#CruiseClub: The Tom Cruise Podcast

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 characte...

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: M...

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 v...

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 an...

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 offici...

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 h...

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)...

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 plo...

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 disc...

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation has to do some serious heavy lifting, far more so than any other movie in the franchise. Not only does it have to tell an engaging, standalone story, but it's asked to follow the events of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol more closely than any previous installment has done, while also setting things up for Mission: Impossible – Fallout. (What is this, an MCU...

It's truly a shame that Edge of Tomorrow didn't do well in theaters -- so poorly, in fact, that it was later retitled Live Die Repeat -- because it's one of Tom Cruise's best movies yet. With the benefit of hindsight (as well as tastes that almost perfectly align with what this movie's trying to do), we're able to see Edge of Tomorrow as the masterpiece that it is. Joining us to gush about this mo...

One year before Tom Cruise starred in Edge of Tomorrow (and blew our collective minds), he found himself in another big-budget sci-fi movie: Oblivion. The finished product doesn't quite hold up as well as his next film will, but there's a lot to admire here, and even more to pick apart. We're joined by Matt Delhauer (The Ginger Geek Podcast) to talk -- spoiler alert! -- lost love, clones, and whet...

Jack Reacher is a by the book action thriller. Jack Reacher is an action movie that subverts your every expectation. What *is* Jack Reacher? We're trying to figure out why the latest new franchise for Tom Cruise works as well as it does, almost in spite of the overwhelming odds its script hurls against it. We also talk about the palpable sexual tension that goes hand in hand with an almost absolut...

Rock of Ages marks the beginning of the end for #CruiseClub, in a way. For the final time (to date, anyway), Tom Cruise is not the star of a movie. Joining us to talk about all of the chaos of Rock of Ages are both of the co-hosts of The Contenders: Aislinn Addington and Tobin Addington. In this episode, we talk about the many types of chaos in the movie, the many ways it fails its characters (and...

Going from Mission: Impossible – Ultra Lite (Knight and Day) to Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol offers one of the more eye-opening turnarounds in #CruiseClub so far. The latest installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise (to this point in the podcast's timeline, anyway) may mark both the franchise's high-water mark, as well as the podcast's. Joining us as we take a trip up a building in...

What if Ethan Hunt had to drag you along while on a mission to save the world? Does Ethan Hunt (or, in this case, "Ethan Hunt") ever truly go rogue? Should you trust a stranger? What if that stranger looks and acts like Tom Cruise? What if Gal Gadot shows up out of nowhere? These are just some of the many questions Knight and Day asks, and we're determined to get to the bottom of things. Joining u...

We continue our journey through the "lesser known" portion of #CruiseClub with Valkyrie, a movie where Tom Cruise tries to kill Adolf Hitler. Joining us to talk about this film is John Brooks, fresh off his appearance last week on our Toy Story 2 episode on #HANX for the Memories! We discuss Cruise's portrayal of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, how true the movie was to the historical events leadi...

Four of the next five movies we're covering in #CruiseClub -- Tropic Thunder, Valkyrie, Knight and Day, and Rock of Ages -- along with our last episode (Lions for Lambs) represent most of the biggest unknowns (to us, anyway) for the rest of #CruiseClub. Tropic Thunder continues this mini-run with a very uncommon role for Tom Cruise: supporting actor. We're heading to Vietnam and recording this pod...

By this point in Tom Cruise's career -- we're barely over a decade away from catching up -- there are very few surprises left. We've seen (and love!) just about everything that's coming up for the rest of this show's run. Then, there's Lions for Lambs, a movie neither of us had ever seen, and neither of us knew anything about. What a world this is that still holds some secrets! Joining us on this...

Your mission, once again, should you choose to accept it, is to listen to our #CruiseClub episode about Mission: Impossible III! In this episode, we're joined by Dan Colon to help us figure out how the third installment in the franchise compares to the other Mission: Impossible movies, and whether it lives up to our hype our memories had created. We also talk about JJ Abrams's influence behind the...

Three years after teaming up for Minority Report, Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise reunited once again for War of the Worlds. To talk about their second (and, to date, final) collaboration, we're welcoming in Jeremy Kelly, our (brace yourself for this hyper-specific title) resident mid-2000s sci-fi remake expert. In this episode, we talk about the ways this movie differs from the original H.G. Well...

Rarely in his career does Tom Cruise play a villain, which is part of what makes Collateral so special. The other special part: this movie rules! Joining us to talk about Michael Mann’s film is Tobin Addington of The Contenders podcast. In this episode, we talk about Cruise’s ability to blend into the background, the seemingly arbitrary distinction between Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, and...

It’s time to tackle another historical epic on #CruiseClub, and we’re heading to Japan in the 1870s to talk about Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai. Joining us on this journey back in time is our resident Japanese expert, Holly Gore. In this episode, we talk about whether or not this movie falls victim to the white savior syndrome, whether or not it “earns” its two-and-a-half hour runtime, and how mu...

With Minority Report, we’ve officially entered the Steven Spielberg era of #CruiseClub, as two of Tom Cruise’s next four movies will see the two legends of the big screen team up. We saw this one coming, though, even before it was made. Joining us from the milky depths of our precog tank are two first-time guests to the TomTom Club: Nicole Sweeney (Snark Squad) and Dan Colon! In this episode, we t...