Tom Cruise

Behold, for your viewing pleasure: a photo of Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe looking at one another.

Every year, when the bottom drops out of the summer movie season and audiences decide to stay home and watch television instead, some well-meaning critic will publish an article asking if cinema is dead. And every year, I pose the same question in response: “Is Tom Cruise still an action star?” As long as Tom Cruise is running across multiplex screens — fighting rogue nations, government consiparcies, and even the occasional mummy — there is still hope for cinema. Then, when Cruise’s career is done and Hollywood is in ashes, then, cinema, you have my permission to die.

Pre-production on Mission: Impossible 6 came to a halt last month when a contract dispute between Tom Cruise and Paramount threatened to stall the sixth installment in the blockbuster franchise. The sticking point? Cruise wanted the studio to match — or top — what Universal is paying him to star in The Mummy reboot, but Paramount was a little contentious…yeah right, as if they weren’t going to give Tom Cruise, the star of one of their biggest franchises, what he wants.

You are being watched. There is a report by Buzzfeed that between August and the end of 2015, the government flew hundreds of flights over many parts of the country. This includes Twin Falls and it was for surveillance purposes.