I wonder what Cruise’s career would be if Christopher McQuarrie didn’t exist. I’m not really sure. He’d probably still be successful, but to what capacity. I remember Ebert saying that the M:I films were good for Cruise because they could underline his box office so that he could take risks, but that was written before everybody started making fun of him.

I never found a Michael Mann film that I ever really loved. He’s okay. If you chopped about 100 minutes out of Heat, that’d probably be his best. I went to that 2006 Miami Vice film all jacked up expecting it to be awesome for some reason (I’m not really into the show, “In The Air Tonight” scene aside, and have barely watched it anyway). Blackhat was worthless though and I have no idea if he’s going to come up with anything good from here on out.

Of course, I never saw Thief.