And a good old fashioned hero too! Right and wrong, winners and losers, it’s refreshing in its simplicity. Life is complicated enough, we go to the movies for a break.
My children at a Friday night supper keep me up to date on that man’s blunders and gaffs. The one kid is a total comic and mime and has Brandon taped we hose ourselves it’s such fun!
Cruise, all 5'7'' of him, is quite the liberal. In fact he returned Golden Globe awards he won back to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in 2021 because of its apparent lack of diversity in another progressive lunatic attack on an institution. It's not to disparage him, but it's nice to know you can find a bona fide Leftie attractive, manly, and hunky, NC.
Is it snark when pointed out that the hunk you like might be a part of the opposing team? Or is it truth? I personally think it's quite ironic..
You sound offended. Why?
Enjoy the actor, NC. He might be a raving progressive, but you prove that woke Dem guys can be masculine too. Plus make films that make people feel good.
In the movies, it seems to me the hunky good guy, me, shoots straight and hits what he is shooting at but the bad guys can't shoot worth a damn. That simply isn't true.
It was so wonderful to go to a movie with my daughter and son-in-law without feeling awkward because of endless gratuitous sex scenes and nauseated by relentless F-bombs. Is that really too much to ask of Hollywood?
I agree. My proposition: any producer, director or screenwriter who insists nude sex scenes are essential to their art should be required to strip naked in front of a camera crew, feign sex with a stranger, and have the footage posted on YouTube for all the world (and their families) to see. Because that's what they're forcing actors to do in order to remain in their profession.
It really depends on the context of the film. I agree with you about a gratuitous nude scene but sexuality is part of the human condition and many movies, especially smaller budget ones, tackle subjects such as relationships, marriage, etc. of which sex is a part.
I disagree. I am not saying it is never appropriate but there is much to be said for leaving something to the imagination. It can stimulate thought about a variety of scenarios as opposed to simple arousal.
Geez, we really waste a lot of time and energy thinking and worrying about Hollywood and its glitzy, coddled, billionaire stars. I just wish they'd make interesting films and then STHU. These self-congratulatory awards shows are of more interest to the glitterati then the general public. Good for Tom for making a popular movie, but whether or not he is awarded recognition within his own echo chamber is of no concern..
That's more or less what I was going to say. I don't care about Hollywood the same way I could not care less about British Royalty. Cruise is well paid for a job he does well. Period. Awards are nice, but there is something wrong with him if he cares deeply about them; and something perhaps more wrong with those who worry on his behalf.
And he is at heart an odd duck. Scientology is a weird religion/cult/lifestyle. It seems to do him good, but nobody who looks at the history of it cannot but be struck by how truly bizarre it got once L. Ron got into tax trouble. It started out well, but when they got into Thetans and levels, well, you form your own conclusion.
The documentary is "Going Clear", or at least one of them. I found it useful.
Aren't ALL religions kind of bizarre if you think about them at their core. For example, Catholics literally believe that, due to transubstantiation, the priest is turning bread and wine into literal flesh and blood, i.e. the religion is based on cannibalism. Orthodox Jews believe you can't walk around a neighborhood unless there's a piece of string around a bunch of poles and that it's OK for a non-medical doctor to chop a baby's penis. Muslims believe Satan urinates in the ears of people who sleep through morning prayers. Some Christian sects dance around with snakes.
NONE of this should be tax exempt beyond the money a religion spends doing actual charitable work because, by making churches tax exempt, it's forcing everyone else in the community to contribute their money to this nonsense.
Yes, but conversely Christianity preaches the value of love, and Judaism and Islam the value of piety, public mindedness, and integrity. Good is mixed with bad; and as far as tax exemptions, if the money is coming from private donations, no one who is not contributing is being affected in any way.
It's a staple of Left wing dogma that all money belongs to the State--which is to say specific individuals who are all corruptible and quite often actually corrupt--first, and only afterwards to the people who earn it. This is exactly backwards, but the only way you can say that NOT taking money constitutes a loss of any sort.
