Today is Tom Cruise’s birthday. He turns 47.
You may hate his politics, his religion and maybe even some of his movies, but ya gotta admit — the guy has had more than his share of winners:
Risky Business
Top Gun
The Color of Money
Rain Man
A Few Good Men
The Firm
Jerry Maguire
Minority Report
Tropic Thunder
And his latest film belongs on the list as well — “Knight and Day” with Cameron Diaz.
It hasn’t banked the box office of his other action movies — like the “Mission Impossible” series — but it is a ton more fun. The comedy chops he displayed in “Tropic Thunder” are very much in evidence here, but more subtly used as the story requires.
Cruise and Diaz are a terrific combination — almost a male and female version of each other in energy and screen presence — and the script never lets them or the audience down. I just wish more people would go see it.
It’s movie fireworks — perfect for the July 4th weekend.
Enjoy!
Music aged to perfection
I heart Dustin Hoffman.
The Graduate, Kramer vs Kramer, Tootsie, Rain Man, Moonlight Mile, Runaway Jury — winners all.
Then came the last 10 years. Two painful Fockers movies. I Heart Huckabees (which I did not). Much cartoon voiceover work. I began to despair.
But now Dustin Hoffman the director has stepped forward with his first feature, Quartet.
You can see by the photo that Hoffman wrangled some major names — Scottish actor/comedian Billy Connolly, and the Dowager Countess herself, Maggie Smith. Tom Courtenay and Pauline Collins complete the ‘quartet’ of retired opera singers living at Beecham House, a retirement home in rural England for retired musicians.
(And can I just say – swanky. We should all be so lucky.)
The movie begins as pretty much everyone at the home is in rehearsals for their annual fundraising concert. Connolly, Courtenay and Collins all want Smith — a recent addition to Beecham — to recreate their famed quartet at the concert.
She says no…to pretty much everything. And the movie goes ‘behind the music’ to the pasts and passions of the players.
I loved the performances, especially Tom Courtenay as Smith’s jilted former husband. And Hoffman filled the ‘home’ with retired world-class singers and musicians.
Just wait till you hear how much music they’ve still got!
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Posted in Celebrities, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Life, Movies, Music
Tagged aged to perfection, behind the music, Billy Connolly, celebrities, commentary, concert, Dustin Hoffman, England, entertainment, Humor, I Heart Huckabees, Kramer vs Kramer, life, Maggie Smith, Moonlight Mile movie, movie director, Movies, Music, opera singer, Paulie Collins, Quartet movie, Rain Man movie, retired musicians, retirement home, reviews, Runaway Jury movie, The Graduate, Tom Courtenay, Tootsie movie