This week, Ethan Hunt returns for the eighth (and probably ultimate?) time in Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning! Does the movie recover from its broken first act? Is this really going to be the last mission? Does this feel like The Most Expensive Movie Ever Made?

Unanswered Questions:

• How do we understand Luther's arc in this film, and in the series as a whole?
• Whatever happened to Marie and Alanna Mitsopolis and the other dropped elements from Dead Reckoning?
• Is Ethan really changed by his confrontation with The Entity?

Further reading:

• How They Pulled Off Those Stunts In Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (GQ)
• Hannah Waddingham: ‘I’m ravenous for the fun of it all’ (The Times)
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

A huge and sincere thank you to all our listeners for coming on this journey with us! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

This week, we wrap up the first part of The Last Star In Hollywood, and look ahead to what’s next for Tom Cruise. What’s the definitive Cruise performance? Which unmade sequel would we like to see? What are the chances of Cruise taking home an Academy Award within the next five years?

Further reading:

• The Secret Video
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

A huge and sincere thank you to all our listeners for coming on this journey with us! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

The Last Star In Hollywood is a Next Word production.

Copyright © 2024 The Last Star In Hollywood. All Rights Reserved.

This week, Ethan Hunt returns for the seventh (and penultimate?) time in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning! Did the production delays harm the final film? Are we warming up to something great in part eight, or all we falling apart before the finish line? Do we really need to motivate Ethan with another dead woman — or worse, two dead women?

Unanswered Questions:

• Is there any way to reconcile the IMF in this movie and the preceding installments in the franchise?
• In what ways is Dead Reckoning compromised by the pandemic, and compromised by being the first half of a two-part story?
• How does Grace rank alongside the strong women we saw in Fallout?

Further reading:

• The Bechdel Test
• Women In Refrigerators (Gail Simone)
• Christopher McQuarrie Breaks Down the Making of ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’ and Why AI is the Villain in Exclusive Q&A (Collider)
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

A huge and sincere thank you to all our listeners for coming on this journey with us! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

Join us in two weeks for a wrap-up show, and come on back in May of 2025 for Mission: Impossible – Shenanigans Ensue!

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This week, we feel the need for speed all over again with Joseph Kosinski’s much-delayed, hugely successful Top Gun: Maverick! Is Pete Mitchell the same guy, so many years later? How does the film respond to the legacy of the original? Is Kosinski maybe too good at his job?

Unanswered Questions:

• Is Top Gun about patriotism? Militarism? Commercialism? All or none of the above?
• How does the marketing and production material mythologize the making of the film?
• Is there anything thematic happing in Maverick’s technological regression from the fictional DarkStar to the Boeing F/A-18E to the Grumman F-14?

Further reading:

• Playboy (January, 1990)
• Budweiser, PBR, Coop F5 Grapefruit, Voodoo Ranger IPA
• F1 Official Trailer
• Regal 4DX
• “‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Cinematographer Pushed Camera Technology Limits to Put Audiences in Pilot’s Seat” (Variety)
• Tenet
• “3 Rounds with the Cast of ‘Top Gun: Maverick'” (Entertainment Weekly)
• “Garth Marenghi – Writing“
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

Thanks for listening! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

Join us next week as we close out Tom Cruise’s filmography — for now — with Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning!

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This week, Christopher McQuarrie returns to M:I with the biggest, splashiest, most ankle-breaking adventure so far. Is this who Ethan Hunt has been all along? Has Paris ever looked better? How do Henry Cavill’s arms even work?

Unanswered Questions:

• In what way is Ethan Hunt is a scalpel?
• Does the disillusioned spy still have power as an archetype within this series?
• Why was the remote-control car introduced?

Further reading:

• The Crown
• James Bond’s BMW 750iL
• “The Real Reason Behind Henry Cavill’s Infamous, $3 Million Justice League Mustache”
• The Witcher
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

Thanks for listening! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

Join us next week as we once again feel the need for speed: Joseph Kosinski’s 2022 COVID-delayed mega-sequel Top Gun: Maverick.

The Last Star In Hollywood is a Next Word production.

Copyright © 2024 The Last Star In Hollywood. All Rights Reserved.

This week, a rare Tom Cruise character-actor performance in Doug Liman’s stylish satire American Made. Is this the Gen-X Forrest Gump? Who expected a Liman/Cruise movie to be this different from Edge of Tomorrow?

Unanswered Questions:

• Is there value in so comprehensively fictionalizing a true story?
• Does American Made work for audiences which aren’t familiar with the Reagan-era war on drugs?
• How does the Tom Cruise movie-star persona help (or hinder) the satirical intent of this film?

