Yes Tom, I used your word to describe your crazy behavior.
The Church of Scientology said you may view the video at one of their centers, right after they brainwash you into joining their cult. Yeah, um… no thanks.
Gawker told them that they aren’t breaking any laws and they won’t take the video down.
Tom Cruise isn’t shy about his commitment to Scientology – Katie Holmes reportedly signed a contract to guarantee her faith before their marriage and his children are raised as Scientologists – but a video that surfaced online has revealed the true extent of his beliefs.
The clip, hosted on YouTube and Google Video, featured a 9-minute speech by Cruise as the actor recently accepted the Freedom Medal of Valor award at an International Association of Scientologists event.
Yesterday, Radar, Huffington Post, Gawker and Celebitchy posted the video, but it was taken down. No doubt this will be taken down too. If it is, we have the transcript after the jump!
Tom Cruise: …I think it’s a privilege to call yourself a Scientologist, and it’s something that you have to earn because a Scientologist does… has the ability to create new and better realities and improve conditions. Being a Scientologist, you look at someone and know absolutely that you can help them.
“Being a Scientologist, when you drive past an accident… you know you have to do something about it because you know you’re the only one that can really help.
“But that’s what drives me… I know that we have an opportunity to really help… effectively change people’s lives and I am dedicated to that. I am absolutely, uncompromisingly dedicated to that.
“We have a responsibility.
“We are the authorities on getting people off drugs, we are the authorities on the mind, we are the authorities on improving conditions… we can rehabilitate criminals.
“…We can bring peace and unite cultures…
“Traveling the world and meeting the people that I’ve met, talking with these leaders in various fields, they want help and they are depending on people who know and who can be effective and do it and that’s us. That is our responsibility to do that.
“It is the time now. Now is the time… Being a Scientologist, people are turning to you, so you better know it, you better know it and if you don’t, go and learn it, but don’t pretend you know it. It’s like we’re here to help.
“If you’re a Scientologist, you see life, you see things the way they are, in all its glory, all of its complexity and the more you know as a Scientologist, you don’t become overwhelmed by it.
“Look, I wish the world was a different place. I’d like to go on vacation and go and romp and play and just do that, you know what I mean. That’s what I want it to be. There’s times I’d like to do that, but I can’t because I know I have to do something about it.
“I have to do it because I can’t live with myself if I don’t, and that really is it.
“So it’s our responsibility to educate, create the new reality. We have that responsibility to say, ‘Hey, this is the way it should be done because we do it this way and people are actually getting better.’
“And let’s get it done. Let’s really get it done and have enough love and compassion and toughness that you’re really going to do it and do it right.
“I have to tell you something – it is rough and tumble, and it’s wild and wooly, and it’s a blast, it’s a blast, it really is fun because, dammit, there is nothing better than the going out there and fighting the fight and suddenly you see things are better.
“I want to know that I’ve done everything I could everyday, and I think about those people out there who are depending on us. I think about that and it does make me feel that we’ve got more work. I need more help, get those spectators either in the playing field or out of the arena. Really, that’s how I feel about it.
“I do what I can, and I do it the way I do everything. [laughs] There’s nothing part-of-the way for me.”
Either Will Smith is the worst present giver in the world or his has fallen into the ranks of Scientology. After being the film bitch for a celeb you typically get some kind of swag for putting up with their demands of nutty bars and tepid diet coke when the filming wraps. It is the circle of life in Hollywood. Will Smith gave the gift of having your brain washed.
After wrapping “Hancock” he gave out a card good for a personality test at your local Scientology center.
They are already given away free of charge at the church. It is designed to find your flaws and offer up “help†to make you perfect. (Kinda like those quizzes Cosmo does to help make you multi-orgasmic.) The test is free, but the personality fix is yours for a fee. Obviously it has totally worked for Tom Cruise. Will continues to stay on the neutral path on his status with the cult, but told Access Hollywood:
“I was introduced to it by Tom, and I’m a student of world religion. I was raised in a Baptist household. I went to a Catholic school, but the ideas of the Bible are 98% the same ideas of Scientology, 98% the same ideas of Hinduism and Buddhism.”
I must have been absent from Sunday School the day they covered the Galatic Confederacy, Xenu, the hydrogen bombs that killed everyone brought to Earth via spacecraft and the space opera. I am guessing Jesus teamed up with She-Ra, Godzilla, Buddah and Spiderman to send him back to the depths of space. Is that how it went?
Source: Will Smith boosting Scientology [NY Daily News] and Will Smith: Scientology Is Practically Buddhism [Mollygood]
Andrew Morton will have to start looking over his shoulder when he goes out in public from now on. The scientologists and their short man syndrome ridden leader are on the war path. Morton has written a biography diving into the dark roots of Tom Cruise and Scientology.