I always think the divorce statistics demonstrate the ambiguity of good and bad of religion well. The least likely to get divorced are Roman Catholics and Atheists!
What I noticed long ago is how irrational those who fetishize "Rationality" tend to be; and how thoroughly unscientific those who fetishize "Science" tend to be. Reason and skepticism and honest empiricism are all in my view obviously good things. But there is nothing worse than being a hypocrite about empiricism, since religious believers at least ADMIT they are believers. Believers who claim they only value evidence without being willing to examine all of it are just stupid.
..."religious believers at least ADMIT they are believers."
Not the first time I've responded this way to such viewpoint :
the best scientists also qualify their opinions as "beliefs" and hold them provisionally, tentatively, pending the ever-potential falsification of them by advances in the discovery of disconfirming evidence. Thus, the scientific view defends what are called hypotheses--not *known* facts or *proven theories*-- and holds it pending disconfirmation---which is supposed to be actively sought out.
Thus, biological evolution is a working *hypothesis", but as such, is the most thoroughly supported by empirical evidence of all such competing hypotheses -- and it has the merit of being susceptible to disconfirmation given sufficient evidence of that.
Since I made the decision to take my husband’s last name when we married in 1998 and became Annie Hall, people have shared various factoids about the movie of that name and about Woody Allen.
I will ask people who comment on my name if they know what movie that Annie Hall beat out for Best Picture in 1977.
None can name Star Wars. Yet which of those two has had greater cultural cachet in the years since?
One person with Hollywood connections observed safely that Hollywood disdains blockbuster success and worships artistry.
That being accused of pedophilia means that Woody Allen is now persona non grata, which gives this anecdotal experience a bitter twist, too.
He has so many good movies. Days of Thunder is pretty good too. The one with Cameron Diaz was good too. One could have a good movie fest with just Cruises films. He's got class. And the world needs more class.
I loved Days of Thunder. I actually never saw the Diaz one and it was filmed in my state of Massachusetts if I recall. I always thought it was cool his birthday is one day after mine 😊
Imagine that. From what I read "Prior to Collateral, Tom Cruise did not have live ammunition experience with a pistol and thus underwent extensive firearms training former SAS (British Special Air Service) operator Mick Gould and former LAPD SWAT Chic Daniel in order to reflect the Special Forces training that his character would have." I would say Cruise is more serious than some other actors we know around guns.
I agree. My favorite Tom Cruise movie. Recently on a Viking river cruise my wife and I often sat at the same table with John Sullivan who was a Golden Globe nominee for his visual effects in "Collateral".
That’s why he overlooked it scared of cancellation I think. Robert Downey Jnr played blackface today that movie wouldn’t make it to the big screen in fact it wouldn’t make it to the production line. If you haven’t seen do so now because I’m sure it will go on the cancel list shortly.
We are in fact a Naval Aviation family, and it was just a wonderful event for our family to see Top Gun - Maverick - IN A THEATER. My older son is a Naval Aviator, and my younger son is Autistic. My son was home from the Military for a weekend, and we got to see the film at Prospector Theater in Ridgefield, CT. It is just a wonderful theater for Special Needs workers, and they support all theater goers -https://www.instagram.com/p/CeLkZJrOMuj/
A Few Good Men is still one of my all-time favorite movies! "I want the Truth!" yells Cruise ...."You can't handle the Truth" Jack Nicholson yells back" !!!
Y’know, I have never understood that line. Did it mean something? Or was it Nathan Jessup’s way to try to shut off answering the question? I’m guessing the latter. The truth was fairly pedestrian—nothing very special or traumatic about it.
Jessup goes on to describe the context in which he made his decision, which is the truth he thinks Cruise’s character can’t handle. It’s right in the movie, and right after that line.
I just watched the scene again. There was exactly nothing in it that supported the statement that he couldn’t “handle the truth.” Jessup just ranted about honor and duty and was trying to divert the conversation away from the question whether he had ordered the code red.
