#CruiseClub: The Tom Cruise Podcast

#CruiseClub: The Tom Cruise Podcast

Joey Lewandowski and Mike Manzi have covered the ups and downs of the careers of Nicolas Cage, Keanu Reeves, Charlize Theron, and more. Then, they had an epiphany: why not watch good movies? That's how they landed on Tom Cruise, whose hits far outweigh his misses. Join them! Presented by the CageClub Podcast Network.

Episodes

July 12, 2023 62 mins
Tom Cruise has returned to save movie theaters once again by delivering another perfect movie: Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One. We compare Dead Reckoning to other "part one" movies from this summer (especially Fast & Furious, over and over), talk about how the movie nails the blend of returning and new characters, and revel in the franchise's confidence to not overly rely on characters issuing quip after quip. We talk...
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For the first time in four years, Tom Cruise has felt the need... the need to make a new movie! He's back with Top Gun: Maverick, and we're here to cover it in full spoilery detail. We talk about Tom Cruise's triumphant return to movies in a role that seems to reflect back on his career and in a movie that seamlessly continues the story from 36 years ago. We talk about the new pilots in Top Gun: Maverick (like Miles Teller, Monica ...
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At long last, the time has come to (once again) don our tuxedos and roll out the red carpet. Welcome to The Cruisies: The Tom Cruise Awards! All podcast long, we’ve talked about our favorite (and least favorite) parts of Tom Cruise’s movies, and we announced our official selections for the best and worst of what Tom Cruise’s filmography has to offer and opened the voting to the public. Now, your votes have been tallied, our very sp...
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July 3, 2020 39 mins
Before we take a few weeks off to let the votes tally up for the Cruisies (The Tom Cruise Awards), we're working our way through one more episode, and we're ranking Tom Cruise's movies. As always, there's a weird alchemy here that doesn't quite make sense, as we combine the movie's "quality" with Cruise's performance, add a dash of how much we like him in the movie, and toss in some other hints and touches of things we can't quite ...
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June 26, 2020 38 mins
We may have covered every movie that stars or features Tom Cruise, but there's a whole body of work that he's done that we haven't covered. Welcome to the Tom Cruise Clip Show! In this episode, we're working our way through a cameo appearances in movies and TV shows, as well as some stunt videos and late night appearances that surfaced on YouTube.  Watch all of the clips we're talking about here!
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We've watched and podcasted about all 42 movies that Tom Cruise has made so far. Each episode, we've talked about our favorite and least favorite moments, and we've ended each episode by nominating that movie for awards that showcase the very best (and very worst) that Tom Cruise's filmography has to offer. We've pared down our lists, and -- at long last -- the time has come to announce the official selections for the Cruisies: The...
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It's all led to this. Not only is Mission: Impossible - Fallout the final installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise (so far), but it also marks the final movie in Tom Cruise's filmography (also, so far). All we can say is... what a way to go out! We're joined by Zack DeZon to HALO jump out of a plane and talk about all the action, excitement, and running that Mission: Impossible - Fallout has to offer. In this episode, we di...
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June 5, 2020 49 mins
We're running drugs, guns, and "freedom fighters" from Arkansas to Nicaragua to Panama -- and back again -- as we take off and chat about American Made! We're, ahem, running out of runway on #CruiseClub, with only one more movie to cover after American Made (a little indie called Mission: Impossible - Fallout), but we're going out in style as Cruise re-teams up with Doug Liman to tell the (mostly) true story of Barry Seal. In this ...
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May 29, 2020 56 mins
While the Dark Universe never came to fruition, we'll always have The Mummy. But is Tom Cruise the Mummy? By the end of the movie, the answer is unclear. The world may never know what this ragtag bunch of misfits' series of adventures would entail, but joining us to talk about the first installment is Kate Hudson (#HudsonFive). In this episode, we talk about all the stunts that worked, all the plot dumps that didn't, and wonder whe...
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Aside from the Mission: Impossible series, Tom Cruise isn't one to dabble in sequels, which makes Jack Reacher: Never Go Back all the more unusual. Based on the 18th (!!!) novel in the series, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back feels like a much later entry in the franchise than a first sequel. How could the creative team possibly be out of ideas already? Mike dons his Third Time's A Charm cap as we discuss the action we like, the plot we...
