This week, Ethan Hunt returns for the eighth (and probably ultimate?) time in Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning! Does the movie recover from its broken first act? Is this really going to be the last mission? Does this feel like The Most Expensive Movie Ever Made?

Unanswered Questions:

• How do we understand Luther's arc in this film, and in the series as a whole?
• Whatever happened to Marie and Alanna Mitsopolis and the other dropped elements from Dead Reckoning?
• Is Ethan really changed by his confrontation with The Entity?

Further reading:

• How They Pulled Off Those Stunts In Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (GQ)
• Hannah Waddingham: ‘I’m ravenous for the fun of it all’ (The Times)
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

A huge and sincere thank you to all our listeners for coming on this journey with us! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

This week, we wrap up the first part of The Last Star In Hollywood, and look ahead to what’s next for Tom Cruise. What’s the definitive Cruise performance? Which unmade sequel would we like to see? What are the chances of Cruise taking home an Academy Award within the next five years?

Further reading:

• The Secret Video
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

A huge and sincere thank you to all our listeners for coming on this journey with us! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

The Last Star In Hollywood is a Next Word production.

Copyright © 2024 The Last Star In Hollywood. All Rights Reserved.

This week, Ethan Hunt returns for the seventh (and penultimate?) time in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning! Did the production delays harm the final film? Are we warming up to something great in part eight, or all we falling apart before the finish line? Do we really need to motivate Ethan with another dead woman — or worse, two dead women?

Unanswered Questions:

• Is there any way to reconcile the IMF in this movie and the preceding installments in the franchise?
• In what ways is Dead Reckoning compromised by the pandemic, and compromised by being the first half of a two-part story?
• How does Grace rank alongside the strong women we saw in Fallout?

Further reading:

• The Bechdel Test
• Women In Refrigerators (Gail Simone)
• Christopher McQuarrie Breaks Down the Making of ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’ and Why AI is the Villain in Exclusive Q&A (Collider)
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

A huge and sincere thank you to all our listeners for coming on this journey with us! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

Join us in two weeks for a wrap-up show, and come on back in May of 2025 for Mission: Impossible – Shenanigans Ensue!

The Last Star In Hollywood is a Next Word production.

Copyright © 2024 The Last Star In Hollywood. All Rights Reserved.

This week, we feel the need for speed all over again with Joseph Kosinski’s much-delayed, hugely successful Top Gun: Maverick! Is Pete Mitchell the same guy, so many years later? How does the film respond to the legacy of the original? Is Kosinski maybe too good at his job?

Unanswered Questions:

• Is Top Gun about patriotism? Militarism? Commercialism? All or none of the above?
• How does the marketing and production material mythologize the making of the film?
• Is there anything thematic happing in Maverick’s technological regression from the fictional DarkStar to the Boeing F/A-18E to the Grumman F-14?

Further reading:

• Playboy (January, 1990)
• Budweiser, PBR, Coop F5 Grapefruit, Voodoo Ranger IPA
• F1 Official Trailer
• Regal 4DX
• “‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Cinematographer Pushed Camera Technology Limits to Put Audiences in Pilot’s Seat” (Variety)
• Tenet
• “3 Rounds with the Cast of ‘Top Gun: Maverick'” (Entertainment Weekly)
• “Garth Marenghi – Writing“
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

Thanks for listening! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

Join us next week as we close out Tom Cruise’s filmography — for now — with Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning!

The Last Star In Hollywood is a Next Word production.

Copyright © 2024 The Last Star In Hollywood. All Rights Reserved.

This week, Christopher McQuarrie returns to M:I with the biggest, splashiest, most ankle-breaking adventure so far. Is this who Ethan Hunt has been all along? Has Paris ever looked better? How do Henry Cavill’s arms even work?

Unanswered Questions:

• In what way is Ethan Hunt is a scalpel?
• Does the disillusioned spy still have power as an archetype within this series?
• Why was the remote-control car introduced?

