Tom Cruise Performances Movie Draft (w/ Andrew Fossier)

Eli (00:01.129)
Hello and welcome to the establishing shot of podcasts where we do deep dives into directors and their filmographies. I am your host Eli Price and we are here on episode 83 of the podcast today. We are coming off of a discussion of minority report, Spielberg's first movie with Tom Cruise. And so I have my guests from that episode returning this week, Andrew Fosier.

joining me to do a Tom Cruise performances draft, to yeah, I'm excited about this. it was kind of like the first thing I thought of was like a draft idea whenever I was like, maybe we should, what, what draft could we do that goes along with minority report? And I was like, yeah, Tom Cruise, you got to do the Tom Cruise performances draft. So,

Andrew Fossier (00:34.766)
Hello, happy to be here.

Andrew Fossier (00:52.663)
Yeah

Eli (00:57.787)
Andrew thankfully said yes to that idea and here we are. So yeah, we're going to, in a, a minute, we are going to jump into our draft, which is if you've never listened to a draft episode, it's basically, you know, you choose your favorites. it's always describe it as choosing your dodgeball team in the school yard. know, you got to get the best team so that you can win, also you might.

end up with maybe one or two in your on your team that aren't the best players, but are your favorites because they're your best friend, you know. And so, yeah, so we'll take turns and we're we're drafting performances of Tom Cruise, not the movie as a whole. So a lot of times those correlate like the quality of the performance will correlate with the quality of the movie, but not always. So.

Andrew Fossier (01:50.509)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (01:56.917)
There could be like a bad movie where Tom Cruise has a great performance in it. it's possible. So we'll see. but let's do that in a minute. thought it would be interesting to just like, think about Tom Cruise as a performer and movie star for a minute. so, you know, his, his career started. And back in the eighties, his first real like significant role was in the movie taps in 1981.

Andrew Fossier (02:13.229)
Yeah.

Eli (02:25.909)
which I have not seen. His breakout was really risky business in 1983. You know, have the iconic sliding in the socks and underwear and, know, right, same, same. I guess we're giving away that we're not taking risky business. But, well, that's good. You know, a neutral there with a risky business, but.

Andrew Fossier (02:31.651)
Mmm.

Andrew Fossier (02:37.964)
Yeah, I haven't seen that movie, but I've seen that scene, you know, yeah.

Andrew Fossier (02:46.443)
Yeah, yeah, now we're gonna get down, okay.

Andrew Fossier (02:53.304)
Yeah.

Eli (02:55.197)
Yeah, I mean, so that's kind of his breakout. then like Top Gun, feel like really solidifies him as like a star, you I don't know if you've seen the movie Legend or planning on taking it, but it's a weird, not great movie. But Top Gun really like solidifies Tom Cruise, I think. And he...

Andrew Fossier (03:03.182)
Mmm.

Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (03:17.294)
Mmm.

Eli (03:24.743)
He has an interesting career. really like.

Eli (03:31.522)
I don't know what it's the question. think the question that always comes up when you think about Tom Cruise is, is Tom Cruise a really great actor or is he just a really great top notch movie star? And I think those are two different things. but I don't know what, do you have any thoughts on Tom Cruise and his career?

Andrew Fossier (03:48.969)
Yeah!

Well, I would say, yeah, I mean, I don't have the like, I haven't seen all this obviously. But I would say.

Eli (03:59.647)
Right.

Andrew Fossier (04:03.97)
Definitely is someone I would categorize as a top tier movie star just in the sense of the spectacle that he brings to the roles. I don't know that he has an incredible amount of depth. I don't mean that as an insult. That's just really based on what I've seen him in. I know his earlier stuff is not very like his most recent and later most newest stuff. There we go.

Eli (04:09.524)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Eli (04:19.837)
Right. Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (04:34.53)
But when I think movie star, I think Tom Cruise. He's in the top, probably top three. I don't even know. I don't rank movie stars really often, but yeah, he's up there.

Eli (04:38.047)
Yeah, yeah.

Eli (04:42.279)
yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting. because I do think in, in some of his movies, he shows some range in his acting. but for the most part, he's kind of like the same steady timeless kind of guy. He's cool. He's like, he's not necessarily like fashionable. it's not like

Andrew Fossier (04:56.59)
Hmm.

Andrew Fossier (05:06.7)
Yeah.

Eli (05:14.037)
cool in that way. It's just more of like the gravitas of the personality he brings to his characters is just kind of like cool and enticing, I guess. It's not like George Clooney kind of cool where it's like, he's so like fashionable and like, you know, just, you know, I don't know, like he doesn't bring that sort of like movie star quality. It's it's kind of this different. He really like

Andrew Fossier (05:24.098)
Yeah.

Eli (05:45.065)
I think he really like plays into this more now, but he's kind of like, he kind of rides the line of feeling like an every man, but also like doing things that not everyone can do in his movies. If that makes sense. like even you just think of like Top Gun and Top Gun Maverick, he's like, he feels just like a normal dude, but also like he's the best pilot.

Andrew Fossier (06:01.696)
Yeah. Yeah, no, I mean.

Eli (06:14.963)
in the world, you know, so it's, but, but, but like, anytime he's in the plane, you're like, this dude's a hero. He's incredible. But then like, when he's out of the plane, it's like, he's, you know, he's kind of just like me. He's overcompensating a little bit. He's, he's dealing, you know, he's got his like relational issues. He's, you know, he's in with, you know, it's, it's kind of like, it's interesting. I think the, the kind of line he rides with that.

Andrew Fossier (06:15.406)
Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (06:30.721)
Yeah

Andrew Fossier (06:39.779)
Yeah.

Eli (06:44.605)
but man, really like for the, he's kind of like the defining actor for the eighties and nineties. He's just like, he's like the movie star for that era. think of, of movies. And it's interesting that you're more familiar with like his last two decades of stuff because, because like really like, I, I feel like.

Andrew Fossier (06:58.84)
Hmm.

Andrew Fossier (07:05.634)
Yeah.

Eli (07:14.161)
He's not a draw like he used to be. He is for a certain, you know, age bracket, obviously, that grew up with his movies. But it's not like I have to go see, for one thing, he doesn't make a ton of movies anymore. he's, he's pretty selective. He sticks with his personal little projects, but also it's not like I have to go see the new Tom Cruise movie whenever something comes out.

Andrew Fossier (07:21.154)
Uh-huh.

Andrew Fossier (07:29.622)
Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (07:40.44)
Mmm.

Eli (07:42.773)
in fact, here recently it's like, I have to go see the new mission impossible movie. And of course, Tom Cruise is like synonymous with that at this point. but also with Top Gun Maverick, it wasn't like, I have to see the new Tom Cruise movie. It's I have to see the new Tom Cruise as Maverick returning as Maverick movie. So I don't know. That's, that's an interesting wrinkle in his most recent kind of run.

