RAIN MAN

GENRE:  Drama
MADE:  1988
CAST:  Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Valeria Golino
DIRECTOR:  Barry Levinson
WRITER:  Barry Morrow, Ronald Bass

PLOT:  Charlie Babbitt is landed with the responsibility of taking his long lost autistic brother across the country.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Good Will Hunting, Awakenings, Jerry Maguire

SCORE:

VANILLA SKY

GENRE:  Mystery/ Romance/ Sci-Fi
MADE:  2001
CAST:  Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz
DIRECTOR:  Cameron Crowe
WRITER:  Alejandro Amenabar, Mateo Gil, Cameron Crowe

PLOT:  David Aames has everything a man can dream of and takes advantage of everything he has until he finds himself involved in a car accident and his life turned inside out.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Eyes Wide Shut, Mulholland Dr., Blue Velvet

SCORE:

A FEW GOOD MEN

GENRE:  Crime/ Drama/ Mystery
MADE:  1992
CAST:  Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon, Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Pollak
DIRECTOR:  Rob Reiner
WRITER:  Aaron Sorkin

PLOT:  When a marine is murdered military attorney Kaffee takes the case and sets out for justice.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Primal Fear, Courage Under Fire, Fracture

SCORE:

WAR OF THE WORLDS

GENRE:  Sci-fi/ Action/ Adventure/ Drama
MADE:  2005
CAST:  Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Tim Robbins
DIRECTOR:  Steven Spielberg
WRITER:  Josh Friedman, David Koepp, H.G. Wells

PLOT:  Ray is divorced and it's his weekend to take the kids, unfortunately he has his work cut out for him as he tries to get his kids to their mother during a machine-alien invasion.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Jurassic Park, Aliens, The Abyss, Independence Day

SCORE:

THE LAST SAMURAI

GENRE:  Action/ Adventure/ Drama
MADE:  2003
CAST:  Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe, Billy Connolly
DIRECTOR:  Edward Zwick
WRITER:  John Logan, Edward Zwick, Marshall Herskovitz

PLOT:  Nathan, part of the American military is captured by the Japanese, the opposing side.  As he is nurtured back to health he learns the ways of the Samurai.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Gladiator, Braveheart, Avatar

SCORE:

MAGNOLIA

GENRE:  Drama
MADE:  1999
CAST:  Tom Cruise, Julianne Moore, William H. Macy, John C. Reilly
DIRECTOR:  Paul Thomas Anderson
WRITER:  Paul Thomas Anderson

PLOT:  The lives & stories of many people seeking forgiveness and happiness that interconnect.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Babel, American Beauty, Mammoth

SCORE:

COLLATERAL

GENRE:  Crime/ Drama
MADE:  2004
CAST:  Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith
DIRECTOR:  Michael Mann
WRITER:  Stuart Beattie

PLOT:  Max is just another cab driver in Los Angeles when he picks up a hired hit man, Vincent, who instead, takes him for a ride.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Training Day, The Firm, Man On Fire

SCORE:

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE

GENRE:  Drama/ Fantasy
MADE:  1994
CAST:  Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Antonio Banderas, Kirsten Dunst
DIRECTOR:  Neil Jordan
WRITER:  Anne Rice

PLOT:  An ambitious journalist gets the chance for a personal interview with a vampire, where the vampire tells the story of his life, how he was turned to present.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  Bram Stoker's Dracula, Underworld, Queen Of The Damned

SCORE:

KNIGHT AND DAY

GENRE:  Action/ Comedy
MADE:  2010
CAST:  Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Peter Sarsgaard
DIRECTOR:  James Mangold
WRITER:  Patrick O'Neill

PLOT:  007 and "Bridget Jones's Diary" give birth to an unlikely romance during the most unlikeliest of times, as they are targets for assassination in the midst of a war for a claim over a battery with the Feds and illegal arms dealers.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE:  The A-Team, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Charlie's Angels

SCORE:

NOTE:  I wasn't expecting much to begin with but was, I have to admit, slightly curious about the Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz team in this film, thought they were an unlikely pair and it just so happens that it showed in the film.  The characters were odd, there was no chemistry between the two actors, the comedic acting was.... eh...  Pure entertainment and not much else to it.