Colin's quite fond of this little piece of trivia: Tom Cruise was five years older during the production of Mission: Impossible -- Fallout than Wilford Brimley was during the filming of Cocoon. And it seems we're all okay with Tom Cruise as a 56-year-old action star. Fallout's opening weekend was the biggest for a Mission: Impossible movie and the second-biggest of Cruise's career.
Fallout is the best-received movie in the M:I franchise too. If you had to pick the five best blockbusters of this decade, you could put together a totally reasonable list made just of Tom Cruise movies. (Here, look: Edge of Tomorrow, Jack Reacher, and the last three Mission: Impossibles. See?) In fact, at this point, if you like high-concept summer popcorn movies, but you don't like comic books/Star Wars/Star Trek/Harry Potter/etc.... what else even is there besides Tom Cruise movies anymore? Not much.
Other stuff that happened this week, give or take:
- We Are All Scutoids: A Brand-New Shape, Explained
Until last week, the world of science was unaware of the scutoid. - Blueberry Earth (PDF link)
This [real, actually published, scientific] paper explores the physics of the what-if question "what if the entire Earth was instantaneously replaced with an equal volume of closely packed, but uncompressed blueberries?" - A Hot Dog Is Not a Sandwich
Some disordered and lost souls keep saying hot dogs are sandwiches. They are wrong, and here's why. - 'Summer Penis' Is Real, and It's Spectacular
Everything swells when it's hot out. - Bigfoot Porn Has Become A Major Controversy In A U.S. House Race. Seriously.
A Virginia Republican who has been linked to white supremacists now faces accusations of liking Bigfoot erotica. - Carrie Fisher Will Appear in Next 'Star Wars' Film
Also: Carrie Fisher died going on two years ago. - Stan Lee Does His First Ever Cameo in a DC Film
Stan Lee just turned up in the last place longtime fans of his many Marvel film cameos would expect -- an animated movie from DC Entertainment. - How an Ex-Cop Rigged McDonald's Monopoly Game and Stole Millions
Jerome Jacobson and his network of mobsters, psychics, strip-club owners, and drug traffickers won almost every prize for 12 years, until the FBI launched Operation 'Final Answer.' - Graphic Novel in Running for Man Booker Prize for First Time
A graphic novel has made the longlist of the Man Booker Prize, Britain's most prestigious literary award. The nomination marks a major breakthrough for the format. - Lock up your cats: The TV rebooters have come for ALF
Surprise level: zero. Interest level: also zero. - The Ringer's 100 Best Tv Episodes Of The Century
GUESTS:
- Jim Chapdelaine - Emmy Award-winning musician, producer, composer, and recording engineer; patient advocate for people with rare cancers
- Taneisha Duggan - Producing associate at TheaterWorks
- Sam Hatch - Co-hosts The Culture Dogs on Sunday nights on WWUH
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Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show.