Andrew Fossier (08:03.854)
yeah.

Eli (08:12.789)
But man, he really hasn't been. like, just looking, know, Dead Reckoning part one came out in 2023. And before that he had Maverick and then Fallout. And you have to go back to 2017 before there's a non Mission Impossible or Top Gun Maverick movie. that was American made.

Andrew Fossier (08:38.862)
Hmm.

Eli (08:42.441)
by Doug Lyman. So yeah, and not a very successful movie either. Yeah, I mean, he really...

Andrew Fossier (08:52.897)
Yeah.

Eli (08:58.329)
He's really been like going hard on the Mission Impossible movies every few years all the way stretching back to 96 with the first one and Yeah, that's been like his steady steady tried and true Thing for a while I Mean he is basically like Ethan Hunt now like that's it's kind of it kind of begs the question is like

Andrew Fossier (09:25.827)
Yeah.

Eli (09:27.089)
Okay. So if dead reckoning part two really is his last mission impossible movie, like what is he going to do next? because that's been like the defining part of his career for the past two decades. so, I mean, he's in his sixties now. So you, you kind of wonder, okay, is he going to redefine his career and maybe delve into

Andrew Fossier (09:42.413)
Yeah.

Eli (09:56.105)
trying to direct something or is he going to kind of play into the older guy that takes really, really great supporting roles and gets, you know, supporting actor nominations with for Oscars. You know, there's a lot of different directions his career can go, but I don't know. It's going to be interesting to see. He only has three Oscar nominations and he

Andrew Fossier (09:58.542)
Mmm.

Andrew Fossier (10:10.37)
Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (10:25.345)
that's surprising. Wow.

Eli (10:25.769)
He's never won an Oscar. He was nominated for lead actor for Born on the Fourth of July and for Jerry Maguire and then for supporting actor with Magnolia. He wasn't nominated for Rain Man.

Andrew Fossier (10:35.971)
Hmm.

Eli (10:47.571)
Yeah, he's

Eli (10:52.191)
Yeah, I don't know. He has an interesting career. But I do think if you had to boil it down, he is the penultimate movie star. When I go to see a Tom Cruise movie, I'm not expecting this depth of acting and emotion and all that.

Andrew Fossier (11:04.876)
Yeah, I think so too.

Eli (11:20.935)
You get some of that stuff with Tom Cruise, but that's not why I go see a Tom Cruise movie, if that makes sense. And that's okay. I think that's, I think that's a, I think that's a good thing. If all actors were that, and you never got someone that was just, I want to go see what he's up to and what crazy thing he does. Like you, you need those guys.

Andrew Fossier (11:28.908)
Yeah, yeah, it's really more.

Andrew Fossier (11:39.597)
Yeah.

The spectacle draw. for sure. I think it's, we got to talk about this in the last episode, but yeah, he's just so incredibly talented in those things and willing to take the risk. And the biggest thing is he's not putting someone else at risk. He's taking the risk himself. So that's also really interesting.

Eli (11:46.366)
Yeah.

Eli (12:04.381)
Yeah. Yeah. And it's, it's, it's like a respectable thing. It's kind of become a gimmick at this point to a certain degree is like, Tom Cruise does all the stunts. and you know, and that it's a gimmick, also like, it's even knowing that it's still like very respectable, you know, as just an actor and a person like that wants to

hone his craft and do everything himself and do everything as real as possible. it's just very respectable. Even if like, I don't know, I don't know a ton about his personal life or like who he, what kind of person he is outside of the movies, but just as an actor and someone that's just honing his craft and trying to

Andrew Fossier (12:39.725)
Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (12:52.216)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (13:01.941)
make a certain kind of movie very respectable like to the today. mean to to be to be 60 years old and doing the things he's doing in these Mission Impossible movies is just it really is incredible. It's undeniably incredible. So and yeah I mean you have safety gear on and you're attached and you're cables but it's

Andrew Fossier (13:09.143)
Yeah, yeah.

Andrew Fossier (13:17.432)
Haha.

Andrew Fossier (13:21.666)
Yeah, quite incredible.

Eli (13:31.623)
It's not stuff most of us would do, you know, even knowing that we're perfectly safe, you know, and true. The reality is even with all the stuff they have in place, it's still not a hundred percent safe. but yeah, let's, let's transition and jump into the draft. I'm going to let Andrew have the first pick. Cause he was, he's tech, this is

Andrew Fossier (13:34.471)
yeah, for sure.

Andrew Fossier (13:47.872)
Yeah.

Eli (14:01.503)
technically not his second movie draft. was with me for the Christmas movie draft and I'm not sure where we picked for that one. So I'm just going to default and give you the first pick. But if you come back on for a movie draft, I will take the first pick.

Andrew Fossier (14:17.422)
yeah, I figured that was, I figured that was, I'm fine with that because I am very pleased with my first choice. So I appreciate it. You know, I feel bad though, because I think this was my first pick for spy movies as well. Potentially that's going to be Mission Impossible Fallout. That is my, that is my pick for my first pick. That is, the.

Eli (14:26.525)
Lay it on me. Lay it on me. What you got?

Eli (14:34.933)
let's hear it.

Eli (14:39.932)
Okay.

Eli (14:44.957)
No. Great pick.

Andrew Fossier (14:46.766)
Okay, I know it's not about other actors, it's specifically Tom, right? But it's hard for me to differentiate the movie from his acting, right? It feels so connected. But man, that fight scene in the bathroom, and the Henry Cavill arm reload, such a good scene.

Eli (14:50.878)
Yes.

Eli (14:55.902)
Right.

Eli (15:00.03)
yeah.

Eli (15:05.631)
So what, why would you pick, so I was thinking about this, cause I was looking at all the Mission Impossibles. Why would you pick his performance and this one over all the other ones? Like what is the standout thing for you for Fallout?

Andrew Fossier (15:20.026)
I think this is where it gets tricky for me because it has been a sec. I really should have rewatched all of these before, before this draft. But the thing that's stuck so close with me is all the performances that he did with the action stuff and the movie itself just stuck with me. It has stuck with me like every time I think about it, I'm like, my gosh, it's such a good movie. And so

Eli (15:31.742)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (15:41.812)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (15:46.378)
Is that explicitly because of his incredible performance? I would say, think definitely it's up there. It's my favorite. It's my favorite Mission Impossible. Yeah. So that's probably, I'm not specifically breaking it down, maybe as granular as we were meant to for the draft, but that's, it's my favorite Mission Impossible. And I really liked his performance there. And so that's kind of my weight. Yeah.

Eli (15:51.155)
Yeah. Yeah.

It is mine too.

Eli (16:11.914)
Yeah.

Yeah, I think for me, I would say, cause I was kind of wrestling with this and another one, but I think I would have picked this one as like my top mission and possible performance. And I think it's because in this one, get some, we get some extra stuff about the character kind of fleshed out a little bit more, then, you know,

Andrew Fossier (16:40.546)
Yeah.

