Rating: Summary: Got the shaft II ! Review: This is a spectacular movie. Where was Hank's nomination for best actor and the films for best movie? Crow has nothing on Hanks. Hanks carried the movie for a full 45 minutes or so by himself and nature. Not many can do that. Who else can make you get emotionally attached to a volleyball, it became human. I would have actually liked more time spent on the island than there was. The way he gets to the island is pretty freaky. Don't see this movie before you catch a flight somewhere. Definitely see this one, you won't regret it.
Rating: Summary: Almost made it. Review: I really don't understand it when people talk about how Tom Hanks didn't speak during the middle portion of this movie. The volleyball was thrown in there to avoid just that. Tom Hanks has a lot of dialoge while on the island. That said, this could have been a great movie, but it fell short. First of all, we all found out that he would get off the island from the preview. That upset me. But after seeing the movie, I understood why this was done...after he gets off the island, the movie is terrible. Zemekis has therefore successfully made two bad movies out of one project. (He made the sub-par What Lies Beneath while Hanks was losing weight) It makes me worry that other good directors might end up doing the same. Next thing you know, Oliver Stone might make a lousy movie...wait a minute, I forgot about U-Turn. Darn!
Rating: Summary: Hanks Is Incredible... Review: The movie will capture all Your emotions and fears, and inspire You to hope, cheer, and pray that the movie ends the way You wish it would. Hanks, not only carries the bulk of the movie, requiring great acting skill, but physically becomes the character as well, leaving me to scratch my head and wonder how he didn't win the Oscar for best actor...The movie will allow You to suspend Your disbelief, and wonder "what would I do?" The opening plane crash is perhaps the most real and terrifying in Hollywood history. The director and Hanks make You not only come to recognize "Wilson," a volleyball, as a character, but You also find Yourself concerned and frightened for him as well. The movie offers a dilemma for the main characters at the end, and I'm happy to say that Hollywood "formula" and "script equations" did not rule, but instead, morality and honor prevailed. How refreshing... It's a movie that will touch You, and You will feel emotionally drained after it's all over.
Rating: Summary: I hate Tom Hanks... but Review: I truly do not like Tom Hanks, and I usually avoid his movies... but when I saw this movie in the Cinema I really must admit it is an excellent movie. 90% of the time, Tom Hanks is alone in the movie... and for an actor to do such a job is something. He managed to make us laugh loud, sympathize and enjoy the movie. But I think he should have lost much more waight... he was not thin enough! For both Tom Hanks fans and non-fans... this movie is worth watching!
Rating: Summary: The most affecting film of 2000 Review: For those of you (anyone?) who haven't seen this movie and are still on the fence, don't worry about the spoilers mentioned in these reviews and in the general media. This is one of the few modern movies I have seen where knowing the plot, the outcome, even the script beforehand in no way impedes one's enjoyment of the film. I had heard it all before seeing it in the theater, yet it still affected me like no modern American movie I can remember. As hit-and-miss as I believe Zemekis to be (I found Forrest Gump to be enjoyable but forgettable), he really hits it out of the park with this one. The images of this movie will burn into your mind. You will be remembering this movie vividly for weeks afterward. For those of you that have seen it, can anyone not remember perfectly such scenes as Hanks' first view of his island from afar, or the image of his "sail" soaring into the heavens? What about the tenderness and respect for the dead in the way Hanks' recovered and buried the pilot? Much criticism of the movie is, I believe, grossly unwarranted. For those who found Helen Hunt lacking as his love interest, I would say that it was bravely anti-Hollywood that the filmmakers chose to treat her character as a simple but loving woman deep into a relationship, who would never suspect that she would soon be loosing her love, and would therefore show no emotion other than that of a woman expecting to see Hanks' character in only a short few days. Unglamorous and unassuming. The ending gets much criticism, and I admit it made me cringe as I was first watching it (thinking, "No! Don't blow this movie NOW!") but for those of you who have lived long enough to notice, life sometimes provides us with ridiculous opportunities at the most unpredictable moments....just when we think things can't get worse, fortune drops something right in our laps. I truly believe that this movie will only get more popular as the years go by, and that this film will be remembered as the one that established Tom Hanks as our only current "classic" moviestar. Hanks' work here reminds me of that of John Wayne's in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Both actors begin their film playing a character exactly like we have begun to expect from these two men. Hanks is playing Tom Hanks, and John Wayne is playing himself (with even the word "pilgrims" in his dialogue, the basis of every Wayne charicature). But as both films progress, their characters are transformed as both men face tremendous changes in their world, and must adapt or fade away. Hanks could have carried this transformation without the wellknown weight loss. He should have won the Oscar, as anyone who watched the Oscar telecast would probably agree. Buy it. Truly a movie that will demand repeat viewings year after year.