Joe, the truth according to Jessup is that he ordered the Code Red, and he was RIGHT to do it. “Santiago’s death, while tragic, probably saved lives.” That’s what he means when he says that Kaffee (and those like him) can’t handle it. It’s the moral underpinnings they can’t handle, not the actual answer to a pedestrian question.
Agreed. He could not “handle” the truth. If he could have handled the truth, he would have seen the bigger picture, that his considerable but limited prowess as a lawyer would, in the end, weaken America. Which was exactly the point of both men’s decision making process.
Don’t forget the subtle and frightening performance in Collateral. So well acted that you forgot the actor was Tom Cruise, a skill largely forgotten in recent Hollywood.
No THAT's funny! Doctor my ass. Why is it that the least talented, most insipid holders of worthless degrees - having zero to do with medicine - insist on being called "Doctor." My actual Doctor insists I call him "Steve," which I will not do in his office.
A "doctor" just posted a rant on our local newspapers regarding Repubs "killing" trans children (subject was boys being barred from girls sports). He has a doctorate in stagecraft and teaches drama at the local college. Crazy.
Another loon who should be institutionalized but, instead, is permitted to infest young minds with patent nonsense. At what point do we put the hammer down on this lunacy?
As a dentist (arguably a “real doctor” to the laymen), there’s nothing more cringe than people who throw their title around. Especially, an academic “doctor”. Most of my kids friends call me “Mr ray”, sometimes my patients will even say it or presumptuously call me by my first name. I literally don’t care because I’m not an insecure twat who needs the validation of having my metaphorical penis massaged by others to feel important and maintain self worth. Dr. Jill lol
I'm with you. I had to stop people from calling me Your Highness or The Exalted One, especially in public or when they dropped to their knees and put their foreheads on my feet.
I know a number of black ministers personally that call themselves “Dr.” I’m assuming as a mimicry of MLK. Your story is absolute cringe, it’s taken to absurd proportions when they never even went to divinity school to begin with.
I really enjoyed Top Gun Maverick. I think it’s coming to Prime on March 25 so I’ll definitely see it again and again. It really should get the Best Movie but no doubt that will go to some weird woke unwatchable garbage.
So what if it had implausible moments. It was so feel good. And faced with absolute dumb slugs and literal traitors like Milley and affirmative action Austin and commie Brennan and Clapper we need the belief that maybe somewhere a Maverick does exist along with a Scot Harvath or a Mitch Rapp because the absence is too depressing to contemplate.
With all due respect, you can lead a horse to water, but...
Is there anyone in Hollywood who rises to the level of a Jimmy Stewart who joined the Army Air Corp and contributed to the comfortable life we have all had for the last 78 years? And it was not without personal sacrifice - he collapsed from PTSD after a bombing run, living with fear and terror that few of us have ever had to live with.
Sure, our country has its flaws - but has Hollywood contributed to their solution or exacerbated them.
Thank you for reading - please accept my comment as sincere.
Audie Murphy? He is not as recognizable as an actor (made 40 films) but he was one of the most highly decorated soldiers in WWII. Which is more important, valor in combat or reputation as an actor?
I think the question is more about the intelligence to perceive the threat and the courage to confront it.
Where is that courage in Holywood?
Consider Hollywood at this point in time. Identify as a conservative - you get no work. There are a couple real issues here.
First, the culture cuts off and intimidates maybe 40% of the workforce. Those individuals withhold their viewpoint and creative input out of fear for their job.
Second, they cut off half their customers. Maybe not at first - but over time it becomes obvious.
Now they wonder why a single movie, that refuses to kiss up to the CCP succeeds.
You can fix a lot of things - but you can't fix stupid.
Top Gun was a breath of fresh air amidst an array of absolute garbage spewing from Hollywood. You can no longer turn on a streaming service or movie without encountering R and X rated content. Cruise will not be acknowledged for this by the Academy, but viewers have certainly spoken with their monies.