Eli (16:44.457)
building off of stuff that's happened in the past movies, building on some extra kind of like backstory to him, a little bit more emotional depth to the character. And then on top of all that, something that's fallout started kind of wrestling with is the further along you get in the Mission Impossible movies, the more fragile Ethan Hunt gets.

Andrew Fossier (17:13.527)
Yeah.

Eli (17:14.032)
And Fallout is like, feels like the culmination of that. Of course it like progresses into Dead Reckoning part one and probably two as well. But Fallout feels, he just, I don't know, he's in a sense reckoning with his age, and as an agent, but also like metatextually in real life, like how much longer can I do this?

Andrew Fossier (17:24.567)
Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (17:42.102)
Yeah.

Eli (17:42.654)
Is it worth it? know? But yeah, I think that plays into why it's probably the best of all of them.

Andrew Fossier (17:53.844)
Yeah, and I know it's directly foiled with, or not foiled, but it's related to the physical performances of the other actors in that fight scene, but that bathroom fight scene is just, it's such a good performance in so many ways that it's like, it's one of those things where it's like, I watch fight scene breakdowns and it's always in, you know, everyone's top.

Eli (18:08.925)
it's incredible, yeah.

Andrew Fossier (18:22.168)
It was just so visceral and yeah, it's just, it's a really good scene. so probably, yeah, probably the physical stunts and like, what you were saying about the deeper connection with the character and yeah, it's a really good, really good movie and a top tier performance from him as well.

Eli (18:23.679)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Eli (18:34.954)
Yeah.

Eli (18:41.833)
Yeah, absolutely. I agree. I'm glad you took it. Cause now now that frees me up to take some other stuff. Man, first choice is really hard. I.

Eli (19:05.299)
This is, it's hard because do I want to pick? There's a, there's a big performance that I think is really good. And I'm not sure if that's where I want to go first or if I want to take something else. I think so I'll do this. I

Andrew Fossier (19:17.965)
Okay.

Eli (19:25.183)
Rewatched this movie because I hadn't seen it in a long time for this draft And I remember thinking this movie was good when I watched it in the past But when I rewatched this time, I was like this movie is great. And that's Jerry Maguire He it's just a great movie and it all just revolves around Tom Cruise, it's like the ultimate you haven't seen Jerry Maguire

Andrew Fossier (19:40.056)
Mm.

Andrew Fossier (19:50.254)
Yeah, I haven't seen it. No, I know a little bit about it and knowing about Tom Cruise, but not I haven't seen it.

Eli (19:55.668)
Yeah.

Yeah. You also forget like how many just great lines the movie has that people say all the time. Like help me help you, and show me the money and you know, you complete me and, I don't know. There's, I'm forgetting one of them that really stood out. but yeah, it's, it's a great movie. It's just.

Andrew Fossier (20:04.694)
yeah.

Andrew Fossier (20:08.226)
Hahaha

Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (20:26.338)
Wow, yeah.

Eli (20:28.357)
I don't know it. I don't know what I was thinking was just like, I think I moved it from like, seven and like a seven out of 10 or like a three and a half star to a four and a half star. Cause I was like, this movie is just great. Is it corny at times? Yes. But it's just, it's just so well done. And Cruz is just great in it. Like there's a reason this is one of his Oscar nominations. he shows some emotional range.

Andrew Fossier (20:48.237)
Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (20:55.853)
Hmm.

Eli (20:58.281)
He's funny. He's energetic. He's dealing with loneliness in the movie. Like there's a kind of this loneliness to the character. This kind of... I think part of it too is just this very relatable struggle with how do I open myself up emotionally to somebody else.

Eli (21:28.147)
You know, that is very relatable for just probably like our generation of males, you know, and in America, like how do I emotionally express myself and open myself up to another human like being that I love, you know? yeah, it's a great movie, just a really great movie and him and, Kubrick getting junior.

Andrew Fossier (21:36.173)
Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (21:48.13)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (21:55.743)
Their chemistry is just phenomenal. just, they make me laugh and like also tear up. Like I even teared up at one scene with them. Like just great. Just a great movie. A great Tom Cruise performance. Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (22:14.286)
Yeah, I'll have to watch it.

Eli (22:16.457)
Yeah, you it's on, you know, for the listener, it might not be by the time the episode comes out, but right now it's on Paramount plus. Yeah.

Eli (22:29.139)
Yeah, you're up. What's, what are, what are you going to pick now?

Andrew Fossier (22:31.06)
Okay, my second pick is going to be Edge of Tomorrow. I kind of have list of movies and I haven't actually ranked them so I'm doing it real time. Just going how I feel right now. Edge of Tomorrow. Did you see that one?

Eli (22:39.42)
Okay.

Eli (22:44.597)
I love it.

Yes, I saw this in my small college town theater. It had two screens. And I remember going and seeing it and loving it, but I haven't seen it since then. So, you know, it was hard for me to really know where to put it on the list.

Andrew Fossier (23:02.243)
Mmm.

Andrew Fossier (23:06.595)
Yeah.

Yeah, I'll-

Andrew Fossier (23:16.512)
Yeah, I don't know that it legitimately falls into second, but again, like to me, the interesting thing is...

the set pieces, because I remember they're just being, I mean, it gets kind of funny because it's just repetitive, right? He's, don't want to spoil too much, you know, but,

Eli (23:38.621)
Yeah, sure. It's Groundhog Day, but like, sci-fi version. Sci-fi war version.

Andrew Fossier (23:43.734)
Yes, but like, yeah.

And so there's the humor of that and the frustration that he expresses all the time with like, okay, I've already got to this point. Let me redo this thing. Okay, we've had this conversation 20 times. Don't do this. And then they do it. And so it's like, I just remember the depth of that being funny. And then the action is good. then, yeah, there's just a good, fun story wrapped up in that. And yeah.

Eli (23:50.025)
Right.

Eli (24:00.83)
Yeah.

Eli (24:07.88)
Yeah.

Eli (24:13.939)
yeah. I take that back. did not. This came out after I was out of college, so I would not have seen this there. That's what I had thought, but 2014 in the summer I would have been. I definitely saw it in theaters, but. Yeah, I remember really liking this movie a lot. Fun premise.

Andrew Fossier (24:16.258)
Fun is the wrong word maybe, but...

Andrew Fossier (24:21.029)
Andrew Fossier (24:31.574)
Yeah, me as well.

Eli (24:42.067)
You know, I did watch some clips on YouTube earlier today, but it just wasn't enough for me to gauge like how was the Tom Cruise performance. yeah, apparently good enough for you to draft it for your second pick.

Andrew Fossier (24:47.874)
Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (24:53.73)
Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (24:59.724)
Yeah, no, it stuck with me and like I said, it's kind of hard for me to actually parse out specifically Tom Cruise's implications on that. yeah, was also just interesting alien design as well. I know that's like super specific, but it just wasn't like, the humanoid aliens attacked. It's like these kind of creepy beasts.

