Tag: Tom Cruise (21-30 of 82)

Sep 12 2011 12:00 PM ET

'Top Gun' being converted to 3-D, possible release date in 2012

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Image Credit: Everett Collection

By today’s franchise-baiting standards, the plot of Top Gun looks adorably simple in hindsight. Pilots with high self-esteem battle enemy MiGs, but they’re secretly fighting themselves, and also Kelly McGillis: In 1986, that was enough to make Top Gun the highest-grossing movie of the year. But as EW’s Christ Nashawaty pointed out in his recent review of the film’s 25th-anniversary DVD, Top Gun holds a troublesome place in movie history: Its adorably cheeseball squareness wound up setting the stage for the entire era of the modern Hollywood blockbuster, to the point that this summer’s Green Lantern basically felt like Top Gun with more digital effects and worse dialogue. Now, you can ponder the deeper societal implications of Maverick’s internal struggle with an entirely new dimension: According to a report in the Hollywood Reporter, Paramount is converting Top Gun into 3-D for a potential 2012 re-release. READ FULL STORY »

Jun 14 2011 06:50 PM ET

Tom Cruise as Lee Child's rugged Jack Reacher? Count us in!

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Image Credit: Michael Tran/FilmMagic.com

Tom Cruise is in talks to star as rugged former U.S. Army cop Jack Reacher in writer-director Christopher McQuarrie’s adaptation of Lee Child’s 2005 novel One Shot for Paramount, EW has confirmed. (Deadline first reported the news.) Cruise has apparently been circling Reacher for some time, which may come as a surprise to fans of Child’s best-selling thriller series. But even though Cruise doesn’t fit the physical description of Jack Reacher in the books (6’5″, 250 pounds, not particularly attractive), I think the now-middle-aged star would be terrific in the role. READ FULL STORY »

Jun 9 2011 03:00 PM ET

Josh Lucas in 'The Firm': Thankless task or golden opportunity?

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Josh-Lucas

Image Credit: Chris Hatcher/PR Photos

Though there’s no established rules, movies typically get translated into television shows, and vice versa, in one of two ways. A movie becomes a hit, like M*A*S*H, and the studio arranges to bring those characters to the small screen quickly thereafter. Or, a classic television show, like The Fugitive, is relaunched as a movie decades later for a new generation of fans. Rarely do you see what NBC is currently attempting: resurrecting a movie, The Firm, as a television series — 18 years after the Tom Cruise hit. Yes, In the Heat of the Night successfully pulled off a similar trick — 21 years after the original film — but typically, networks aren’t looking that far in the past for their next hit show.

That said, there’s some hope for NBC’s mid-season replacement. One, they have the John Grisham fanbase that bought 7 million copies of The Firm, a fanbase that, no disrespect to Cruise and director Sydney Pollack, rather preferred the book to the film. READ FULL STORY »

Mar 29 2011 01:25 PM ET

Rob Lowe spills on Charlie Sheen and the Brat Pack in 'Vanity Fair'

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Rob Lowe gives a taste of his upcoming autobiography in the new issue of Vanity Fair, including his reminiscences of his early days in Hollywood palling around with Charlie Sheen and Tom Cruise. “We competed to see who could play harder, then show up for work and still kick a–,” Lowe says of his hard-partying youth. So, who played harder: him or Sheen? “Charlie by a nose.”

In Lowe’s book, the actor writes that in their younger days in Malibu, Sheen was “one of a kind … a Polo preppy clotheshorse in a world of O.P. shorts and surf t-shirts” and “a wonderful mix of nerd … and rebel.” “At my house we are still saving money by not buying desserts,” comparing his life to the Sheens who lived nearby. “At Charlie’s house, it’s never-ending Häagen-Dazs, brand-new BMWs, a lagoon pool with underwater tunnels, and a lit, professional-grade basketball half-court.” READ FULL STORY »

Feb 2 2011 07:02 PM ET

Vanity Fair's Top 40 Hollywood earners include zero of this year's Oscar acting nominees: Are we surprised?

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Johnny-Depp-CameronImage Credit: Michael Tullberg/Getty Images; Juan Naharro GimeneJames Cameron tops Vanity Fair‘s carefully calculated list of Hollywood’s Top 40 earners in 2010, with an estimated $257 million (all but $4 million of it tied to Avatar, and that does not include $50 million of Avatar money from 2009). Johnny Depp comes in at No. 2 with an estimated $100 million comprised primarily of his paychecks for Alice in Wonderland, the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film, and The Tourist. Check out the full list – limited to creative types (stars, directors, and producers) and the money they earned from movies — and tell us what you find interesting. It’s not really a surprise — we all know Oscar noms don’t typically align with blockbusters — but none of this year’s Oscar acting nominees make the cut.

Jan 12 2011 03:40 PM ET

'Transformers 3,' 'Super 8,' 'Mission: Impossible 4,' and 'Tintin' are going IMAX. Which one will you most likely see on the big big screen?

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transformers-3Paramount has officially super-sized four of its biggest 2011 movies. According to the Wall Street Journal, the studio has announced that it will release J.J. Abrams’ mysterious Super 8, Steven Spielberg’s hotly anticipated Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, Michael Bay’s lunar-tastic Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and the curiously punctuated Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol on IMAX screens. Director Brad Bird actually filmed some action scenes for M:I:GP using IMAX cameras, and both Transformers and Tintin will also be shown in 3-D. Now, this all sounds very exciting, but there’s no way your fragile eyes can handle all these ginormous action films. So tell us, PopWatchers: Out of these four Paramount IMAX releases, which one are you most likely to see on the big big big screen?

