The Last Star In Hollywood

This week, we get as close as we can to killing a franchise with John Woo’s 2000 action drama Mission: Impossible 2 ! Who is this Ethan Hunt? Does the movie love Nyah like we do, or not? Why did Dougray Scott never quite make it? Content warning: violence, gun violence, objectification of women, misogyny Unanswered Questions: Is John Woo’s style a bad match for Hollywood, or just for this film? Ho...

This week, we realize that everything is connected in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia . Is this the best cast that Cruise has ever worked with? How does redemption clash with guilt in our understanding of this film’s metaphysics? Is Magnolia a work of genius? Content warning: nudity, suicide, violence, emotional, physical and sexual abuse of children, drugs, alcohol, blood and gore, dead animals U...

This week, we dream our way through Stanley Kubrick’s final film, Eyes Wide Shut . How much of this film is real? What does real even mean? Is anything here supposed to be sexy? Content warning: nudity, graphic sex, sex work, drugs, nonconsensual sex, violence against women Unanswered Questions: Was Mandy one woman or two? To what extent is Ziegler telling the truth? Is Kubrick condemning conserva...

This week, Cameron Crowe’s 1996 romantic comedy Jerry Maguire had us at hello! Has Cruise ever been more charming? Is Crowe’s dialogue good, or is there just a lot of it? What does a movie need a structure for anyway? Content warning: brief discussion of sexual violence Unanswered Questions: Who were the athletes and commentators who we either didn’t notice or neglected to mention? How does Doroth...

This week, we disavow any knowledge of Brian de Palma’s 1996 spy thriller Mission: Impossible . How does 1996 reimagine the 1960s’ spycraft of the original TV series? How does a labyrinthine plot collapse into three big actions sequences? Is this the Tom Cruise franchise we were waiting for? Content warning: violence, drugs, betrayal Unanswered Questions: Does this film function as a response to G...

This week, we slip into gothic melodrama with Neil Jordan’s 1994 movie Interview With The Vampire . Is it a good adaptation of Anne Rice’s 1976 novel? How does it change the ways vampires are treated in the popular culture? Has Kirsten Dunst ever been better than this? Content warning: violence, violence against animals, violence against children, blood and gore, nudity, fire and burning, slavery...

This week, we finally get the full, authentic Tom Cruise Run in Sydney Pollack’s 1993 movie The Firm . Are we all encumbered by hospitality? Did John Grisham ever write about a ghost? What’s up with Nordic assassins in the ’90s? Content warning: sexual assault, reference to sex work, gun violence Unanswered Questions: Is Mitch McDeere typical of 1990s heroes? How does the film distinguish between...

This week, we prove that we can handle the truth in Rob Reiner’s 1992 movie A Few Good Men . Who is victorious over the Aaron Sorkin dialogue? What does the film have to say about the American military machine? Whatever happened to Noah Wyle? Content warning: violence, murder, homophobic language, misogynistic language, cult activity, human trafficking, child abuse, domestic abuse, kidnapping, Sci...

This week, the movie that’s often considered the first flop of Cruise’s career: Ron Howard’s Far and Away ! Is the movie — or are the accents — as bad as we thought? How can a movie work at the highest and lowest levels, but kind of miss the middle? How do we make our peace with the big political choice that Howard makes? Content warning: indigenous erasure, colonialism, physical violence, sex wor...

This week, it’s Top Gun on the ground as Tony Scott returns with 1990’s Days of Thunder . Is this film as bad as its reputation? What happened to kill the era of the producer-led blockbuster? How does it feel to go back to the well? Content warning: injury, trauma, sex work, sexual assault Unanswered Questions: Was there a version of this film — one of the many drafts, perhaps — that would have co...

This week, things get grim with Oliver Stone’s 1989 anti-war biopic Born on the Fourth of July . Is Stone on the side of the angels? How does political criticism work in a film about a real person’s life? Has Willem Dafoe ever been less enjoyable? Content warning: graphic violence, medical trauma, militarism, disability, sex work and sex workers, religious iconography and language, riots and civil...

This week, we’re taking a swing at Oscar credibility with Barry Levinson’s 1988 movie Rain Man . Does the film treat its subject matter well? How badly has it aged? Can Cruise hold his own opposite a heavy-hitter like Hoffman? Content warning: insensitive language related to Autism Spectrum Disorder , brief mentions of sex work Unanswered Questions: How has the depiction of ASD changed in the thir...

