Born on the Fourth of July (1989)

As Tom Cruise receives his first Oscar nomination for playing Vietnam war veteran Ron Kovic - under the tutelage of conspiracist supreme Oliver Stone - Ben and Alex seek to answer the following questions: - How does Cruise's performance hold up? - How does this deeply dark and upsetting film rank with his other more entertaining films? - How nuts exactly is Oliver Stone? - And in playing a real person, how does that affect the Cruise Classics we've come to know and love and - perhaps most importantly - the Cruisiverse? The answers may shock you. Artwork by Laura Highton; music by Dorian Kelly; contact deets at the end of the episode.