Further reading:

• Mena, Arkansas
• Barry Seal
• “The Awful Accident That Happened While Filming Tom Cruise’s ‘American Made’” (Collider)
• Hooked On Classics
• “National Anthem” (Lana Del Rey)
• Wolf Of Wall Street (2013)
• McGruff The Crime Dog
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

Thanks for listening! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

Join us next week as we bring the M:I franchise to new heights with Vanessa Kirby and Henry Cavill: Mission: Impossible – Fallout!

The Last Star In Hollywood is a Next Word production.

Copyright © 2024 The Last Star In Hollywood. All Rights Reserved.

This week, we venture into the Dark Universe — but not for long — in Alex Kurtzman’s 2017 reboot The Mummy. Is it broken at a conceptual level? How much do we miss Brendan Fraser? Does Elizabeth come up with the best ever Trailer Game joke?

Unanswered Questions:

• Is the Dark Universe, narratively, a coherent shared universe?
• Is there a feminist reading of Ancient Egypt presented in this film?
• Does Tom Cruise unbalance the film, or does he save it from being an even greater disaster?

Further reading:

• The Mummy! A Tale Of The Twenty-Second Century (Jane Webb)
• The Mummy (1932)
• Universal Monsters
• The Mummy, Or Ramses The Damned (Anne Rice)
• The Mummy (1999)
• The Mummy Returns (2001)
• Atomic Blonde (2017)
• Drunk History
• Drinking Buddies (2013)
• Mythic Quest
• Minx
• The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
• The Mummy IMAX Trailer
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

Thanks for listening! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

Join us next week as we round out Cruise’s penultimate, experimental trilogy with Doug Liman’s 2017 action-comedy American Made!

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This week, Jack’s back in Edward Zwick’s 2016 franchise-killer Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. Is this a feature-length TV pilot in disguise? Can we feel the absence of Christopher McQuarrie? What’s the best time to go make a snack?

Unanswered Questions:

• Does Reacher work as a hero when he’s integrated with his community?
• What is the metaphorical significance of The Hunter?
• Does the Reacherverse properly interrogate the responsibility of the military to civilian society, and vice-versa?

Further reading:

• Numb3rs
• Slap Bet
• “‘Hidden Figures’ Star Aldis Hodge, Painter Harmonia Rosales to Debut Collab Works at L.A. Art Show”
• Alan Ritchson
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

Thanks for listening! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

Join us next week as Universal loses $100m on a bet on monsters: Alex Kurtzman’s The Mummy.

The Last Star In Hollywood is a Next Word production.

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This week, Ethan Hunt returns for a fifth time, this time (mostly) written and (completely) directed by Christopher McQuarrie. Is Ilsa Faust an all-time Hall of Fame female lead? What is a Mission: Impossible solution for a Mission: Impossible problem? Is “green-screened briefing scene” the best phrase in the English language?

Unanswered Questions:

• What does the political reframing of the nature of international espionage mean for our understanding of this franchise?
• Is Solomon Lane a convincing antagonist? Is the Syndicate?
• What is the nature of American exceptionalism in the world of M:I?

Further reading:

• Bridget Jones says “Chechnya” (YouTube)
• Wayne’s World Product Placement (YouTube)
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

Thanks for listening! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

Join us next week as Cruise ignores his own advice as goes back to Jack Reacher in Jack Reacher: Never Go Back!

The Last Star In Hollywood is a Next Word production.

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This week, the second in Cruise’s high-concept sci-fi double-header: Doug Liman’s Edge Of Tomorrow! Are time-loop stories still a fun idea? Is Cruise at his best when he’s playing a con man? Are the Olympics the unexpected cradle of optimism for the modern world?

Unanswered Questions:

• Let’s talk about the kiss! Is it justified emotionally? Is it justified for the audience? Is it defensible simply because people should kiss more in movies?
• Is there anything to be made of the connections to World War II? Does the concealed, ambush-heavy environmental warfare of the mimics evoke more modern conflicts?
• If the movie were smarter, would it be worse?

Further reading:

• All You Need Is Kill
• Doug Liman hopes his wild loop means a hit with ‘Edge of Tomorrow’ (LA Times)
• Emily Blunt Says Living With a Stutter Is Like Having an ‘Imposter’ in Your Body ‘Who Doesn’t Pay Rent’ (Variety)
• Twisters
• Starship Troopers
• The Danger Room
• The Louvre Pyramid
• Paris mayor swims in Seine as river is cleaned up just in time for Olympics (The Guardian)
• Kevin Piette
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

Thanks for listening! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

Join us next week for the return of Ethan Hunt and Christopher McQuarrie’s first directorial effort in Cruise’s biggest franchise: Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.

The Last Star In Hollywood is a Next Word production.

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This week, twists and turns in Joseph Kosinski’s 2013 high-concept sci-fi adventure Oblivion! How many twists is too many twists? Is Vica a cute nickname? Is this film completely overshadowed by Edge of Tomorrow, or jut mostly overshadowed?

