Editorials
The 5 Best Tom Cruise Movies!!
I was so bummed that I missed my press screening of Edge of Tomorrow on Monday due to traffic. Not only do I really like Tom Cruise (and Emily Blunt), I’ve heard from many people I trust that this movie is f*cking fantastic (unlike Oblivion). I’ve also heard that it’s easily director Doug Liman’s best movie in almost 20 years.
So while I wait for a window to go check out Tomorrow this weekend, I figured I’d toss a list together ranking my favorite Cruise films. None of these are horror movies, but that’s what “The Further” is for.
This is the kind of thing where the rankings (and indeed the entries themselves) could change any day of the week, so I respect and welcome any disagreements. Check it out below!
5: Jack Reacher
This movie didn’t really set the world on fire (nor did I manage to see it in theaters), but I’d argue that Christopher McQuarrie’s 2012 film (along with Mission Impossible 4) set the stage for the Cruise comeback (in terms of public perception, his earning power hasn’t actually flagged that much) we’re seeing today. In many ways Jack Reacher is a perfect 90’s movie. It feels like the kind of film that would have been a massive budget buster in 1998, but it seems small by today’s standards. Which is great. It gives the film plenty of wiggle room to let Cruise’s character and his actions determine the stakes.
4: War of the Worlds
War of the Worlds is much stronger than people give it credit for. Spielberg made an excellent disaster film in 2005, only to see it overshadowed by the public’s response to Cruise’s personal life during the press tour. Not only is the film itself strong, but Cruise himself is fantastic here. Playing a loser dad who finally has to man up and make some intense (and morally divisive) choices during an apocalyptic event, he brings a real sense of urgency to one of his everyman roles.
3: Risky Business
Not Cruise’s first film, but the one that most assuredly launched him to stardom. And for good reason. His turn here as Joel, a repressed, wealthy high school senior struggling with college placement in the suburbs of Chicago is actually quite nuanced (and a lot of fun). He traces the arc from virgin to pimp (literally) deftly and thoroughly. And the movie itself is a blast.
2: Collateral
In Michael Mann’s 2004 masterpiece Collateral (on some days I like it more than Heat, it’s leaner and more propulsive), Cruise is able to parlay his trademark sense of urgency and intensity into the role of Vincent, a hitman with a tight schedule who happened to pick the wrong cabbie in Jamie Foxx. Watching Cruise and Foxx play off each other is a delight, and there’s a sense of fairness to Vincent that Cruise is able to get more mileage out of than most marquee names I can think of.
1: Magnolia
I’m a huge Paul Thomas Anderson fan, so naturally this was going to be near the top (even if it’s not my favorite PTA film). I imagine you’ve seen Magnolia, but seek it out if you haven’t. I’m not sure Tom Cruise actually gives the film’s best performance among the Altman sprawl here, but I think it’s a hugely brave one. It’s a testament to him that he was willing to take such a gamble on a choice this bold. Most movie stars would have likely found a way to imbue the odious Frank T.J. Mackey with sympathetic notes earlier on, but Cruise waits until the very end to sample his redemption.
Now you can go to the comments and yell at me for leaving Top Gun off. It’s a good movie, but I actually think it contains one of Cruise’s most conservative performances. I should note that I love Cruise’s take on Lestat in Interview With The Vampire, it’s the best thing in a movie that I don’t completely love.
From child-eating witches to village-burning dragons, fairy tales have always had a foot in the horror genre. That’s why it makes sense that, for every The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Narnia, there are also darker and more adult-oriented stories about magical worlds inhabited by ravenous monsters and cruel villains.
Funnily enough, these sinister tales were precisely the ones that I gravitated towards back when I was a kid, and I was reminded of this while watching Netflix’s recently released I Am Frankelda, Mexico’s first ever feature-length stop-motion animation and one hell of an entertaining parable about the intersection between fiction and reality.
