TOM CRUISE NEW FLICK

[Coroner]

You guys should definitely check out foreign movies. There´s much more to see than just Hollywood. Check out Russian, French, British, Italian, German, Polish, Japanese, Israeli, Indian etc. movies. It will be another experience for you. No Hollywood director can top guys like Ingmar Bergman, Andrei Tarkovsky, Akira Kurosawa, Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti, Max Ophüls, Bernardo Bertolucci, Jean-Luc Godard or Francois Truffaut.

[EyeCumInPiece]

You guys should definitely check out foreign movies. There´s much more to see than just Hollywood. Check out Russian, French, British, Italian, German, Polish, Japanese, Israeli, Indian etc. movies. It will be another experience for you. No Hollywood director can top guys like Ingmar Bergman, Andrei Tarkovsky, Akira Kurosawa, Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti, Max Ophüls, Bernardo Bertolucci, Jean-Luc Godard or Francois Truffaut.

Love your list, Especially Kurosawa, Bertolucci, and Luc Godard, but where is Herzog??? And are you aware that not all American movies are made in Hollywood? You cant compare Hollywood Directors to the likes you just named. But there are many great American Directors who do not come out with Hollywood Blockbusters.

[GroobySteven]

Sergio Leone
Spike Lee
Wim Wenders
Werner Herzog
Ridley Scott
Shane Meadows
Terrence Malick
Richard Attenborough
Sydney Pollack
David Lean
and based on his movie, "Gone Baby Gone" ... Ben Affleck - one of the best US movies of the year.

[Coroner]

You guys should definitely check out foreign movies. There´s much more to see than just Hollywood. Check out Russian, French, British, Italian, German, Polish, Japanese, Israeli, Indian etc. movies. It will be another experience for you. No Hollywood director can top guys like Ingmar Bergman, Andrei Tarkovsky, Akira Kurosawa, Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti, Max Ophüls, Bernardo Bertolucci, Jean-Luc Godard or Francois Truffaut.

Love your list, Especially Kurosawa, Bertolucci, and Luc Godard, but where is Herzog??? And are you aware that not all American movies are made in Hollywood? You cant compare Hollywood Directors to the likes you just named. But there are many great American Directors who do not come out with Hollywood Blockbusters.

Sorry for missing Werner Herzog. Btw, I saw "Aguirre" last week. Of course, I know that not all American movies were made in Hollywood and there are many independent film makers like Jim Jarmusch or Wayne Wang (Smoke, Blue in the Face) used to be. But I doubt that most Americans even heard of Jim Jarmusch for example. I didn´t mean to underestimate American directors because there´re a few I really like: Stanley Kubrick, Dalton Trumbo, Michael Cimino, Sidney Lumet, David Lynch (sometimes overrated though) etc.

[Coroner]

That's the problem with generalizations....."No Hollywood director can top guys like...."

When it comes to directing films, there are great directors of all nationalities, including Americans.

Just to name a few....

Martin Scorcese
Robert Altman
John Frankenheimer
Orson Wellls
John Ford
Stanley Kubrick
Clint Eastwood
Oliver Stone
David Mamet

ps: And yes, all those you mentioned are great directors, I will add Sir. A. Hitchcock.

I agree on the bolded sentence. What I´m trying to say is that many great directors remained unknown and underrated because people declare Quentin Tarantino a genius or think that Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas are the best movie directors ever. I do respect them but sorry, they´re not even in the Top 20. I remember watching a documentary with Martin Scorsese, Coppola and Lucas sitting around a table and discussing cinematography. The person who filmed this docu said something like "we have the best movie directors od the present sitting together" and I was like WTF. George Lucas made two good movies: "American Graffiti" and "THX 1138" and spent the rest of his life and work on Star Wars. What makes a director a good one or even the best or one of the best in the public today? Not his work but how much money his blockbusters brought in. Where´s the art in this? I´m tired of predictable movies and can´t remember when beeing to the cinema the last time.

However, you have some great names in your list: Robert Altman, Kubrick, Orson Welles (the great master!) and Martin Scorsese.

[Coroner]

Sergio Leone
Spike Lee
Wim Wenders
Werner Herzog
Ridley Scott
Shane Meadows
Terrence Malick
Richard Attenborough
Sydney Pollack
David Lean
and based on his movie, "Gone Baby Gone" ... Ben Affleck - one of the best US movies of the year.