Eli (25:11.967)
Riot.

Eli (25:20.511)
Yeah.

Eli (25:26.003)
Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (25:28.687)
Morphing shape things that, yeah, very interesting.

Eli (25:30.537)
Yeah. The feeling I get from just like my memory and also the clips I watched earlier today is what Cruz probably does well is just like the pro the progression of starting off like in control and important and you know, but then like getting into the loop situation and the progression of like

Andrew Fossier (25:48.654)
Mmm.

Eli (25:58.953)
confusion and being out of control of yourself to like gaining back that control and the gaining back that like Tom Cruise-ness I guess like where he's the he's the coolest person in the room and he's the person that's like in control and it's like he kind of it seems like that's kind of like what he does really well in the movie is to lose his Tom Cruise-ness and then to gain it back.

Andrew Fossier (26:09.9)
Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (26:25.134)
Hmm. Yeah, not that I don't want to. Yeah, I don't want to spoil too much about it. But basically, yeah, he starts off as like kind of a maggot. Like, I don't remember if he was trying to desert or something like that. Basically, not great. He is kind of bad. He gets thrown into this crazy situation and then finds himself in a loop. And he has to figure out how to win this war. it's.

Eli (26:34.002)
Uh-huh.

Andrew Fossier (26:55.022)
It does show him learning stuff and messing up and yeah. So I do, I do, have seen it, I saw it in theaters and I've seen it at least once since. So.

Eli (26:59.797)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (27:07.029)
Sweet. Yeah. okay. My man, you're really gonna, if you're not taking any of my top six, you're really gonna make me make a hard decision at some point. okay. For my second one, you have to get a Tom Cruise lawyer on the board. So I'm going to take,

Andrew Fossier (27:33.518)
Mmm.

Eli (27:35.679)
I'm going to take Tom Cruise as Lieutenant Daniel Caffey in A Few Good Men.

Andrew Fossier (27:43.82)
Nice. That was on my list. That is a good one.

Eli (27:45.053)
Eli (27:48.423)
It's a, it's a good one. And I actually had never seen it. and this draft was an excuse for me to finally watch it. It's been on my list to watch for a long time. I just had never gotten around to it. And so thank you, Andrew and, and, minority report for finally making me watch this movie. It's great. mean, the, the, you know, penultimate.

Andrew Fossier (28:00.994)
Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (28:06.35)
You

Andrew Fossier (28:13.82)
yeah.

Eli (28:17.685)
court scene where he, mean, acting across from Jack Nicholson and he's holding his, he's holding his own against that character as, you know, Kathy, as this young lawyer, but he's also, you know, metatextually holding his own as this young actor against this, like, you know, brute force of an actor and Jack Nicholson. so there's that going on too.

Andrew Fossier (28:24.278)
Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (28:44.461)
Yeah.

Eli (28:47.781)
yeah, love. I loved this movie. You know, I love all the, like, he has the cork of like the baseball bat that he has to hold to think. Well, which I love. Like, I think that's a great little like character thing that he does. yeah, he's great in this movie. Love it. And you gotta get, I had to get a lawyer, a lawyer cruise on there.

Andrew Fossier (29:13.774)
Yeah, yeah, I was contemplating making that my second choice. Yeah, it's a really good one. So I'm gonna go... This is gonna be controversial. I'm gonna go with Top Gun Maverick. Yeah, okay, cool. I feel better about that. I don't mean I don't enjoy the first Top Gun.

Eli (29:19.573)
You should have.

Eli (29:29.875)
Ooh.

Eli (29:36.469)
think that's the right choice.

Andrew Fossier (29:43.508)
I just mean personally movie to movie. I realized the second one wouldn't exist without the first one. I'm not discounting that. And I understand how well loved the first one was or the original was. But Top Gun, Yeah.

Eli (29:51.794)
Right.

Eli (29:56.245)
Hmm.

Eli (30:00.659)
I'm team Iceman by the way on the first Top Gun. Team Iceman. Yeah dude. The dude just wants to fly correctly and not put people's lives in danger. There's nothing wrong with that.

Andrew Fossier (30:12.482)
Yeah, I see that, but he's Iceman. can't, that's like, But yeah, don't know. Maverick to me just has the thing that I think I like most about Cruz is that older but still capable fighting.

Eli (30:17.695)
Dude, I'm team. Give me Val Kilmer, dude. Team Iceman.

Eli (30:34.686)
Mm-hmm.

Andrew Fossier (30:40.654)
the good fight kind of, you know, it's like he's capable and he's, but the older crews, I don't know, I just, really enjoy that for me more because it feels more almost like he's kind of himself looking at the first film. I know it's not that way, but like he's looking at the younger pilots and maybe seeing where he

Eli (30:43.09)
Yeah.

Eli (30:49.565)
Yeah.

Eli (31:07.284)
Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (31:10.22)
was, I don't know if it's really that introspective, but basically he's not the young maverick anymore. He's older, but he's still capable and he proved it to himself. so yeah, I think that's for me, the better of the two and definitely top tier for him. Yeah, just such a good example of his skill.

Eli (31:39.613)
Yeah, no, I mean, there there's so I think the first Top Gun just as a movie is just okay. That's my hot take is like, it's I don't know. I think it has.

Andrew Fossier (31:51.564)
Yeah. Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (31:57.43)
It's cool because of what it's about, but it's...

Eli (32:00.137)
There's, there's some cool stuff, but there's also like their romance of it all is really like corny and just like not for me. I don't know. It just, I think it's fine and fun enough where, know, you, know I'm going to enjoy watching it if I watch it, but just as a whole, I'm like, it's fine. Top Gun Maverick I think is real is a good movie. It's like a solid, like

Andrew Fossier (32:06.19)
Mmm.

Eli (32:29.461)
three and a half stars, seven out of 10, like just, I know I'm gonna like it every time I watch it and I would be happy to rewatch it. It's just like that kind of movie. Now it's not like, this is a masterpiece, you know, 10 out of 10. It's just like a solid like three and a half stars to me. But it is that degree of like that older Tom Cruise, like you're saying, of dealing with his station in life.

kind of like his Paul Newman era of, know, he's not the star anymore, but he's still got the gravitas and that star power and, you know, acting off of some younger guys that kind of have a similar thing going.

Andrew Fossier (33:13.207)
Yeah.

Eli (33:21.161)
And you know what? This wasn't going to be my next pick. I was going to hold off on this cause there's a couple, another performance. I'll, I think I like maybe more, but I'm going to go ahead and I think that makes me a good segue because he, Tom Cruise did act beside Paul Newman and, Martin Scorsese's movie, the color of money. And so I'm going to pick, Vincent.

