Tag Archives: Minority Report

Cruising SF Movies

Whatever you think about Tom Cruise the person, it’s hard to dispute that Tom Cruise the actor has turned out a lot of very worthwhile films. It’s hard to find many duds in his filmography but easy to spot noteworthy titles. Ever since Risky Business (1983) and Top Gun (1986), Tom Cruise has starred in movies so memorable that they became part of our cultural lingo.

More importantly for this Sci-Fi Saturday post, Tom Cruise has appeared in a perhaps surprising number of science fiction movies. Even more importantly, nearly all of them are good science fiction movies. Some of them are even really good.

Unfortunately, one of his rare duds is among them.

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Spielberg: Not A Fan

mashed potatoesFor the record: I am not a fan of Steven Spielberg‘s movies. I do not like them on DVD; I do not like them in theater three. I do not like them on VHS; I do not like them — I said that, yes! And let me be clear: sometimes when I say I don’t like something, it means I’m neutral; I neither like nor dislike. But in this case, I do mean I actively dislike his movies.

I will readily agree that this, almost universally beloved, director-writer-producer is brilliant at his craft. He’s clearly one of the most successful directors in modern movie history. But I stand with a (very!) small number of critics who find his movies morally shallow and blatantly emotional. Even worse, they are peppered with what I call “Spielbergisms.”

It all started with the damned mashed potatoes.

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