Which movie was better:Mean StreetsorThe Sting?
It didnt win any Oscars because it wasnt even nominated for a single award.
So you might debate whetherThe Stingwas the best movie of 1973.
Credit: Everett Collection
But you cant excuse the Academy for completely ignoringMean Streets.
Just about every year, brilliant movies likeMean Streetsare completely ignored by the Oscars.
History, fortunately, is the ultimate arbiter of greatness.
These are the Non-Nominees.
But when it comes to the Oscars, the exceptions always prove the rule.
Rogue Nationis none of those things.
(Farewell, Any Mention At All Of Michelle Monaghan!)
Within the guise of a modern megablockbuster, McQuarrie keeps on finding ways to produce an old-fashioned throwback thriller.
Its legitimately Hitchcockian in the best sense: Quietly enthralling, slow building, by turns funny and horrifying.
Big-budget action movies seem to only get more cosmically enormous as we get deeper into the digital era.
(The new trailer forIndependence Day: Resurgenceappears to feature a spaceshipthe size of a planet!)
But inRogue Nation, the most memorable special effect is Cruise.
Did he really hang off a moving airplane?
At one point, Alec Baldwins CIA Director refers to Ethan Hunt as the living manifestation of destiny.
The triumph ofRogue Nationis how that line sounds funnyandaccurate.