Unanswered Questions:

• Is Andrea Riseborough good is this movie?
• Is there a way to make the movie work while keeping all the twists?
• What’s the thematic significance of Jack’s Secret Cabin?

Further reading:

• “What are the most common character names in movies?” (Stephen Follows)
• Tron: Legacy
• Tron 2.0
• Batman Forever Warner Bros. Logo
• Batman & Robin Warner Bros. Logo
• Dwayne Johnson Can’t Lose Fights
• Christina’s World (Andrew Wyeth)
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

Thanks for listening! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

Join us next week for Starship Troopers meets Groundhog Day: Doug Liman’s Edge Of Tomorrow!

The Last Star In Hollywood is a Next Word production.

Copyright © 2024 The Last Star In Hollywood. All Rights Reserved.

To mark American Independence Day, and because Elizabeth is away in LA making movie magic, we’re unlocking our Patreon bonus episode on Rob Reiner’s 1995 political rom-com The American President!

Unanswered Questions:

• What is Sorkin’s deal with women?
• Is there a place for idealism and privacy in modern American politics?
• What’s the future for the Hollywood romantic comedy?

Further reading:

• Sorkinisms 
• The West Wing (1999-2006) 
• Anyone But You (2023) 
• Ticket To Paradise (2022) 
• The 30th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards 
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

Thanks for listening! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

The Last Star In Hollywood is a Next Word production.

Copyright © 2024 The Last Star In Hollywood. All Rights Reserved.

This week, Tom Cruise explores the road not taken with Christopher McQuarrie’s 2012 action-thriller Jack Reacher. Is Cruise a bad match for Lee Child’s drifter hero? How can a car chase be so boring? What’s harder: walking, or talking?

Unanswered Questions:

• What is the political or philosophical connection between Reacher and the Zek?
• How does Lee Child’s British perspective on Americanism manifest itself in the text?
• How indebted is the script to the original novel?

Further reading:

• Lee Child
• One Shot (2005)
• Gone Girl (2014)
• In The Heat Of The Night (1967)
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

Thanks for listening! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

Join us next week for the first of Cruise’s back-to-back high-concept sci-fi adventures, Joseph Kosinski’s Oblivion.

The Last Star In Hollywood is a Next Word production.

Copyright © 2024 The Last Star In Hollywood. All Rights Reserved.

This week, Tom Cruise rawks in Adam Shankman’s 2011 adaptation of the jukebox musical Rock of Ages. Does this movie have anything to say? Is Cruise the secret sauce? What’s the opposite of a flex?

Unanswered Questions:

• Would this movie be better is Stacee Jaxx were the protagonist?
• Is there a theme to be found?
• What’s the best song on the soundtrack?

Further reading:

• Mamma Mia! (2008)
• This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
• Darling Buds Of May (1991)
• Julia Tries Everything (Delish)
• Burlesque (2010)
• Axl Rose
• Empire Records (1995)
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

Thanks for listening! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

Join us next week for the launch of a new franchise, a new hero, and the start of Tom Cruise’s most successful professional partnership: Christopher McQuarrie’s Jack Reacher!

The Last Star In Hollywood is a Next Word production.

Copyright © 2024 The Last Star In Hollywood. All Rights Reserved.

This week, Ethan Hunt returns to save both the world and Tom Cruise’s career in Brad Bird’s 2011 spy thriller, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Is this a high point for the franchise? Did Josh Holloway deserve better? Is every action sequence better when it’s scored with a Dean Martin track?

Content warning: gun violence, peril, heights

Unanswered Questions:

• Does this Ethan make sense of the first three movies?
• Does this film improve the franchise’s record with women, or not?
• Why is Tom Wilkinson uncredited?

Further reading:

• Disney’s Nine Old Men (Wikipedia)
• “Do The Bartman” (1991)
• The Iron Giant (1999)
• Tomorrowland (2015)
• Ayn Rand (Wikipedia)
• Objectivism
• Este Haim
• Playing With The Boys (Top Gun)
• Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

Thanks for listening! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

Join us next week for tight pants, big hair and all bangers, no skips in Adam Shenkman’s 2012 jukebox musical Rock of Ages!

The Last Star In Hollywood is a Next Word production.

Copyright © 2024 The Last Star In Hollywood. All Rights Reserved.

This week, Cruise and Cameron are reunited in a chaotic, excessive, and surprisingly fun action-comedy, James Mangold’s Knight And Day. How many writers is too many? Is this an example of perfect casting? Can real-life beauty compensate for 2010-quality CGI?

Content warning: gun violence, peril, drugs, sexual assault

Unanswered Questions:

• Is there an edit which can make more sense of this film?
• Could Knight And Day have launched a franchise?
• What would be a better title?