This week, we need a stiff drink after Roger Donaldson’s 1988 movie Cocktail . How does a film get such a terrible reputation? Is there anything more ’80s than a protagonist who really, really wants to start a franchise? What did The Beach Boys do to deserve “Kokomo”? Content warning: excess consumption of alcohol, suicide Unanswered Questions: Would the film have been improved by keeping the dark...

This week, we invent the legacyquel with Martin Scorsese’s 1986 movie The Color Of Money . How does Tom Cruise match up against the legendary Paul Newman? Does Scorsese’s technical excellence leave space for narrative and theme? Is Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio the smartest female lead we’ve seen so far? Content warning: physical assault Unanswered Questions: Is there a secret hustle happening throu...

For this month’s Patreon-exclusive bonus episode, our listeners voted for an all-time favorite: Dirty Dancing ! We spent almost two hours discussing the development, production and story of this all-time classic film, including its soundtrack. To hear the whole episode, visit Patreon.com/LastStarPod ! Thanks for listening! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood...

This week, we could tell you all about Tony Scott’s 1986 military rollercoaster Top Gun , but then we’d have to kill you. Is this film nothing more than a macho fantasy? Is there a queer subtext — or text? Where is the danger zone, and who built this highway? Content Warnings : militaristic violence, death of a loved one Unanswered Questions: Does Maverick really change in the course of the film,...

This week, we reach the first milestone in the filmography of Tom Cruise with Ridley Scott’s 1985 fairy tale Legend . How did this film make Elizabeth who she is? Do we prefer the music of Tangerine Dream or Jerry Goldsmith? How long would it take Tim Curry to seduce us to the dark side? Content Warnings :  sexual coercion, violence against animals Unanswered Questions: Is there a way in which Lil...

This week, we have clear eyes, full hearts and we can’t lose as we discuss Michael Chapman’s 1983 football drama All The Right Moves. Is this quiet film of small-town desperation maybe too quiet? Is football the perfect metaphor for American life? Was Craig T. Nelson born to be a coach? Content Warnings : sexual assault, racist language Unanswered Questions: Stef is a fairly inactive protagonist....

This week, Tom Cruise becomes a star in Paul Brickman’s tale of capitalist ennui and sock-slides, Risky Business. Is it all a dream? What happened to the original cut of the ending? Has Alastair already peaked at the trailer game? Content Warnings : misogyny, sexually explicit language, sex work Unanswered Questions: Was it all a dream? But… was it ? How does the film work as a teen empowerment fa...

This week, we head south of the border with Curtis Hanson’s 1983 sex comedy Losin’ It . What makes Tom Cruise so gee-shucks wholesome? Is a ’57 Chevy Bel Air the best-looking American car? Does this film know what it’s doing? Content Warnings : racism, misogyny, sexually explicit language, discussion of non-consensual sex, sex work, violence Unanswered Questions: How do we feel about the resolutio...

This week, we discuss an American classic: Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 film The Outsiders . How does the film compare against Tom Cruise’s other literary adaptations? Why does this film feel so comfortably old-fashioned? What does it mean to stay gold? Content Warnings : gun violence, domestic violence, violence against children, death of children Unanswered Questions: Is there, in theory, a bette...

This week, we discuss Tom Cruise’s first take on masculinity and militarism in Harold Becker’s 1981 film Taps . Are we sympathetic to the wrong execution of the right idea? How has our relationship to the military changed in the last forty years? Is “General Harlan Beche” the best name in the popular culture? Content Warnings : gun violence, violence against children, death of children, homophobic...

This week, we discuss the melodramatic (and controversial) excesses of Franco Zeffirelli’s 1981 film Endless Love . What has changed in our depiction of teen sexuality? How badly can a director misunderstand his source material? What kind of impression can Tom Cruise make in forty-five seconds? Spoiler for the last one: it’s a lot . Content Warnings : sexual exploitation and abuse of a child; inse...

Welcome to The Last Star In Hollywood! In this introductory episode, we set out our plans for the podcast, discuss what makes a star, and ask the tough questions: Has Hollywood outgrown the need for stars? What is the least Downey performance that we’ve seen Downey do? Is Tom Hanks hot? Alastair’s impromptu, informal criteria for stardom: Profitability – how much money has the actor made, and how...