1. Tom Cruise Tropic Thunder
For the longest time, all we saw Tom Cruise do is save the world or go through that familiar heros arc of being good at something, getting to the top of something, falling back, reaching the bottom and then finding redemption. We see it in all his films, from Top Gun to Cocktail. Seriously, you swap out planes for cocktails and youve got exactly the same film, minus the homoerotic undertones. So it really was a breath of fresh air when Cruise just decided to down tools and go hell for leather in the caricature part of Les Grossman. This really was the perfect storm of overacting Cruise wanted to let off some steam, the part was well written, and it practically demanded that he started to chew the scenery as soon as possible. While some of Tropic Thunder is too clever by half with its nudge-nudge wink-wink Hollywood inside jokes, Cruises foul-mouthed producer Len Grossman was a monster we could all get behind. Cruise was a surprising force of nature here whether telling rebels who hes mistaken for a rival agency to f**k their own face, or belittling everyone or anything, hes an absolute riot who you want to see again and again and again. To its credit, the film acknowledged this and made him dance to Flo Rida at the end. Cruise could not have played this part any better the film set the balls up for him, and he smashed every one of them out of the park. Agree or disagree? Feel free to comment!
Edward Owen
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Durham University graduate and qualified sports journalist. Very good at sitting down and watching things. Can multi-task this with playing computer games. Football Manager addict who has taken Shrewsbury Town to the summit of the Premier League.
You can follow me at @Ed_OwenUK, if you like ramblings about Newcastle United and A Place in the Sun. If you don't, I don't know what I can do for you.
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