Tom Cruise's Birthday

Happy holidays America! Wanna rate ALL the Mission Impossibles?

Author

Ed Rigg
July 04, 2025

It was Tom Cruise’s birthday yesterday, which is oh-so-close to today. Amusing perhaps, for an actor that starred in Born of the Fourth of July. On that note, happy Independence Day to all our US friends. Enjoy the holidays, maybe checkout the classic (Oliver Stone won the Academy Award for Best Directing, but Cruise lost out Best Actor to Daniel Day-Lewis for My Left Foot, fair enough) or you could watch Independence Day, I guess.

How about that Cruise dance scene in Risky Business? Would we say that that scene is possibly better than the entire Mission Impossible franchise put together? Maybe not. Maybe though? Watch the full scene and make your own mind.

Critic Mark Kermode has recently debated which is the best MI film and in what order they come, great listen, part 1 is here.

This week has been one of the toughest for any Glastonbury goers, congrats for making it through. I thought it pertinent to mention a musical doc particularly as Cymande are soon on tour - you can catch them live later this year. So if you like the cut of their jib having watched the documentary Getting It Back: The Story of Cymande buy tickets to go see them jam. Here’s the trailer too.

And as for our pick of the week? How’s about a grimy detective story for good measure?

If you’re looking for a fresh crime drama that doesn't follow the usual rules, this Scottish adaptation brings Nordic noir to Edinburgh's grimy underbelly.

Matthew Goode plays Carl Morck, a thoroughly unpleasant detective whose arrogance gets a colleague killed. After his own brush with death, he's banished to a basement cold case unit with no budget and no backup.

Slowly, Morck assembles his misfit team: a cadet recovering from a breakdown, his hospitalized former partner, and a Syrian refugee ex-cop. Their first case involves a missing lawyer who vanished four years ago, launching a twisted investigation through Edinburgh's darkest corners.

Goode seems to relish playing someone genuinely awful - watching guilt seep into his previously impenetrable ego becomes as gripping as the mystery itself. The supporting cast, including Kelly Macdonald as his long-suffering therapist, brings depth to what could have been standard procedural roles.

The pacing moves with deliberate confidence, building atmosphere through Edinburgh's granite streets and Gothic shadows. It's a properly unsettling watch that earns its darkness.

STREAMING NOW - ADD TO YOUR WATCHLIST

Happy RecDek’ing y’all. Enjoy.

Catch you next week.

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