The Big Picture: The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame

Published 2022-05-24; 1:48:10 by the feed.

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

The extraction calls the show “The Big Picture (The Ringer)” and the episode “The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame”.

Hosts: Sean Fennessey, Amanda Dobbins. Guests: Chris Ryan.

Subject films: Risky Business (1983), Top Gun (1986), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), A Few Good Men (1992), Mission: Impossible (1996), Jerry Maguire (1996), Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Magnolia (1999), Collateral (2004), Mission: Impossible - Fallout.

On the transcript: No speaker labels; Chris Ryan is inferred from the host address. Some lines (Big Bill, Bobby) refer to producer Bobby Wagner, and Bill Simmons.

Added from the extractor's memory, not said

Full names/spellings of mangled names (e.g. Koepp, Spaihts, Kussman, Ritchson, Ponicsan, Nighy) are my guesses at the intended names; Colin Farrell inferred from 'feral'.

Films that came up

Claims (57)

career (career arc): Days of Thunder → Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One. Seeing Cruise in the MI7 trailer feels like seeing the guy from Days of Thunder again; he is timeless.
“It just feels like seeing the guy from Days of Thunder, again.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:17:10 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
theme (comparison): Tom Cruise → Brad Pitt. Brad Pitt negates his charm in roles; Cruise stays utterly himself.
“Brad Pitt in the way that Brad Pitt has chosen to navigate his career”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:26:14 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
theme (comparison): Tom Cruise → Denzel Washington. Denzel is the closest comparison because of Tony Scott movies, but better actor who also does Shakespeare.
“I think Denzel is probably the closer comparison because he does like a lot of Tony Scott movies”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:28:14 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
people (auteur credit): Magnolia → Paul Thomas Anderson. Magnolia works because PTA loves Cruise and plays with the idea of Tom Cruise.
“Paul Thomas I understand who like loves Tom Cruise as much as we do”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:28:44 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career arc): Magnolia → Eyes Wide Shut. Both are directors riffing on Cruise's fame and persona, and are his big acting-year pair in 1999.
“puts him in a position to do all of that and also comment on it and play with the idea of Tom Cruise.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:28:48 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
people (auteur credit): Eyes Wide Shut → Stanley Kubrick. Eyes Wide Shut's success owes to it being a Kubrick film and playing with Cruise-Kidman.
“such a huge part of that movie's success, in addition to it being a Kubrick film”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:31:27 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
theme (comparison): Tom Cruise → Dwayne Johnson. Cruise treats himself like the Rock: put him in a legal thriller and you wait for him to punch through a table.
“what's happened to him over the last 10 years or so is he is treating himself as if he is the rock.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:32:44 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
career (career arc): Eyes Wide Shut → Edge of Tomorrow. Edge of Tomorrow is a blockbuster version of Eyes Wide Shut and Magnolia where the hero keeps failing and dying.
“Edge of Tomorrow, for example, is kind of like a newfangled,”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:33:49 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (overlap): American Made → Narcos. American Made's plot already played out in Narcos, so it narrowcasts to an audience that did not need it.
“that the plot of that movie is just in narcos.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:36:27 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career arc): A Few Good Men → Mission: Impossible. Few Good Men shows the possibility and edge of Cruise that fades as he moves to Ethan Hunt.
“the edge of Tom Cruise characters kind of goes away as he moves towards Ethan Hunt.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:38:18 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (mentorship): The Color of Money → Paul Newman. Cruise picked up tips on managing movie stardom from Paul Newman on The Color of Money.
“he picked up from the Paul Newmans of the world when appearing in the color of money.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:44:17 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career arc): Top Gun → The Color of Money. In the 80s and 90s Cruise paired a blockbuster with a critical film in the same year.
“Top Gun and Color Monster.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:45:12 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career arc): Mission: Impossible → Jerry Maguire. The two 1996 films are the apex of Cruise's two-movies-a-year runs.
“the apex of that is Jeremy Maguire in Mission Impossible.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:45:17 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (sliding doors): Taps → Sean Penn. In Taps Cruise has the Sean Penn-style edgy role he never played again, a different career he could have had.
“it's like a sliding doors moment for what kind of a career Tom Cruise could have had.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:47:31 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
verdict (ranking): Risky Business → Losing It. Losing It is a teen sex comedy; Risky Business is the teen sex comedy, though not much of a comedy.
“Risky business, perhaps the teen sex comedy.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:49:33 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career arc): Oblivion → Top Gun: Maverick. Oblivion has a football scene mocked as Cruise loves sports in films; Sean rewatched it to prep for Maverick.
“I did just rewatch oblivion to prep for Maverick”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:50:03 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
people (director): Legend → Ridley Scott. Legend may be Ridley Scott's worst movie, but it still appeals emotionally to Sean.
