At least that’s our man Piers Marchants’ theory.
Because he’s appeared in so many sci-fi vehicles over the years, including this week’s Oblivion, in this week’s MovieStyle Marchant wonders if Cruise isn’t from “an impending time where honorable, hard-fighting men get spunky haircuts and spend the vast majority of their time in extreme close-up, grappling with futuristic gizmos and laser blasters and driving expensive looking multi-wheeled vehicles.” Which is probably all you need to know about the not-bad film, which could, like a lot of Cruise’s movies, pass for a mega-budgeted vanity project. (But people like them, which is why Cruise is such a movie star.)
If you’re looking in the other direction, Philip Martin says Cristian Mungiu’s strikingly shot and punishingly long Beyond the Hills is a real work of art, though it’s probably the least sensational movie you’ll ever see about a lesbian nun and her unhinged ex-lover.
And over there in the corner, there’s Home Run, which is one of those faith-based movies that is better than you might expect — it’s less preachy and more honestly engaging than its rather generic storyline would suggest. Karen Martin says it helps to have good actors.
Karen also previews the Tribeca Film Film Festival, where part of the MovieStyle staff will be this weekend, focusing on that part of the festival the Arkansas-bound might enjoy.
Read that and more in Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.