Cruise is the wingman for the “religion†of Scientology. To me, if Hubbard was the Batman of Xenu, then Tom is Robin. No one is really surprised by that….we all know Katie has been replaced with a Scientologist version of a Stepford Wife. Morton goes above and beyond the standard accusations in his “unapproved biography.†The book hits American bookshelves on Jan.15th. In the tell-all Andrew goes into several accusations:
Daughter by Katie Holmes “conceived like Rosemary’s Baby” Nicole Kidman “feared blackmail” over sex tapes made with Scientologists
Scientologists “planted meadow of flowers for Tom and Nicole to run through”
Cruise’s next mission is to recruit David Beckham
Penelope Cruz escaped the clutches of the “religion” with the help of her father and an organization devoted to helping cult members and their families
It probably isn’t too far from the truth, but the weird-shit-o-meter is tipped when Morton states that David Miscavige, a Scientology bigwig, plans every move of Tom’s life. David is said to have gone on the honeymoon with Tom and Katie. I am guessing he handed out pointers or tossed flower petals over them as they mated in some sort of “Coneheads” fashion.
After wooing Cruise into the religion he has been programmed to be the new idol for the church. The accused cult is also partly responsible for the end of his marriage to Kidman. Tapes with details of their sex life were used as blackmail to keep her quite about the seedy underbelly of the world of Scientology.
Fact or fiction this is one man who should be on the look out for a group of people wearing matching khaki pants and bad hair cuts when he is alone. I have to admit with all the former “Diana†author claims, it is impressive he has testicular fortitude to publish it. The legal team of Cruise is already in action with talks of a lawsuit.
Source: Tom Cruise ‘Scientology second-in-command’ [Telegraph] and Morton Tell-All Claims Tom Cruise is Scientology #2 [Towleroad]
Victoria Beckham confirmed she is not pregnant, Tom Cruise doesn’t try to convert her or David to Scientology, Brooklyn is named after where she found out she was pregnant (not where she conceived), goes on to talk about the Spice Girls reunion tour, women who adore David and raising a family in LA.
She does not, however, discuss the authenticity of the bulge in David’s underwear ad. He did get her to smile though, and that’s always a rare treat.
John Travolta is more gay than all the Village People put together, L.A. Rag reports. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
There’s a junkie Korean spa in Koreatown called Century Spa that no one knows about so it’s cheap and fantastic. It’s also a place that’s been overrun by a slew of gay men cruising for dick in the steam room and clay room.
When we went to get Lynn a body scrub and massage the two Korean women behind the counter were unusually giddy.
“You will never believe who here!â€
“Who?†We asked eyes raised.
“Mr. John Travolta!†They exclaimed, exploding into giggles.
Now, why in the name of Liberace, would John Travolta be miles from his home in Korea Town at a men’s spa. For their amazing service? The gorgeous showers with broken tiles?
Once we saw John we instantly ran to our locker to try and take a picture of him, but it didn’t work so we have no proof. But we are telling you straight up our experience, we saw him there, and he was checking out Alex’s Middle Eastern feast in the showers.
This was the wrong thing to do, and we realize that now. We should have flirted with him until he laid his hands on us and we could’ve said, “Dude, I liked you in Hairspray and all, but I’m not like that!â€
That would’ve been more hilarious than him in a fat suit.
John, look, no one goes to a Korean Spa unless they WANT to get caught. Stories about you cruising in the steam room have surfaced before so it’s not a surprise.If you come out as gay, then that just makes you that much better of an actor. You fooled the American public for years, and usually you have to be the president to do that.
That’s not exactly overwhelming evidence, is it? Some woman at some bath house saying she saw Travolta?
Still, people seem to believe it. One of the commenters says, “I hate to tell you but everyone has known Travolta was gay since like 2000. He’s like fucking Jodie Foster gay. He’s gayer than Tom Cruise. GAYGAYGAYGAY.” Now, you have to admit, that’s gay.
Defamer is playing coy: “What to make of this beyond the fact that Century offers some of the best spa services in the city at the most reasonable prices? Why, we’re certain we have no idea!”
Glitterati Gossip calls the rumor “totally unsubstantiated” but points out “If he were gay, there’s every reason to believe he’d try to hide it, though. Scientology has moderated its stance on gays in recent years, but for many years classified homosexuality as a disease.”
Queer Verve suggests: “Maybe Travolta was on a mission from Xenu to spread Gonorrhea Scientology to queers in dire need of a body scrub.”
