How’s that?
I have no problem with Cruise as an actor, and those who think he’s no good as an actor don’t understand movie acting.
This is hard core Nazi Bullshit, far worse than scientology. I guess it was supposed to be a joke, but it’s missing a punch line.
nm
Eh, I don’t hate Tom as an actor. I enjoyed the *Mission Impossible *movies. He’s okay in the kind of movie that requires a Cocky Action Hero, and he plays the part reasonably well.
I don’t follow celebrities. I don’t give a damn about their relationships, their children, or their problems. All I care about is whether I like, dislike, or can’t stand watching them in the movies or on the TV screen. Tom isn’t an actor I’d go out of my way to see, but he’s not one I’d go out of my way to avoid, either (that honor belongs to Adam Sandler).
The Scientology thing–eh, he’s a nutjob. There are a lot of nutjobs out there in the world. Since I don’t follow celebrities (see above) I don’t pay attention to whose couch he’s jumping on or what he’s spouting about the way people should live. I don’t take my life advice from pretty people on movie screens. He can believe whatever he wants, and I’m free to think he’s a nutjob and see or not see his movies as I see fit.
Scientology wasn’t founded until 1952. The Nazis were defunct as of 1945. My guess is that they probably had no policies, hardcore or otherwise, about Scientology.
A key tenet of Nazism was the destruction of a particular despised religion. To advocate that a religion should be “wiped from the face of the earth” and that its adherents need to “be sent to Coventry” (i.e. disappeared), is to espouse a philosophy indistinguishable from Nazism. Whether the hated religious people are Jews, Scientologists, or some little cult that got founded last week is irrelevant.
I agree with you, Larry Borgia, but I hate Scientology with a passion that exceeds my passion for fundamentalist Christianity or fundamentalist Islam. Does that make me a Nazi?
well I guess that was off topic. sorry.
Cruise played a character that was against-type in Tropic Thunder, playing the slimy Hollywood agent for the Ben Stiller character. As I remember it, he was praised for that role, since it was so unlike anything he’d done up to that point.
Who he is as a person does not effect me at all. I have liked his work in some roles quite a bit and didn’t like others. No hate here.
Tom Cruise was excellent and moving in Magnolia, and for that I give him a great deal of leeway, but he is still my go-to example of how a brilliant director (P. T. Anderson in this case) can sometimes polish a turd.
If Cruise had bothered to do any acting in Eyes Wide Shut, I’d have been willing to believe that he’s got actual acting ability hidden in there somewhere. I mean, Jebus, Kubrick even got an 8-year-old and a fucking light in a hole to act better than Cruise.
You’re right, he IS a good actor. He’s not a great actor, though. He always seems to do just enough for the role; I’ve never been surprised by any of his acting choices. I’ve never watched a performance of his and thought, that was impressive, and I’m not sure any other actor could have done that. He never rises above ‘good enough’.
That may seem like damning with faint praise, but it’s really not. It still puts him head and shoulders above most of the population when it comes to acting ability. I just don’t think he’ll ever go down as one of the greats.
Put me down as another who thinks that all the hate comes down to the Scientology. It’s easy to hate a grinning prick shilling for an obvious money-grubbing, dangerous cult.
Are there a lot of people on the SDMB or various movie fan sites who loathe Tom Cruise? Sure- but he still gets $20 million a movie, owns several mansions, is besieged for his autograph wherever he goes, and lives in luxury.
I should be so hated!
If you had Tom Cruise’s troubles, you be Tom Cruise Crazy, too!
Here’s a list of people who were directly harmed by scientology.
The main site, What’s the Harm? is also a very informative website about all things cultish and quackish, pretty well-sourced.
I disagree with this, but still find it hilarious and kind of spot on, if that makes any sense.
Dammit, somebody, come back and explain this.
purplehorseshoe - Cruise was in a movie called “Eyes Wide Shut” that only film snobs liked but apparently showed his then-wife Nicole Kidman’s breasts.
Hey! I consider myself a movie snob, and I hated it. 
Word.
Also, I’m curious if anybody here has considered looking at whether or not he can act. ???