Tom Cruise is one of my favorite actors, and his movies are fantastic, especially when you consider that he does his own stunts. I agree that he deserves an Oscar for that, several in fact. He was once married to Nicole Kidman, who would distract me beyond hope were I married to her, yet the hits kept coming. OK, he has some weird side interests, like woke and Scientology. But as a film star, he is superb.
Mar 11, 2023·edited Mar 11, 2023Liked by Titus Techera
I was a teenager when Risky Business came out and have been along for Cruise's ride. He has earned every million he has by working his ass off which is the American way. I don't care for some of his social bullshyte that comes with millions, but my hat is off to him.
You guys forgot what I thought was a pretty good performance in Reacher.
Cruise as the vampire Lestat in Interview with a Vampire, one of Anne Rice's novels is another example. I never could enjoy the movie because Lestat was tall, thin, with long blonde hair, white pasty skin and Eastern European features. Basically the opposite of Cruise.
I had the same reaction when I heard Tom Cruise was cast as Reacher, since I have read all the Reacher books. That skepticism made me all the more impressed with his performance.
Author and creator of the "Jack Reacher" character, Lee Child, asked about this matter, disagreed with critics who argued that T.C.'s stature rendered him unsuitable as representing the character of J.R.
Top Gun us the first movie I've seen IN YEARS that I've enjoyed so much that I highly recommended it to friends and family. (Coming from a guy who's not easily impressed)
Better give Tom that Oscar - he sure as hell deserves it!
Proving that we do love hunky, tough, manly men who can do insane shit then sweep us off our feet.
And a good old fashioned hero too! Right and wrong, winners and losers, it’s refreshing in its simplicity. Life is complicated enough, we go to the movies for a break.
Your last sentence is true for men and women
Very true, skinny.
We really do
Like Joe Biden? LOL
My children at a Friday night supper keep me up to date on that man’s blunders and gaffs. The one kid is a total comic and mime and has Brandon taped we hose ourselves it’s such fun!
Cruise, all 5'7'' of him, is quite the liberal. In fact he returned Golden Globe awards he won back to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in 2021 because of its apparent lack of diversity in another progressive lunatic attack on an institution. It's not to disparage him, but it's nice to know you can find a bona fide Leftie attractive, manly, and hunky, NC.
Lee Morris—- are you the same “big” guy who has posted snarky comments to me in the past?
Is it snark when pointed out that the hunk you like might be a part of the opposing team? Or is it truth? I personally think it's quite ironic..
You sound offended. Why?
Enjoy the actor, NC. He might be a raving progressive, but you prove that woke Dem guys can be masculine too. Plus make films that make people feel good.
But yeah, I’m the snarky guy..
In answer to your question.
NC, are you talking about me?
In the movies, it seems to me the hunky good guy, me, shoots straight and hits what he is shooting at but the bad guys can't shoot worth a damn. That simply isn't true.
I guess that is why movies are called fantasy.
NCMaureen: Beautiful!
It was so wonderful to go to a movie with my daughter and son-in-law without feeling awkward because of endless gratuitous sex scenes and nauseated by relentless F-bombs. Is that really too much to ask of Hollywood?
Absolutely 💯. You said it. What a nice break from that this was. More of this please. 🙌
I agree. My proposition: any producer, director or screenwriter who insists nude sex scenes are essential to their art should be required to strip naked in front of a camera crew, feign sex with a stranger, and have the footage posted on YouTube for all the world (and their families) to see. Because that's what they're forcing actors to do in order to remain in their profession.
It really depends on the context of the film. I agree with you about a gratuitous nude scene but sexuality is part of the human condition and many movies, especially smaller budget ones, tackle subjects such as relationships, marriage, etc. of which sex is a part.
I can't think of a single good reason why I need to watch someone else have sex on a movie screen. Not one.
Well certainly not if you are living a full and satisfying life. 😉
Maybe you just solved a mystery!
I disagree. I am not saying it is never appropriate but there is much to be said for leaving something to the imagination. It can stimulate thought about a variety of scenarios as opposed to simple arousal.