Seriously, though, the man’s married to a beautiful woman and they have kids together. Does that mean he’s not gay? Not at all. Still, he should probably get the benefit of the doubt when he says he’s not.
Filming started yesterday in Berlin on Tom Cruise’s new movie, ‘Valkyrie‘. Tom plays the real-life mastermind behind a plot to kill Adolf Hitler.
The 45-year-old actor has virtually transformed himself into Count Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, who was executed by firing squad in 1944 after the failed assassination attempt.
The movie producers are not allowed in several parts of Germany, as many German’s feel that Tom and his Scientology go against their beliefs.
Germany has barred the makers of a movie about a plot to kill Adolf Hitler from filming at German military sites because its star Tom Cruise is a Scientologist, the Defense Ministry said on Monday.
Cruise, also one of the film’s producers, is a member of the Church of Scientology which the German government does not recognize as a church. Berlin says it masquerades as a religion to make money, a charge Scientology leaders reject.
The U.S. actor has been cast as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, leader of the unsuccessful attempt to assassinate the Nazi dictator in July 1944 with a bomb hidden in a briefcase.
Defense Ministry spokesman Harald Kammerbauer said the film makers “will not be allowed to film at German military sites if Count Stauffenberg is played by Tom Cruise, who has publicly professed to being a member of the Scientology cult”.
“In general, the Bundeswehr (German military) has a special interest in the serious and authentic portrayal of the events of July 20, 1944 and Stauffenberg’s person,” Kammerbauer said.
Cruise’s publicists could not be reached for comment.
Stauffenberg had been deeply opposed to the Nazis’ treatment of the Jews and planted a briefcase bomb under a table near Hitler in his “Wolf’s Lair” headquarters on July 20, 1944. The bomb went off but only wounded the Fuehrer.
The film, slated for a 2008 release and to be directed by Bryan Singer and co-starring Kenneth Branagh, is called “Valkyrie” after Operation Valkyrie, the plot’s codename.
The main site of interest would be the “Bendlerblock” memorial inside the Defense Ministry complex in Berlin. This is where Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators hatched the plot and where he and his closest comrades were executed when it failed.
Kammerbauer said the ministry had not yet received official filming requests from the producers of “Valkyrie”.
Well there ya have it… Germany thinks Tom Cruise is a whacko too!
Spoiler alert… here’s the Top 50 Movie Endings of All Time.
50. The Blair Witch Project (1999) – The movie isn’t particularly scary… at least until the last two minutes, which take the tension level from 10 to 100 at an exponential pace. The final seconds — wherein a member of the cast is spotted, back turned and facing a corner, as an unseen spirit does away with the remaining member of the crew, who’s been filming all of this in a panic-stricken run through an abandoned house — rank as some of the most terrifying moments ever put to film. It gives me chills just to write about it. -CN
49. A History of Violence (2005) – David Cronenberg’s sly, brilliant merger of a revenge fantasy and an essay on the American Dream has an appropriately messy, provocative ending. Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) has exposed a terrible truth about himself that’s left his wife, Edie (Maria Bello), in despair. They gaze at each other in silence across the dinner table, and the looks in their eyes lets you know it’s impossible, yet painfully necessary, to pretend nothing has changed. -MA
48. Batman Begins (2005) – As the title suggests, the Dark Knight’s mission to cleanse Gotham has just begin. Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) hands Batman (Christian Bale) a playing card left at the scene of a recent crime. He flips it over, and fanboy hearts race in unison as we contemplate director Christopher Nolan’s next move. -SO
7. All That Jazz (1979) – A film especially priceless in its rendering of death in big, Broadway musical number style. Extremely well collaged as the self-defeating choreographer ties up all his loose ends in fantastical choreographic zeal, Roy Scheider’s Joe Gideon simply walks into a flirtatious angel’s embrace. -RG
46. Dead Again (1991) – The second film Kenneth Branagh directed before his ego became too inflated from his Shakespeare renown, is also still the best helming he has managed to date. Beautifully combining intelligent romanticism with reincarnation between he and his then wife/co-star Emma Thompson, the film gracefully culminates with a death scene, love re-established, and the past resolving itself, without losing an emotional beat. Even those who don’t believe in filmic romance melt as the modern day Branagh holds his partner and exhaustedly says “The door is closed.†-RG
45. Pulp Fiction (1994) – It’s hard to pick this over Reservoir Dogs, since Quentin Tarantino plagiarized himself here, but Pulp is more refined and more funny in its treatment of a Mexican standoff, this time with a “happy” ending to it. Of course, we know the buffoonish Vincent Vega’s going to get shot coming out of the toilet on another job, but he and his Bible-spewing pal get to walk away this time, even if they do look like idiots. -CN
44. Fargo (1996) – Cinema, especially recent cinema, isn’t known for its portrayals of happy marriages — especially not in crime movies. But the last scene in this Coen brothers masterpiece doesn’t involve any blood, bullets, or double-crosses. It just shows the Gundersons, Marge (Frances McDormand) and Norm (John Carroll Lynch), sitting in bed. He tells her that his painting is going to put on a three-cent stamp, she tells him how great that is, and the emotional core that has been developing throughout the film is suddenly sitting right in front of us. No wood chipper needed. -JH
Had enough… or are you thirsty for more? After the jump!