How could I forget Sergio Leone? Although he´s most famous for his "Spaghetti Westerns" (which are far better than American Westerns), my favourite Leone movie is "Once Upon A Time in America". It is one of the best American movies directed by a non-American film maker. He couldn´t even speak English. Wim Wenders is one of the most important German directors today (German cinematography is quite poor today). I also like Spike Lee a lot because he has his own contrast and way to tell stories. My favs by Spike Lee are "Mo´ Better Blues" and "Do The Right Thing". His only handicap is that screws up the endings sometimes. David Lean, Richard Attenborough, Terrence Malick..... great names.

[Coroner]

Another director from Hollywoood: Sidney Lumet

12 Angry Men (1957), Serpico (1973), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Network (1976)

I recommend "The Pawnbroker" and check out the awesome soundtrack by Quincy Jones.

[Remy757Photog]

Ugh. Valkyrie sucks all sorts of ass.

Putting aside Cruises religion (Scientology is a a scam and a cult) he can actually act but Valkyrie is a film that is just so plain wrongheaded. It really is a weak film.

Thanks for the advice and laugh. Will avoid this one. Isn't Travolta and half of Hollywood into that crazy shit. More I think about it Tom Cruise has gone way down since Rainman. But people are stupid and will go see it and support Cruise .

Its amazing the only good movies today are Foreign films like India's Slumdog Millionaire. I guess thats what happens these guys like Cruise get what like 15-20 million a movie if not more and they rob us of our money.

The best is when Julia Roberts said she won't do a movie for less than 25 million ...wtf ? when did she become better than Sophia Loren ?

What a silly statement "they rob us of our money" ?
Going to see a movie is a choice, not a necessity.
I can't find the quote where Julia Roberts stated that she wouldn't do a movie for less than $25 million (the amount she was paid for "Mona Lisa Smile" but she is the world's most successful female actress in terms of box office. I'd guess that is when she became better than Sophia Lorean who was always more of an icon than an actress (and I fail to see the connection with Julia Roberts?).

"Slumdog Millionaire" is a British/US film starring a British male lead. If it was Indian it would have a musical number in it. I agree though, that there are more interesting Foreign movies than what Hollywood has given us this year.

A recent report I read (I think in "Men's Health" or maybe online) by an economist stated that the name of the star in a movie, had very little to do with the ROI for a movie and often the cost of the star/s payment offset any profits.

Good rated movies this year IMO:
The Dark Knight
Man on Wire
Ironman
In Bruges


Overall it's been the worst year for movies that I can remember - so if anyone has any other suggestions of movies I may have missed?

Some movies I watched this year to pass the time, nothing blockbuster though:

Let The Right One In - Swedish Film

Zack & Miri Make A Porno - Funny as hell

Dead Set - UK Zombie Mini-series

The Zombie Diaries - UK release was in 06 but US release is 08 while it's yet another Zombie movie the underlying story was Very good and gave the appropriate "uh ha" moment at the end

The Strangers - I liked the cam work in this

Midnight Meat Train - I am a Huge Clive Barker and Vinnie Jones fan

REC (not Quaratine) - You have to read Subtitles but production is much better than what Hollywood did to this movie

[alpha2117]

That's the problem with generalizations....."No Hollywood director can top guys like...."

When it comes to directing films, there are great directors of all nationalities, including Americans.

Just to name a few....

Martin Scorcese
Robert Altman
John Frankenheimer
Orson Wellls
John Ford
Stanley Kubrick
Clint Eastwood
Oliver Stone
David Mamet

ps: And yes, all those you mentioned are great directors, I will add Sir. A. Hitchcock.

You guys should definitely check out foreign movies. There´s much more to see than just Hollywood. Check out Russian, French, British, Italian, German, Polish, Japanese, Israeli, Indian etc. movies. It will be another experience for you. No Hollywood director can top guys like Ingmar Bergman, Andrei Tarkovsky, Akira Kurosawa, Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti, Max Ophüls, Bernardo Bertolucci, Jean-Luc Godard or Francois Truffaut.

I'm sorry but you had Eastwood on that list ... after Million Dollar Baby his name can never be put on a list of great directors for mine, that was literally the worst film I have ever seen on every level. It was so bad it actually hurt other films for me. I cant watch a film with a Morgan Freeman voiceover without having flashbacks to the horror that is Million Dollar Baby!

[GroobySteven]

Just Like when I paid 500 pounds for a Chelsea match at the bridge against West Ham

Er, why the feck would you pay that money for a Chelsea vs West Ham (!?!?!?!) game? Madness!