Right, but I'm thinking of something like Big Little Lies where
SPOILER ALERT
Nicole Kidman's character has the seemingly perfect marriage and then, during sex, her husband shockingly beats her. That was critical to the story.
Which means it was not gratuitous.
Genius idea!
Geez, we really waste a lot of time and energy thinking and worrying about Hollywood and its glitzy, coddled, billionaire stars. I just wish they'd make interesting films and then STHU. These self-congratulatory awards shows are of more interest to the glitterati then the general public. Good for Tom for making a popular movie, but whether or not he is awarded recognition within his own echo chamber is of no concern..
That's more or less what I was going to say. I don't care about Hollywood the same way I could not care less about British Royalty. Cruise is well paid for a job he does well. Period. Awards are nice, but there is something wrong with him if he cares deeply about them; and something perhaps more wrong with those who worry on his behalf.
And he is at heart an odd duck. Scientology is a weird religion/cult/lifestyle. It seems to do him good, but nobody who looks at the history of it cannot but be struck by how truly bizarre it got once L. Ron got into tax trouble. It started out well, but when they got into Thetans and levels, well, you form your own conclusion.
The documentary is "Going Clear", or at least one of them. I found it useful.
Aren't ALL religions kind of bizarre if you think about them at their core. For example, Catholics literally believe that, due to transubstantiation, the priest is turning bread and wine into literal flesh and blood, i.e. the religion is based on cannibalism. Orthodox Jews believe you can't walk around a neighborhood unless there's a piece of string around a bunch of poles and that it's OK for a non-medical doctor to chop a baby's penis. Muslims believe Satan urinates in the ears of people who sleep through morning prayers. Some Christian sects dance around with snakes.
NONE of this should be tax exempt beyond the money a religion spends doing actual charitable work because, by making churches tax exempt, it's forcing everyone else in the community to contribute their money to this nonsense.
Yes, but conversely Christianity preaches the value of love, and Judaism and Islam the value of piety, public mindedness, and integrity. Good is mixed with bad; and as far as tax exemptions, if the money is coming from private donations, no one who is not contributing is being affected in any way.
It's a staple of Left wing dogma that all money belongs to the State--which is to say specific individuals who are all corruptible and quite often actually corrupt--first, and only afterwards to the people who earn it. This is exactly backwards, but the only way you can say that NOT taking money constitutes a loss of any sort.
I always think the divorce statistics demonstrate the ambiguity of good and bad of religion well. The least likely to get divorced are Roman Catholics and Atheists!
What I noticed long ago is how irrational those who fetishize "Rationality" tend to be; and how thoroughly unscientific those who fetishize "Science" tend to be. Reason and skepticism and honest empiricism are all in my view obviously good things. But there is nothing worse than being a hypocrite about empiricism, since religious believers at least ADMIT they are believers. Believers who claim they only value evidence without being willing to examine all of it are just stupid.
..."religious believers at least ADMIT they are believers."
Not the first time I've responded this way to such viewpoint :
the best scientists also qualify their opinions as "beliefs" and hold them provisionally, tentatively, pending the ever-potential falsification of them by advances in the discovery of disconfirming evidence. Thus, the scientific view defends what are called hypotheses--not *known* facts or *proven theories*-- and holds it pending disconfirmation---which is supposed to be actively sought out.
Thus, biological evolution is a working *hypothesis", but as such, is the most thoroughly supported by empirical evidence of all such competing hypotheses -- and it has the merit of being susceptible to disconfirmation given sufficient evidence of that.
Since I made the decision to take my husband’s last name when we married in 1998 and became Annie Hall, people have shared various factoids about the movie of that name and about Woody Allen.
I will ask people who comment on my name if they know what movie that Annie Hall beat out for Best Picture in 1977.
None can name Star Wars. Yet which of those two has had greater cultural cachet in the years since?
One person with Hollywood connections observed safely that Hollywood disdains blockbuster success and worships artistry.
That being accused of pedophilia means that Woody Allen is now persona non grata, which gives this anecdotal experience a bitter twist, too.
