Born on the Fourth of July (1989) | Tom Cruise's Best Performance?

Happy 4th of July — we're doing it differently this year!

Brian and John are joined by returning guest Henry O'Brien (Film Obsessive / Stuff I Watched Substack) to review Oliver Stone's BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY (1989) — and make the case that this is not just Tom Cruise's best performance, but one of the most underseen masterworks of American cinema.

In this episode:

• Why Stone's 5-act structure is a deliberate rejection of war film conventions

• Tom Cruise vs. Eyes Wide Shut — where does Ron Kovic rank?

• Willem Dafoe in Mexico: Robert Eggers crazy vs. balls-to-the-wall crazy

• Stone & Sorkin as two sides of the same American myth coin

📬 Follow Henry O'Brien:

• Film Obsessive: filmobsessive.com

• Substack: Stuff I Watched

• Twitter/X: @realHenryOBrien

• Letterboxd: @HenryOBrien23