Further reading:

• Salt
• The Tourist
• James Mangold (Wikipedia)
• Gambit (1966)
• Gambit (2012)
• Inside Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard’s Brooklyn Home (Architectural Digest)
• Inside Vanessa Hudgens’s Enchanting L.A. Home (Architectural Digest)
• Imagine (Gal Gadot and friends)
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

Thanks for listening! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

Join us next week for a return to form — or at least a return to the well — for the M:I franchise: Brad Bird’s Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol!

The Last Star In Hollywood is a Next Word production.

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This week, a rare late-period swing at legitimacy by Cruise in Bryan Singer’s World War II drama Valkyrie. Did Cruise’s personal reputation doom this movie before it hit theatres? Does the film succeed despite Singer, or because of him? Who is the best British character actor out of the dozen or more in this ensemble?

Content warning: sexual assault, sexual assault of a minor, violence, suicide, death

Unanswered Questions:

• Should Cruise have attempted a British accent to better fit with the rest of the cast?
• Are the changes to the documented history of the Valkyrie plot justified?
• Does Carice van Houten the best sexual chemistry with Cruise?

Further reading:

• Tom Cruise Wearing A Butt Pad Is Honestly My New Sexual Preference (BuzzFeed)
• Bryan Singer’s Accusers Speak Out (The Atlantic)
• Bryan Singer’s Traumatic ‘X-Men’ Set: The Movie “Created a Monster” (The Hollywood Reporter)
• Olivia Munn Says Bryan Singer Went Missing for a ‘Thyroid Issue’ While Shooting ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ (Variety)
• Disgraced Hollywood director Bryan Singer said living in Israel, planning comeback (The Times of Israel)
• Actress Roundtable: Jennifer Lawrence, Michelle Yeoh, Emma Corrin, Michelle Williams & More (YouTube)
• The German officer who tried to kill Hitler (BBC)
• Broadcast News (1987)
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

Thanks for listening! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

Join us next week for the very silly James Mangold action comedy Knight and Day (2010)!

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This week, let’s be controversial with Ben Stiller’s 2008 action-movie satire, Tropic Thunder! How do we talk about comedy? Is friction inherently interesting? Who can stick the landing on double-reverse satire?

Content warning: discussions of racism, ableism, antisemitism, hate speech, drug use, gun violence, military violence, gore, misogyny, profanity

Unanswered Questions:

• Which of the controversial elements of the film have aged the worst? Which have aged the best?
• Is Stiller a convincing leading man?
• Should Robert Downey Jr. have been nominated for the Academy Award?

Further reading:

• Robin Hood: Men In Tights
• Empire Of The Sun
• The Frat Pack
• The 81st Academy Awards
• Maria Menounos
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

Thanks for listening! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

Join us next time we return to very serious and worthy film-making with the World War II drama Valkyrie (2008)!

The Last Star In Hollywood is a Next Word production.

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This week, let’s get angry – but not in the way the movie wants – with Robert Redford’s 2007 political drama Lions For Lambs! Does Redford have a directorial style? Is there depth and nuance to the arguments made in the film? Is Andrew Garfield cuter than Michael Peña?

Content warning: gun violence, military violence, death

Unanswered Questions:

• Does the movie have anything to say about hypocrisy?
• Should the structure of the movie be more emphatic, or less?
• Is the film’s treatment of race conscious and satirical, or not?

Further reading:

• Pete’s Dragon (2016)
• Barefoot In The Park
• The Dish
• The Piano
• Isaac And Ishmael (The West Wing)
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

Thanks for listening! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

Join us next time as we cross every possible line in Les Grossman’s satirical action movie Tropic Thunder (2008)!

The Last Star In Hollywood is a Next Word production.

Copyright © 2024 The Last Star In Hollywood. All Rights Reserved.

This week, Ethan Hunt returns with more guns in JJ Abrams’ 2006 action sequel Mission: Impossible 3! What is the Rabbit’s Foot? Why add extra team members if you’re going to do nothing with them? Does Philip Seymour Hoffman deliver an actually perfect performance?

Content warning: violence, imprisonment

Unanswered Questions:

• Is Abrams a good fit for this series?
• Can we read the militarism of this movie as a response to the Bourne series?
• How do we read the treatment of women throughout the film, specifically in terms of the combination of physical empowerment and innocence?

Further reading:

• Angus McPhail
• MacGuffin
• Super 8 (2011)
• The 99p Challenge
• Man Up (2015)
• “Life And Death” (Michael Giacchino)
• “Impossible” (Kanye West)
• Casino Royale (2006)
• “Not While I’m Around” (The Morning Show)
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

Thanks for listening! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

Join us next time as we resurrect United Artists and seek Academy validation with Robert Redford’s Lions For Lambs (2007)!

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Copyright © 2024 The Last Star In Hollywood. All Rights Reserved.