Rating: 
Summary: What is the big deal
Review: OK, I guess if needed to watch this movie in order to be able to spend hours pretending I was stranded on a desert island with nothing to eat but raw fish and coconuts w/ my best friend, the volly ball, then I guess it was worth the two+ hours I spent in the movie theatre induring this dull movie. Or perhaps I was supposed to gain some insite about how the human spirit prevails over all. Unfortunately the interesting part of the story - what drove Hank's character to the brink of suicide - was barely discussed and then almost as an after thought. If this dilema had been the meat of the movie, then it may have been a testament to the an individual's drive to live. However, since this story line was excluded, the viewer walks away with a vague sense that he spent about a week on the island, and other than getting sick of raw fish, wasn't that big of a deal. And what the heck was up with that ending? (...)
Rating:
Summary: Zemeckis does it again
Review: Cast Away (Robert Zemeckis, 2000) Okay, I have to get this out of my system right now. "Castaway" is ONE WORD. Not two. ONE. And now, on with the review. It has been a painfully long time since Robert Zemeckis made a good film (Peter Jackson was responsible for The Frighteners, Zemeckis only lent his name); depending on your point of view, that could be Death Becomes Her, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Back to the Future, or if you're _really_ a purist, Used Cars. Cast Away was the great white hope, the movie that would bring Robert Zemeckis' career back from the grave he'd dug with such abominable tripe as Forrest Gump and What Lies Beneath. Sorry. No luck. In two and a half tortuously long hours, Zemeckis leads Tom Hanks through Christmas dinner, a plane ride, three raft trips, another plane ride, a taxi, and an SUV. And while there are a few other supporting players in the movie (Helen Hunt, a woefully underused Chris Noth, an even more woefully underused Lari White in her first big-screen appearance since the Ben Cross vehicle The Unholy twelve years before), make no mistake-- this movie is about Tom Hanks and His Ability to Act. Because of that, the only relationship in the movie that actually makes any sense is that which Hanks forms with his well-known pal Wilson, the volleyball who keeps him company during his stint on the island. (In Zemeckis' favor, the volleyball never does develop a voice. I feared that for about an hour.) Given that the movie IS about THaHATA, one wonders why we really needed that hour or so of frame time that surrounded THaHATA. What's Helen Hunt doing here? Despite her role as Hanks' wife-to-be at the beginning and the yardstick we are (presumably) supposed to use to judge how the world has gone on without him at the end, her relatinoahip with Hanks is far less convincing than Wilson's. Like Noth and White, a good actor in a bad role. Trimming forty-five minutes of frame would have made this watchable, at least. As it stands now, rent it if you like Tom Hanks and have a coupon for a ninety-nine cent rental. **
Rating: 
Summary: Too much dead time...
Review: I know that the movie wants to get the point across that Tom Hanks is stuck on an island and needs to be rescued, but he spends half the movie just sitting on the beach waiting. The movie would have only been an hour if they took out the 'waiting' parts. The waiting calls for a viewers boredom that further spreads to uninterested-ness. Overall: Good plot but too long for my taste.
Rating:
Summary: Throw Away~~~Cast Away
Review: The name 'Tom Hanks' had me expecting another 'Gump', 'Private Ryan' etc. so I was very disappointed after viewing this movie. It was your typical stranded on a desert island story. Man loves girl, man gets stranded on desert island, man is found in sea by boat, man has lost girl. The only 'cute' difference in this movie was the many tools that the castaway invented from the various things he found in unopened Fed Express packages. The most noticable being 'Wilson' the basketball who Tom befriends from utter boredom. I love Tom Hanks movies but this one wasn't as entertaining as his previous blockbusters. Still, it's worth watching at least once.
