Mr. Bruni, with all due respect, what are you talking about. Is making $700 million dollars an achievement? Yes, it means you have achieved making $700 million dollars. Nothing more. You know that.Did Cruise, or anyone else associated with the production yearn to express inner feelings? Did they aim to provide insight into life so that others might continue this journey armed with something more than today's headlines? Of course they did not. They created entertainment, as Scorsese called it, a thrill ride, and that's it. You like it, and I may someday see it too, although, having just watched the original, I'm not encouraged.But Ms. Riseborough has done what artists have done since the stone age: She has exposed something of the inner core of her soul and created an interpretation of another human being which can guide sensitive people to a higher plane of understanding.Most people will ignore that effort and go watch another thrill ride. There's no moral judgment there. But to be surprised that her performance might not garner an award nomination puts her in the same company as Orson Welles, Hitchcock, Peter O'Toole, and so many others. In other words, company that any real artist should wish to keep. And for a lighter view, my favorite Oscar reaction, from Bill Murray, when he got his first nomination: "Oh Lord! Please don't make me want this!"

Mr. Bruni, with all due respect, what are you talking about. Is making $700 million dollars an achievement? Yes, it means you have achieved making $700 million dollars. Nothing more. You know that.Did Cruise, or anyone else associated with the production yearn to express inner feelings? Did they aim to provide insight into life so that others might continue this journey armed with something more than today's headlines? Of course they did not. They created entertainment, as Scorsese called it, a thrill ride, and that's it. You like it, and I may someday see it too, although, having just watched the original, I'm not encouraged.But Ms. Riseborough has done what artists have done since the stone age: She has exposed something of the inner core of her soul and created an interpretation of another human being which can guide sensitive people to a higher plane of understanding.Most people will ignore that effort and go watch another thrill ride. There's no moral judgment there. But to be surprised that her performance might not garner an award nomination puts her in the same company as Orson Welles, Hitchcock, Peter O'Toole, and so many others. In other words, company that any real artist should wish to keep. And for a lighter view, my favorite Oscar reaction, from Bill Murray, when he got his first nomination: "Oh Lord! Please don't make me want this!"

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