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- this episode originally aired MONTHS ago, IIRC, and suddenly NOW it's a big deal to Isaac Hayes and Tom Cruise?
- The part about Stan and all these celebrities coming to Stan's bedroom and trying to get Tom to come out of the closet was hysterical
- South Park did a very similar episode on the Mormons, and they regularly needle Christians, Jews, and Muslims and have done so since the beginning. Scientologists should be happy they're getting the same treatment as other religions, thereby validating their organization They've also roundly abused stars like Mel Gibson, Barbara Streisand, Paris Hilton (portrayed her in a contest with gay S-and-M character Mr. Slave in a Whore-Off), Sally Struthers, Rob Reiner, etc... so Tom should be happy too, for the publicity.
__________________ MJ
It's extraordinary to me that the United States can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can't find $25 billion dollars to save 25,000 children who die every day from preventable diseases.~ Bono
From interviews I've read, Isaac Hayes made a big stink about it at the time but was bound by his contract. Once he was out of the contract, he claimed that he decided to quit based on their treatment of religion, but it really was their treatment of Scientology that was the first time he EVER spoke up.
I'm REALLY REALLY hoping that all this psychotic overexposure for Tom Cruise nets him some serious bad box office.
__________________ Sometimes, when the world is changing rapidly, the greater risk is caution.
Seriously... I wouldn't go to a movie of his if I were paid, but this is over the top, even over the couch incident, isn't it?
Oh, gosh, you know better than to quote a British tab, but even assuming it's true, what did I miss about Tom Cruise? I mean, he's a weird guy and all, but his films are usually decent entertainment for the 90 minutes or so. I don't really think he's done good ones since Rain Man and The Color of Money, but that was when he was in his self-admitted apprenticeship with actors like Hoffman and Newman.
I mean, I could take the guy or leave him, but what's up with the "wouldn't go if I were paid?" He didn't, like, dump your sister or something, did he?
Your old music cannot sustain you through a life, not if you're someone who listens to music every day, at every opportunity. You need input, because pop music is about freshness, about Nelly Furtado and the maddeningly memorable fourth track on a first album by a band you saw on a late-night TV show. And no, that fourth track is not as good as anything on Pet Sounds or Blonde on Blonde or What's Going On, but when was the last time you played Pet Sounds? - Songbook by Nick Hornby
I haven't ever liked him. His recent incarnation as the freaky, in-love uber-Scientologist hasn't made him any more repulsive. I can't remember the last movie I saw him in... might have been that cheesy one with Nicole Kidman. I find him annoying on film and highly over-rated as an actor.
Oh, and that was just the first link I found on Google News. G was the one who actually told me about it and I was too lazy to find other articles.
__________________ Sometimes, when the world is changing rapidly, the greater risk is caution.
Will never forget seeing Top Gun at a "Cinema and Drafthouse" in Norfolk, VA., Yeah, Norfolk. 200 Navy guys drinking beer. Top Gun -- hottest movie in the country. Every 5 minutes, 200 guys chanting like a prayer,
Bulllllll-shhhitttttttttttttttttt
Had to watch the movie on video the next year to hear half the dialogue.
Your old music cannot sustain you through a life, not if you're someone who listens to music every day, at every opportunity. You need input, because pop music is about freshness, about Nelly Furtado and the maddeningly memorable fourth track on a first album by a band you saw on a late-night TV show. And no, that fourth track is not as good as anything on Pet Sounds or Blonde on Blonde or What's Going On, but when was the last time you played Pet Sounds? - Songbook by Nick Hornby
Ah, but Top Gun has a shirtless, tanned, buffed, and oiled Val Kilmer. That alone makes it worth watching. I developed a deep and abiding love of volleyball.
__________________ Sometimes, when the world is changing rapidly, the greater risk is caution.
Seriously, I'm with Pippa on this one. I don't know what it is, aside from his general smarminess. Same thing makes me cringe when watching movies with whathisname, that guy I hate... Clooney. That guy. Bleagh.
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Emergency Backup Curmudgeon
"Wow, sometimes violence is the OPPOSITE of helpful" ~~ Pete Abrams
Hollywood folks as a rule think they are way more important that they are. I like them to ACT, not preach. I know they have the ear and eye of the media, and therefore can promote their causes very easily, but it gets very tiresome.
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Cruise's threat was to do no publicity for 'Mission Impossible III' if the episode was not pulled. The estimated budget for MI3 to date is 150 million. Given the way Hollywood works, for the film to make money, it's going to have to make 300 million domestic to be a success. Losing his PR muscle, would be an enormous blow. MI3 is a Paramount film. Paramount is owned by Viacom. Comedy Central is also totally owned by Viacom. It's a Viacom corporate decision to protect MI3 as it's potentially worth a lot more money to them than Comedy Central whose total annual budget is less than that of MI3. This is what happens when all of media are controlled by a limited number of companies.