In honor of this special kind of horror-adjacent fairy tale, today I’d like to share this list recommending six Dark Fantasy films that horror fans might enjoy.
For the purposes of this list, we’ll be defining Dark Fantasy as fantastical stories that don’t shy away from the more macabre elements that fuel classic fairy tales. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own grim favorites if you think we missed a particularly thrilling one.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
6. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)
I’m fascinated by bizarre attempts at blockbuster filmmaking – especially when the resulting movies are somehow still fun despite their corporate-mandated origins. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is precisely one of these strangely compelling studio projects, as this surprisingly successful action-thriller boasts a lot of heart (and tongue-in-cheek humor) for a CGI-heavy creature feature.
Directed by Dead Snow’s Tommy Wirkola, Witch Hunters re-frames the classic fairy tale as an origin story for a duo of badass monster-slayers. Of course, it’s the flick’s anachronistic aesthetic and overall visual flair that make it stand out from other action-horror endeavors from around the same time.
5. The Wolf House (2018)
Made in the tradition of faux cursed films in the same vein as Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made, the eerie backstory to 2018’s Chilean animated flick The Wolf House (La Casa Lobo in the original Spanish) already makes it a nightmarish experience before the flick even really begins.
After all, the movie is presented to us as a faux propaganda film produced by the leader of a death cult (heavily inspired by the real life Colonia Dignidad), with this hybrid animated feature using complex movie magic to simulate a single uninterrupted shot as it tells the story of a lazy young girl who runs away from an isolated colony and encounters a creepy old house in the woods.
4. The Brothers Grimm (2005)
Out of all the Monty Python alumni, Terry Gilliam has had the most interesting career outside of the original comedy group. From fascinating canceled projects (such as his scrapped adaptation of Watchmen) to dystopian parodies that feel more relevant by the minute (1985’s Brazil), even his “lesser” films are still intriguing in their own way.
2005’s The Brothers Grimm is one such project, with this peculiar movie attempting to combine the comedian-turned-filmmaker’s unique visual style with a more blockbuster-oriented plot reimagining the titular brothers as con-artists rather than mere writers. The end result isn’t exactly a masterpiece, but it’s still a legitimately fun ride with plenty of memorable monsters and wonderful performances by both the late, great Heath Ledger and Matt Damon.
3. Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic (2010)
2010’s Dante’s Inferno game may have a reputation as something of an unapologetic God of War clone, but I’d argue that the now-obscure game was aesthetically unique enough to deserve a bigger fanbase. However, while the title remains trapped on the seventh console generation, its highly underrated anime adaptation is a lot easier to get a hold of!
Animated by 6 different studios in order to make the 9 circles of hell feel unique from each other, this may not be a completely faithful adaptation of Dante Alighieri’s poem, but it’s still one heck of a great (not to mention gory) time that I’d highly recommend to fans of Netflix’s take on Castlevania.
2. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)
My personal favorite entry in the Underworld franchise, Rise of the Lycans, is a highly ambitious prequel that actually works better if you haven’t had the story spoiled to you by the previous Underworld films.
While the rest of the series features plenty of urban fantasy elements as the movies combine machine guns and modern environments with gothic storytelling, Patrick Tatopoulos’ prequel fully embraces its fantastical origins and tells a classic tale about a doomed romance between a werewolf and a vampire amid a medieval uprising.
And the best part is that we get a lot more Michael Sheen as the fan-favorite Lucian.
1. Solomon Kane (2011)
One of my personal favorite movies on this list, MJ Basset’s criminally underseen adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s other iconic warrior is thoroughly steeped in horror ambience and features plenty of memorable monsters. However, it’s also a classic origin story for a swashbuckling hero that wouldn’t feel out of place in a tabletop RPG.
While I’ve already written about how the film deftly combines both horror and fantasy elements without breaking the bank, I’ll never pass up an opportunity to recommend the bizarre movie where James Purefoy expertly plays a puritan John Wick.
It’s just too bad that we never got the other films in this intended trilogy.
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