Oh, Cruisazy :(

First his wife dumps him, then his publicist dumps him, and now Paramount is dumpin' him. Yahoo reported that the Wall Street Journal reported (wow, I feel like I'm back in middle school already) that Paramount has cut ties with Tom Cruise after 14 years.

I'm just getting more and more depressed about this Tom Cruise situation, and I guess I really can't ignore it anymore. The talented (YES, I said talented) actor was a childhood crush of mine. I first saw "Top Gun" when I was seven, and there was no turning back. I'm serious: some of his work has been absolutely phenomenal, and he's never done anything but make entertaining films. So he's gone a little nutters: woos a girl who used to have a crush on him (Katie's my age, y'all), jumps up and down on couches (Oprah's no less), and won't show his baby (though he's under no obligation to do so). Oh, and he's a Scientologist. But isn't this just a case of people making fun of and shying away from something they don't know and don't want to understand? You're right: his comments about Brooke Shields were TOTALLY inappropriate, and they displayed his own ignorance about what females go through during and after the beauty that is childbirth. However, by making fun of him, aren't we just doing what he did to her?

I've still seen his films since the Cruisaziness has broken out of Cruise. I enjoyed "War of the Worlds," and I thought his portrayal of a dad who has NO idea who his kids are and what they are about, yet still shows a fierce love for them, was moving. I also liked "Mission: Impossible III," although that ending was a COMPLETE sell-out (but that was more J.J.'s fault than his). And, guess what??? I'll still go see his films. What it comes down to is this: ever the optimist, I truly believe Thomas Cruise Mapother IV has gotten the short end of the stick. Is it fun to make fun of him? Yeah, sometimes. Is it fun to just ignore his body of work because he's gone through a little mid-life craziness? I don't think so. (Don't you even throw Michael Jackson out at me. What he's done is so much worse than Tom Cruise.)

Anyway...I know this will be most controversial post yet, and most of you will disagree with me wholeheartedly. I know my cousin will email me and tell me I'm crazy (I still love ya, cousin). But, I just had to stick up for my boy. He still has that gazillion watt smile, and he still entertains (me, at least). If you haven't had enough Cruise News, read the IMDb bio or the Wikipedia bio. You could even check out my Top 5 below.

Tom Cruise Top 5:

(I have a brief explanation. It was REALLY hard narrowing this list down, but I want to stick to a Top 5 format on this blog. I picked the films I would watch over and over AND over again. This is why some of his more powerful and moving performances [like "Magnolia" and "Born on the Fourth of July"] have been ommitted. [If you watched those two over and over again, you'd go insane with sadness and melancholy.] We can also argue about that later.)

1. Jerry Maguire (Where's the Oscar?)
2. Rain Man (One more 'gain: WHERE'S the Oscar?)
3. Top Gun (The beginning.)
4. A Few Good Men (You try to match wits with Jack Nicholson as cooly as Mr. Cruise.)
5. Interview with a Vampire (Best Lestat EVER...and Anne Rice wanted Rutger Hauer. Humph!)