MNM
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I have to chime in with Pippa and eris and anybody else who feels seriously repulsed by Tom Cruise. Personally, I think his mere existence these days is a humiliation to those of us of the same species. The man is seriously warped, out of control, and embodies the definition of "power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely". He has completely lost his marbles.
He wasn't this bad when he was a "popular celebrity", but now that he is clearly one of the most powerful men in the "universe" he has gone completely mad.
He reminds me of how frightening some of the old monarchs used to be. Maybe he'll be lobbing off heads next.
Tom Cruise. Rain Man. Color of Money. Top Gun. Mission Impossible. Jerry Maguire. Magnolia. Born on the Fourth of July.
Nominated for Oscars in the last 2.
Yeah, I know he's kinda weird and he's done stupid stuff, but he has been in some decent stuff. I guess I never really cared that much for or about him, especially after Tom Hanks passed him as "The Actor of Their Generation", but much like here in a Hillary Clinton thread once, what did Cruise do to earn such dislike?
I'm just curious. I asked the same thing a week ago and all anyone said was that he was generally smarmy and used the media to his advantage. Actually, Dory did a good rant, but it's right above this.
Anything else? I mean, we just described most of Hollywood, didn't we?
Your old music cannot sustain you through a life, not if you're someone who listens to music every day, at every opportunity. You need input, because pop music is about freshness, about Nelly Furtado and the maddeningly memorable fourth track on a first album by a band you saw on a late-night TV show. And no, that fourth track is not as good as anything on Pet Sounds or Blonde on Blonde or What's Going On, but when was the last time you played Pet Sounds? - Songbook by Nick Hornby
Never liked him in any of those. I've always thought he was totally overrated as an actor. I'm also not a huge fan of Tom Hanks, although I thought he was good in Big and Philadelphia. However, my general dislike of his movies didn't get me into outright hatred until the PPD incident with Brooke Shields's book.
I understand that our culture is a cult of celebrity. I understand that some of these celebrities use that to further their own beliefs, and that in some cases that's good and some cases that's bad. But when some eejit actor with not one iota of medical training basically states that all women with PPD have to do is take some vitamins and exercise because his f-ed up religion says so, I'm gonna get pissed off.
How's that?
__________________ Sometimes, when the world is changing rapidly, the greater risk is caution.
Plus, it doesn't matter how many accolades, awards or salary increases someone receives. If you don't like their work, or them, then that's the only reason you need to not see any of their movies.
If someone is fake or ridiculous, I can't watch them on film, and Tom is ludicrous. (Not to mention a really shallow actor.)
George, Cruise has been in some good movies, but the quality of the movie had very little to do with him. Cruise didn't make Rain Man a great movie, Dustin Hoffman did. He's an actor the same way that Julia Roberts is an actor, he's attractive, people like that, and he gets put in movies where he can be pretty much different incarnations of himself.
__________________ Axis of Evil (You know you want to join)
Emergency Backup Curmudgeon
"Wow, sometimes violence is the OPPOSITE of helpful" ~~ Pete Abrams
Okay, I get that guys, thanks. FWIW, I remember the PR machine around Cruise cranking early on, saying that he would spend time behind great actors like Newman, Hoffman and others learning his craft. PR spin that I guess I bought. I haven't liked his recent movies.
I haven't like anyone's recent movies. Uh-oh, I feel a thread coming on...
Your old music cannot sustain you through a life, not if you're someone who listens to music every day, at every opportunity. You need input, because pop music is about freshness, about Nelly Furtado and the maddeningly memorable fourth track on a first album by a band you saw on a late-night TV show. And no, that fourth track is not as good as anything on Pet Sounds or Blonde on Blonde or What's Going On, but when was the last time you played Pet Sounds? - Songbook by Nick Hornby
Seen it. Own it on DVD. Own Firefly series on DVD. Own the Visual Companion. Yeah, Joss and I are down with Serenity.
I was looking at some movie data last week. Serenity grossed $25 million in 2005 -- it came in at #95 for the year in box office. That's gotta sting, when you spend years working on something, and 94 other films make more money.
Your old music cannot sustain you through a life, not if you're someone who listens to music every day, at every opportunity. You need input, because pop music is about freshness, about Nelly Furtado and the maddeningly memorable fourth track on a first album by a band you saw on a late-night TV show. And no, that fourth track is not as good as anything on Pet Sounds or Blonde on Blonde or What's Going On, but when was the last time you played Pet Sounds? - Songbook by Nick Hornby
They've also roundly abused stars like Mel Gibson, Barbara Streisand, Paris Hilton (portrayed her in a contest with gay S-and-M character Mr. Slave in a Whore-Off), Sally Struthers, Rob Reiner, etc... so Tom should be happy too, for the publicity. 
