Tom Cruise may be Hollywood’s last great movie star — or at least the last one who really leans into it. While George Clooney and Brad Pitt occupy themselves with more serious fare or withdraw from that level of public life altogether, Cruise has continued to pursue one big project after another, tentpole after tentpole, pushing his own limits to deliver audiences bigger and bigger thrills. But looking back at his expansive filmography, what’s apparent is how eager he always was for that level of success, whether or not he was ready — and how often the stories within his films astutely, if unintentionally, captured that tension.

Movies Anywhere features a surprising number of films from throughout his resume, all of which are eligible for Screen Pass*. We took a look at their selection to highlight 13 of the best, movies that marked important achievements in his career, evidenced moments of transition or growth, and some that set commercial or critical benchmarks. Check out our suggestions for the ones we think you should check out and Watch Together with your friends.

The Outsiders (1983)

Tom Cruise plays only a small part in this adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s iconic 1967 novel The Outsiders, the story of a destructive gang rivalry that erupts in mid-‘60s Tulsa, Oklahoma. But under Francis Ford Coppola’s skillful direction, he stands out even in a cast comprised of actors who would become some of the 1980s’ biggest stars, including Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio, and Diane Lane. Worth watching to admire the parade of actors at the beginning of their careers, as well as Coppola’s captivating staging of this acclaimed literary work.

Risky Business (1983)

Paul Brickman wrote and directed Risky Business, a film about Joel (Cruise), an ambitious high school student whose weekend — and possible future — veers out of control after his pal Miles (Curtis Armstrong) encourages him to have some fun while his parents are out of town. A visit from a prostitute and a swamped Porsche later, Joel is scrambling to return his life back to normal before his parents return; Cruise captures both the character’s buttoned-up determination and his emerging talent for free-wheeling improvisation in a performance that set the stage for many of his future star turns.

The Color Of Money (1986)

Cruise graduated from Coppola to Martin Scorsese within three years, playing cocky, not-so-smart pool hustler Vincent Lauria opposite Paul Newman in a sequel to one of the legendary actor’s own breakthrough films, The Hustler. Cruise had already appeared in Top Gun by this point — the film that made him a true star — but The Color of Money proved he wasn’t a flash in the pan, even if he was playing a character who couldn’t quite see what the future had in store for him beyond the end of a pool cue.

Cocktail (1988)

Juggling vehicles for his charisma with projects that stretched his acting chops, Cruise coasted a bit, albeit engagingly so, in Cocktail, a film about a charming, ambitious bartender ensnared by a mentor (Bryan Brown) whose plans for the two of them repeatedly come at the expense of his own happiness. Cruise and Adventures in Babysitting star Elizabeth Shue share easy chemistry when the pair fall for one another during an interlude in Jamaica, and Cruise’s limerick-spouting lothario remains appropriately intoxicating to watch.

Born on the Fourth of July (1989)

Oliver Stone tapped Cruise to star in this real-life story of Ron Kovic, a soldier injured in Vietnam who becomes a crusader not only for veterans’ rights, but to end that war — and all others — that unnecessarily send young men off to die on foreign soil. In Born on the Fourth of July, Stone trades beautifully on Cruise’s all-American wholesomeness and charm to paint a portrait of a man disillusioned and betrayed by a system he fervently believed in, only to recognize that the best way to uphold it is by questioning the foundations on which it stands.

A Few Good Men (1992)

After more than ten years in the movies, Cruise learned how to wield his charm like a scalpel, never better evidenced than here in Rob Reiner’s staging of an Aaron Sorkin legal drama about the court-martial of two U.S. Marines and their lawyers’ efforts to protect them while seeking justice. Cruise’s smug, superficial turn as an inexperienced attorney forced to reckon with the real consequences of his success or failure in the case, not to mention an escalating showdown with none other than Jack Nicholson, playing the Marines’ base commander, makes A Few Good Men a riveting watch both as a legal drama and an actor’s showcase.