Rating:
Summary: 3 stars for the film; 4 stars for the DVD extras
Review: Tom Hanks is the primary reason this film works and why anyone would commit to watching a movie about a man who is stranded alone on an island for four years. Hanks plays Chuck Noland, a Federal Express exec who is driven by time and efficiency which have no meaning once he's cast onto a remote tropical island. *** Chuck scratches the surface of insanity trying to eke out an existence. He forages, he laps rain water puddled in leaves, and he spears fish. It's pathetic, but each accomplishment in stone age living is poignant in its way. His loneliness is hugely palpable throughout his ordeal. *** For such a major studio production, it's amazing not to have the extravagant trappings of costuming, makeup, special effects, and stunts. Dialogue virtually disappears once Hanks' character reaches the island, save for the one-sided exchanges he has with his sole companion -- a volleyball he names "Wilson." Even the musical score is held back for much of the movie, and when it does re-emerge, you realize you're back on more familiar territory after extreme deprivation. *** The film is fully realized but oddly unsatisfying. There's an impersonal pall over the movie that the viewer can't quite shake. However, the bonus disc interview by Charlie Rose with Tom Hanks is very winning. Hanks is articulate, accessible, and extremely thoughtful as he talks about "Cast Away," "Private Ryan," and "Band of Brothers" (his HBO miniseries based on the Stephen Ambrose book).
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent and unique
Review: Although a long movie that has a lone actor in much of the film I was thoroughly engrossed the second time watching. It is definitely a "thinking movie" and comes close to being a romance although there isn't enough time to really develop relationships with other characters. A very challenging premise, this movie could have easily turned out to be a boring disappointment, but the challenge was met and the film shines.
Hanks must act with himself and develops a relationship with "Wilson" on the island, which turns out to be an experience well worth watching and reflecting about.
Man is not programed to be alone, he(we) cannot stand isolation and must find a way to relate to someone (or something). Hanks performance is very convincing and this film is a very strong recommendation.
Rating: 
Summary: Tom Hanks on a deserted island, guess what happens?
Review: Anything you can imagine happening on a deserted island, that's what. Very predictable and, while I think Tom Hanks is great, this is just him being Tom Hanks on a tropical island, so what if he gained weight and grew his hair out for the role? Sorry, but I just found this movie irritating. Don't get me started about Helen Hunt - talk about lack of chemistry.
Rating:
Summary: Cast A-Wheigh?
Review: This SUPER-PRODUCTION could have been far better if it hadn't been so upscale, so fraught with money-schemes and agents rushing about to hammer home every red cent they could conceivably attract. As it turns out, I was disappointed when I walked out of the theater almost a year ago. And I'm even more frustrated by this DVD. All of the extra footage only seems to accentuate the paltriness of the movie - which is nothing much more than a committee-led travesty (something like your latest PTA meeting). The premise was compelling _ what happens when a typically hide-bound technologist is stranded where none of his cocksure techniques matter? The true drama of this story took place inside Chuck Nolan's head. The film fails to give us even a fleeting glimpse of this man's intelligence working through the immense problems suddenly confronting it.
Rating:
Summary: a moive that lingers
Review: You know the kind of movie you just can't let go of. There are great many movies out there the Hollywood is supreme but with this movie, Cast Away, you are pretty much bound to repeat your self after many of the powerful scenes in the film (to me, out of many fragments, when Tom Hanks cries after a 'volleyball' - one equaling that would be Bruce Willis' powerful rendition, when he says, in the movie 12 Monkeys (1996), water, I can live out here...). This movie really lingers! It's not just 'lingers' in a sense that 'it lingers' - but more and less. Tom Hanks here I think closely resembles Bruce Willis' character in the 12 Monkeys, even the facial grimaces and joyful affirmations. Tom Hanks in the Cast Away cries out aloud where Bruce Willis in the 12 Monkeys knows the profound sadness, at the same time a profound joy and elation. In the last scene you see Tom Hanks standing at the crossroad, much reminiscent to what I consider as an important element to one of the many 'effects' of the film.
Rating:
Summary: More Tom Hanks!
Review: Tom Hanks is such a joy to watch. Every step of the way during this movie, I thought I had figured out what was going to happen next. Every time I was wrong. Great movie experience. One of the best films of the year.
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