telegram ([info]telegram_) wrote in [info]ohnotheydidnt,
@ 2008-05-16 07:21:00
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Current music:"I am Preence Caspeeahn"
Entry tags:casting / auditions, tom cruise

President Tom Cruise? Oh, Snap.
Tom Cruise is many things to many people. A prominent and upstanding member of the community to Scientologists, a completely overrated actor whose personality has veered towards the dangerously crazy to everyone else. Ok, so maybe just two things to two groups of people. One thing he definitely IS is a type-a personality. He's a guy who likes to be top dog. Never has this become more blindingly clear than in his new film, The 28th Amendment where Tommy plays the President of the United States of America.

President Cruise.

Seems eerie when you say it out loud, doesn't it? Tales to frighten children with...

"Did I ever tell you kids about the legend of President Cruise?"

*Aiiiieeeeeee!!!*

Cruise will play President Ben Cahill who is apparently the last person in the whole world to discover that the government is actually run from behind the scenes by a secret organization. Denzel Washington plays the head of the secret group.

I'm gonna paraphrase from the high priest of comedy here, Bill Hicks, and tell you how I picture this plays out in real life. When someone is elected president, they're brought into a small, smoky room with lots of old men. Immediately a projector starts and it's a film of the Kennedy assassination, only one from an angle you've never seen before. The film ends, the lights go up and they ask the new President, "Any questions?"

The 28th Amendment might actually be not too bad with director Phillip Noyce at the reins. He's handled this sort of material more than competently before with films like Clear and Present Danger, Patriot Games, and The Quiet American. The only question is, can we get past the rising nausea seeing Cruise behind that big desk long enough to enjoy the film?




source
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I'm sorry but, call him crazy all you fucking want - Tom Cruise is one of the greatest American actors alive and I stand by that shit. I mean, his performance in Magnolia alone cements that fact.


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[info]fisher55
2008-05-16 02:38 pm UTC (link)
The Pink House

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[info]jbeans3
2008-05-16 02:41 pm UTC (link)
I actually love this nutbag. Admit it, YOU ALL LOVE HIM AND HIS INSANITY MAKES HIM A GOOD ACTOR OK

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[info]eyetosky
2008-05-16 02:42 pm UTC (link)
Oh look, Denzel Washington struggling against the secondhand moral code imposed on the world to do what he believes is right.

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[info]_hearmyvoice
2008-05-16 02:56 pm UTC (link)
lol
So true.

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[info]ashley2999
2008-05-16 02:47 pm UTC (link)
o rly

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[info]spacenaut
2008-05-16 02:50 pm UTC (link)
Ok Will Smith and Denzel Washington needs a movie together, with Adrien Brody as the villain :)~. It's my ultimate dream.

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[info]thesealwife
2008-05-16 02:51 pm UTC (link)
i think he's a good actor, crazy, but a good actor.

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[info]morningmasamune
2008-05-16 05:12 pm UTC (link)
IA

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[info]_hearmyvoice
2008-05-16 02:54 pm UTC (link)
Yes, he's a very good actor, but unfortunately he has let his crazy ass personal life overshadow that, and now that's all people can see when they look at him. A truly great actor keeps his personal life PERSONAL so that you immediately believe him in a certain role aka you see the character and not the actor.

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[info]principino
2008-05-16 02:56 pm UTC (link)
You have hot icons but idawyc about "Magnolia". He was embarrassing in that film. Easily the film's worst performance.

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[info]madvoldie
2008-05-16 02:59 pm UTC (link)
where's xenuuuuu?

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[info]bloblawslawblog
2008-05-16 03:03 pm UTC (link)
he's a horrible actor, and he looks and sounds like an angry chipmunk

yeah, i said it. although i found him to be an adorable little scamp in far and away

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[info]annie_oakley
2008-05-16 03:04 pm UTC (link)
I think he's a good actor, too. I think Denzel Washington would be the overrated one in that movie.

Or maybe I'm still bitter because American Gangster sucked so, so much.

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[info]turi
2008-05-16 03:10 pm UTC (link)
oprah, quit egging tom cruise on.

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[info]dianalily
2008-05-16 03:11 pm UTC (link)
A++ for Bill Hicks.

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[info]docile_monique
2008-05-16 03:19 pm UTC (link)
tom cruise is a great actor, i don't get the criticism on his acting at all.

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[info]noye
2008-05-16 03:40 pm UTC (link)
Love Magnolia!!!

And I don't generally like TC's movies. But the plot of this one sounds very interesting.

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[info]trenthamfamily
2008-05-16 04:17 pm UTC (link)
I agree with you... he IS one of the best actors out there regardless of his personal life. I love him.