43. Shane (1953) – When the kid yells, “Shane, come back!” at the departing hero, it’s one of the rare tear-jerker scenes that just feels right. -DB
42. The Terminator (1984) – One of the first major science fiction trilogies to be a true inspiration to an entire new generation of filmmaking, the initial installment is brutal, bright, and brilliantly executed. From Ah-nold’s one-liners to Sarah Connor learning to want to be great female hero, it was also one of the first films to create a spellbinding circle in its narrative, to have the end reflect where it all began. He’ll be back. -RG
41. Say Anything… (1989) – Lots of romantic comedies end with the boy getting the girl; Say Anything makes him, her, and us all earn it. We leave Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) and Diane Court (Ione Skye) not in passionate embrace, but sitting on an airplane, holding hands, looking upward, waiting for the “ding” that will tell them everything is okay. This final shot is everything that’s great about Say Anything: sweet, a little bit funny, and completely believable. -JH
40. The Thing (1982) – Easily the most chilling ending in horror, Carpenter purposefully never lets the audience in on exactly how the contagion is spread and allows us to stew in absolute terror as to which man will split apart and become the alien host. The last thumps of the moody score are enough to make anyone shiver with fear. -CC
39. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) – Find me a better last line uttered by any villain than “I’m having an old friend for dinner.” With wit, charm, and unyielding bravado, Hopkins caps off his career performance with an exit (forgetting Ridley Scott’s forgivable Hannibal) that oozes menace and wild provocation. Fava beans, anyone? -CC
38. 8 1/2 (1963) – As the crazy director finally embraces the joy and absurdity of life, a group of freaks, friends, loonies and journalists begin to dance in a huge circle, with the great circus behind it; it’s so good that Woody Allen would outright copy it in Stardust Memories. Has any ending, or any film for that matter, better encapsulated what it’s like to understand life as the great, crazy joke it is? -CC
37. Rocky (1976) – As Bill Conte’s score soars in the background, a bloodied Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) and a hatless Adrian (Talia Shire) finally proclaim their love for one another. And in the distant background, a ring announcer tells a frenzied crowd that our hero has actually lost the fight that held us captive for an entire final act. In one dramatic move, two shy nobodies find their hearts and nothing else matters. -NS
36. Jacob’s Ladder (1990) – It was all a dream, freak-out style. This time at least it’s with good reason: We find out that Jacob (Tim Robbins) was on his deathbed, having been shot during the Vietnam War, and everything that has preceded has been a sort of cruel flash-back-forward because Jacob hasn’t been willing to let go. Suddenly it all makes sense. -CN
35. Back to the Future (1985) – The most brazen call for a sequel imaginable. What if the movie had flopped? Not a chance. All seems right with Marty’s world, until Doc Brown returns from the future to alert him of a troubling family issue. The stage is set for an eventual trilogy that continues to entertain to this day. -SO
34. King of New York (1990) – After facing the last (and oldest) cop of the four that stalked him, crime lord Christopher Walken sits in a cab, letting the bullet in his gut take its final resting place. Abel Ferrara’s crime sonata ends the idea of the great overblown gangster ending, seeing Scarface as an aging villain who can’t say anything else, feeling the only thing left for him to do is silently drift off to death amongst the dazzle of the city he loves. -CC
33. A Clockwork Orange (1971) – Stanley Kubrick excised the last chapter of the book in order to give Clockwork a nihilistic ending that has Alex (Malcolm McDowell in the role of a lifetime) learning absolutely nothing from the last two hours of screen time, dreaming of a pseudo-orgy while trapped in a hospital bed. It’s a controversial choice that has had cineastes debating for decades, but it still packs a wallop. The book’s ending, suffice it to say, would have hardly been cinematic. -CN
32. Being There (1979) – Peter Sellers’ crowning achievement ends with a little bit of mysticism, which is at once completely out of character for this very grounded movie while also being totally apropos. You have to smile when you see it. -CN
31. Magnolia (1999) – Everyone remembers a certain cataclysmic plot turn in the final act, and while I love P.T. Anderson’s audacious willingness to simply let frogs fall from the sky, the real ending to Magnolia is much simpler. In an extended close-up, we see troubled Claudia (Melora Walters) listen to sweet cop Jim (John C. Reilly) talk. His words are barely audible; instead, we focus on Claudia’s face, which finally breaks into a slight smile, a split second before the movie cuts to black. Desperation turns to hope in an instant, and Aimee Mann’s “Save Me” ices the cake perfectly. -JH