Further reading:

• The Crown
• James Bond’s BMW 750iL
• “The Real Reason Behind Henry Cavill’s Infamous, $3 Million Justice League Mustache”
• The Witcher
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

Thanks for listening! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

Join us next week as we once again feel the need for speed: Joseph Kosinski’s 2022 COVID-delayed mega-sequel Top Gun: Maverick.

The Last Star In Hollywood is a Next Word production.

Copyright © 2024 The Last Star In Hollywood. All Rights Reserved.

This week, a rare Tom Cruise character-actor performance in Doug Liman’s stylish satire American Made. Is this the Gen-X Forrest Gump? Who expected a Liman/Cruise movie to be this different from Edge of Tomorrow?

Unanswered Questions:

• Is there value in so comprehensively fictionalizing a true story?
• Does American Made work for audiences which aren’t familiar with the Reagan-era war on drugs?
• How does the Tom Cruise movie-star persona help (or hinder) the satirical intent of this film?

Further reading:

• Mena, Arkansas
• Barry Seal
• “The Awful Accident That Happened While Filming Tom Cruise’s ‘American Made’” (Collider)
• Hooked On Classics
• “National Anthem” (Lana Del Rey)
• Wolf Of Wall Street (2013)
• McGruff The Crime Dog
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

Thanks for listening! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

Join us next week as we bring the M:I franchise to new heights with Vanessa Kirby and Henry Cavill: Mission: Impossible – Fallout!

The Last Star In Hollywood is a Next Word production.

Copyright © 2024 The Last Star In Hollywood. All Rights Reserved.

This week, we venture into the Dark Universe — but not for long — in Alex Kurtzman’s 2017 reboot The Mummy. Is it broken at a conceptual level? How much do we miss Brendan Fraser? Does Elizabeth come up with the best ever Trailer Game joke?

Unanswered Questions:

• Is the Dark Universe, narratively, a coherent shared universe?
• Is there a feminist reading of Ancient Egypt presented in this film?
• Does Tom Cruise unbalance the film, or does he save it from being an even greater disaster?

Further reading:

• The Mummy! A Tale Of The Twenty-Second Century (Jane Webb)
• The Mummy (1932)
• Universal Monsters
• The Mummy, Or Ramses The Damned (Anne Rice)
• The Mummy (1999)
• The Mummy Returns (2001)
• Atomic Blonde (2017)
• Drunk History
• Drinking Buddies (2013)
• Mythic Quest
• Minx
• The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
• The Mummy IMAX Trailer
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

Thanks for listening! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

Join us next week as we round out Cruise’s penultimate, experimental trilogy with Doug Liman’s 2017 action-comedy American Made!

The Last Star In Hollywood is a Next Word production.

Copyright © 2024 The Last Star In Hollywood. All Rights Reserved.

This week, Jack’s back in Edward Zwick’s 2016 franchise-killer Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. Is this a feature-length TV pilot in disguise? Can we feel the absence of Christopher McQuarrie? What’s the best time to go make a snack?

Unanswered Questions:

• Does Reacher work as a hero when he’s integrated with his community?
• What is the metaphorical significance of The Hunter?
• Does the Reacherverse properly interrogate the responsibility of the military to civilian society, and vice-versa?

Further reading:

• Numb3rs
• Slap Bet
• “‘Hidden Figures’ Star Aldis Hodge, Painter Harmonia Rosales to Debut Collab Works at L.A. Art Show”
• Alan Ritchson
• The Last Star In Hollywood Definitive List Of Tom Cruise Films
• The Last Star In Hollywood: Production Schedule

Thanks for listening! For bonus shows, extra content and more, support The Last Star In Hollywood and the Next Word network by visiting Patreon.com/NextWord!

Join us next week as Universal loses $100m on a bet on monsters: Alex Kurtzman’s The Mummy.

The Last Star In Hollywood is a Next Word production.

Copyright © 2024 The Last Star In Hollywood. All Rights Reserved.