Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Tom Cruise is saving the world this weekend. Again. The all-American hero and action film icon is back in the butt-kicking saddle in this weekend’s Edge of Tomorrow. The film, which is a slick adaptation of All You Need Is Kill, is getting rave reviews from critics who say it’s Tom Cruise at his finest. Cruise might be in rare form in Edge of Tomorrow, but he established himself as a major movie star in these five films from the past.
Top Gun
Top Gun is more than a movie-it’s a myth brought to life. From the bombastic music to the reflective aviators to the cool nicknames and scintillating cover of “That Loving Feeling,” Top Gun has carved out a place of honor in our collective psychology. It’s hard to imagine any other actor who could so perfectly handle the nerve of earnestly playing a character called “Maverick” with such earnest aplomb. Thank God for Top Gun and thank God for Tom Cruise.
Top Gun is available for rental on Amazon Prime, iTunes and Google Play.
Magnolia
Sure, Tom Cruise is a big time action hero, but he can also act. Cruise shed his all-American nice guy persona in 1999 to play Frank T.J. Mackey, a motivational speaker who espouses a philosophy that could be best summed up as “Extra Douchey Douchery.” This beautiful Paul Thomas Anderson film also features tour de force performances from Philip Seymour Hoffman, John C. Reilly, William H. Macy and Julianne Moore. However, it’s Cruise’s epic asshole who has lingered in our memories the longest.
Magnolia is available for rental on Amazon Prime, iTunes and Google Play.
Jerry Maguire
When you think of Tom Cruise and romance, your brain might jump to Cruise’s lovelorn leap on Oprah Winfrey’s couch, which is a shame because it should go to Jerry Maguire. Cruise played a sports agent who starts again from zero with the help of a winsome single mom played by an then unknown Renée Zellweger. Why not revisit Cruise’s most romantic moment of all time, when he declares, “You complete me,” and Zellweger cries that he had her “at hello.”
Jerry Maguire is available for rental on Amazon Prime, iTunes and Google Play.
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
Almost 20 years ago (yipes!), Tom Cruise nabbed the rights to the classic spy television series,Mission: Impossible. Now, a lot of movie stars have vanity films and pet projects. What setsMission: Impossible apart is that it’s not just a showcase for Cruise’s incomparable skills as an action star, but as a producer. Each film has been directed by an exciting director with a specific point of view about how to shoot action films (Brian DePalma, John Woo, J.J. Abrams and Brad Bird) and they all feature ensembles of up-and-coming actors. The most recent installment of Mission: Impossible featured Tom Cruise teaming up with Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner and Paula Patton to take on the likes of Blue Is The Warmest Color’s Lea Seydoux. It also includes a thrilling action sequence in a Dubai high rise (and a beautiful scene where Jeremy Rennerstretches that Cruise reportedly fought to put in the film.)
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is available to stream on Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Risky Business
Risky Business made Tom Cruise a movie star, and with good reason. The film centers entirely on teen fantasy. Cruise plays a privileged high schooler left alone who decides to use his freedom to date a call girl, drive his dad’s Porsche and to dance around the house in his boxers. Cruise was not only living every American teenage boy’s fantasy in the film, though. He became every teenaged girl’s (and some boys’) dreams.
Risky Business is available for rental on Amazon Prime and Google Play.