30. Pickpocket (1959) – Copied and re-rendered by hundreds of films (most recently: L’Enfant and Art School Confidential), French master Robert Bresson ends his tale of spiritual bartering with the pickpocket and the girl who loves him, pressing against each other in a prison visitor room. Emotionally penetrating and gorgeously shot, the ending brings up all the yearning and transcendental themes into complete concentration, using Bresson’s patented flat acting style. -CC
29. Wait Until Dark (1967) – In this suspenseful period thriller, Audrey Hepburn plays a blind woman targeted by a hit man (Alan Arkin). At the end of the film, she is trapped in her flat and he’s stalking her. She knocks out all the lights so that they will be equal… but she forgets one light! This one is exciting right up to the last minute. During its first run, theaters turned out all the lights for the last few minutes to enhance the effect. -DB
28. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986): For sheer pleasure, you can’t beat the sweetness of watching reformed drug addict/punk-rock chick Dianne Weist and comedy writer/religiously-confused Woody Allen cuddle in a dim hallway as she breaks the good news to him. Call it artful sentimentalism. -CC
27. The Searchers (1956) – John Wayne, a symbol of the male ego, dominance, and everything right with the Wild West, stands alone in a doorway, isolated by feelings and ideologies that simply won’t be accepted anymore. Deconstruction of the cowboy myth began here and John Ford, haunted by his own racist past, gives the shot a haunting, sobering feel of loneliness and change. -CC
26. Rushmore (1998) – The Salinger of the screen ends his best film in his lovable faux-theatrical and pastel style without a hint of irony. Max and the woman of his obsession stand prepared to dance as The Faces’ “Ooh la-la” plays, easily ranking in the top 10 best ending songs of all time, as the other characters dance around them. It sure beats the hell out of a gate closing on a headstone. -CC
25. Real Genius (1985) – The entire film builds and builds to this exquisite ending, where Chris Knight (Val Kilmer) and his brainiac pals finally revel in their revenge plot against the evil Jerry Hathaway (William Atherton). How they pulled off the stunt to make an entire house look like it was filled with popcorn I still can’t figure out. The effect is, ahem, genius. Growing up, my little sister called this film “the popcorn movie.” -CN
23. House of Games (1987) – David Mamet’s finest movie and a personal favorite: After demure psychiatrist Margaret Ford (Lindsay Crouse) murders the ringleader of the gang of con men that cost her thousands of dollars, she takes a vacation. After a little misdirection, she steals a gold lighter from a woman dining one table over. She’s got the con game bug, now. So satisfying, but so creepy. -CN
22. Brazil (1985) – Harry Tuttle (Robert De Niro) swoops in to save the day, but it’s not to be: Our hero Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) is revealed to be wallowing in a torture chamber and, alas, “He’s gone.” The ending was so controversial that the studio basically stole the film from director Terry Gilliam and edited together a happy ending, known as the “Love Conquers All” ending. Comparing the two versions is a film geek’s wet dream. -CN
21. The Usual Suspects (1995) – For two hours, Kevin Spacey’s spineless Verbal plays helpless lamb being lured to Chazz Palminteri’s slaughter. But with the drop of a coffee cup, and the shaking off of a limp, the true identity of a criminal mastermind is revealed. -SO
20. Before Sunset (2004) – Cooler than pre-Scientology Isaac Hayes in Antarctica eating popsicles and drinking iced coffee, Julie Delpy dances and sings Nina Simone in front of Ethan Hawke and croons, sexy as they come, “Baby, you’re gonna miss that plane.” Delpy has never been given enough time on screen to fully capture audience appeal, but in this moment, she has it over any hip chick this side of Santa Monica. -CC
19. Memento (2001) – Our sympathetic hero commits an abrupt, cold-blooded, and vengeful murder, entirely to serve his own purposes. He’s not the Leonard Shelby we thought we knew. And major bonus points for it coming at both the very beginning and the end of the movie, which are actually the ending and the beginning. Got that? -AG
18. The Wizard of Oz (1939) – The first “it was all a dream” ending ever? I’m not sure, but it’s certainly one of the most memorable. The revelation that nearly all the characters we’ve seen in Dorothy’s fantasy world were drawn from her friends (and enemies) is magical. -CN
17. Planet of the Apes (1968) – Charlton Heston (as a lost astronaut) spends most of this modern classic convincing a dominant ape race that man can indeed communicate and reason. And while there’s plenty of irony and social commentary there, co-writer Rod Serling’s trademark storytelling really surfaces in the final scene. As a cowboy of sorts, a half-naked Heston grabs his woman and rides his horse into unknown territory… but quickly finds that many have been there before him. In an ending worthy of the greatest Twilight Zone zingers, Lady Liberty’s head and torch emerge from the sand. And Heston drops to his knees and damns us all to hell. We got it coming. -NS
