20 Comments

Watching Anthony Hopkins feed Ray Liotta slices of his table side cooked brain was one of the more memorable scenes I remember of his.

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I'm falling behind! Still need to watch the chipmunks flick, and I'm dying to see the new Cruise (the guy may suck as a husband, and is likely a religious fanatic, but MAN can he make movies!!) Will slate Liotta's Wild Things... as soon as I can curb my addiction to mindless, unoriginal, but breathtakingly beautiful Chinese TV Series (y'know, the historical (and inaccurate) dynastic dramas. They got me through covid... Now I'm ready to return to Eng. Language art and entertainment! With your help, Mr. Bunch.

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David Ellison is one of the rare rich (make that VERY rich) outsiders to go into the movie business and NOT come out significantly poorer. Yes, he has made a few artistically commendable films, although fewer than his sister Megan's Annapurna Pictures has made. But PLEASE do not overly praise his role in guiding Mission Impossible pictures onto movie screens. His father's vast wealth ($92 billion at latest count) has enabled him and his sister to take risks that the merely well-to-do could never take.

Please understand when a major studio like Paramount ALLOWS young Mr. Ellison to "produce" one of their safest tent-pole franchises, it is because they can craft a deal that shifts whatever risk MIGHT exist onto their "banker"--as that is what David's role is. Tom Cruise is ESSENTIAL to getting this picture made; David Ellison's money is nice but hardly essential. And whatever creative input he may have had was, I can guess from 30 years in the biz, it is at most frosting on a cake baked by others.

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I don't think anyone would dispute that Tom Cruise is more important to his movies than David Ellison! But I think it is generally under-appreciated how much interesting work Skydance is bankrolling and also that he has become the more successful, by far, of the Ellisons to open up a studio.

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I hate action movies, especially Pentagon-endorsed ones. I also despise the Scientologist Tom Cruise. I hated the first Top Gun movie, which was pop culture trash starring one of the most overrated "actors" since John Wayne. Ugh.

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Marycat, did you ever see Rainman? That's when I realized Cruise was a real actor. I'm not into his religious zeal, and think he's been a terrible husband... I have zero desire to meet him... but he's a better actor than most of us realize. Check out his performance in Rainman; Or not! I have actors I boycott for personal reasons too. Stay happy, Girl. It's just movies. (personally I enjoy me some mindless pop trash once in awhile 😉)

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If being something of an eccentric boob and a sub-standard husband was disqualifying for a male actor, we'd be pretty much confined to Tom Hanks and Will Ferrell movies.

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May 29, 2022
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Whaaa?!? Say it ain't so! 😩 Next you'll tell me Betty White had an affair with Mr. Rogers!! 😏

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I saw Rainman. So what? I saw Born on the 4th of July. Again, so what? An actor is not a doctor, or a great writer or anything else. They are entertainers who make a lot of money if they're lucky. And don't call me Girl. Stay happy? Ha.

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I apologize.

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I'm sorry but my best friend died last week. I don't appreciate condescension in any form, If you don't like my opinion, I can handle it, but don't try to put me down, please. I'm just struggling here with people's willingness to kiss the ass of a rich cult member who just made another shitload of money by starring in a stupid movie the Pentagon just loves. In every movie. Tom Cruise rode the coattails of successful people, cashed in on his boyish good looks and threw millions at his cult religion while doing zilch for the world that made him rich and famous.

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Mary, I'm sorry for your loss, but I really don't think DeeDee was trying to put you down. Calling someone "Girl" is not a term of condescension these days (like "son" or "honey"). Especially when used between females, it's a term of endearment. Maybe you don't appreciate the over-familiarity from a stranger, but I am confident it was meant as a friendly remark rather than to talk down to you.

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I'm very sorry to hear about your loss, and I'm saying without condescension that it gives anyone a wide berth of responding however they need to at such a time. I am speaking from personal loss of my own and the need to vent.

I agree with your points about actors, which goes to the heart of the wealth disparity throughout this country. And we know the list all too well...

About Cruz in particular, especially as a cultist of the worst kind, I used to be amazed by such a willing abdication of one's identity to a fantasy world based on lies and psychological manipulation.... but then we had Trump -- and Scientology seemed like a walk through the local botanical gardens.

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The Church itself is actually pretty bad. It's easy to forget now that its influence seems to have waned and it's been exposed so much over the years, but they used to sue people into submission for telling the truth about them. In a way they were sort of early practitioners of "post-truth" tactics.

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May 27, 2022
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Two good exceptions that prove the Marycat2021 rule.

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Hahahha. 👍🏼

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Ha, well, we're probably going to have to agree to disagree on the merits of the new one then.

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Last night when I saw David Ellison’s name I thought about how much better his film making venture has gone than his sisters. It feels like A24 stole some of the Annapurna thunder.

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Yeah, A24 and Annapurna worked on distributing a fair number of movies together and I think A24 just did a much better job of keeping costs under control.

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