22. Born on the 4th of July (1989)
Tom Cruise earned his first Oscar nomination for his performance in Born on the 4th of July. It totally makes sense — as this is exactly the kind of role that the Academy notices. It is a BIG swing from Cruise, and he spends the entire 145 minute runtime capital ‘A’ acting. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie doesn’t live up to his performance. Oliver Stone is completely unsubtle and heavy-handed here (even for him), and leaves us with an experience that is ultimately less than the sum of its parts. This is a good movie that should have been great.
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