If I had to guess, he's drawing parallels between Newman and Cruise's careers. The Hustler was the first of several films Newman made in a short period of time that marketed him as a hero. It wasn't his first Oscar nomination, but it did earn him one.
The Sting was a huge box-office success Newman was in after a bunch of flops, and helped bring him back into the spotlight.
The Color of Money finally earned Newman an Oscar, and it was reprising the same character he played in The Hustler after 25 years. You can definitely see parallels there between him and Cruise with Top Gun (36 years between it and the sequel), and weirdly enough Cruise is also in The Color of Money.
I love movie suggestions and I am pretty sure those movies you recommended are great classics, but your comment was giving big "google for lesbian porn" Facebook post energy...
OP posted to a movies community about Tom Cruise's narrative troubles, and how he changed them in the eye of the public.
Your comment recommends two movies that don't have anything to do with Cruise, and a third, from 1988, with Cruise decades prior to his narrative issues.
You didn't offer an explanation of why we should watch the movies, or even mention that Cruise was in the third, which is odd since you mentioned stars from the others. It came off as you ordering us to watch unrelated movies that don't have anything to do with the article.
That just makes it feel very out of place. A recommendation list even with Tom in one of the movies feels like a sort of social non-sequitor in this type of thread.
That gives a similar kind of energy that a dad trying to search for celluloid clitorist couplings has when he mistakenly types into Facebook before confidently hitting Post.
Had you said:
"Tom Cruise was excellent in The Color of Money which was a sequel to the wildly successful and excellent The Hustler staring Paul Newman, and despite Cruise's personal issues later in his career I recommend everyone see both films! Also watch The Sting if you enjoy Newman's performance in The Hustler since he's excellent in both."
Or something like that, we would have all followed your thought train from the article.