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[info]elveneyes
2008-05-16 04:19 pm UTC (link)
DITTO. :D

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[info]movielooney
2008-05-16 04:22 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, I agree. Tom is a great actor, he has that old school film star quality that is very rare these days. I actually love him all crazy also because he's so much fun like that so it's all cool.

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[info]angelicrealism
2008-05-17 04:32 pm UTC (link)
Ditto I said the same thing below. He's one of the few movie stars left. Crazy and what not, TC will always be iconic I cant say the same thing about Brad Pitt and others.

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[info]abbieisonfire
2008-05-16 04:29 pm UTC (link)
I was watching Collateral last night. It kicked off a Tom Cruise binge I think.


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[info]freeze_i_say
2008-05-16 04:36 pm UTC (link)
So Valkyrie's dead and buried already? lol

director Phillip Noyce

Rabbit-Proof Fence ftw

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

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[info]autophanous
2008-05-16 04:58 pm UTC (link)
that movie is so so so good.

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[info]freeze_i_say
2008-05-16 05:17 pm UTC (link)
It truly is. The story was very well handled, the girls were superb and Kenneth Branagh was so convincing. I was actually thinking about it when I read about the new Australian Prime Minister's apology to the stolen generations.

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[info]autophanous
2008-05-16 05:18 pm UTC (link)
I'm ashamed to admit that I had no idea about ANY of that before I watched the film. I think it's a crime that so few people outside of australia have ever heard of the stolen generations.

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[info]freeze_i_say
2008-05-16 05:25 pm UTC (link)
Are you australian?

I only had an inkling about all this in the early 90s when I came across (completely by chance) an article about how australian legislators were pushing for laws to be changed concerning aboriginal land owning and it happened to mentions the fence. At the time I was young, and in the context of the berlin wall, and the irish "peace" walls and cyprus it didn't sound so outlandish and I promptly forgot about it - till I saw the film.

I think it's a crime that so few people outside of australia have ever heard of the stolen generations.

I agree. Not necessarily to indict the empire for past crimes, but because shit like this is always round the corner in the present and because honesty about the past is the only way to ensure a just future.

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[info]autophanous
2008-05-16 05:30 pm UTC (link)
nope! american. :) still, this is the sort of thing that bugs me about the american educational system, because I think so many of us graduate with very, very little knowledge of other countries' histories. it's quite sad that things as serious and as horrifying as this are mostly swept under the rug -- the only reason I found out about the stolen generations was that I was browsing through random movies on netflix. and while I'm grateful that a movie HAS been made and that I got the opportunity to learn about the stolen generations, it shouldn't fall to chance browsing for people to learn. we need to be open and upfront about issues like this, even if they don't paint us in a flattering light.

honesty about the past is the only way to ensure a just future.

EXACTLY.

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[info]freeze_i_say
2008-05-16 05:44 pm UTC (link)
still, this is the sort of thing that bugs me about the american educational system

I think all educational systems tend to be insular but depending on the historical moment some tend to be more aggressively insular than others.

it shouldn't fall to chance browsing for people to learn

yeah but you see it wasn't exactly chance was it? You're an interesting person who seems open-minded and will take the time to browse through movies on netflix and not always go with the heavily promoted action flick of the week :)

Oh and well-made movie = 5 history books lol

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[info]autophanous
2008-05-16 06:06 pm UTC (link)
true. :( it's so frustrating.

netflix is totally a godsend. their recommendation feature is fantastic because it shows me so many wonderful movies that I would never have heard of, let alone watched, before. I think cinema can go a long way towards helping people understand things outside of their immediate scope -- for me, foreign film does wonders in getting me interested in the cultures and histories of other countries -- but that, too, can be frustrating. I see SO MANY PEOPLE negatively reviewing a film and complaining, 'BUT IT HAD SUBTITLES WAHHHH NO ONE TOLD ME I'D HAVE TO READ IT.'

gahhh. sorry, another pet peeve.

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[info]freeze_i_say
2008-05-16 06:23 pm UTC (link)
I grew up in europe and i'm so used to subtitles I find it hard to concentrate if they're not on lol. So I turn on the english for the hearing impaired subtitles cause my mind needs to see them :O it's kinda freaky actually.

As Colbert would be the first to point out, foreign movies with subtitles are for the elitist intelligentsia don't you know! I've always found that rather strange because usually those movies focus on the very opposite of elitist subject matters. I'm thinking of certain Iranian films who are about as human and far removed from stuffy academia rooms as you can get. And a pet peeve of mine is to assume that the average joe is a lazy xenophonic bill o'reilly fan who will never watch anything more challenging than the fast and the furious 4 so lets ban all ~*~challenging~*~ movies because it might scare average joe away, omfg!

