Tom Cruise Tuesday! – Creator’s Corner: InfiniteRider Origins

Welcome to another Tom Cruise Tuesday!

This week, we present another “Creator’s Corner”! Step inside the minds of your hosts, and find out a little more about what Tom Cruise means to us!

This week’s “Creator’s Corner” features Michelle (infiniterider)! Who is Michelle, you ask? Here’s a little bit of basic info about the usually!talkative half of Buttered Popcorn!

Full Name: Michelle Perry (aka infiniterider, aka Michie)
Age: As old as her tongue, and a little older than her teeth
Role at Buttered Popcorn: Tom Cruise review planning/writing, Non-sequitur review planning/writing, Featurette planning/writing, Social media management, Advertising research/management
Hobbies: reading, writing, calligraph-ing, hiding from cats

Want to know more about what how Michelle’s love of Tom Cruise began, and how it grew to epic proportions!

What was your earliest “Tom Cruise” memory?​
I remember the words “A Few Good Men”, and I used to get it confused with “An Officer and a Gentleman” – I thought they were the same movie. I had the impression that Tom Cruise was in a movie where he was a soldier who came home from war, and hugged his wife and picked her up like those old images from the ’40’s. I had quite a skewed idea of what “A Few Good Men” was about!

VS.

??? I was a kid, okay, don’t judge me!

You mentioned your first solo attendance at a Rated R movie. What movie was that, and how old were you?​
My first solo rated R movie (and my first time seeing Tom in theaters) was “The Firm”. I was 13, and my mother had taken me and a friend to the mall as part of a graduation present (I was going to high school the next year). We decided we wanted to see the movie, but Mom didn’t want to see it. She bought us our tickets, then went to see another movie while we waited in the mall for ours to start.

I was about 5’0″ with a baby face, and my friend was even smaller. The ticket-taker challenged us, with this REALLY skeptical look on his face. “How old are you?”

BOLDLY, I said “Eighteen!” It was probably a squeak, but I had this “how dare you?” look on my face because I really didn’t want to be embarrassed in front of my friend. Especially since my mom had basically abandoned us, and I had no idea what we would do if we didn’t get in to see the movie.

The guy said, “Young eighteen,” and I didn’t have the heart to lie again or make up any indignant statement, so I just looked at him like “well??”
Then he shrugged and let us in (guess he figured it wasn’t any skin off his nose).

Even though we got away with it, I spent the WHOLE MOVIE looking over my shoulder like I was going to be kicked out. Every time somebody swore, I looked back toward the doors. The only distinct memory I have of the plot from that first viewing was that a guy seemed really stressed out. Like me. I also ALWAYS remembered that there was a line about an “elephant’s dick” and I remember thinking “oh wow, see, this is definitely not appropriate for people my age.” XD

When did you know you it was over – Tom Cruise was no longer a “famous actor”, and had become closer to an obsession? Did you have a defining moment, or was it a gradual thing?
It was late for me, too. I liked Tom’s movies, and I had fond memories of going to the first “Mission: Impossible” movie with my dad, which is where I learned that Mission: Impossible was a TV show before it became a movie.

Then people started calling him names because of his religion and Brooke Shields.  I remember learning that Tom went directly to Brooke Shields’ house and personally apologized to her and she forgave him. I remember feeling like, if the injured party forgave him, what right did everyone else have to hold a grudge?

That wasn’t my problem with Tom Cruise. My problem with Tom Cruise was that he “stole” Bryan Singer away from Superman. I was IN LOVE with “Superman Returns”, and when I found out it wouldn’t have a sequel, I assigned the blame to Tom because he and Bryan Singer were working on “Valkyrie” together. And who wants to watch some stupid war movie when SUPERMAN??!

Tom sat on the back burner until Rosie and I realized that “the guy who plays Scotty” in Star Trek 2009 was going to be in a Mission movie. THAT was bound to be cool, and then my dad told me Tom Cruise was going to climb the tallest building in the world, and he wanted to take us to see it.

To prep for the movie, we watched all the other Mission movies in one day. We also started watching the TV show, and I realized, “hey, that thing they keep doing with the masks is from the show!” (Don’t judge me, I’m a pop culture vacuum okay??)

After watching Ethan go through SO MUCH, and seeing Tom’s many powerful performances back to back, and then going and seeing “Ghost Protocol” on the big screen – that was IT! Completely lost, never to return!

What’s your favorite Tom Cruise movie (of the moment) – IF you can choose! And why?
PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

Ghost Proto-

Oblivi-

Rock of-

Okay LOOK, I could watch Tom Cruise watch paint dry and I would love it, okay, don’t make me choose!

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Hope you enjoyed this insight into one half of the Buttered Popcorn duo! We hope you will join us again next week, for a new Tom Cruise Tuesday!

Meanwhile, here’s Michelle’s favorite Tom Cruise picture of the moment: