^^^^^ I'll be damned.

I would not have expected that at all. Thanks for the share, Skull Leader

Cruise may be a wacky Hollywood nut who prays to spaceships, but man you cannot take away his balls of steel or dedication to his craft. The dude is pressing 60 and talking in a conversational tone while free falling.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
Did you enjoy the original??

I can't say that I did. Perhaps the portion of it I didn't see was really good. That would be most of the movie. The whole thing was difficult to take seriously. Then again, I've long been a film snob.

Non-CGI, non-woke, America kicking ass- all very good things.

I got just one more question- How many phone books did they have to stack on that fighter seat for ol' Tom?

OK, yeah, there are no more phone books, but I didn't know what to replace them with.

I was one of the few that did not pay money to see the 1986 Top Gun in a theater. But I did pay to see Tom Cruise's other 1986 film The Color of Money (also Aliens, Blue Velvet, etc). I saw Top Gun years later on cable TV, and at the time, I really did not get the appeal, why it was so popular. And I still feel that way when I saw it last year on TV again.

But Top Gun Maverick is different, I liked it, I enjoyed it. I paid money to see it based on my son's recommendation to see it on a big screen and he was right. It seems like eons since Hollywood has made a film like this. I much prefer an older mature Tom Cruise to his younger self, and I thought he did well. But then I liked some of his other films in recent years- the first Jack Reacher, Edge of Tomorrow, Oblivion. I just re-watched Maverick last week on BluRay (from the library) and there were some things/dialog I missed, and again, an enjoyable movie.

But yes, his height (lack of) is fairly noticeable nowadays, maybe he just doesn't try to hide it with platform lifts. The guy had moments of oddity years ago, but at least he's not an idiot woke leftist crybaby, seems he keeps political and societal comments out of his work.

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Originally posted by Ronin1069:
Cruise may be a wacky Hollywood nut who prays to spaceships, but man you cannot take away his balls of steel or dedication to his craft. The dude is pressing 60 and talking in a conversational tone while free falling.

We were watching the Bengals and Bucaneers game when this commercial came on and I pretty much said the exact same thing to my wife.

I said that fella is a kookadoo but when it comes to stunts, flying, acting, and putting out great movies the dude is legit.
I said he is skydiving/free falling am talking like he was sitting at the table eating chicken with us.

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin1069:
Cruise may be a wacky Hollywood nut who prays to spaceships, but man you cannot take away his balls of steel or dedication to his craft. The dude is pressing 60 and talking in a conversational tone while free falling.

The guy knows he's an entertainer. He did the same thank you to the audience for Maverick, while we'll never know how genuine he is about thanking fans and ticket buyers, at least he doesn't hide behind a risk adverse PR team. He seems to have understood that with all the changes in motion pictures, the introduction of streaming content and the risk it possess to theaters, he's at least will to try and connect with the audience with a simple message. Contrast that to many other celebrities who have some special interest pitch, an angle they're trying to deliver or, a cringe worthy sing along, ol'Tom just rolls out a simple thank you.

Here's a 9:22 video about how Tom trained to do a motorcycle and then BASE (buildings, antennas, spans, earth) jump for the next MI film.

https://youtu.be/WLtpQpKY7fw

Article with the video:

https://boundingintocomics.com...-reckoning-part-one/

One of these days the insurance company is going to say ENOUGH!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Sigmund,

There was an Academy Awards luncheon on Monday and Steven Spielberg told Tom Cruise- "You saved Hollywood’s ass, and, you might have saved theatrical distribution. Seriously. Maverick might have saved the entire theatrical industry."

https://www.breitbart.com/ente...th-top-gun-maverick/

quote:

Originally posted by oddball:
There was an Academy Awards luncheon on Monday and Steven Spielberg told Tom Cruise- "You saved Hollywood’s ass, and, you might have saved theatrical distribution. Seriously. Maverick might have saved the entire theatrical industry."

https://www.breitbart.com/ente...th-top-gun-maverick/

Instead of stroking little Tom's ego, Hollywood needs to wake up and remember there are many movie goers that want something other than animated kid's movies, franchises older than most movie goers, CGI superhero movies, or Oscar-bait woke fests.

I actually watched this again last night.

Interesting article I found on the SR-72 Darkstar build for the movie. And the fact that supposedly the Chinese moved satellites to look at it in fear that the actual military had new tech.

Rumors have circulated for years that such a thing was in development.

https://www.space.com/top-gun-...wards-air-force-base

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Originally posted by IrishWind:
Instead of stroking little Tom's ego, Hollywood needs to wake up and remember there are many movie goers that want something other than animated kid's movies, franchises older than most movie goers, CGI superhero movies, or Oscar-bait woke fests.

Or we could start with good movies like Top Gun: Maverick and work our way up...

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Originally posted by jljones:
I actually watched this again last night.

Interesting article I found on the SR-72 Darkstar build for the movie. And the fact that supposedly the Chinese moved satellites to look at it in fear that the actual military had new tech.

Rumors have circulated for years that such a thing was in development.

https://www.space.com/top-gun-...wards-air-force-base

Wasn't the stealth fighter just a rumor until they rolled it out of the hanger and revealed it. (IIRC it was in development for 10 years before it was finally leaked.)

It's out on Amazon Prime as part of their streaming service. Finally watched. Not a bad movie. Even if it took a lot of liberties with Navy and Naval Aviation.

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Even if it took a lot of liberties with Navy and Naval Aviation.

Almost like a movie huh?

Late to the party. I watched it last night and although a lot of it was corny and far fetched, I was entertained.

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Originally posted by Skull Leader:
Apparently, the mission was more plausible than some of us thought.

https://youtu.be/rQh9qTqd7X8

Having just watched this, I guess not so far fetched after all.

quote:

Originally posted by 6guns:

quote:

Originally posted by Skull Leader:
Apparently, the mission was more plausible than some of us thought.

https://youtu.be/rQh9qTqd7X8

Having just watched this, I guess not so far fetched after all.

Ward Carroll's Youtube channel is well worth keeping an eye on.

quote:

Originally posted by redstone:

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
I actually watched this again last night.

Interesting article I found on the SR-72 Darkstar build for the movie. And the fact that supposedly the Chinese moved satellites to look at it in fear that the actual military had new tech.

Rumors have circulated for years that such a thing was in development.

https://www.space.com/top-gun-...wards-air-force-base

Wasn't the stealth fighter just a rumor until they rolled it out of the hanger and revealed it. (IIRC it was in development for 10 years before it was finally leaked.)

There were rumors in the late 1980s about a stealthy hypersonic aircraft called 'Aurora.' I even read an entire book about it - the author made a very compelling case. I actually believe it existed. Of course, the DoD cannot confirm or deny. . .

We flew the CIA version of the SR-71 back in 1963 - don't tell me we haven't made ANY improvements sin the past 60 years.