Rain Man (1988)

I just finished watching Rain Man, the 1988 Best Picture winner. Since the age of about 4, I have been annoyed by Tom Cruise. I refused to watch Top Gun because I told my father the guy in it was a jerk. This was decades before he made couch-jumping a term we all know. Am I a trendsetter? I'd like to think I am but that's another story.

A person exploiting his or her autistic sibling is wrong. Tom Cruise played a yuppie son-of-a-bitch about as well as Michael Douglas can play a smarmy Wall Street tycoon. (This is a complement and I shall go no further.) Sure, he got to know his brother and have a change of heart but it still doesn't change the fact that he was a greedy, self-centered man. Even at the end, he wanted his brother in his life for selfish reasons, not what was best for the brother.

Dustin Hoffman was brilliant. Not to go all Tropical Thunder but it seems to be true that any time an actor or actress takes on a role that requires less or unique brain power, they hit Oscar gold. Not to take away from those people because Hoffman did a stellar job.

For being a Best Picture Winner, I was very pleased that it was not boring or overly long. I will definitely add this one to the "liked" column.