This is Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher on the set of One Shot in Pittsburgh. Not surprisingly, it’s a running scene. Meryl Streep has accents. Tom Cruise has running.

All The Right Moves was on tv the other night. Have you seen it? Back then, when they made movies about high school, they used to let the teenagers have pimples. That’s not germane to this story but it occurred to me that, well, that kind of realism, something as simple as acne, it just doesn’t happen anymore. 

So I’m watching All The Right Moves. And there’s Tom Cruise as Stefan, the football player, and I remembered what a really, really good actor he was/is. Do you remember? Then I texted Sarah from Cinesnark:

Me: You know, I always forget what a good actor Tom Cruise used to be. What did he do to make me lose my memory?

Sarah: He jumped on a couch. And became desperate for our love. 

Oh yeah. That. 

But when you go back to his old movies, there is SO much evidence why he became such a huge star. It’s deniable. He is GOOD. He can DO this. But now... it’s so hard to separate. Go back though, perhaps over this long weekend if you’re Canadian, go back to those days and revisit how great he used to be. Tom is actually capable of more than just running. Or should that be “was”? 

Also attached - Tom holding hands with Katie Holmes during a break yesterday. They’re coming up on their 5th anniversary next month. That’s half of Nicole Kidman.