Andrew Fossier (33:25.634)
Yeah

Eli (33:50.153)
from the color of money, Tom Cruise acting off of Paul Newman. I saw this movie maybe for the first time last year, I think. and well, by the time this comes out two years ago, but, I really loved this movie. It was so good. It's so fun. It's if you don't know, it's kind of a, haven't seen the Hustler, there's, an older movie and,

Andrew Fossier (34:09.591)
Yeah.

Eli (34:19.853)
60s maybe called the hustler with Paul Newman. He's kind of a bit like a billiards pool hustler Well and the color of money he's the same character he's older He doesn't really play anymore But Tom Cruise plays this character Vincent who's really good And Paul Newman kind of takes him under his wing

Andrew Fossier (34:28.654)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (34:48.712)
to, like better his game to teach him how to hustle like to, yeah. And so it's again, I'm pulling out the meta, like the meta textual thing, but it, the movie to me is just like this really cool. An actor kind of passing the baton to the younger, older actor passing the baton to a younger actor.

Andrew Fossier (34:54.637)
Uh-huh.

Andrew Fossier (35:12.098)
Yeah.

Eli (35:15.817)
while in the movie, you know, the characters passing the baton of, you know, the pool hustling to this younger, you know, version of himself. That's maybe even better than he was, you know, sort of thing. and I don't think Tom Cruise is a better actor than Paul Newman. I wouldn't want to imply that, but, but it's just a really good movie that has that element added onto it.

Andrew Fossier (35:28.717)
Uh-huh.

Eli (35:45.621)
And Cruz's performance is just great. He is cocky and,

Yeah, he's it's he wears a black t-shirt that just says his own name across it Vincent I've contemplated getting that made for like a Halloween costume. Just wear a Vincent shirt No one would get it, but I would be happy But and then there's this there's also this scene where he like defiantly goes and hustles where Paul Newman told him he didn't need to he would ruin it

Andrew Fossier (36:12.866)
Hahaha

Eli (36:23.881)
He would like ruin the hustle game if he did it, if he like showed out there, he goes back against, you know, the, Newman characters will, and runs the table while dancing and singing werewolves of London. which is just a phenomenal scene. Like only Tom Cruise could pull that off. yeah, the color of money, Vincent.

Andrew Fossier (36:28.302)
Mmm.

Andrew Fossier (36:39.917)
You

Eli (36:52.797)
Now I need to go get me a Vincent t-shirt made, because... yeah.

Andrew Fossier (36:55.704)
Do it.

Eli (37:00.425)
I'm assuming that was not on your list.

Andrew Fossier (37:00.682)
Okay. No, it was not. I have not seen it. Yeah. Just going to go watch your list after. I mean, I've seen a good men, I will go watch. Definitely watch the ones I haven't seen from you. So this is kind of, I'm going with this one because not my, my list is thinning out of ones that I really like. And so I want to leave my,

Eli (37:04.765)
Yeah, you should because it's a really, really good fun movie.

Eli (37:14.325)
the

Eli (37:26.089)
Mm-hmm.

Andrew Fossier (37:30.358)
I know. Basically, I'm picking this one and it's kind of maybe a dud of a movie. I don't think it did super good. But I'm going to go with 2013 Oblivion. That's another one for me that... Like a nit... really? Okay, well, yeah, I won't say anything as a spoiler, but it's...

Eli (37:48.223)
haven't seen it.

Andrew Fossier (37:59.438)
I don't think that the story is incredible. I don't remember, I don't feel like the story was what drove me to liking it. That was definitely the atmosphere and the style. The style and the atmosphere in that movie are really good, top tier. And I really like his performance in that. And it's a very different character than he plays in

Eli (38:09.045)
Mm-hmm.

Andrew Fossier (38:29.55)
any of the Mission Impossible or Taken movies because he's kind of just a loner doing his job for the situation he's in and things get turned upside down and he has to and you know do that he has to care and yeah so it's set also set against just incredible scenery it really reminds me and this might just be like a super

Eli (38:40.979)
Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (39:00.588)
Random reference if you haven't played this, the game... Death Stranding. Death Stranding is one the... Very atmospheric, environmental, and just beautiful. That's basically the only way it's the same. mean, it's post-apocalyptic and you're kind of a loner in a beautiful scenery place. Yeah, so I would say that's probably the only way it connects, but those two just...

resonate similar for me. So that's my fourth bit.

Eli (39:31.721)
Yeah. Yeah, sweet. Yeah, I haven't seen it, but I don't doubt that Cruz is good in it. yeah. okay. Oblivion. So you have one more pick. I have two more picks. okay. I'm going to probably just have to leave out a performance that might be, I don't know if better. It's definitely worth picking.

Andrew Fossier (39:39.202)
Yeah.

Eli (40:00.137)
but I like these other two movies and performances more. That's the problem. have like, I have six that I really want, but I only have five slots. Okay. I'm going to pick the movie that I was going to pick last pick, but the segue for the Paul Newman and Tom Cruise thing was too good to pass up on. And I'm going to take Tom Cruise at which

Andrew Fossier (40:03.31)
Haha.

Andrew Fossier (40:10.574)
Mmm.

Andrew Fossier (40:22.232)
Hahaha.

Eli (40:27.827)
I'm just realizing this now, his character name in this movie is Vincent as well. Tom Cruise as Vincent in Michael Mann's movie, Collateral from 2004, acting across from Jamie Foxx. Have you seen this movie?

Andrew Fossier (40:39.403)
Nice.

Andrew Fossier (40:45.614)
So I haven't, but I did see... I was looking at Tom Cruise movies and I realized, I saw Jimmy Foxx and I was like, that seems like a funny, that seems like a funny good duo. So I watched a little bit about it. I haven't seen it yet though. I haven't seen any spoilers. more funny might've been the wrong, and just seeing them play off each other. Yeah, yeah.

Eli (40:58.926)
It is not a funny movie.

fun maybe? Yeah. So this is like, as far as I am aware of, this is the only film I can think of where he plays an antagonist. He plays this like cold, cool assassin that so Jamie Foxx's character is a cab driver.

Andrew Fossier (41:20.782)
Mmm.

Eli (41:35.487)
He happens to pick up Vincent, played by Tom Cruise, who is has a briefcase, looks like a businessman. He pays Jamie. I keep saying Jamie Foxx. I can't remember his character's name is Max. He pays him to basically be his driver for the night, even though he's not supposed to do that as a taxi driver. He.

Andrew Fossier (41:59.063)
Okay.

Eli (42:03.379)
you know, working for the company he does, he's not supposed to just sit around and wait for one person all night, but he pays, he gives them like a bunch of money, a lot of money to do it. so he's like, okay, well, Max's, mean, Vincent's first, hit that he has to do happens to fall out of the window onto the top of the taxi that is waiting, you know, that Jamie Foxx is in waiting for him. So

Andrew Fossier (42:31.01)
Uh-huh.