“it might be Ridley Scott's worst movie”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:51:51 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (sentimental pick): Legend → Top Gun. Legend is a weak film kept for sentiment, not argued over Top Gun.
“You're not going to try to like make the case for legend over, say, Top Gun.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:51:59 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
people (auteur credit): The Color of Money → Martin Scorsese. Sean would speechify about Scorsese for 90 seconds if it were just two of them.
“I would probably speechify about Scorsese for 90 seconds”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:53:14 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
unmapped (duplicate role): Top Gun → Cocktail. Cocktail is questioned as duplicative of Top Gun: the cocky guy brought down a notch.
“do you think that there is anything in the in cocktail that can't be gotten from Top Gun?”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:54:40 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
people (performance): Born on the Fourth of July → Daniel Day-Lewis. In Born on the Fourth of July Cruise shows he can be Daniel Day-Lewis; Chris calls it his best performance.
“This is him being like, I can be Daniel Day-Lewis.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:58:39 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (transformation): Tropic Thunder → Born on the Fourth of July. Cruise's wig and transformation in Tropic Thunder was for laughs, the opposite of Born on the Fourth of July.
“Not until Tropic Thunder.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:00:20 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (retread): Days of Thunder → Top Gun. Days of Thunder is tapping the same vein as Top Gun in its afterburner.
“we're still like in the vapor trail, the afterburner of Top Gun here”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:00:45 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
verdict (ranking): A Few Good Men → The Firm. The hosts treat them as the two lawyer movies and only one can survive the final Hall of Fame cut; A Few Good Men wins.
“I didn't realize that this was a one lawyer only hall of fame.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:05:25 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
people (director): Mission: Impossible → Brian De Palma. Brian De Palma's entry begins the franchise; some say it is still the best in the series.
“Some would say that's still the best one in the whole series.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:06:26 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
people (director): Mission: Impossible 2 → John Woo. Hiring John Woo for MI2 was a cool move that did not work out, probably because of the script.
“higher John Wu to direct Emission Impossible movie.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:09:39 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (remake): Vanilla Sky → Open Your Eyes. Cruise adapted Abre los Ojos into Vanilla Sky, a bold move he does not make today.
“adapted Aubrey Los Ojos into Vanilla Sky”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:09:45 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
people (collaboration): Vanilla Sky → Cameron Crowe. They wish Cruise and Cameron Crowe had continued to work together.
“It's disappointing that he and Cameron Crowe did not continue to work together.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:10:04 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (sequel idea): Jerry Maguire → The Color of Money. A hypothetical Jerry Maguire 2 would work like The Hustler/Color of Money pairing.
“If it was like the hustle and the color of money and he returns to his Eddie Felson.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:10:35 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (legacy sequel): Top Gun: Maverick → The Color of Money. Top Gun: Maverick is doing the Eddie Felson-style return of an older character.
“Obviously, he's doing that with Top Gun right now.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:10:40 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (villain roles): Interview with the Vampire → Collateral. Collateral is called his only straight villain performance, with Lestat as a not-recognizable villain.
“Well, Listat is kind of a villain in interview with the vampire.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:12:55 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
people (auteur credit): Collateral → Michael Mann. Without Michael Mann the movie would be a goofy VOD thriller.
“if this isn't a Michael Mann movie,”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:13:51 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
people (auteur credit): War of the Worlds → Steven Spielberg. War of the Worlds is out because it is truly a Spielberg movie even though Cruise is terrific.
“that truly is a Spielberg movie.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:16:42 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
people (auteur credit): Mission: Impossible III → Philip Seymour Hoffman. MI3 belongs to Hoffman more than to Cruise.
“But it's Philip Seymour Hoffman's movie.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:16:52 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
verdict (ranking): Mission: Impossible III → Mission: Impossible. MI3 is called the fourth best Mission Impossible movie.
“It's like the 4th best Mission Impossible movie.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:16:54 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (expectation): Lions for Lambs → All the President's Men. Chris thought Lions for Lambs would be All the President's Men and it was not.
“I thought that this was going to be all the president's men.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:17:56 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
verdict (ranking): Valkyrie → The Last Samurai. Both are dismissed as strange or slogging Cruise period pieces, Valkyrie red and Last Samurai a slog.
“Valkyrie is not yellow.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:19:31 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career arc): Night and Day → Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Night and Day is the off-putting era right before Ghost Protocol makes Hunt back.
