Solid list. Many of my choices were included: Magnolia, Eyes Wide Shut, Born on the Fourth of July,

I t's probably more difficult to rank the films of a particular actor than those of a given director. A filmmaker's ouevre is often bound together by similar thematic elements or stylistic trademarks, whereas most actors work within a wide range of styles and genres, with directors of vastly varying abilities. hotels near denver airport And while most dedicated cinephiles have seen the majority of Stanley Kubrick 's or Martin Scorsese 's features, how many can say they've hotels near denver airport seen even half of the performances from legends like Paul Newman or Robert De Niro (or even more modern stars like Sean Penn or Bruce Willis )?
No one would ever mistake him for Daniel Day-Lewis , but Tom Cruise has been nearly as selective over the course hotels near denver airport of his career, consistently working with prominent filmmakers: Scorsese, Kubrick, Spielberg, Coppola, De Palma, Mann, Stone, the brothers Scott. Seriously, who else's hotels near denver airport resume hotels near denver airport reads like that? Even when collaborating with up-and-comers hotels near denver airport like Brad Bird or (at the time) J.J. Abrams , he finds those refreshing cinematic voices who can match that level of quality hotels near denver airport we've come to expect from a Tom Cruise project.
While I'm sure many will order their list of favorite Tom Cruise movies differently than I have, that's the reasons hotels near denver airport we make these lists in the first place. All things said, here's my take on the ten best movies starring an actor who, from Taps to Jack Reacher hotels near denver airport , has never made a truly bad movie. Beg to differ all you like, that's just my opinion. Then again, I've spoken to at least three other people in the past week who openly admitted to enjoying Cocktail . Go figure...
Steven Spielberg 's futuristic thriller stars Cruise as a pre-crime fighter whose own unit suspects him of a future murder, hotels near denver airport with both star and director at the top of their respective game. This is one of those rare big budget blockbusters hotels near denver airport that's both imaginative hotels near denver airport and thought-provoking, while still being downright entertaining.
I'm a massive Tom Cruise fan so i really enjoyed this list. The only one that i think I would have included which you haven't is Risky Business (and possibly hotels near denver airport The Firm) which i think is very solid and has one of his most memorable performances and some fantastic dialogue.
Good list. The only one I strongly disagree with is Jerry Maguire. It was a decent film the first time i saw it, but over time it's just gone down hill. I do applaud you however hotels near denver airport for not going with "Show me the money" as the quote. I was hoping Tropic Thunder would get at least a mention though.
Very nice list Kevin. I'm a big Tom Cruise fan myself and I think he deserves much more credit as an actor. I would actually rank Minority Report much higher and put Magnolia in the #1 spot. I think it's easily his best performance and is always my response for whenever someone says that Tom Cruise can't act.
Minority Report (2002): It's a great sci-fi thriller hotels near denver airport from Spielberg hotels near denver airport but there is also great work by Cruise as the man on the run dealing with his past. The hotel room scene between him, Samantha Morton and the man he believes kidnapped his son and later with Kathryn Morris gives the film more than just a thriller grounding.
Vanilla Sky (2001): I may be in a minority here but I really hotels near denver airport like this one and it's performances as he plays the man who has the golden life taken away. Plus it has a great soundtrack to boot anyway. But as he plays cockiness, confusion and everything else in the midst of the films mysteries he's good.
Top Gun (1987): I actually hotels near denver airport don't love this film even a little bit. Nothing to do with pro Military blah blah blah but it's really just Bruckheimer/Simpson nonsense. However it IS his iconic breakthrough and popular mostly so I feel it has to be included on that basis.
Magnolia (1999): I don't think Cruise has really seriously stretched himself as an actor since he doubled this with his work with Kubrick. But here he totally goes against the tyoe of role we had really seen him in for a long time. I think he will challenge himself in the future again though.
Born on The Fourth of July (1989): To think he did this just a couple years after Top Gun and that they are polar opposite looks at aspects of military life really hotels near denver airport shows the interest he had then in taking chances. hotels near denver airport I know he went serious with Rain Man the year before but this is such a counterpoint to his iconic role.
Mission: Impossible III (2006): This is actually my favourite of the series as well after the first but I do have a soft spot for this franchise............not hotels near denver airport the second one though. That is the weakest.