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Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation has to do some serious heavy lifting, far more so than any other movie in the franchise. Not only does it have to tell an engaging, standalone story, but it's asked to follow the events of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol more closely than any previous installment has done, while also setting things up for Mission: Impossible – Fallout. (What is this, an MCU movie?!) If there's one man who's u...
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It's truly a shame that Edge of Tomorrow didn't do well in theaters -- so poorly, in fact, that it was later retitled Live Die Repeat -- because it's one of Tom Cruise's best movies yet. With the benefit of hindsight (as well as tastes that almost perfectly align with what this movie's trying to do), we're able to see Edge of Tomorrow as the masterpiece that it is. Joining us to gush about this movie, the effective use of the Groun...
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May 1, 2020 63 mins
One year before Tom Cruise starred in Edge of Tomorrow (and blew our collective minds), he found himself in another big-budget sci-fi movie: Oblivion. The finished product doesn't quite hold up as well as his next film will, but there's a lot to admire here, and even more to pick apart. We're joined by Matt Delhauer (The Ginger Geek Podcast) to talk -- spoiler alert! -- lost love, clones, and whether or not your lost love can easil...
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April 24, 2020 56 mins
Jack Reacher is a by the book action thriller. Jack Reacher is an action movie that subverts your every expectation. What *is* Jack Reacher? We're trying to figure out why the latest new franchise for Tom Cruise works as well as it does, almost in spite of the overwhelming odds its script hurls against it. We also talk about the palpable sexual tension that goes hand in hand with an almost absolute lack of overt sexuality, the impr...
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April 10, 2020 77 mins
Rock of Ages marks the beginning of the end for #CruiseClub, in a way. For the final time (to date, anyway), Tom Cruise is not the star of a movie. Joining us to talk about all of the chaos of Rock of Ages are both of the co-hosts of The Contenders: Aislinn Addington and Tobin Addington. In this episode, we talk about the many types of chaos in the movie, the many ways it fails its characters (and its audience), and its juking box ...
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Going from Mission: Impossible – Ultra Lite (Knight and Day) to Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol offers one of the more eye-opening turnarounds in #CruiseClub so far. The latest installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise (to this point in the podcast's timeline, anyway) may mark both the franchise's high-water mark, as well as the podcast's. Joining us as we take a trip up a building in Dubai is Jeremy Kelly. In this epis...
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March 13, 2020 58 mins
What if Ethan Hunt had to drag you along while on a mission to save the world? Does Ethan Hunt (or, in this case, "Ethan Hunt") ever truly go rogue? Should you trust a stranger? What if that stranger looks and acts like Tom Cruise? What if Gal Gadot shows up out of nowhere? These are just some of the many questions Knight and Day asks, and we're determined to get to the bottom of things. Joining us to help answer these questions ar...
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February 27, 2020 52 mins
We continue our journey through the "lesser known" portion of #CruiseClub with Valkyrie, a movie where Tom Cruise tries to kill Adolf Hitler. Joining us to talk about this film is John Brooks, fresh off his appearance last week on our Toy Story 2 episode on #HANX for the Memories! We discuss Cruise's portrayal of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, how true the movie was to the historical events leading up to this assassination attempt...
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February 13, 2020 48 mins
Four of the next five movies we're covering in #CruiseClub -- Tropic Thunder, Valkyrie, Knight and Day, and Rock of Ages -- along with our last episode (Lions for Lambs) represent most of the biggest unknowns (to us, anyway) for the rest of #CruiseClub. Tropic Thunder continues this mini-run with a very uncommon role for Tom Cruise: supporting actor. We're heading to Vietnam and recording this podcast guerrilla-style, but before we...
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January 30, 2020 40 mins
By this point in Tom Cruise's career -- we're barely over a decade away from catching up -- there are very few surprises left. We've seen (and love!) just about everything that's coming up for the rest of this show's run. Then, there's Lions for Lambs, a movie neither of us had ever seen, and neither of us knew anything about. What a world this is that still holds some secrets! Joining us on this episode is resident Meryl Streep ex...
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