“do you know about him? about ghost protocol one year later?”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:22:08 · Chris Ryan (0.30 sure it was them)
people (director): Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol → Brad Bird. Ghost Protocol is the Dubai skyscraper film by Brad Bird.
“Ghost protocol is Brad Bird.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:22:40 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
verdict (ranking): Mission: Impossible – Fallout → Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Chris ranks the post-3 MI films: Ghost Protocol good, Rogue Nation great, Fallout exceptional.
“Ghost Protocol is good. Rogue Nation is great and fallout is exceptional.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:22:47 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (TV comp): Reacher → Magnum, P.I.. Reacher is described as a throwback to Magnum PI, closer to Sherlock Holmes who throws dudes through walls.
“it's Sherlock Holmes who then like throws dudes through walls.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:25:34 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (sequel): Jack Reacher → Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. The second Reacher film was directed by Edward Zwick, a reunion with Cruise after The Last Samurai.
“it was directed by Edward Swick.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:26:25 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
people (director): Joseph Kosinski → Oblivion. Oblivion is where Kosinski first worked with Cruise and decided Cruise should always be flying a plane.
“Tom Cruise should always be flying a plane.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:26:55 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
industry (franchise strategy): The Mummy → Mission: Impossible. The Mummy was Cruise's attempt at a new franchise via Universal's Dark Universe, possibly tied to passing off MI to Renner.
“I need a new franchise, and what I need is the monster verse with universal pictures.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:27:32 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
verdict (ranking): Collateral → The Color of Money. Forced to pick one, the hosts keep Collateral over The Color of Money for the Hall of Fame.
“Okay, well you choose.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:31:05 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
verdict (ranking): Eyes Wide Shut → Magnolia. Forced to cut between them, one host expects Eyes Wide Shut and Magnolia choice but both stay.
“You're going to make me choose between eyes wet shut and magnolia then.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:32:37 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
verdict (ranking): Minority Report → War of the Worlds. Of the Spielberg-Cruise films, Minority Report stays on the yellow list over War of the Worlds because one Spielberg is enough.
“I think it's reasonable to include one Spielberg.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:32:59 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
verdict (ranking): Mission: Impossible → Mission: Impossible – Fallout. Debate over which MI film to keep; one says Fallout is the better performance than the first, another prefers Fallout for stakes.
“I think he's better as an actor and his better performance than the 1st one.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:34:09 · Chris Ryan (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (enabling success): Mission: Impossible – Fallout → Top Gun: Maverick. Fallout's success is what lets Cruise do Top Gun: Maverick.
“he's not in a position to do what he's doing now with Top Gun 2.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:35:58 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
verdict (ranking): Mission: Impossible – Fallout → Edge of Tomorrow. Fallout is argued in over Edge of Tomorrow because it cemented Cruise's reinvention and made Top Gun: Maverick possible.
“without fallout being what it is and being as successful.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:36:03 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
people (auteur credit): Minority Report → Steven Spielberg. Minority Report is judged a Spielberg achievement more than a Cruise one and gets cut.
“because that is a Steven Spielberg achievement rather than a Tom Cruise achievement.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:36:10 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
verdict (ranking): Born on the Fourth of July → Rain Man. Two Oscar-bait Cruise films; the hosts prefer Born on the Fourth of July and cut Rain Man despite its Best Picture win.
“I prefer born over rain man.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:36:50 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
verdict (ranking): Collateral → Edge of Tomorrow. Collateral and Edge of Tomorrow are the self-indulgent last picks; the group questions whether the list reflects Big Picture taste.
“this is a big picture self-indulgent list.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:38:09 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
verdict (ranking): Mission: Impossible – Fallout → Rain Man. Chris likes Fallout a lot more than Rain Man.
“I like Mission Impossible Fallout a lot more than Rain Man.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:39:04 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
verdict (ranking): Mission: Impossible – Fallout → Magnolia. Asked directly whether he likes Fallout more than Magnolia, Chris says no.
“Do you like Mission Impossible Fallout more than Magnolia?”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:39:14 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
career (career arc): Rain Man → Born on the Fourth of July. Rain Man, Born on the Fourth of July and The Color of Money are grouped as his Oscar bait run defining an era.
“was almost like his Oscar bait run.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:40:06 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (craft): 1917 → Roger Deakins. A host likens the question of cutting Top Gun to a past Big Picture episode, a podcast celebrating Roger Deakins's cinematography on 1917, that asked whether to cut 1917.
“should we cut 1917 from a Roger Deacons podcast celebrating his work on 1917”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:40:22 · unclear (one of the hosts) (0.30 sure it was them)