Eli (42:32.135)
He finds out that he's a hit man and doesn't want to drive for him, but now is being forced to keep driving for him by Vincent. And they have these conversations, like Vincent kind of like psychoanalyzes them at points and like pushes into his personal life, like very coldly and cruelly and stuff.

Andrew Fossier (42:42.85)
Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (42:58.19)
Mmm.

Eli (43:00.967)
It's just this and Tom Cruise is like really good. Like, I honestly, like this might be, I know I just took it third just cause or I know I technically fourth. wanted to take it there just because Jerry Maguire and few good men are just like such iconic performances. But this might be like, you could argue this is like his best performance of his career. It's he's great in it playing that.

Andrew Fossier (43:21.526)
Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (43:27.192)
Hmm.

Eli (43:31.029)
cool, cold, just villain assassin.

Andrew Fossier (43:33.23)
Yeah. And he usually does play like, good guy. Yeah.

Eli (43:40.285)
Yeah, this is really the only movie I can think of where he's where he's the antagonist of the movie. And not just the antagonist, but just like cold and dark. And he has this like just dark philosophy about life. Yeah, you just it's like totally unique in his filmography. And so I had to take it.

Andrew Fossier (43:48.204)
Hmm.

Eli (44:09.373)
really good entertaining movie. Yeah, definitely recommend. If you've never seen any of the movies on my list, this is probably maybe the one for the Tom Cruise performance specifically that I would say like this put that out the top of your list if you want to see a good Tom Cruise performance just because it's so different, you know.

Andrew Fossier (44:21.869)
Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (44:28.032)
Okay.

Andrew Fossier (44:32.268)
Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Eli (44:33.639)
And Michael Mann is great. Dude makes good movies.

Andrew Fossier (44:36.59)
Hmm.

Andrew Fossier (44:41.474)
Yeah.

Eli (44:43.881)
It's your last pick. Hard decision.

Andrew Fossier (44:45.345)
Yeah.

I'm weighing, well here's the thing, I'm weighing how...

Well, I can't think of a good word. I can't think of a good word. I'm weighing how bad it is to put two Mission Impossible movies. Because I'm like, it kind of feels like a category of Cruise because like I feel like he could just go down the list. So that feels against the spirit of the rule to me. Now, if you listed, if you listed one, that would be different because I already listed one. So I just feel like for myself to feel good about the list, probably shouldn't add.

Eli (45:04.405)
Mmm.

Eli (45:08.509)
Yeah.

Eli (45:14.783)
Okay.

Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (45:24.098)
to Mission Impossible's. I can say what it would be for the record. Okay, okay, well, yeah, Spirit of the law, yeah, spirit of the law. For the record, it would be Mission Impossible 3, which might be.

Eli (45:25.481)
That's Technically not against the rules, but are we talking letter of the law or spirit of the law, you know?

Eli (45:41.705)
That would have been, I'm not taking a Mission Impossible movie, but that probably would have been my second choice, honestly. But yeah.

Andrew Fossier (45:43.107)
Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (45:48.118)
Yeah, You can't. Yeah, And in that spirit, I think based off of the grouping of ones that I've seen and what I want to go for, I'm going to say Minority Report because I don't have, I think his

Eli (45:52.105)
We'll put it in honorable mentions.

Eli (46:05.194)
Mm-hmm.

Andrew Fossier (46:17.516)
I think his performance was great. don't think, none of my like, yeah, none of my like, you know, quibbles or gripes are about his performance. He did a great job. I think the dynamic that might feel unique to his filmography is specifically the Spielberg-ness of it, which is interesting. the way Hunter and I were talking about it, it's like, it's a certain level of whimsy. Like it's,

Eli (46:20.509)
No, it's great performance. It really is.

Eli (46:27.497)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (46:45.631)
Sure.

Andrew Fossier (46:46.74)
Even in a serious movie like this, there's this level of like, I don't know how to describe it. And I don't mean that disrespectfully at all. It's just, it is a level of whimsy, the way you kind of can know, you know, an actor, know a organized director's work, even if you don't know it otherwise. And so, yeah, I'm gonna go with Minority Report as my fifth thing.

Eli (47:04.714)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (47:11.879)
No, I think it's deserved. There's going to be a movie that gets left off this list that people are going to be mad at us about, I'm sure. But yeah, Minority Report is, it's not totally your fault because it's my fault as well. Cause I'm not taking it. But yeah, I think Minority Report is

Andrew Fossier (47:14.605)
Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (47:31.736)
Yeah.

Eli (47:36.269)
I mean, it is, I think it's one of his best performances of movies I've seen. Like it would be in the top half of them for sure. if not a little above that, it's he's really good in it. He has this range of emotions that he has to go through throughout the movie. and like I said, he really sells it. Like I said, last week on the episode on minority report, he really sells like.

Andrew Fossier (47:41.326)
Yeah.

Eli (48:03.955)
that moment where he has to confront like if he's going to kill this guy or not, know, yeah, really, really, really good performance. but for my last pick, I'm going to pick his performance and this is, this will be the first time I guess, technically in color of money, he's a co-lead and he kind of is a co-lead.

Andrew Fossier (48:08.813)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Eli (48:31.765)
collateral with Jamie Foxx although if they were doing Oscars he would probably get the supporting nomination but they're kind of you know yeah anyways this is his first like pure supporting role probably and probably my favorite movie of all the movies that have been listed and that is yeah that's his character Frank TJ Mackie and Paul Thomas Anderson's 1999 movie Magnolia

Andrew Fossier (48:39.342)
Mmm.

Andrew Fossier (48:53.154)
Really?

Eli (49:02.496)
Have you seen Magnolia?

Andrew Fossier (49:04.436)
No, I was, I was thinking you were going a different direction. when you said supporting, I was like, I was thinking Rain Man, but, but yeah. Yeah, that's, that's the one I've seen it, but I have, I just have conflicted. Yeah. I just, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know how I feel about it. And I liked his performance in it.

Eli (49:14.335)
That's the movie that people are gonna be mad at us about for not.

Eli (49:21.397)
I saw it a long time ago and I didn't have time to revisit it.

Andrew Fossier (49:34.616)
but just, I don't know. I feel like I have to revisit that movie to see how I feel about it.

Eli (49:38.547)
Yeah, I watched some scenes earlier and it's like on YouTube. I just pulled up some some scenes from it just to kind of see if it sparked anything. And I can definitely see why people love that movie and, you know, love that performance. And honestly, like if I had one more.

Andrew Fossier (49:46.04)
Yeah.

Eli (50:04.425)
Well, if I had one more pick, it wouldn't be the next one, but it would be the one after that. It would probably be the one after that, based off of kind of revisiting those clips, but it just doesn't compare to Frank TJ, Mackie and Magnolia. it's he plays. So Magnolia is basically like this.

Andrew Fossier (50:07.982)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Andrew Fossier (50:20.494)
Yeah, I haven't seen Magnolia either. I haven't seen the majority of your list.