Sep 10 2010 05:00 PM ET

PopWatch Rewind Week 4: 'Losin' It'

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Kids, we’re going to the happiest place on earth: Tijuana! The year is 1965. The music is nonstop incredible. And the mission is simple: Losin’ It. There have been many comedies about teenagers desperately seeking sex — Porky’s, American Pie, this week’s new release The Virginity Hit — but few can lay claim to such a sparkly group of alumni. Losin’ It was directed by Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential, Wonder Boys). Besides starring future director John Stockwell, future Cheers-dropout Shelley Long, and future comeback-kid Jackie Earle Haley, Losin’ It features a young Tom Cruise at the moment right before Risky Business made him a star.

Let us know in the comments if you remember this barely-available-on-DVD gem, and read on for a discussion about donkeys, Mexican stereotypes, the evolution of Teen Sex comedies, and the secret greatness of War of the Worlds.

Keith Staskiewicz: As soon as Shelley Long gets in the car, you know someone’s losin’ it to Shelley Long. Will it be the sullen one? No. Will it be the balding horndog? No. Will it be the little kid? No. It’s gonna be Tom Cruise.

READ FULL STORY »

Sep 1 2010 10:31 PM ET

Paula Patton joins Tom Cruise in the new 'Mission: Impossible' movie. Let's write her first scene!

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paula-pattonImage Credit: Charley Gallay/Getty ImagesEW has confirmed that Paula Patton (Precious) has signed onto the new Mission: Impossible movie as the female lead. (Deadline.com first reported the story.) According to a source close to the film — which stars Tom Cruise and Jeremy Renner, is produced by Cruise and J.J. Abrams, and will be directed by Brad Bird (The Incredibles) — it will not be a “reboot” as has been reported, but it won’t be titled Mission: Impossible IV either. As for Patton, she’s reportedly playing an up-and-coming agent working with Cruise’s Ethan Hunt. But since the film’s plot will likely remain locked in a pressure-temperature-and-sound-sensitive vault until much closer to the movie’s expected Dec. 16, 2011 release, Patton’s character could be anything from Keri Russell’s character in the Abrams directed Mission: Impossible III (i.e. a platonic teammate), to Emmanuelle Béart’s role from 1996′s Mission: Impossible (i.e. a seductress and double agent). So let’s wildly speculate and write Patton’s first scene! READ FULL STORY »

Jul 2 2010 02:58 PM ET

20 Years Ago: 'Days of Thunder' hits theaters

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Days-Thunder-Kidman-CruiseImage Credit: Everett CollectionTom Cruise carried on a big-screen love affair with high-velocity vehicles in films ranging from 1986′s Top Gun to this week’s Knight and Day. But no role ever captured the star’s hankering for horsepower better than hotshot NASCAR driver Cole Trickle in Days of Thunder, which raced into theaters 20 years ago this week. “Tom really does love to drive fast and dangerously,” says director Tony Scott (Top Gun, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3), who credits the star with dreaming up the movie’s premise along with producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson. “Cruise and Jerry and Don went to a school where you learn to race Porsches. That’s where it all began. They said, ‘F—, yeah! Let’s do a motor-racing movie!”

Of course, fast cars weren’t the only object of Cruise’s affection on the Thunder set. The star’s future wife Nicole Kidman was just 23 when Cruise (then 28) handpicked her for the part of his on-screen love interest. “Tom and [screenwriter Robert Towne] had seen Dead Calm, and they both had [the hots] for Nicole,” laughs Scott. And while their characters steamed up the screen, Scott says the couple — who married later that year — played it cool during the shoot. “They kept their distance on set, but there was an obvious, very strong connection that grew over the course of the movie. And you know the story from there.”

Jun 30 2010 08:22 PM ET

Tom Cruise made our Summer Must List!

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Tom-CruiseImage Credit: Nina MunozWhy does Tom Cruise belong on our Summer Must List? Because we’re rooting for him. Because we stopped caring ages ago about his religion and those few months back in 2005 when he went crazy. Because we’re tired of people dumping on him. Because at 48, he looks amazing. But mostly because we love movies and we love filmmakers who care about movies — and that would be Tom Cruise. No movie star has a longer, better track record for surprising and delighting us, whether he’s dancing in his briefs in Risky Business or playing a graying hitman in Collateral or losing his s*** in Magnolia or giving his masterpiece of a performance in Jerry Maguire or stealing Tropic Thunder as the profane studio exec Les Grossman. His sketches on the MTV Movie Awards last month remain a highlight of the summer. His new film, Knight and Day, goes well with a box of popcorn, but it isn’t a blockbuster. The truth is, movie stars aren’t the commodities they once were, and Cruise’s name above the title doesn’t guarantee massive box office. But it does mean that even if a film isn’t great, even if it’s not your cup of tea, it’s probably at least as good as it can be. Cruise is one of the most intuitive filmmakers in the business. That’s why the best directors (like Steven Spielberg, Michael Mann, J.J. Abrams, Stanley Kubrick, the list goes on) have signed up with him. And he has learned a lot from them. We’re looking forward to the day when Cruise isn’t expected to jump off buildings and generate huge opening weekends. We’d like to see him direct, and see him in more character roles that tap into his own anger and complexity and sense of humor. He’s on his way to becoming a kind of elder statesman of movies. Now he’s the guy who can teach young filmmakers a thing or two — and not just that it’s really hard to live down showing too much of yourself to the public.

For 116 more things we love, check out our Best of Summer special double issue, on newsstands now!

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