/sorry rant


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[info]autophanous
2008-05-16 06:45 pm UTC (link)
really! what part?

one of the many things about living here (outside of richmond) that drives me insane is that it's practically impossible to find films that aren't mainstream in the theatres. I'm almost an hour away from the one theatre that plays foreign film, and it's only two screens and hardly ever gets things along with the rest of the world. it's really hit-or-miss as to whether limited release stuff will show up here on time, or at all, because who wants to see anything besides prom night and what happens in vegas? not anyone here, obviously! GAH.

I totally agree with you re: foreign film usually being far removed from the whole elitist academic stereotype. frankly, I find a lot of foreign film to be warm, human, and easy to relate to. so much of it seems much more REAL than what hollywood puts out. I'm not trying to get all 'blah blah everything hollywood does sucks,' because I certainly love my share of hollywood films, but I've often found that things that don't bear the stamp of hollywood have an entirely different flavour to them.

what are some of your favourites? :D

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[info]educate_sedate
2008-05-17 12:38 am UTC (link)
is that....kenneth branagh??

*squeeeeeeeee*

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[info]luna_incognita
2008-05-16 04:54 pm UTC (link)
I'll admit he's a good actor. At least in the pre MI2 days. (okay, add Collateral in there)

But...just these days, he SCARES me...a little...okay, a lot. Not only Scientology-wise, I just think it's the bizarre excessive laughing - I just think he's going to quickly cut to his serious intense face and then stab me while screaming "I'M GONNA KNIFE YOU BITCH".

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[info]demented_21
2008-05-16 04:56 pm UTC (link)
bb I wouldn't go as far as saying he's one of the greatest actors alive but I agree he's a brilliant actor. He was especially amazing in Collateral and Magnolia and he also escaped Interview With a Vampire unscathed (not to mention, he wiped Brad Pitt off the screen). He was also very good in Vanilla Sky, and the Mission Impossible movies (well the first two. Well, the second one mostly.) are awesome action flicks and he carried them like a true star.

Also, random, but you wanna know who I think truly is one of the best American actors alive? Nicolas Cage. Seriously. He is amazing. Bad movies aside (half of which are awesome like Cor Air etc), when he's in a good movie he just kills it. And he's made more good movies than people might think.

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[info]freeze_i_say
2008-05-16 05:32 pm UTC (link)
The Coppola family can do no wrong. And he was so fucking good in Leaving Las Vegas.

Oh and....

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

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[info]demented_21
2008-05-16 05:44 pm UTC (link)
Ahaha bb omg. I had forgotten all about his scary nipples.

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[info]freeze_i_say
2008-05-16 05:50 pm UTC (link)
his nipples fell just before his hair started jumping ship

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[info]countincrows
2008-05-16 06:42 pm UTC (link)
I agree about Cage, screw the haters. He's really great.

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[info]telegram_
2008-05-16 06:43 pm UTC (link)
I REALLY enjoyed The Weather Man.

And, of course...




LMAOLMAOLMAO

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[info]demented_21
2008-05-16 06:50 pm UTC (link)
The Wicker Man is THE BEST MOVIE EVERRRRRR. But this clip is so awesome it makes me regret the fact I actually watched the movie (I fast-forwarded through most of it but still).

I was left speechless when I realised Neil LaBute had directed it. Like, seriously?

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[info]caitinlv
2008-05-16 05:34 pm UTC (link)
I'm sorry but, call him crazy all you fucking want - Tom Cruise is one of the greatest American actors alive and I stand by that shit. I mean, his performance in Magnolia alone cements that fact

Word.

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[info]hello_lamppost
2008-05-16 05:57 pm UTC (link)
idk if he's one of the greatest American actors...


but A Few Good Men is one of my favorite movies of all time. he rocked the shit out of that.

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[info]countincrows
2008-05-16 06:41 pm UTC (link)
I love him as an actor, he's just crazy.

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[info]dennisaurus
2008-05-16 06:50 pm UTC (link)
tom cruise plays himself in every movie tbqh

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[info]beatslikebombs
2008-05-16 09:33 pm UTC (link)
idk. i think he always comes across the same.

people always ask me...have you ever met an sp? AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. diaf.

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[info]educate_sedate
2008-05-17 12:35 am UTC (link)
i'm not gonna argue with you, i'm just amazed cause this is the first time in years that i've heard someone say anything good about tom cruise

ps- bill hicks rules
"another dead hero"

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[info]angelicrealism
2008-05-17 04:29 pm UTC (link)
Ita I wouldn't say greatest actors alive but greatest movie stars. One of the few a listers today who is an icon and true movie star in every sense of the word.

But yeah he is a very good actor too, this plot sounds interesting.

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