045 Ranking Tom Cruise's Movies

Tom Cruise has returned to save movie theaters once again by delivering another perfect movie: Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One. We compare Dead Reckoning to other "part one" movies from this summer (especially Fast & Furious, over and over), talk about how the movie nails the blend of returning and new characters, and revel in the franchise's confidence to not overly rely on characters issuing quip after quip. We talk about the retcon that doesn't strain credulity, the movie balancing "fridging" (bad) with impactful deaths and emotional stakes (better), and the confidence in both its action scenes and its more dramatic scenes. We admire the practical effects and stunts on display. We look ahead to Dead Reckoning Part Two (which will save theaters once again) and the new actors in the fold. Joey issues an important apology/correction.

For the first time in four years, Tom Cruise has felt the need... the need to make a new movie! He's back with Top Gun: Maverick, and we're here to cover it in full spoilery detail. We talk about Tom Cruise's triumphant return to movies in a role that seems to reflect back on his career and in a movie that seamlessly continues the story from 36 years ago. We talk about the new pilots in Top Gun: Maverick (like Miles Teller, Monica Barbaro, and Glen Powell) and wonder where Manny Jacinto was hiding. We praise the character development (and Lady Gaga's musical contributions!), explore the "lore" of the shirtless beach football scene, and admire the extent to which these actors traveled to fly these planes. We also share some slight Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness spoilers (from 34:15 to 34:55) and then look ahead to both Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning - Part One and Elvis (for our sister show #HANX for the Memories). Update: We hope Lady Gaga becomes "two-time Academy Award winner Lady Gaga."

At long last, the time has come to (once again) don our tuxedos and roll out the red carpet. Welcome to The Cruisies: The Tom Cruise Awards! All podcast long, we’ve talked about our favorite (and least favorite) parts of Tom Cruise’s movies, and we announced our official selections for the best and worst of what Tom Cruise’s filmography has to offer and opened the voting to the public. Now, your votes have been tallied, our very special guest Juhi Khemani has verified the results, and it’s finally time to reveal our picks — as well as the fans’ selection — for each and every category. Live, from the internet, it’s The Cruisies: The Tom Cruise Awards!

Before we take a few weeks off to let the votes tally up for the Cruisies (The Tom Cruise Awards), we're working our way through one more episode, and we're ranking Tom Cruise's movies. As always, there's a weird alchemy here that doesn't quite make sense, as we combine the movie's "quality" with Cruise's performance, add a dash of how much we like him in the movie, and toss in some other hints and touches of things we can't quite articulate, and wind up with a comprehensive list of his films and roles in an order that only makes sense to us.

We may have covered every movie that stars or features Tom Cruise, but there's a whole body of work that he's done that we haven't covered. Welcome to the Tom Cruise Clip Show! In this episode, we're working our way through a cameo appearances in movies and TV shows, as well as some stunt videos and late night appearances that surfaced on YouTube.  Watch all of the clips we're talking about here!

We've watched and podcasted about all 42 movies that Tom Cruise has made so far. Each episode, we've talked about our favorite and least favorite moments, and we've ended each episode by nominating that movie for awards that showcase the very best (and very worst) that Tom Cruise's filmography has to offer. We've pared down our lists, and -- at long last -- the time has come to announce the official selections for the Cruisies: The Tom Cruise Awards. Sit back, relax, listen to all of the films, roles, moments, and actors nominated, then go to cageclub.me/bracket and cast your votes on who's taking home those sweet Cruisies awards! (Voting closes on Wednesday, July 15.)

It's all led to this. Not only is Mission: Impossible - Fallout the final installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise (so far), but it also marks the final movie in Tom Cruise's filmography (also, so far). All we can say is... what a way to go out! We're joined by Zack DeZon to HALO jump out of a plane and talk about all the action, excitement, and running that Mission: Impossible - Fallout has to offer. In this episode, we discuss the continued evolution of the ensemble cast (as well as the addition of the wonderful Hattie Shaw, er, Vanessa Kirby), the continuation of storylines and themes set up in Rogue Nation, and -- seriously -- how long is Tom Cruise going to run?

We're running drugs, guns, and "freedom fighters" from Arkansas to Nicaragua to Panama -- and back again -- as we take off and chat about American Made! We're, ahem, running out of runway on #CruiseClub, with only one more movie to cover after American Made (a little indie called Mission: Impossible - Fallout), but we're going out in style as Cruise re-teams up with Doug Liman to tell the (mostly) true story of Barry Seal. In this episode, we're going deep to talk about Cruise's charisma, the kinetic docu-style filmmaking style, and how this movie (like a few other recent Cruise movies) winds up being a pretty perfect distillation of his career to this point.

While the Dark Universe never came to fruition, we'll always have The Mummy. But is Tom Cruise the Mummy? By the end of the movie, the answer is unclear. The world may never know what this ragtag bunch of misfits' series of adventures would entail, but joining us to talk about the first installment is Kate Hudson (#HudsonFive). In this episode, we talk about all the stunts that worked, all the plot dumps that didn't, and wonder where this franchise could have gone had a few more people gone to the theater to support it. We also discuss all of our favorite miscastings, wasted performances, and schlocky CGI that The Mummy has to offer.

Aside from the Mission: Impossible series, Tom Cruise isn't one to dabble in sequels, which makes Jack Reacher: Never Go Back all the more unusual. Based on the 18th (!!!) novel in the series, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back feels like a much later entry in the franchise than a first sequel. How could the creative team possibly be out of ideas already? Mike dons his Third Time's A Charm cap as we discuss the action we like, the plot we don't like, and the overwhelming "sure, okay" of most of the rest of the movie. It's not a bad movie, but when your filmography is as stacked as Tom Cruise's...