16. The Empire Strikes Back (1980) – Lethal fight scenes, great dialogue (“I love you.” “I know.”), a traitorous Billy Dee Williams, and the biggest paternal twist in sci-fi history. And then the final shocker: Han Solo is still frozen, and he’s not getting out ’til the next movie! What!? Empire turned George Lucas’ universe on its ear, raising his franchise’s bar to a height no Star Wars sequel or prequel managed to touch. -SO
15. The Godfather (1972) – Derelicts will argue the second one is better, but the ending of the Godfather is everything it should be, foreshadowing all the dark, murky secrets that would be dragged from the depths in Part 2. Kay finally asks about Michael’s business and he lies, outright, as the door closes on a good kid who turned into the ultimate family man, and a brooding, calculating monster. -CC
14. The Tenant (1976) – You simply can’t comprehend it: after plummeting through glass once, the titular tenant drags himself up the stairs again to finish the job, only to end up the crazed lunatic that kicked off Polanski’s most concentrated study of paranoia. It doesn’t have the acute horror of Rosemary’s Baby, but The Tenant sits in your stomach with sick discomfort, like remembering the most private, embarrassing ordeal you’ve ever been through. -CC
13. Citizen Kane (1941) – Well, we kind of have to put this one on the list, don’t we? One of the earliest examples of don’t-spill-the-secret endings and also I’ve-been-robbed anti-climax, that little wooden sled explains everything and explains nothing about Charles Foster Kane, but it’s the elusive piece of the jigsaw that drives one of the greatest movies ever made. -AG
12. The Birds (1963) – Our heroine and her strapping man might be making a stealthy escape from Bodega Bay, but the camera pulls further back and there are birds, birds, menacing birds as far as the eye can see. How safe are they really, in that soft-top convertible, with those lovebirds? -AG
11. The Graduate (1967) – Dustin Hoffman crashes Katherine Ross’ wedding, whish has just ended, and he steals her away on a bus. Her mother tells her “It’s too late” and she yells, “Not for us!” It’s unbelievable, it’s corny, but also (as the guy says in Barcelona) it’s real. It symbolizes the moment when the disenchanted ’60s generation started their lives. This isn’t how romances were supposed to end. -DB
10. Some Like It Hot (1959) – Jack Lemmon finally drops his drag and reveals his true gender to his horny suitor (the perfect Joe E. Brown), who couldn’t care less. “Nobody’s perfect!” he says, the final cherry on top of a whipped-cream and chocolate-covered sundae of a comedy. -DW
9. Don’t Look Now (1973) – Donald Sutherland chases the little child in the raincoat he’s seen for the whole film and then Roeg’s nightmare springs one last terror on you. That face under the red raincoat is no child, and it will stay in your nightmares for months… or else you’ll put it as your computer’s desktop picture like my roommate. -CC
8. Big Night (1996) – The old term “silence is golden” has never seemed so appropriate. After a grand night of arguments, fantastic food, and a no-show crooner, the two idealistic opposites (art vs. commerce) sit down to a simple omelet with their waiter, knowing their lives will go separate ways (and bankruptcy is a near certainty) but not needing to talk about it. Soulful, delicate, and bypassing tearjerk-o-rama, directors Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott create a sincere goodbye to their lovely, little film. -CC
7. Night of the Living Dead (1968) – Without a hint of being self-conscious, Romero’s horror masterpiece raised the middle finger to all modern narrative constructions. The family dies, the young white couple dies and the black protagonist, surviving the gruesome night, is shot by the cops. It’s complete film rebellion, and you can’t help but savor it. -CC
6. Boogie Nights (1997) – One of the most unexpected endings in cinema history. Mark Wahlberg’s faded porn star stand in the mirror and yanks his penis out, saying with complete conviction, “You’re a fucking star.” The soul of the inept, underage star still resides in the aged, coke-snorting loser. Its pathetic grandeur (both the ending and the unit on display) is unmatched. -CC
5. Bonnie and Clyde (1967) – The constantly underrated Arthur Penn brings his great, gritty tale of the criminal lovebirds to an end with a scene of unyielding violence and shock. Think of it as the alternate ending for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which ends exactly the same way but stops the film about 20 seconds earlier. -CC
3. Chinatown (1974) – “Forget it, Jake, its Chinatown.” Chinatown has nothing to do with Chinatown, but it also has everything to do with Chinatown. Explaining its intricacies could fill a book, but it’s the very end that punches you in the gut: The bad guy gets away and Nicholson’s Jake Gittes, after solving the case, is told to forget the whole affair. Ow. -CN