Fun items (20)

fun, about Tom Cruise: Cruise's motion-smoothing PSA with Christopher McQuarrie is a personal Hall of Fame moment, and it plays on the podcast.
“Video interpolation or motion smoothing is a digital effect on most high definition televisions”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:09:28 · Sean Fennessey (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Risky Business: Amanda says Risky Business has to go in; the dance was seen before the movie.
“I saw the Risky Business dance before I saw a few good men.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:18:39 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about A Few Good Men: Chris points out that Cruise whispers his questions to Jessup in a courtroom where a jury would never hear, which only makes sense because it is a movie, though the script was written for the stage.
“there's multiple moments where he just starts whispering questions at him.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:38:42 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about A Few Good Men: Cruise goes quiet-loud-quiet-loud against Nicholson, like Smells Like Teen Spirit, priming Jessup to explode.
“It's like listening, it smells like teen spirit.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:39:51 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Collateral: Chris names Collateral his surprising favorite because of Vincent talking about jazz, comparing the takes to Stanley Crouch.
“Yeah, his takes on jazz are pretty formative for me, I'd say, it's like him and Stanley Crouch.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:40:22 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about A Few Good Men: Amanda notes a tiny scene of timing where Kaffee says sit down to people already sitting and pauses for a second before moving on, without Sorkin-ing it.
“He doesn't oversell it.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:43:33 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Tom Cruise: Cruise's Hall of Fame bylaws: the 2005 year (couch jump, Brooke Shields, Scientology videos) coincided with a career nadir and the shift to Ethan Hunt as a safe harbor.
“Ethan Hunt just does everything for everyone all of the time and has no faults and is always on the right side.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:46:39 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Taps: Sean rewatched Taps and found Cruise as the Sean Penn role: a brat who never plays that part again.
“He has the Sean Penn role in this.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 0:47:38 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Days of Thunder: Chris says Cole Trickle hails from Eagle Rock, California, repeating the Days of Thunder trivia.
“Eagle Rock California.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:01:11 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Mission: Impossible – Fallout: Henry Cavill and Cruise punch each other in the bathroom and later on a cliff after a helicopter chase; the Henry Cavill speech about being disavowed is remembered.
“how many times can a man be disavowed, discarded and ignored by his government?”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:01:58 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about The Firm: Chris loves The Firm for Hackman, Wilford Brimley and Holly Hunter, a Hollywood movie aspiring to nothing but entertainment; Sean calls his Wilford imitation the best Rewatchables bit.
“That might be the best episode of the rewatchables ever, in my opinion.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:04:30 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Collateral: Amanda notes the line where Cruise yells at Jamie Foxx about his briefcase, rewatched at 8 AM.
“Also, feature Tom Cruise going, Yo, homie, that's my briefcase.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:14:39 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Mission: Impossible III: Watch the scene where Philip Seymour Hoffman counts down with a gun to Keri Russell's head while Cruise says tell me what you need.
“Watch the scene where Philip Seymour Hoffman counts down while putting having a gun to carry Russell's head.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:17:17 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Night and Day: Cruise promised to premiere the film on every continent in a day, which Chris says is why movies collapsed.
“we are going to premiere this movie on every continent within one day.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:21:13 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Tom Cruise: Cruise appeared on 106 & Park and did the young jock dance during the Night and Day promo tour.
“Was this when he appeared on 106 in Park and did the young jock dance?”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:21:22 · Amanda Dobbins (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One: Hayley Atwell on Wikipedia says she did not know who her character was, as they wrote the movie as they went.
“I do not know who my character is nor what she is doing.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:23:55 · Amanda Dobbins (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Tom Cruise: Cruise mailed his Golden Globes back when the HFPA was called fraudulent.
“Just mailing them back.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:25:25 · Sean Fennessey (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Jack Reacher: Cruise is 5'8 and Reacher in the book is 6'6; Reacher gets built up like the Predator and then it's Tom Cruise in a leather jacket.
“Tom Cruise is 5'8 and Jack Reacher in the book is like 6'6.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:25:44 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about The Mummy: The Dark Universe cast photo (Russell Crowe, Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem, Angelina Jolie) was taken and then no more movies were made because The Mummy was so bad; Chris says it is the only non-festival movie he walked out of.
“I think this is the only non-festival movie I've ever walked out of.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:29:15 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Tom Cruise: The Cruise cake: a white chocolate coconut bundt from Stone's Bakery in the Valley that Cruise sends every Christmas to famous friends; the hosts eat it on air and put it in the Hall of Fame.
“Tom Cruise sends it to all of the famous people in his life every year.”
The Big Picture · The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame · 1:41:37 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)