“One person with Hollywood connections observed safely that Hollywood disdains blockbuster success and worships artistry.”
Hollywood worships what they think the other “cool kids” will claim is artistry
Persona non grata? I think Woodie Allen is an original role model for the modern left. Along with Roman Polanski.
Woody Allen..the poster creeper (as opposed to the poster child…)
Think he stopped because of an early cancellation of his career. The WA cancellation was years early than the current woke garbage.
Yes, one of his friends in NY told me that Annie Hall was the last funny movie he’d done!
Annie Hall I s my favorite film
Disappointed the author overlooked his performance in Tropic Thunder. The guy can do it all.
Recently watched “Collateral” where he is a psychopathic assassin with Jamie Fox. Great film and very scarily evil
He has so many good movies. Days of Thunder is pretty good too. The one with Cameron Diaz was good too. One could have a good movie fest with just Cruises films. He's got class. And the world needs more class.
Knight and Day is one of his best. Pretty much Cruise being Cruise. Collateral is another film I’ll flip to. Awesome action in the dance club scene.
I loved Days of Thunder. I actually never saw the Diaz one and it was filmed in my state of Massachusetts if I recall. I always thought it was cool his birthday is one day after mine 😊
Great flick. He trained how to use a gun in that. Scary good movie
And nobody really died? Hmmm.
Imagine that. From what I read "Prior to Collateral, Tom Cruise did not have live ammunition experience with a pistol and thus underwent extensive firearms training former SAS (British Special Air Service) operator Mick Gould and former LAPD SWAT Chic Daniel in order to reflect the Special Forces training that his character would have." I would say Cruise is more serious than some other actors we know around guns.
And I agree.
I agree. My favorite Tom Cruise movie. Recently on a Viking river cruise my wife and I often sat at the same table with John Sullivan who was a Golden Globe nominee for his visual effects in "Collateral".
This was the movie that convinced me that he’s a national treasure.
That was Risky Business all the way at the other end of his career.
I was about to comment on that omission, too. Totally agree, thanks!
Wait. How *did* the author overlook Tropic Thunder given its obvious knocks on Hollywood?!
That’s why he overlooked it scared of cancellation I think. Robert Downey Jnr played blackface today that movie wouldn’t make it to the big screen in fact it wouldn’t make it to the production line. If you haven’t seen do so now because I’m sure it will go on the cancel list shortly.
He was hilarious.
He was hilarious.
Hi LZ, Tropic Thunder was Robert Downy, Jr.
RD Jr was indeed in Tropic Thunder, and Tom Cruise played his agent.
LZ, I stand corrected. 😌
We are in fact a Naval Aviation family, and it was just a wonderful event for our family to see Top Gun - Maverick - IN A THEATER. My older son is a Naval Aviator, and my younger son is Autistic. My son was home from the Military for a weekend, and we got to see the film at Prospector Theater in Ridgefield, CT. It is just a wonderful theater for Special Needs workers, and they support all theater goers -https://www.instagram.com/p/CeLkZJrOMuj/
Thanks Tom Cruise and Prospector Theater
#FlyNavy
Thank your family for their service to our country.
"AIR FORCE! We're the smart ones. Send the officers out to fight."
Tsgt Roosevelt Williams (Osan 1968)
This is the most wonderful post thank you for putting it up.
A Few Good Men is still one of my all-time favorite movies! "I want the Truth!" yells Cruise ...."You can't handle the Truth" Jack Nicholson yells back" !!!
Y’know, I have never understood that line. Did it mean something? Or was it Nathan Jessup’s way to try to shut off answering the question? I’m guessing the latter. The truth was fairly pedestrian—nothing very special or traumatic about it.
Jessup goes on to describe the context in which he made his decision, which is the truth he thinks Cruise’s character can’t handle. It’s right in the movie, and right after that line.
I just watched the scene again. There was exactly nothing in it that supported the statement that he couldn’t “handle the truth.” Jessup just ranted about honor and duty and was trying to divert the conversation away from the question whether he had ordered the code red.
