BlackBook

Last week, we reported that Rachel McAdams would be joining the cast of Cameron Crowe's next untitled film—which is said to be a in the heartfelt vein of Almost Famous and Jerry Maguire. The news was a welcome relief after the disappointment of his last few films, features I found terribly unsubstantial, leaving my love for the wonderful writer and director waining. Having grown up on Crowe's early and middle films, they taught me something profoundly important about creating a narrative that's both cinematic and deeply emotional—but always honest and unmerciful. And the other day, Cinephilia and Beyond posted the most delightful gem—a photo from the original script for Jerry Maguire, marked up with notes from Tom Cruise himself, advising Crowe as to liken to his own ridiculous suggestions. 

A lot of you talk a big game about what you would have done if you’d had a clear shot at Hitler, or going back in time to smother Hitler when he was in prison writing Mein Kampf, or even giving boy Hitler enough wedgies that he never bothered anyone again. But let’s face it: killing or otherwise deterring Hitler wasn’t easy. Just ask this dead guy who tried to wipe him off the face of the earth.

There's a new fad that all the kids are into: swatting. It involves calling 911 and claiming that there's an armed person in a celebrity's house. On the grand scale of things, I suppose it's better than premarital sex or meth, but I suppose celebrities don't see it that way. And neither does the LAPD, who, in response to several 911 calls recently, have sent armed SWAT teams to the homes of Tom Cruise, Chris Brown, and Justin Bieber. At least one kid—a 12-year-old—has been charged with making such a call that led the LAPD to send officers to Ashton Kutcher's house. I'm not the only one who sees the irony in this, but can we really expect Kutcher to get all up in arms about this? It all has a very "I learned it from you Dad, I learned it from you!" feel about it. 

The premiere of Jack Reacher, a new action film starring Tom Cruise, has been rescheduled and several networks have pulled episodes of shows in the wake of Friday's shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, which left 28 people dead, including 20 young children.

Recent BlackBook cover girl Olga Kurylenko pops up alongside heavy-hitters Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman in next spring's Oblivion, which I can assume is sort of like a live-action Wall-E but with more aliens and less fat-shaming. Cruise stands in for the aforementioned robot, acting as a one-man cleaning crew dispatched to an evacuated Earth following an intergalactic war. And then he finds some other people! And one of them is a strange, beautiful woman with a vague European accent who knows who he is! Will he make it out of Earth alive? Will he have to leave his tin-can plant behind? We'll have to wait until April to find out. 

With the end of the year comes the inevitable: lists and lists and lists of so-and-so and what's-his-face's favorite movies, albums, animated gifs, and/or Honey Boo Boo catchphrases of the year. Of course, we at BlackBook like to close out the year a little differently, which is why I'm pleased as punch to reveal the cover for our upcoming December/January issue featuring our annual New Regime feature. Rather than looking back on the year in review, the editors at BlackBook have compiled a list of our favorite up-and-coming stars. Inside you'll find the best and brightest talents in film, music, television, art, and nightlife. 

We knew Tom Cruise was not the winner in his divorce from Kaite Holmes. But their split took a hard-right turn for the tragic this week when Tom partying at the same nightclub as Tara Reid in London.

New York magazine stabbed Katie Holmes right in the heart with its piece depicting her as a master manipulator who used Tom Cruise (and is now using Suri) to further her limp career. Vanity Fair's October 2012 cover takes a different tack, plastering Holmes' gorgeous face on the cover with the sympathetic headline "What Katie Didn't Know: Marriage, Scientology-Style."

Tony Scott, who is responsible for some of the biggest American movies in the last thirty years (including Bevery Hills Cop II, Days of Thunder, Enemy of the State, True Romance, Man on Fire, and Spy Game), passed away yesterday after jumping off Vincent Thomas Bridge in Los Angeles. It was certainly a shock to many, who took to Twitter (where else?) last night to express their grief. This is, of course, where I learned the news. While I can't say that I've seen a ton of his movies (of the six I mentioned just now, I've only seen two), he was, surprisingly, the director of two of the gayest moves of the 1980s. I can't offer any condolences via a social networking site, but I can add my own personal take on his career right here. YOU'RE WELCOME.

For Katie Holmes, stripping herself of Tom Cruise has been a bit like stripping herself of a full-body case of leprosy or scabies – she’s instantly hotter. Whether she’s teaching Suri how to ride a bike, or getting coffee with her mom, Holmes looks good - and happy. And definitely better than the last photo of her and Cruise together.