There are no fights in Hollywood that are too big that money can’t ease the tensions. Cruise is coming off his worst showing in two decades with Lions For Lambs and is looking for a hit. Early buzz on his WWII film, Valkyrie, hasn’t been good and the film has already been pushed back several times. It’s no wonder Cruise would look to Mission: Impossible as a money making machine. A fourth film in the series would almost certainly do well on the world market.

Cruise, of course, is no longer a part of the Paramount family after his fight with Redstone led to a parting. After Cruise’s deal with Paramount ended, he and business partner Paula Wagner struck a deal with MGM to revive the United Artists banner. On Tuesday, however, Redstone said that he has no objections to Tom Cruise starring in another M:I movie for Paramount (which is owned by Viacom).

“I consider Tom Cruise a great actor and a good friend,” Redstone said. “And if Paramount decides to move ahead with him, I will not object.” He added that the decision was “up to Brad Grey, who runs Paramount.”

Paramount apparently feels like it’s a good idea as they’ve begun talks with Cruise to star in a fourth film. There’s no word on whether or not there’s a script in play for a Mission: Impossible 4 or if there is any sort of story.

The bad fortune for this film has existed almost since day one. First the film was banned from being filmed in Germany due to Cruise’s involvement with Scientology which the Germans consider a cult. Then footage was destroyed during processing which had to be reshot. After that, ten extras were hurt trying to figure out how to ride in the back of a truck.

Perhaps no bad luck has befallen the film like the bad luck of having your release date pushed back to President’s Day 2009, though. That’s right. Valkyrie is now set to be released on February 13, 2009. That means that the Tom Cruise film is no longer in the running for blockbuster or Oscar status. In fact, it will probably have a hard time even making any money with that release date.

While I understand the studio might not be too comfortable with Tom Cruise right now after Lions For Lambs became his worst showing at the box office in two decades, but what has director Bryan Singer done to piss them off? Sure, his last film, Superman Returns, might have pissed all of us off, but it made a lot of money for his employers. I think there must be more to this story. I’ll keep my eyes and ears open.

So let’s get into it before I drink YOUR MILKSHAKE!

There Will Be Blood

I gave this movie high marks in my review of it and it’s definitely something worth seeing if only to check out Daniel Day Lewis’ Oscar winning performance.

There is a two-disc collector’s edition and a normal one. No high-def release though.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

I thought this movie was pretty good for what it tried to do, but it just wasn’t as funny as some of the other Apatow films in 2007, like Superbad or Knocked Up.

It’s out on Blu-Ray for you lucky dawgs out there.

Sense & Sensibility (BBC, 2008)

This mini-series on the BBC got rave reviews and is another re-telling of the classic Jane Austen novel. This story was also done in 1995 in a classic movie starring Hugh Grant, Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson, and even got a Best Picture nomination.

I’m not sure this BBC version can compare, but it does have an 8.2 rating on IMDB.

There is also a collector’s version as well.

Reservation Road

I didn’t see this film, and really didn’t hear much about it, and in looking at the cast, you have to wonder why: Joaquin Phoenix, Jennifer Connelly and Mark Ruffalo. It didn’t make much money, didn’t create much buzz despite a pretty stellar lineup of actors.

The story is about a hit and run accident where one of the parties flees the scene and a young boy is killed. I suppose the subject matter is heavy enough to deflect most of the average movie going public elsewhere.

Also it got a 6.9 on IMDB and and 36% on Rotten Tomatoes, so that could be another reason.

Lions for Lambs

Meryl Streep, Robert Redford and Tom Cruise make a pretty awfully reviewed film (27% on RT) here and it was pretty surprising. It’s about political activism and the war in Iraq, and perhaps people not really in the mood to watch films about war right now, coupled with Cruise’ low popularity, likely killed this movie.

More

• The Water Horse – A kids story about the Loch Ness Monster.
• Matlock: Season 1 – Good ol’ Andy Griffith…never saw an episode of this show.
• The Cosby Show: Season 7 and 8 – One of the greatest, family-friendly sitcoms of all time.
• I Am Legend (HD-DVD combo) - Cool I guess, but anything still coming out on HD-DVD is strange to me.

Blu-Ray

• The 6th Day (Sony)
• The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (Sony)
• Sharkwater (Warner)
• Space Ace (Digital Leisure)
• Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (Sony)
• The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (Sony)
• Yukikaze (Bandai Visual)