Eli (50:30.365)
It's one huge long montage of all these characters. It's hard. It's a hard movie to explain. But it's kind of about how nothing is coincidence. And there's a. There's this kind of like.

Eli (50:52.895)
I don't know, force behind everything sort of thing and nothing is coincidence and everything is everything is connected. and kind of like the defining line towards the end of the movie is like, what, what can we forgive? and so all these characters just have these different issues and problems and traumas and whatever. And it's a three hour movie. There's probably like,

Andrew Fossier (51:09.294)
Hmm.

Eli (51:21.599)
There's not really a lead character. So that's why he's a supporting character. There's nobody that's like the lead of the movie. They all have pretty equal times, like dispersed throughout the movie. And it all culminates in this big moment that I won't, that's like wild and out of left field. And I, and that I will not ruin for people because it's, it's

Andrew Fossier (51:27.918)
Mm-hmm.

Andrew Fossier (51:41.707)
Uh-huh.

Andrew Fossier (51:45.344)
Okay, yeah.

Eli (51:48.531)
The best way to describe it is it is surprising. but Cruz's character, is this, he basically is this guy that does, seminars for men on how to seduce and pick up women. And, and he's like,

Andrew Fossier (52:13.198)
Mmm.

Eli (52:18.117)
He is... it's a big performance and he says some things that I'm not going to repeat as this character on this podcast. Yeah, definitely crude and just cold and not in the same way as I was describing his character in Collateral but just like...

Andrew Fossier (52:27.598)
Mmm.

Eli (52:47.111)
Emotionally shut off from the world That changes later in the movie which is part of what makes it a great performance You find out he's connected to another character that you've been following And you know that plays out to like a very touching moving performance that I again don't want to ruin because

Andrew Fossier (52:49.794)
Yeah.

Eli (53:16.073)
This movie is an experience that is, I don't know, I love, I love this movie. I think it's great. could understand people that watch it and be like, what is this? But for me, I love it. the total douchebag of a character that has a lot more going on in his past and in his, you know, emotions than meets the eye, I guess.

Andrew Fossier (53:27.534)
Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (53:43.734)
huh.

Eli (53:47.253)
But yeah, just the first thing you see of him is him on the TV like yelling at men to like, I don't know, get people to respect their

private parts for lack of a better way to put it. not the least crude way I could possibly say it. But I don't know, it's just, it's a great performance. It's

Andrew Fossier (54:06.956)
Hahaha!

Eli (54:20.157)
Yeah, I don't know what else to say about it. Magnolia, TJ, Frank, TJ, Mackie, man. Crazy. All right, before we read back our list and wrap up, did you have any honorable mentions? Obviously, like we talked about MI3 and Rain Man, his performance in MI3 is great. The kind of the scene with

Andrew Fossier (54:43.393)
Yeah.

Eli (54:48.799)
Philip Seymour Hoffman where he has the gun to his fiance or is she his wife at that point? I can't remember. But yeah, great, great emotions going across his face for that. Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (54:54.328)
Yeah. I don't recall actually that specific point. Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (55:05.846)
Yeah, yeah, my asterisk, my ash, I don't say that asterisk, the caveat, I don't say that word often out loud ever. So that was a stumbling through the pronunciation of that. My point of note on Rain Man is I haven't seen it. And the thing that the specific thing I am like, when I said I want to revisit it is because I just don't.

Eli (55:14.235)
Asterisk, yeah.

Andrew Fossier (55:34.688)
I'm unsure on the portrayal of, you know, autism in that film. I don't know how I feel about it. Like I feel, I saw it when I was younger and I know a lot more now. And I don't think it's an explicitly harmful, at least I don't think that's the, yeah, it definitely is not one of the bad examples. But the reason I said I would wanna revisit it before putting it on the list is I just, I don't know how I feel about it as an adult.

Eli (55:38.981)
Ray, yeah, Dustin Hoffman.

Eli (55:45.204)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (55:51.795)
Yeah, yeah.

Eli (56:03.273)
Yeah, no, that's fair.

Andrew Fossier (56:04.91)
Yeah, but I think I remember liking Cruz's performance in that, I didn't rewatch it. But I know that probably being out of our list would be surprising. My only other honorable mention, if possible, why even mention it at this point, Dead Reckoning. It was really good in that as well. mean, part one, we haven't seen part two yet.

Eli (56:12.34)
Yeah.

Eli (56:17.031)
Yeah.

Eli (56:24.019)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, it's it's it's probably my second favorite of the whole the whole franchise right behind fallout, honestly

Andrew Fossier (56:36.056)
Yeah.

Yeah, it'd be hard to I know, you know, I would pick it over three.

Eli (56:47.199)
I really like three, I think three is underrated, but yeah.

Andrew Fossier (56:48.288)
Yeah. Three, I agree. I think it's underrated, but that...

Eli (56:52.981)
The original, you got to throw that out there as an honor will mention for sure. the only other one that we haven't mentioned that I really wanted to pick. but I just like these, the other five I picked. I liked the movies more. but this is more of like a traditional, this is, if he were to have won the Oscar for any of his performances, it would have been this one.

Andrew Fossier (56:54.732)
Yeah. Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (57:21.678)
Mm-hmm.

Eli (57:23.029)
just because it's kind of, a prototypical Oscar performance. And that is the 1989 movie born on the 4th of July. I watched that I've never seen it. So I'll watch that this past week, to prepare for this. And it really is a great performance. He is like, I mean, he's, he's a kid at the beginning. That's go that's enlisting to go to Vietnam.

Andrew Fossier (57:32.59)
Mmm.

Eli (57:53.319)
right, like basically right out of high school. And then like by the end, like he's goes through PTSD and it's like, it's just a, it's just a very, like, it's a very big performance and he's doing a lot. And so I think the, may be the subtlety of the ones I picked, maybe trumpet, like the more acting isn't necessarily better acting, but

Andrew Fossier (58:22.252)
Yeah, yeah.

Eli (58:23.497)
But in this case, it's, it is more acting, but it's also really well done. And I kind of feel bad for not picking it because it's, it is arguably his best performance. but only had five I could pick. so yeah, I, I recommend the movie. It's, it's a, it's a harrowing look at, you know, the

Andrew Fossier (58:28.686)
Mmm.

Andrew Fossier (58:40.364)
Yeah.

Eli (58:53.589)
effects of war. Because the actual part of the movie where it's in the war is pretty minimal. It's mostly like dealing with that, the repercussions of it in his life. I will say probably the product of its time being in 1989 has maybe a bit too optimistic of an ending. But that's not, that's not its fault. It's just kind of like a product of its time, like

Andrew Fossier (58:55.406)
Mmm.

Andrew Fossier (59:06.83)
Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (59:15.918)
Mmm.

Eli (59:23.303)
It didn't know that we were going to turn around and send people to Iraq for no reason. So, you know, it's not its fault that America sucks at getting involved in stuff that we don't belong in. anyway.