2. Fight Club (1999) – No matter what you think of David Fincher’s translation of Chuck Palahniuk’s pre-iPod, post-post-punk nightmare, you have to admire an ending that foresaw things that are still being talked about today. The film predicts the emo-boy nation that we swim in these days, but the ending, with the Pixies’ raucous “Where is My Mind?” wailing in the background, sees self-terrorism and numb romance as the new, essential way of life. -CC
1. Dr. Strangelove (1964) – You may remember otherwise, but the climactic scene where Slim Pickens rides the bomb down is not actually the ending of Strangelove (though even if it were, it would still be #1 on our list). Rather, there is a strange scene afterwards in which the leaders of the free world wait for the end of the world while having a demented argument about how to survive the impending nuclear winter (“We must not have a mine shaft gap!”). Then, signaling apocalypse, Peter Sellers’ titular mad scientist, wheelchair-bound for the entire movie, stands up and begins to walk, before the War Room (and the rest of the world) explodes to the tune of “We’ll Meet Again.” It’s all weird but absurdly logical, like everything about Kubrick’s masterpiece. -DB
Tom Cruise has achieved “Clear,” the ultimate level of nuttiness in the religion made up by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. Page 6 has the details:
TOM Cruise is at the highest level of “clear” in Scientology – and now he may even perform a wedding for a friend, Australian heir James Packer, one of the church’s richest benefactors, Women’s Wear Daily reports. Packer, who inherited a $6.5 billion fortune when his father, Kerry, died last year, weds model-turned-singer Erica Baxter Wednesday on France’s Cote d’Azur. A mystery client, believed to be Packer, has booked the entire Grand Hotel du Cap-Ferrat and the Hotel du Cap-Eden Roc, presumably for his guests.
Congrats to Tom. It sure took him long enough. According to Scientology headquarters, “it takes an average of anywhere from one year to two years to go from the bottom of the Grade Chart through Clear.”
More background on what “Clear” means:
What is Clear?
Clear is the name of a specific state achieved through auditing, or a person who has achieved this state. A Clear is a being who no longer has his own reactive mind, and therefore suffers none of the ill effects the reactive mind can cause.
How does one go Clear?
Simply by taking one’s first step in Scientology, or by taking the next step as shown on the Classification, Gradation and Awareness Chart and then continuing up the levels set forth on this chart.
How long does it take to go Clear?
It varies from person to person, but it takes an average of anywhere from one year to two years to go from the bottom of the Grade Chart through Clear, depending on how much time one spends each week on hisauditing. Those who participate in intensive auditing services and do not stop along the way progress the fastest.
If one goes Clear, will he lose his emotions?
No, on the contrary, a Clear is able to use and experience any emotion. Only the painful, reactive, uncontrolled emotions are gone from his life. Clears are very responsive beings. When one is Clear, he is more himself. The only loss is a negative — thereactive mind — which was preventing the individual from being himself.
What can you do when you are Clear?
A Clear is able to deal causatively with life rather than react to it. A Clear is rational in that he forms the best possible solutions he can with the data he has and from his own viewpoint. A Clear gets things done and accomplishes more than he could before he became Clear.
Whatever your level of ability before you go Clear, it will be greatly increased after you go Clear.
John Travolta doesn’t suffer from lack of ego. The “Wild Hogs†star recently boasted that he was as big a star as Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe — but didn’t suffer the same fate as them because of his values and religion. “I have fame on the level of a Marilyn Monroe or an Elvis, but part of the reason I didn’t go the way they did was because of my beliefs,†Travolta told the Irish Independent.
The star went on to credit his sometimes controversial religion for the difference between his fate and theirs.
“People make judgments about it [Scientology], but often they don’t know what they’re talking about,†Travolta said. “I would advise anyone who wants to know about it to read up on it. We [the Church of Scientology] are only getting bigger and we help people all over the world, from disaster zones to drug rehabilitation.â€
This was a dumb thing to say on a whole variety of levels. Travolta is indeed a big time star and has been since his national debut as Vinny Barbarino on the 1970s sitcom “Welcome Back Kotter” and his emergence as a movie star with “Saturday Night Fever” (1976) and “Grease” (1977). But he’s simply not the cultural icon that Elvis and Marilyn became. The backlash from claiming that level of superstardom dimishes his legitimate status as an A-list celeb.