Joe, the truth according to Jessup is that he ordered the Code Red, and he was RIGHT to do it. “Santiago’s death, while tragic, probably saved lives.” That’s what he means when he says that Kaffee (and those like him) can’t handle it. It’s the moral underpinnings they can’t handle, not the actual answer to a pedestrian question.
Agreed. He could not “handle” the truth. If he could have handled the truth, he would have seen the bigger picture, that his considerable but limited prowess as a lawyer would, in the end, weaken America. Which was exactly the point of both men’s decision making process.
“You said Grave danger?”
“Is there any other kind?”
Two different worlds, two sides of the same coin
OK—that’s the best explanation I’ve heard so far.
Thanks.
My problem is that I don’t get the “can’t handle” part. “Won’t agree with” maybe, but “can’t handle”?
As military courtroom scenes go, I’d rate Queeg’s cross-examination as far clearer than Jessup’s.
Can't face. Can't face the truth.
Or maybe it was just the sad contrast between Cruise's ability and Nicholson's?
Don’t forget the subtle and frightening performance in Collateral. So well acted that you forgot the actor was Tom Cruise, a skill largely forgotten in recent Hollywood.
His eyes(usually so twinkly and charming) were COMPLETELY dead in that movie. Amazing
“Tom Cruise Deserves An Oscar for Saving Hollywood’s Ass”
———————————————————-
Or we could just give him Woman of the Year.
He’d actually be more attractive than that fat Argentinian thing not a doctor Jill awarded.
You mean Sandwich Artist Jill Biden?
"Doctor" Jill????
No THAT's funny! Doctor my ass. Why is it that the least talented, most insipid holders of worthless degrees - having zero to do with medicine - insist on being called "Doctor." My actual Doctor insists I call him "Steve," which I will not do in his office.
A "doctor" just posted a rant on our local newspapers regarding Repubs "killing" trans children (subject was boys being barred from girls sports). He has a doctorate in stagecraft and teaches drama at the local college. Crazy.
Another loon who should be institutionalized but, instead, is permitted to infest young minds with patent nonsense. At what point do we put the hammer down on this lunacy?
NOW!!!
Could be worse, literally. He could have a masters in puppetry which is so obscure it’s only offered at UConn.
Doctorate in Stagecraft? So…..Public Health then?
I like you KD you’ve got a snarky sense of humor 😂
Yup - that's what they scream.
Meanwhile, "trans" is a big grown industry - especially for stressed out teen girls - and the "customer" is dropped when unhappy:
https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/us-sex-reassignment-surgery-market
"growth industry" of course.
I don’t get this.
Which don't you get, Idaho?
Sandwich artist.
People who work at Subway are referred to by the company as ‘sandwich artist’.
As a dentist (arguably a “real doctor” to the laymen), there’s nothing more cringe than people who throw their title around. Especially, an academic “doctor”. Most of my kids friends call me “Mr ray”, sometimes my patients will even say it or presumptuously call me by my first name. I literally don’t care because I’m not an insecure twat who needs the validation of having my metaphorical penis massaged by others to feel important and maintain self worth. Dr. Jill lol
I'm with you. I had to stop people from calling me Your Highness or The Exalted One, especially in public or when they dropped to their knees and put their foreheads on my feet.
I kinda liked it but it was totally unnecessary.
It's because you are a modest king, beloved of his people!
A family member has a doctorate in ministry. I almost laughed out loud when I saw an Amazon package on her doorstep addressed to “Dr. *** ***”.
I know a number of black ministers personally that call themselves “Dr.” I’m assuming as a mimicry of MLK. Your story is absolute cringe, it’s taken to absurd proportions when they never even went to divinity school to begin with.
And being the woman so interesting that she caught the eye of a future POTUS is not enough validation.
Harsh😉
Hahaha
I really enjoyed Top Gun Maverick. I think it’s coming to Prime on March 25 so I’ll definitely see it again and again. It really should get the Best Movie but no doubt that will go to some weird woke unwatchable garbage.