Andrew Fossier (59:27.734)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (59:44.397)
Yep.

Eli (59:48.597)
yeah, that would be my only other one. So I'm trying, I'm just thinking about his filmography ones that people maybe wonder about, the firm. I've never seen the firm. I only had time to watch one Lawyer movie that I'd never seen and I picked a few good men. Cause yeah.

Andrew Fossier (01:00:04.046)
Yeah.

yeah, you could, yeah, if you could mend, yeah, of course I don't have a context for the other one, but I feel like if you could mend probably is the one.

Eli (01:00:12.789)
One that I really wanted to see just because it would have been another very different performance and not out of the think about it, might be the antagonist in this one too. I'm not sure. Interview with the vampire. He's with Brad Pitt in that one. I'm not sure if he's the antagonist. I've just never seen it.

Andrew Fossier (01:00:31.278)
Mmm.

Andrew Fossier (01:00:40.896)
Yeah, me neither.

Eli (01:00:41.223)
I wanted to get around to it. I just didn't have time. but, and so I can't, I don't really know another one. The only other one that people will probably be like, how could they not have picked this movie? would be eyes wide shut. I've just never seen it.

Andrew Fossier (01:01:01.324)
Yeah, same. I've never... And that's like relatively older. Like I said, oldest movie... really? Yeah, my oldest that I've seen is A Few Good Men, probably. I'm pretty sure. Yeah.

Eli (01:01:08.521)
But 99.

Eli (01:01:16.349)
Okay, well if you get men's 92.

Andrew Fossier (01:01:19.854)
Well, and then the original top, the original top gun is pretty early as well, so.

Eli (01:01:21.429)
And Ray... Yeah, Rayman's 88, Top Gun is 86. Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (01:01:27.208)
Okay, that's older than I was thinking

Eli (01:01:31.059)
Yeah. So, you know, it's, we did need to put the original Top Gun in our honorable mentions too, for sure. I mean, we mentioned it, like, I guess alongside Maverick, but just to, for it to officially be on the list. yeah. You know, risky business. I probably should eventually see it. I just, it's not high up on my list. I have seen the movie Legend. It's not very good. I think I mentioned that.

Andrew Fossier (01:01:39.507)
Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (01:01:57.453)
Mm-hmm.

Andrew Fossier (01:02:01.155)
Mm.

Eli (01:02:01.881)
days of thunders seems like an interesting movie. I'm kind of interested in seeing Tom Cruise in a NASCAR movie, guess. but haven't ever seen that vanilla sky I've never seen. so can't really speak to that. I mean, he, he has some other like

Andrew Fossier (01:02:12.163)
Hmm.

Eli (01:02:27.721)
People really love his cameo in Tropic Thunder. I've just never seen Tropic Thunder.

Andrew Fossier (01:02:32.856)
Same, I haven't seen, I guess a good bit of, and he's not a major role in that, right?

Eli (01:02:40.209)
No, it's it's basically like a like a cameo like a short cameo, but people love it. I don't know if it would have. I don't know if a cameo is worth drafting in a draft like this, but maybe if it was good enough, maybe, I don't know.

Andrew Fossier (01:02:43.65)
Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (01:02:51.17)
Yeah.

Eli (01:02:57.397)
But yeah, I mean, I think we hit most of the good performances really just like people will probably be most mad about Rain Man and Eyes Wide Shut being left off the list. And then people that have seen Born on the 4th of July would probably be like, that should have been taken. But most, don't know how many people have seen that movie.

Andrew Fossier (01:03:07.214)
Yeah.

Eli (01:03:19.807)
But it's a good movie. It's directed by Oliver Stone, who's Oscar nominated. So probably for platoon. He was probably nominated. But yeah.

Andrew Fossier (01:03:22.317)
Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (01:03:26.85)
Hmm, yeah.

Andrew Fossier (01:03:34.146)
Yeah, I see, I have seen Platoon actually.

Eli (01:03:36.723)
Yeah, so same director for Born on the Fourth of July.

Andrew Fossier (01:03:40.012)
Hmm, okay. Yeah, that was the only only I think that's the only serious thing I've ever seen Charlie Sheen. I mean, okay, to be fair, my sample is like, pretty small. But I just I think of him as two and a half men. And that's basically Charlie Sheen. Pretty, you know, and then platoon is just like super serious, super dark. So

Eli (01:03:47.103)
Ha ha ha ha ha.

Eli (01:03:52.349)
Yeah, sure. Sure.

Eli (01:04:00.359)
Right. yeah. Yeah. I've never seen platoon. but yeah. okay. I'm going to read back our lists. so Andrew ended up with Mission Impossible Fallout, Edge of Tomorrow, Top Gun Maverick, Oblivion, and Minority Reports. And I ended up with Jerry Maguire, A Few Good Men, The Color of Money,

collateral and magnolia. and of course it's the Tom Cruise performance in each of those, not the movie as a whole. So, remember that when this goes up for a vote and, yeah, remember that as the voters vote for the best performances, not your favorite movie list, which people probably will do that anyway, but

It's inevitable.

Andrew Fossier (01:04:59.052)
Yeah, and you said this is going up in February, right? Okay, well, also keep in mind, I'm turning 30 on February 21st. So if my birthday is around, maybe give me a sympathy. I'm kidding. That would be unethical. But.

Eli (01:05:02.292)
Yes.

Eli (01:05:09.689)
Well, can tell you, I can tell you when this will release, it will release on February 14th. So it's not your birthday. So you can't claim, yeah, you can't claim birthday status. good try, Andrew. Good try. all right. Well, people, the people will, will let us know who had the best list and they'll probably let us know that.

Andrew Fossier (01:05:15.63)
Okay, so I won't be 30 yet.

Andrew Fossier (01:05:25.87)
Okay, well.

Birthday month, birthday month. Yeah.

Eli (01:05:42.441)
We're idiots for not choosing rain man or the first top gun or whatever, but you know, they're wrong. We're right. you know, they can go, I don't know, kick rocks or hang off an airplane, hang, hang off the side of an airplane, you know, that's what Tom Cruise would do. Just go hang off the side of an airplane. Why not? but yeah, that's.

Andrew Fossier (01:05:46.349)
Yeah.

Andrew Fossier (01:05:52.109)
yeah.

Andrew Fossier (01:05:59.114)
Make your own podcast.

Andrew Fossier (01:06:05.186)
Yeah.

Eli (01:06:11.241)
That's all we have for this week. Next week, we're going to be covering catch me if you can continue in our Steven Spielberg, series looking forward to that. I will make sure to link Andrew's letterboxed in the episode description so you can go follow them there. But yeah, that's all we have for this week. yeah, that's all we have for I've been Eli Price for Andrew Fosier and Tom Cruise.

You've been listening to The Establishing Shot. We will see you next time.