Interview With the Vampire (1994)

Cruise made an abrupt left turn with Interview with the Vampire, an adaptation of Anne Rice’s 1976 novel of the same name, about the origins and life of a vampire. Brad Pitt actually plays the bloodsucker in the title, but Cruise is absolutely mesmerizing as Lestat, the creature that made Pitt’s character what he is, who creates an intimate and twisted little family for himself but eventually proves that his indifference to the suffering of others will lead them down a path that they do not want to follow.

Jerry Maguire (1996)

In what would become one of his defining roles, Cruise plays the title character in Cameron Crowe’s funny, thoughtful saga about a sports agent who grows a conscience and promptly suffers the devastating consequences. Watching Cruise flail as he wrestles with his one unruly client Rod Tidwell, played by Oscar winner Cuba Gooding Jr., is just one of Jerry Maguire's many joys, but as the film narrows its focus on the few relationships that Jerry does cultivate, it achieves something profound as the character’s journey highlights how commitment ultimately means nothing if it’s not backed by that most important sentiment — love.

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Notoriously detail-oriented auteur Stanley Kubrick shot Eyes Wide Shut for over a year and died right before its release, but Cruise is riveting as a doctor who embarks on a disturbing, intimate odyssey after his wife divulges a fantasy that leaves him unmoored in their marriage. The movie’s dismantling of male confidence in the face of female sexuality transforms what could have been a smutty adventure for a privileged physician into a harrowing and introspective journey, but it’s Cruise at the center of it, clinging desperately to each deeply held belief as it disintegrates in his fingers, that gives the movie its enduring power.

Magnolia (1999)

Magnolia filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson wrote the character of Frank “T.J.” Mackey for Cruise, and it’s no surprise he received a Best Supporting Actor nod for his performance as a motivational speaker whose platform of “seduce and destroy” is built on emotionally thin ice that shatters after a tough interview with a female reporter. Anderson’s muscular but effortless skill weaving a tapestry from the stories of several different characters whose lives intersect gives the film an almost unrelenting charge, but Cruise’s turn in the final moments, not just bringing his character full circle after a lifetime of walled-off emotions come crumbling down, but as the film’s disparate threads finally come beautifully together, makes it an absolute must-watch.

Knight and Day (2010)

Tom Cruise stars opposite Cameron Diaz in this lighthearted adventure about a female mechanic who gets mixed up in international intrigue with a superspy who takes a shine to her while saving her life. Much like in the Mission: Impossible films, Cruise does most or all of his own stunts in Knight and Day, including some spectacular motorcycle-driving through the alleyways of Sevilla, Spain. But it’s Cruise and Diaz’s mutual chemistry, both as romantic partners and two bona fide movie stars, that carry this frothy thriller to its exhilarating conclusion.

Oblivion (2013)

Joseph Kosinski (TRON: Legacy) directs Oblivion, a science fiction adventure about a pair of humanity’s last survivors who begin to question the orders they’re given, and the reality they have accepted, after Cruise’s scout and drone repairman encounters a woman that he has recurring dreams about. Cruise, Andrea Riseborough, and Olga Kurylenko all give terrific performances as the humans wrestling with a future that may or may not be built on lies, while Kosinski constructs a gorgeous, hermetically-sealed universe for them to explore that looks unlike virtually any audiences have ever seen.

Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Putting Tom Cruise on the back foot has always paid off creatively for storytellers, and in the science fiction war film Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow, he plays a hapless media relations liaison who finds himself catapulted into the middle of a battle with an alien race that he cannot survive – but has to keep replaying his death over and over again. He eventually seeks out star soldier Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt, commanding the screen) to assist him in escaping this time loop that always inevitably leads to his death in the hopes that they can work together to find a way to break the pattern, and possibly, defeat their extraterrestrial adversaries. Blunt is an absolute badass as the soldier who he enlists to lead him to victory, but it’s Cruise’s many failures that give the story it's scruffy charms.

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