So what if it had implausible moments. It was so feel good. And faced with absolute dumb slugs and literal traitors like Milley and affirmative action Austin and commie Brennan and Clapper we need the belief that maybe somewhere a Maverick does exist along with a Scot Harvath or a Mitch Rapp because the absence is too depressing to contemplate.
Sadly, the fat clowns such as Milley and Austin are hounding the real warriors out of the services.
Milley is too busy calling up China. That piece of shit.
With all due respect, you can lead a horse to water, but...
Is there anyone in Hollywood who rises to the level of a Jimmy Stewart who joined the Army Air Corp and contributed to the comfortable life we have all had for the last 78 years? And it was not without personal sacrifice - he collapsed from PTSD after a bombing run, living with fear and terror that few of us have ever had to live with.
Sure, our country has its flaws - but has Hollywood contributed to their solution or exacerbated them.
Thank you for reading - please accept my comment as sincere.
Audie Murphy? He is not as recognizable as an actor (made 40 films) but he was one of the most highly decorated soldiers in WWII. Which is more important, valor in combat or reputation as an actor?
I think the question is more about the intelligence to perceive the threat and the courage to confront it.
Where is that courage in Holywood?
Consider Hollywood at this point in time. Identify as a conservative - you get no work. There are a couple real issues here.
First, the culture cuts off and intimidates maybe 40% of the workforce. Those individuals withhold their viewpoint and creative input out of fear for their job.
Second, they cut off half their customers. Maybe not at first - but over time it becomes obvious.
Now they wonder why a single movie, that refuses to kiss up to the CCP succeeds.
You can fix a lot of things - but you can't fix stupid.
Top Gun was a breath of fresh air amidst an array of absolute garbage spewing from Hollywood. You can no longer turn on a streaming service or movie without encountering R and X rated content. Cruise will not be acknowledged for this by the Academy, but viewers have certainly spoken with their monies.
Bravo to this piece. Tom Cruise deserves this award 100%.
Tom Cruise is one of my favorite actors, and his movies are fantastic, especially when you consider that he does his own stunts. I agree that he deserves an Oscar for that, several in fact. He was once married to Nicole Kidman, who would distract me beyond hope were I married to her, yet the hits kept coming. OK, he has some weird side interests, like woke and Scientology. But as a film star, he is superb.
I was a teenager when Risky Business came out and have been along for Cruise's ride. He has earned every million he has by working his ass off which is the American way. I don't care for some of his social bullshyte that comes with millions, but my hat is off to him.
You guys forgot what I thought was a pretty good performance in Reacher.
Reacher & Edge of tomorrow, his best in 20 years. Also, very unexpected.
No. Reacher was absurd. Reacher is 6’4” 250 pounds.
Cruise is not.
Had it been another name it would have been fine.
That is why I thought it was a good portrayal.
Danimal you are correct, another great performance. Unwoke, if you’d never read the book surely I hope you’d agree.
But I have read the books. And cruise as reacher was too much of a stretch.
Cruise as the vampire Lestat in Interview with a Vampire, one of Anne Rice's novels is another example. I never could enjoy the movie because Lestat was tall, thin, with long blonde hair, white pasty skin and Eastern European features. Basically the opposite of Cruise.
I hear ya and I didnt like that flick at all.
I had the same reaction when I heard Tom Cruise was cast as Reacher, since I have read all the Reacher books. That skepticism made me all the more impressed with his performance.
I hear ya. I haven't read the book and started the movie kind of laughing, Cruise just hooked me in. Rosamund helped.
Alan Ritchson represents better.
Author and creator of the "Jack Reacher" character, Lee Child, asked about this matter, disagreed with critics who argued that T.C.'s stature rendered him unsuitable as representing the character of J.R.
Top Gun us the first movie I've seen IN YEARS that I've enjoyed so much that I highly recommended it to friends and family. (Coming from a guy who's not easily impressed)
Better give Tom that Oscar - he sure as hell deserves it!
I totally agree. Tom Cruise is a fantastic actor and deserves both your article and the award.