptance of ill deeds, so long as they’re traded for precious portions of light entertainment, lifting the masses out of their humdrum existence.
To damage the toxic culture that pervades Hollywood, modelling, the tech industry - basically, anywhere, any culture - you have to starve it of oxygen. Every theatre ticket to watch Mel, every purchase of an Uber ride, these all contribute raindrops that eventually form the massive economic rewards accruing to the very people we claim to despise.
Each raindrop paid partially for the lying assistants, the hotel rooms, the chauffeur driven cars - all the theatre and trickery Weinstein used to coerce, harass and so on. Take away the money and plaudits, and he’s a ghost, washed up, gone.
It’s a little boring, but I’m going to have to vet Weinstein and anyone involved from my entertainment. He’ll have rights and income streams coming through the future.
I’m an active avoider, and evangelist of my position. Want to watch a Tarantino movie? Be ready for my sharp questioning about his failure to act on knowledge he possessed about Weinstein’s abuse.
That’s highly debateable, and widely misses the point that choosing deliberately is one form of refuge that can be taken in a racist, sexist society.
Personal failings? Paul Reubens has had exactly two incidences in the public eye that were questionable. The first was just him getting caught masturbating at a porn theater during a lazy police sweep in Florida. He got 90 days community service when he pleaded no contest just to get it over with. The only other thing was him collecting kitsch erotic memorabilia which got raided when actor Jeffrey Jones was the subject of a child pornography charge, which he was found not guilty of It appears like it was acase where they were hoping to discover a celebrity child porn ring and casting a wide net, but subsequent trials showed the DA misrepresented what they’d found and whether Reubens even knew what he’d had, since it was bought in large lots.
He’s not even in the same zip code as the others you mention. If he wasn’t the host of a popular kid’s show, it wouldn’t have even made the topic of a news item. And it still took him literal decades to repair his career. Versus someone like Gibson, who yells racial epithets on camera, is charged with beating his girlfriend, publicly admits to stuff like holocaust denial…and still gets work much sooner than Reubens did.
It’s that weird public confusion over an actor and the characters they portray. When someone who plays an innocent man-child gets caught whacking off, it’s a pearl-clutching scandal – Pee-Wee masturbates? The horror!
But when the guy known for playing kinda crazy, violent, jingoistic, ultra-Christian tough guys is caught on camera swearing, being kinda crazy, and yelling ultra-Christian things at people, a lot of the public says well, yeah, that seems like the kind of thing Mad Max would do! and they chuckle.
