This is a preview of our pop culture newsletter The Daily Beast’s Obsessed, written by editor Kevin Fallon. To receive the full newsletter in your inbox each week, sign up for it here.
This week:
- We got the scoop on the new RHONY, from the Housewives themselves.
- That Tom Cruise stunt in Mission: Impossible is that good.
- Important Euphoria update.
- The most nakedly perfect TV series promotion.
- Hugh Grant as, uhhh, an Oompa Loompa?
Tom Cruise Did the Thang
Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One rules. It rules so hard that I stifle my internal scream over having to write out that godforsaken title with its ludicrous punctuation out of respect.
It has something that is so rare for a tentpole action film these days: a plot that makes sense and you can actually follow. It’s also audaciously current. The Big Bad of the film is artificial intelligence that could destroy the world, if enabled by greedy politicians and billionaires. It’s a fascinating adversary for a blockbuster like this, given how much AI is on our minds. But it’s also not a guaranteed smash for audiences, who are conditioned to expect cartoonishly evil villains as the dastardly entertainment in films like these, not sentient lines of code.
Because the narrative of the film is so stellar—and the performances from Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, and newcomer Hayley Atwell so spectacularly winning—the action sequences (the real reason for purchasing a ticket) come off even better. They’re not there to dazzle and distract. They’re there to dazzle and be important.
What I love about the movie is that the major stunt sequences do seem integral, but they are also so much damn fun. (Remember when movies were fun?!) The fight sequences, the chase scenes, the major stunts: They’re largely completed with practical effects, meaning the cars were really driving and Tom Cruise was really Tom Cruising. You forget how thrilling it is to watch sequences like these done without overreliance on CGI until you see one. You also forget how funny they can be. The audience at my theater switched between laughter and applause (legitimately, they would clap) as these scenes unfolded.
The movie also perfectly built itself up, action sequence-by-action sequence, to the biggest stunt, the one that’s gotten the most advanced press and has already been the subject of jaw-dropping making-of videos. At the film’s climax, Cruise rides a motorbike off a cliff, releases a parachute, and skydives down a ravine, eventually crash-landing into a moving train.
Tom Cruise really did this. We know that because of all that advanced hype—and because it’s his whole thing to really do these stunts. But watching it on screen, there’s no doubt. His cheeks flap in the wind as he falls through the sky, delivering his lines. Yes, while skydiving on film, Cruise also delivers lines of dialogue.
The minute the motorbike began heading for the cliff, my theater started whistling and applauding. When the parachute released, they started cheering. When Cruise started speaking, they laughed hysterically.
It was so good and so fun. I hope they make these movies forever.
Euphoria Joins the AARP
Variety reported this week that Season 3 of Euphoria is delayed to 2025 because of the WGA (and now SAG) strike—devastating news for fans of the show and a gift of mental health and sanity for me. Still, assuming Sam Levinson’s seedy fever dream about tortured high schoolers does come to fruition, these people are going to be so laughably old when it airs.
Of course, it’s nothing new for actors playing teenagers on TV to be old enough to have high-school aged children themselves. And Euphoria, whose stars Zendaya and Jacob Elordi would be 28, wouldn’t even be the most egregious examples. (Co-star Alexa Demie would be 34.) Nonetheless, the news is an occasion for the internet’s favorite pastime: making fun of something.
Here’s how I’d imagine Elordi’s character, Nate, will greet his friends on the first day of school:
I hear a major plot point in the season is going to be the girls gossiping in the bathroom that Stockard Channing has a bun in the oven. Gabrielle Carteris is arriving as a new transfer student. Henry Winkler is the new gang leader, who mystifies instead of intimidates everyone when he keeps putting two thumbs up and saying, “Heyyyy.”
Reports are that Levinson is considering renaming the series The Best Exotic Euphoria Hotel to account for the delay. The network is also considering scrapping the season and repackaging it as a Golden Girls reboot. (Existing IP is very in!)
Don’t worry. These jokes are all harmless, and I get to make them because I am old, bitter, and jealous of this cast’s youth.
This Is How You Get People to Watch Your Show
At this chaotic time in the media and entertainment industry, few agree on what is the best way to promote a new season of a TV show. Trot out an actor for morning shows and late-night interviews? Humiliate them by making them film TikToks? Advertise the traditional way, with commercials and billboards? Force them to participate in multiple web series that inexplicably involve eating chicken wings?
This week, we all bore witness to what may be the greatest PR push there’s even been for a TV series. Perfect. Infallible. No notes. I will be watching.
It turns out that all you need to do to drum up interest in the new season of your TV series is release the premiere’s two-minute fight scene in which Hollywood’s Favorite Handsome Tall Boy, Lee Pace, is completely naked.
Foundation Season 2, baby! Now streaming and, suffice it to say, must-see television.
Hugh Grant as an Oompa Loompa Can’t Hurt You
This week gave us the first look of Hugh Grant as an Oompa Loompa in the prequel film Wonka, which is certainly a series of words.
Even more jarring than reading that sentence is seeing that first look. Behold, my sleep paralysis demon—I mean Hugh Grant as an Oompa Loompa.
More From The Daily Beast’s Obsessed
So much of Sex and the City and And Just Like That are about dating woes and relationship angst. So thank god for Charlotte and Harry, the franchise’s greatest love story. Read more.
She was once working at a bridal shop in Flushing, Queens, and now she’s delivering a historic labor speech that could change an entire industry. Read more.
When will they just let me choose the Emmy nominations already? Read more.
What to watch this week:
The Real Housewives of New York City: We were all nervous about the reboot, but, guys: They made it nice. (Sun. on Bravo)
Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One: Tom Cruise may be a wacko, but he’s a wacko who makes a great action flick. (Now in theaters)
Theater Camp: An absolute joy for anyone who loves musical theater, movies in the style of Christopher Guest, or laughing, in general. (Now in theaters)
What to skip this week:
Survival of the Thickest: Michelle Buteau is a star—one who deserves a better star vehicle. (Now on Netflix)
The Summer I Turned Pretty: No amount of Taylor Swift needle drops can save Season 2 of this show. (Now on Netflix)
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