Rating: Summary: Cast Away is that damn good Review: One of the best movies ever made in my opinion. The storyline, the interactions, and the little things make this movie what it is. I mean come on he talks to a ball
Rating: Summary: A deeper movie than it is given credit as being Review: Let me start by saying that I liked this movie - a lot. I think most viewers miss the point from the get-go, i.e., the title. It is "Cast Away" - two words. Not one word (as for example, in Gilligan's Island). Hanks is "cast away" from society. How he deals with it, and how he tries to deal with being thrust back into society, are the focal points of the film. It was a film that I thought about over and over in the weeks after seeing it. It is a Greek tragedy. Perhaps critics were looking for another "Sleepless in Seattle". This film is not it. There is much criticism regarding the ending. I confess that I fail to see what's wrong with the ending. I believe it is realistic. Perhaps people want a traditional Hollywood "happy" ending. Life's not like that. Some viewer's have also picked nits over silly details - like the fact that Hank's fingernails are too nicely manicured for a man stranded on an island for 5 years. Sheesh! Since when did a lack of realism in movies ever bother anyone? I also give Hanks and Zemeckis kudos for not relying on swearing, nudity, sex, or any other modern gimmick which movie makers use to compensate for a lack of plot and acting.
Rating: Summary: Wilson 3 Hanks 0 Review: An extraordinary, silent performance, emotionally captivating while growing physically more gaunt. But enough of Wilson the volleyball. Castaway will no doubt become a classic template for those pressing the 3 Act structure of Hollywood narrative. Act 1 is unexpectedly clumsy, with pointless heavy-handed Russian sequences and Hunt/Hanks interplay which suggests not so much love as the camaraderie born of having to speak such lousy dialogue. But Act 1 is undoubtedly saved by the stunning crash sequence. Act 2 is no fun at all. Essentially, it is a long chain of 'oooo, that's clever!' moments, as Hanks solves various survival problems in an amusing way. While talking to himself. Or to Wilson. Act 2 goes on forever, as Syd Field says it should. Act 3 caps a lousy film with a stunningly uncomfortable conclusion, breaking all the rules of formula in precisely the wrong places. Of course, no-one will care, and Cast Away is going to be huge in the UK, as it has been in the US. But prepare not to be enchanted.
Rating: Summary: A good movie; could have been great Review: What do you do when you're a total A type personality who lets his health and relationships rot at the expense of your job? Nothing. You carry on and probably never learn unless your plane goes down in the middle of nowhere and you wash up alone on a small deserted island with little chance of being spotted. That's what the whole story is about. While the events are tragic and the character comes back to a changed and sad life (i.e., I believe he was believed dead for over 10 years so everyone else carried on with his life), it's a chance for rebirth. Definitely worth checking out. Good photography and pretty interesting even if Tom Hanks had few "people" to speak to on the island. Look for how he ends up building his boat to try and get off the island. Clever or lucky?
Rating: Summary: A wonderfull effort from Tom Hanks Review: Tom Hanks defenintly deserves at least a Oscar nomination for this. My friends said this was a good movie, and that I had to see it, so I did. I had also heard that this movie was boring, but I decided to check it out. Yes, I'll admit it is boring at some parts. What do you expect, for most of the movie Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) is stuck talking to a volleyball. The music and the emotion you feel makes up for that. I also felt that this movie was too long. I mean, it was good and all, but it could've easily been shorter. Chuck Noland, the busy FedEx employee was flying to asia on a buisness trip (on Christmas eve). He had promised his fiancee (Helen Hunt) that he'd be home on New Years. Well, he wouldn;t. He never should've got out of the car as he said later in the movie. The plane crashes (a totally intense scene) and he happens to be the only survivor. At first he is trying to get help, but after a while he gives up on help and concentrates on surviving. Which is what the movie is mainly about. Using the few FedEx packages that wash up on the shore, Noland survives for 4 years before deciding he didn't want to die on the island. If you've seen the extended trailor, you know what happens now, but if you haven't, I'm not going to tell. If i could, I'd rate this 4 1/2 stars.
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