The Video Store: Tom Cruise's Biggest Swings - Collateral and Tropic Thunder

Charlie Clausen and Guy Davis return to The Video Store for the third installment of "Tom Cruise’s Biggest Swings," diving deep into two of the actor's most memorable mid-2000s roles: Michael Mann’s sleek L.A. thriller Collateral (2004) and Ben Stiller’s explosive satire Tropic Thunder (2008). We break down Mann’s early adoption of digital cinematography, Cruise’s cold-blooded precision as the grey-haired hitman Vincent, Jamie Foxx’s Oscar-nominated performance, and why Collateral serves as a masterclass in script structure. Shifting gears to 2008, we revisit the post-couch-jump era to dissect Cruise’s unhinged, profanity-laced turn as studio head Les Grossman. They explore the origins of the character's signature fat hands and dancing, debate whether Tropic Thunder’s broad Hollywood satire still holds up, and examine the rare instances where Cruise has completely shed his traditional movie-star persona. Listen to the previous episodes of our 'Tom Cruise's Biggest Swings' series to catch up! Episode 1 - Born on The Fourth of July and Interview with The Vampire at https://bit.ly/tvstomcruise-ep1 Episode 2 - Magnolia & Vanilla Sky https://bit.ly/tvs-ep2 LINKS Watch Collateral on ABC iView https://iview.abc.net.au/show/collateral Stream Tropic Thunder on Stan https://www.stan.com.au/watch/tropic-thunder-2008 Watch 'Tom Cruise's Most Honest Role' by The Back Focus https://bit.ly/tomcruise-honestrole Hear Guy Davis on The Movie Guide podcast: https://www.themovieguidepodcast.com/ Follow @robertguydavis on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/robertguydavis/ Check out @themovieguide podcast on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/themovieguidepod/ Support Everyone Relax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everyonerelax Everyone Relax on Insta: https://www.instagram.com/everyone.relax/ CREDITS Hosts: Charlie Clausen & Guy Davis Executive Producer & Editor: Elise Cooper Video & Social Producer: Michael Campbell For more great podcasts head to https://www.listnr.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.