Scientology strikes me as incredibly dumb. Still, Travolta, Tom Cruise, and a host of truly successful Hollywood stars who are practitioners have indeed managed to avoid the tailspin that so many of their cohorts have fallen into. If Scientology is the reason for that, more power to them.
If L. Ron Hubbard suggested that dorky hat, though, all bets are off.
Rolling Stone has assembled what they believe to be the 25 funniest moments from the first ten years of “South Park” and provide a video clip for each of them.
Their tastes are clearly different from mine, as I don’t find several of the ones they picked funny at all. I mean, the Towelie character? C’mon.
Still, these are pretty good:
MOMENT #22 Cartman addresses Congress in an attempt to save his friend by convincing them of the merits of stem-cell research. They finally agree after he leads them in a sing-along version of prog supergroup’s Asia 1980′s classic “Heat of the Moment” — one of many songs from that era Cartman has an affinity for.
MOMENT #21: South Park takes on The Simpsons. South Park pays homage to its predecessor by admitting that The Simpsons has covered literally every plot imaginable. In the end, all the characters morph into yellow-skinned Springfield residents.
MOMENT #19 Realizing just how profitable Christian pop rock can be, Cartman forms a group called Faith +1 with Token and Butters. They go on to sell millions. Sample lyric: “I wanna get down on my knees and start pleasing Jesus! I wanna feel his salvation all over my face!”
MOMENT #12 In what turned out to be South Park’s most notorious episode, Scientologists conclude that Kyle must be a reincarnation of L. Ron Hubbard. Kyle is given a brief overview of the cult’s beliefs via an abridged version of the Scientology creation myth, which features frozen aliens in volcanoes, alien warlord Xenu…the whole she-bang. Throughout, the message “This is what Scientologists actually believe” is periodically flashed on the screen.
There are a lot of classic South Park scenes missing from the list, though, and some of the show at its sick-not-funny worst included.
Katie Holmes is taking it slow with another important matter: getting back to her acting career after her marriage to mega star Tom Cruise and the birth of daughter Suri.
Ms. Holmes has taken a long hiatus from the movie business, avoiding new roles since getting involved with Mr. Cruise nearly two years ago. Now, she wants to be back in the game. In recent weeks, representatives at the Hollywood talent firm Creative Artists Agency have been working hard to map out a new career plan for the temporarily out-of-work actress, her associates say.
There are signs that it won’t be easy, partly because studios may be gun-shy of her new status as a tabloid fixture, and partly because her expectations may be raised as the new Mrs. Cruise. She recently was unable to make a deal with Warner Bros. to land what appeared to be a good opportunity: a reprisal of her role as assistant district attorney Rachel Dawes in the sequel to 2005′s “Batman Begins,” scheduled for summer 2008 and titled “The Dark Knight.”
Resuming a movie career is sometimes difficult in Hollywood, where a break can turn into a permanent vacation from the fast-moving business if an actor isn’t careful. Stars of much bigger stature than Ms. Holmes, including Meg Ryan and Demi Moore, have found it tough to regain their momentum after taking time off.
Yet Ms. Holmes has an added problem: her relationship with Mr. Cruise has been a tabloid free-for-all from the moment it started, generating negative publicity that may make studios more reluctant to take a chance on her. Unlike, say, Russell Crowe , who garnered a ream of bad publicity from throwing a malfunctioning phone at a New York hotel employee, Ms. Holmes’s trouble stems simply from getting involved with a fellow actor who himself has generated controversy — certainly no crime. But the impact on her job prospects could be similar; Mr. Crowe’s career appears to have veered off track since his eruption.
She’s also become inextricably linked to the 44-year-old Mr. Cruise, a Hollywood legend who has been criticized for his controversial Scientology faith and a pattern of erratic public behavior that is regarded in some quarters as a box-office liability. Mr. Cruise’s production contract was not renewed last August by Paramount, partly because of his antics, including ecstatically proclaiming his love for Ms. Holmes on Oprah Winfrey’s couch and inveighing against the use of antidepressants by Brooke Shields and others on the “Today” show.
“I was introduced to it by Tom, and I’m a student of world religion. I was raised in a Baptist household. I went to a Catholic school, but the ideas of the Bible are 98% the same ideas of Scientology, 98% the same ideas of Hinduism and Buddhism.”
Cruise, also one of the film’s producers, is a member of the Church of Scientology which the German government does not recognize as a church. Berlin says it masquerades as a religion to make money, a charge Scientology leaders reject.