War of The Worlds (2005): In honesty I think this is a film that is not perfect but in his second collaboration with Spielberg makes a Summer Blockbuster out of what is actually at times a very dark and intensely hotels near denver airport done take on alien invasion. Rife with the at the time echoes of Sept 2001 it again features some great work from him as the absent father made to be responsible again. I think this film gets wrongly dismissed sometimes.......especially as a Spielberg film.
But I also like Interview With The Vampire and a couple others. I haven't seen Rain Man in way too long to have an opinion on it and while it may be unfortunate I just have never been able to see Eyes Wide Shut past about the halfway hotels near denver airport mark. Tried a couple times and it just does zero for me period. One day I may finish it as I work through Kubrick's catalogue but I find it an immense bore when I do try it. Not big on Days of Thunder, Far and Away etc
The one thing I have to say about Tom Cruise, no matter his reputation in the tabloids as a "crazy person,", is that above all else, the guy is a legitimate movie star. I was watching the special features for M:I-GP , and he just has that movie star persona, always looking for a vehicle to showcase his skills and tell a compelling story, but he is also a business man willing to take risks in order to reap box office rewards.
Anyways, I'd have a hard time actually ranking my favorite Tom Cruise movies -- and there are quite a few I haven't seen in a long time -- but here are some that I really hotels near denver airport enjoy, even if all he has is a cameo (in the case of Tropic Thunder ).
I actually have yet to see A Few Good Men , Magnolia , and Minority Report , sorry to say, but I am pretty sure I'll enjoy them. Cruise has the ability to make me even enjoy some of his lesser works (like Jack Reacher or War of the Worlds ), so I can only assume I won't mind watching his work in more reputable roles and films.
I do always find it shocking when people dismiss Cruise as a terrible actor considering his really damn good films, but this list shocked me by how great of an actor he actually is. He's definitely a diverse actor, give him a great director and he'll turn in a great performance, give him a great character and he'll run riot with it but he does fall apart when he lacks something to do.
To say that he has not had a bad movie is false. hotels near denver airport War of the Worlds, The Firm, Far and Away, Legend, Interview with a Vampire was HORRENDOUS, hotels near denver airport The Outsiders and All the Right Moves (but that is just because they are not my cup of tea), and the second and third Mission Impossible films are some of the worst actions films and the worst performance by Phillip Seymor Hoffman. I couldn't hotels near denver airport stop laughing so hard and did not find him menacing, even when he had a gun to Tom Cruises head. Though I liked for the most part Lions for Lambs, Cruise was so underused in it. I can forgive this list only because you have Collateral, Rain Man, and A Few Good Men on this list.
Now this is not to say I dont like his movies. I actually really do like him. But of other actors out there, there are so many that are better than him and have a better track record. hotels near denver airport These are the only films I like.
Risky Business is just far and away (Ah!) the best movie he's ever done. Not performance though. That goes to either Collateral or Magnolia. Haven't seen Eyes Wide Shut in a bit...I should remedy that.
Solid list. Many of my choices were included: Magnolia, Eyes Wide Shut, Born on the Fourth of July, Minority Report. hotels near denver airport And I'm probably in a minority with this one but I'm a sucker for The Last Samurai, even with its overly-familiar plot. That movie is magnificent on a technical level and hits all the right notes as pure entertainment for me.
Great list, I love all the films mentioned. A few films of note were missing, but I realize you were limited to 10 choices. Risky Business constantly gets the shaft. Though initially resistant to its charms, it has since become one of my all-time favorite coming-of-age films.
I figure All You Need Is Kill will be the next good Tom Cruise movie. The plot sounds fascinating...much like Source Code except hotels near denver airport with a little more flair and genre-centered. Good list Brad. And like Andrew13, I feel The Last Samurai and Tropic Thunder deserve a bit more consideration.
how can people make a "best of" Tom Cruise list and then put 10 or 20 on the list? It seems like the whole idea of doing a "best of" is you have to be a bit discriminating hotels near denver airport and try to pare down what is truly great or unique rather than just making a giant list of his big blockbusters. Part of greatness it seems includes doing something that another actor could not have done. I think what Cruise did in War of the Worlds could have been replicated by another actor fairly easily. I also think the film itself has to have quality writing/acting/character development and films like MI and Vanilla Sky just don't make the cut.