Movie: American Made
Starring: Tom Cruise, Domhnall Gleeson
Writer: Gary Spinelli
Director: Doug Liman
Rated: R
On September 29, I returned to Cinema Arts Theatre for a 9:45 a.m. showing of American Made. This is movie number seven in my ongoing MoviePass journey, bringing the price down to $1.42 per outing. Not too shabby!
To be completely honest, I am not a huge Tom Cruise fan. He has been in numerous amazing and iconic movies, but his presence alone is not enough to get me into the theater--sometimes just the opposite. When I saw American Made was certified 87% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, however, I decided to abandon my plan to see the Kingsman sequel and check this out instead.
It was a good decision. In this stranger-than-fiction true story set in the late 1970s to mid-1980s, Tom Cruise is perfect as Barry Seal, a bored pilot for TWA who graduates from cigar smuggling to drug running with a little help from the CIA. Seal doesn't tell his wife that he's quitting his safe, secure pilot job to do reconnaissance flights over Nicaragua while taking gunfire from the Sandinistas, and while he enjoys the work, patriotism isn't paying the bills. When Pablo Escobar and his partners in what would eventually become the Medellin Cartel make him an offer, he agrees to smuggle cocaine into the U.S.
At every turn, Seal faces impossible situations and law enforcement roadblocks that would seem impossible to overcome. Even he is surprised when he's still in business as the Carter administration makes way for President Reagan, and the CIA finds new uses for his illicit business connections.
American Made is frequently hilarious and action packed, yet the story is ultimately tragic. You can feel Seal's fate catching up with him even as he's stuffing duffel bags full of cash in every available space in his home. In other circumstances, Seal could have been a successful entrepreneur or a genuine hero. Instead, he was a drug smuggler, a gun runner, and most of all a pawn, sacrificed in a game with ever-changing players, rules, and goals.
Starring: Tom Cruise, Domhnall Gleeson
Writer: Gary Spinelli
Director: Doug Liman
Rated: R
On September 29, I returned to Cinema Arts Theatre for a 9:45 a.m. showing of American Made. This is movie number seven in my ongoing MoviePass journey, bringing the price down to $1.42 per outing. Not too shabby!
To be completely honest, I am not a huge Tom Cruise fan. He has been in numerous amazing and iconic movies, but his presence alone is not enough to get me into the theater--sometimes just the opposite. When I saw American Made was certified 87% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, however, I decided to abandon my plan to see the Kingsman sequel and check this out instead.
It was a good decision. In this stranger-than-fiction true story set in the late 1970s to mid-1980s, Tom Cruise is perfect as Barry Seal, a bored pilot for TWA who graduates from cigar smuggling to drug running with a little help from the CIA. Seal doesn't tell his wife that he's quitting his safe, secure pilot job to do reconnaissance flights over Nicaragua while taking gunfire from the Sandinistas, and while he enjoys the work, patriotism isn't paying the bills. When Pablo Escobar and his partners in what would eventually become the Medellin Cartel make him an offer, he agrees to smuggle cocaine into the U.S.
At every turn, Seal faces impossible situations and law enforcement roadblocks that would seem impossible to overcome. Even he is surprised when he's still in business as the Carter administration makes way for President Reagan, and the CIA finds new uses for his illicit business connections.
American Made is frequently hilarious and action packed, yet the story is ultimately tragic. You can feel Seal's fate catching up with him even as he's stuffing duffel bags full of cash in every available space in his home. In other circumstances, Seal could have been a successful entrepreneur or a genuine hero. Instead, he was a drug smuggler, a gun runner, and most of all a pawn, sacrificed in a game with ever-changing players, rules, and goals.
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