Who's talking

Sean Fennessey (host): Loves Tom Cruise as movie star above all, and the old-style entertaining Hollywood movie. Pushes Scorsese, Kubrick and PTA, and pulls for Collateral and Magnolia. Can't stand Cruise coasting or being too reserved; sentimental about Legend.
Amanda Dobbins (host): Responds to Cruise charisma, underdog arcs and navy uniforms; loves A Few Good Men best. Skeptical of Edge of Tomorrow-type indulgence and Cocktail. Suckers for the Nicholson showdown.
Chris Ryan (guest): Loves The Firm, Collateral, Edge of Tomorrow and a Hollywood ensemble movie; thinks Born is Cruise's best performance and Jerry Maguire his most appealing.

The show's recurring bits

Drafts: Hosts and guests draft films in rounds; every pick is a recommendation with an argument.
Hall of Fame: A star's or director's best, ranked and argued.
Countdowns: Ranked lists, top five or top ten.

Names the transcriber got wrong

Sean Fantasy → Sean Fennessey
Amanda Davins → Amanda Dobbins
Rob Reiner spelled right, Rachel Getting Married spelled right
Jeremy Maguire → Jerry Maguire
Edward Swick → Edward Zwick
Daryl Poncekin → Darryl Ponicsan
Kristen Scott Thomas → Kristin Scott Thomas
Alan Richardson → Alan Ritchson
John Wu → John Woo
Aubrey Los Ojos → Abre los Ojos
David Kepp → David Koepp
Dylan Cusman → Dylan Kussman
John Spates → John Spaihts
Cole Trickle → Cole Trickle (transcribed Coltrickle)
Eyes Wet Shut → Eyes Wide Shut
Color Monster → The Color of Money
Gene Triplehorn → Jeanne Tripplehorn
Bill Nye → Bill Nighy
feral → Colin Farrell (Minority Report)
Wilfer Brimley → Wilford Brimley

The Big Picture: The Tom Cruise Hall of Fame

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

Added from the extractor's memory, not said

Films that came up

passing (32)

subject (10)

dismissed (26)

anecdote (1)

compared (5)

Claims (57)

Fun items (20)

Who's talking

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong