The B.E.E. Podcast - 8/9/20 - Tom Cruise Deep Dive with Nic Pizzolatto - Part 1 - SILVER
Added 2020-08-09 21:30:49 +0000 UTCBret Easton Ellis talks about What We Do in the Shadows, Elvis and Ann-Margret in Viva Las Vegas and the silver screen adaptation of The Painted Bird. Writer Nic Pizzolatto and Bret closely examine the life and work of Tom Cruise. Part 1 of 2.
Comments
Living in the South, there were always Elvis movie marathons on weekend days on TV. That was great fun! <i>Viva Las Vegas</i> (1964) is great, really fun. But I need to recommend <i>King Creole</i> (1958), directed by Michael Curtiz (<i>Casablanca</i>). That's a more "serious" film.
Antonio Primavera
2021-11-18 23:57:17 +0000 UTCSpot on monologue Bret
Tommy Stronach
2020-09-25 22:03:28 +0000 UTCThis was so good it was like an audio documentary. It didn’t focus on Scientology and scandal but a really good and much deserved retrospective of one of the last great movie stars.
Anthony Sisco
2020-08-19 22:26:53 +0000 UTCoye bret fue bien firme
MeekJaybird
2020-08-17 04:31:53 +0000 UTCLeo has probably surpassed him at this point. If Tom had continued his late 90's/early 00's run of serious/high concept movies, he would be more like Leo is now. Same with Smith to a lesser degree.
Billy Vega
2020-08-15 23:38:32 +0000 UTC"I'm in locker rooms a lot. And when I confront a guy, I put my clothes on first!"
Daniel George Sanchez
2020-08-15 22:51:36 +0000 UTCSo funny during the pandemic I bought all the Elvis movies and have bee living in that universe for a couple of weeks...
Paul Thrush
2020-08-15 22:32:18 +0000 UTCCan’t wait to hear the thoughts on Jerry Maguire
Kerry
2020-08-14 11:53:13 +0000 UTCWhat a great episode. I was laughing out loud as Bret continued to describe the atrocities in the painted bird. Loved the Cruise stuff, but fan of Pizzollatto too. I was surprised neither of them mentioned Mickey Rourke when discussing 80s leading men.....
Iain
2020-08-14 08:10:45 +0000 UTCA LITTLE LIFE is one of the worst books I’ve ever read. Somehow I made it all of the way through - I guess because I invested so much time in the first million pages and decided to ride it out until the end. I was seriously so annoyed that it even existed after I realized what it was all about.
Rachel Bartlett
2020-08-13 20:47:10 +0000 UTCFor sure!
Justin Pierce
2020-08-13 20:36:54 +0000 UTCEvery 2 weeks. Worth the wait!
Michele Ross
2020-08-13 20:33:28 +0000 UTCWhen is Part 2 supposed to land? I just recently subscribed and not used to Patreon. When do Episodes normally drop?
Justin Pierce
2020-08-13 19:28:39 +0000 UTCEnd of an era? (-;
Benjamin Terpstra
2020-08-13 14:28:51 +0000 UTCYes, Bret made me laugh talking about the Cow movie lol
Erick
2020-08-12 22:04:41 +0000 UTCLove this pod. Can I haz part 2 now?
Erick
2020-08-12 22:04:06 +0000 UTCBret, I've been getting great joy from re-watching the Kroll Show now streaming on CBS. I didn't appreciate the collective genius of the ensemble cast during its first airing.
David M S
2020-08-11 18:00:33 +0000 UTCThis episode made me laugh out loud so many times. Bret is harsh on Kelly Reichardt (I liked ‘Wendy and Lucy’ and ‘Night Moves’ despite their glacial pace) but even when I don’t agree with him, I’m still entertained by his opinions. Thanks for sticking to your guns, Bret! Can Nic Pizzolatto become a regular co-host? He’s so quotable! “I have to think about dad for a while before I can be a man,” is a perfect encapsulation of so many ‘80s movies. I don’t even particularly like Tom Cruise but I’ll listen to Bret and Nic discuss any topic that they’re knowledgeable and passionate about. The idea of having a gay man and a straight man talking at length about the appeal of a male movie star/sex symbol is fascinating and, to my knowledge, it’s never been done before. Can’t wait for Part 2!
Claudia
2020-08-11 16:02:14 +0000 UTC“... she’s a dirty sprite ...” I love this episode so much!
James Reeves
2020-08-11 14:09:34 +0000 UTCAlso can you take a scalpel to this dreadful indie that opened last weekend 'She Dies Tomorrow'...oh God the agony!
Joseph Orlando
2020-08-11 10:54:39 +0000 UTCGreat episode. Really nailed the appeal. I hope Pitt... Leo... Clooney... The Rock... and Smith have nothing on him and probably never will. And I hope future actors take heed and listen to what makes Cruise the guy. If you want to be great it takes blood, sweat, and a lot of tears. He is no doubt the greatest movie star of Gen X.
Joseph Orlando
2020-08-11 10:53:35 +0000 UTCBret, check out the great version of "You're the Boss" which was cut from Viva Las Vegas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr6GPx28fr0 Apparently, it was too sexual. I wish someone would get that film out of the vault, if it exists, so we could see it.
BUtterfield8
2020-08-10 23:22:38 +0000 UTC“Legend” was Cruise’s best hair. Any argument? I didn’t think so! 💇♂️
James Reeves
2020-08-10 21:29:36 +0000 UTCLmao off at nic looking his mind about white briefs...he’s being hyperbolic but what a weird thing to get hung up on. He reminds me of nasty copywriters I work with. Great talent tho.
nick
2020-08-10 20:20:13 +0000 UTCBest podcast, and guest, in a long time! It FLEW BY! Can’t wait for parts 2,3,4 & 5!
Reservoir Frog
2020-08-10 18:45:33 +0000 UTCGlad to hear someone finally -- FINALLY! -- set the record straight on First Cow.
Dylan Grant
2020-08-10 17:58:53 +0000 UTCI'm sitting at a bar in Chattanooga Hills falling asleep as I listen to Bret Ellis try and justify shitty art while being an elitist at the same time. No one is around, so I can't complain to anyone, so I communicate with myself instead on a phone. Then, an idea: I'll narrate my normal, boring life, and my useless tastes in an offhanded way and in present tense. It will make me sound like I matter at all.
phuq paytch
2020-08-10 15:41:20 +0000 UTCPizzolatto texting Bret, "Does All the Right Moves hold up?" Just incredible.
Brian Rooney
2020-08-10 12:46:08 +0000 UTCVanilla Sky Forever!
Alex Waller
2020-08-10 06:19:47 +0000 UTCassuming there will be a part 2 where all will be revealed..
Jonathan Davis
2020-08-10 04:14:31 +0000 UTCBEE's plot summary of "The Painted Bird" reminded me of a more recent novel which also features a protagonist who endures an absurd series of humiliations and violence: Hanya Yanagihara's widely shortlisted "A Little Life." A book I would have tossed in the garbage if it hadn't been a library copy. Garth Greenwell called it the great gay novel, but Daniel Mendelsohn sized it up for what it really is: the great novel of the present-day cult of competing victimhoods and fetishized suffering. No wonder Kosinski's 50 year old plot has struck a contemporary nerve.
Red Scharlach
2020-08-10 04:13:07 +0000 UTCWait, what happened to the 'Eagles' question??
Jerome Busca
2020-08-10 01:55:34 +0000 UTCI've never understood Cruise's stardom. Top Gun so turned me off the guy that I could never find a way into him. And I had almost the exact opposite feeling about him as the guest: to me he was one of the few stars whose audience appeal I never was able to understand--Penn and Bruce Willis absolutely made sense to me. Cruise really was the opposite of "cool", due to the very thing which drew the guest to him. He's the one who tries too hard, the A plus student you can't help find embarrassing because the sweat stains are so obvious in all his performances; he never inhabits a role; there's no ease to his acting; and he doesn't have the masculine force for scene-chewing bravura or tours de force.He's merely strenuous. Only in Eyes Wide Shut is he lackluster, because Kubrick steam rolled this ghastly over-achiever's bombast which to this viewer always reads as incredibly false; yet vacuumed of emotion, Cruise is no more fun to watch than he is later screaming at his dying father in the overwrought Magnolia. It's strange to me that Kael seems to have been the only big reviewer I can think of who shared my distaste for Cruise's presence. She noted what an amateur he seemed by comparison to Newman in Color of Money or his utterly synthetic shark-who-finds-depth-through-redemption schtick he pantomimes in Rain Man, which is utterly wiped by Dustin Hoffman's even more intense, though more impressive, schtick. I agree the guest is spot on about one thing. There's nothing sexual or sexy about him, and maybe this was what was meant by a reviewer of the second Mission Impossible when he described Cruise's affect as Teflon--a unusually daringly negative review of the star.
Joseph A Aisenberg
2020-08-10 01:28:07 +0000 UTCOoh can't wait to listen. Between pods when I run out of other podcast I end up listening to White to get my Bee fix. I've listened to it at least 5 times so far
Erick
2020-08-10 00:48:59 +0000 UTCLove the reviews. The Reichardt assessment is sooo accurate. It’s mind boggling that someone somewhere enjoys those movies. The most ponderous movies of all time. Also, an all Tom Cruise centered show is a crack-up. Always love when BEE digs into the machinations of a movie personality and their allure. Great pod, I laughed out loud several times. Also, Elvis in Jailhouse Rock is one of the greatest movie star performances in cinema history.
M. Nero Nava
2020-08-09 22:35:23 +0000 UTCoh boy have i been waiting for this
richard owain roberts
2020-08-09 21:48:51 +0000 UTCJesus what a pairing, can’t wait to listen.
Mike Hogan
2020-08-09 21:32:01 +0000 UTC
