I'm not a big fan of TOM CRUISE the movie star. The action movies are fine, but just fine. I'm a big fan of Tom Cruise the actor. RISKY BUSINESS, THE COLOR OF MONEY, RAIN MAN, MAGNOLIA, TROPIC THUNDER, THE FIRM, TAPS, and more. The roles where he disappears into the character. You're not aware he's Tom Cruise. Yesterday, I went to an early screening of his new film AMERICAN MADE. The story of ADLER BERRIMAN "BARRY" SEAL, one of the most daring smugglers of the 1980s. A pilot who ran drugs and arms before being assassinated. He worked with all the MEDELLÍN CARTEL all-stars. OCHOA, ESCOBAR, and others. And also the CIA, DEA, CONTRAS, OLIVER NORTH, NORIEGA and god knows who else. He was smart, innovative and reckless. He loved the thrill. His story is well-known to me. Between WWII obsessions, I dig deep into organized crime and drug cartel stories. Director DOUG LIMAN and writer GARY SPINELLI did a great job. It jumps right in. The stories (mostly true) are insane. Hard to believe. But they happened. The pace of the movie is perfect. Fast. Cruise's frenetic performance leads us. Your heart pounds. Things get so nuts. Seal is in the middle of so much all happening at once. It felt like the cooking / cocaine / guns / helicopter scene in GOODFELLAS for 2 hours. It doesn't let up. The TOP GUN irony that he plays a pilot in this one wasn't lost on me. Seal is not MAVERICK. I dig the subject so went in positively biased. We know many did what he did for the money. It's clear that was secondary to him. He did it for the rush. The thrill. Go see it next month. Then read all you can on Seal... Thank you to CBS NEWS President DAVID RHODES, who indulges my 3700 questions about politics every time we have lunch. I'm a novice and scared... SIRI is the APPLE MAPS of voice recognition. Unless I speak super slow and down to it. Or I have marbles in my mouth... My nieces and nephew don't breathe fire but they can destroy as much in the same timeframe as a dragon... I know more about OTT than life... My rearview mirror can see the dawn of time... Congrats to MICHAEL and ERIC EISNER on PORTSMOUTH FC... Happy Birthday to GARY STIFFELMAN, FALON ROZ FATEMI, RICHARD WOLPERT, ANDY ABRAMSON, SHARI BROOKS, and MARK LUKASIEWICZ.