Happy Birthday Tom Hanks

As you probably have noticed, me and Allie regularly have obsessions with various actors/actresses, the Ryans, Emma Stone, Adam Driver and Taron Egerton to name but a few BUT though all of my short lived obsessions there is one actor that I always come back to as my ultimate favourite.  Any film with the name Tom Hanks on the post will grab my attention, there are films that to me look terribly boring but I have watched them because of Mr Hanks and have not been disappointed (Bridge of Spies).  

To celebrate his 60th birthday, I decided to write up my Top 5 of his films.  This posed a problem, it is impossible to pick 5 films from his vast filmography from his 36 year career, I did however manage to cut it down to 10 but I can't order them, so in no particular order, here are the my Top 0 Tom Hanks films:

Tom Hanks is one of the only actors who can make you cry over a volleyball, his incredible acting skills meant he needed no other actors on screen to hold the audiences attention and have you on the edge of your seat.  The first time I saw the 'Wilsoooooon' scene I cried my eyes out and it stuck with me for a long time afterwards.

If I haven't mentioned it once or a thousand times throughout this blog, I adore Forrest Gump, another film where Hanks shows heartbreak so believably that you cry real tears. Countless quotes from this film will forever be used in everyday conversation and I don't think I know anyone who hasn't seen this.  

I have only watched this film once and I cried and cried and it stuck with me for weeks afterwards, I couldn't forget it.  I remember thinking it was a brilliant film but I haven't had the guts to watch it again yet although I would love to, I just need to be in the right frame of mind.  Having just read a little bit about it, I didn't realise it was based on a Stephen King novel, maybe I should try the book first.

I am a huge Disney fan and I have read books and books on Walt Disney and his businesses. So when  I found out they were releasing a film about Walt Disney and his work on getting Mary Poppins on the big screen and that Disney would be played by Tom Hanks I was so excited.  I wasn't disappointed when the film was released, I loved every second and I was really glad that they posed some of  Walt's more pushy characteristics that are rarely focused on when thinking about the man who created Mickey Mouse.

I remember when I saw the trailer for this and wondered how it could be an entertaining film but it was brilliant.  It's heartwarming and charming as well as being funny and upsetting all at once.  It has a great cast (less Catherine Zeta-Jones), a brilliant script and an amazing story.

Stick Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio on the screen together and you are bound to get a winner and this is just that.  It did feel long but this duo keep the pace up throughout the film and keeps you thoroughly entertained.  

This was an accidental find back in the late 90's, I recorded it on VHS from the TV after reading the synopsis in the TV guide and I watched it over and over again.  I loved the music to the point that I still have them on my iPod to blast in my car.  What I didn't realise was that Tom Hanks wrote, directed and starred in this, now I love it even more!  It's a great feel good movie, you can't help but smile when the boys become a success and sing along to the 60's soundtrack.

"There's no crying in baseball" - I have this quote on my bedroom wall as one of my favourite movie quotes ever.  I have watched this countless times with my Dad over the years and I still get a tear in my eye when Jimmy (Tom Hanks) has to walk down the line of women with the telegram from the war office. 

"Houston, we have a problem" is also on my wall!  I may have a little obsession with Tom Hanks!  Another one that reminds me of family movies nights, it was always difficult to find a film that Mom and Dad liked and was suitable for a 10 year old.  This was before Dad found his love for animated movies and superhero movies which we now share our love for. Apollo 13, the first few times I watched it I don't think I understood a lot of what happened but I have watched it countless times since and still love it.

A grown man that can convincingly play a 13 year old boy and make you believe it can only be Tom Hanks.  Hundreds of times while watching Big I was completely immersed, I believed that he was a 13 year old boy.  The toy store scene is one of my favourites and makes me grin from ear to ear.

Happy Birthday Tom!!

Mini Reviews: Saving Mr Banks (2013), Cake (2014) & Ex Machina (2015)

I can’t quite believe Saving Mr Banks is 2 years old now, it feels like I’ve been putting off watching it for a couple of months, not years! I remember little of the Mary Poppins story, in fact I can only recall a couple of the songs, and maybe that’s why I put this film off for so long. I’m glad I gave it a shot though, as this was a beautiful story.

Emma Thompson does a fantastic job at portraying this frustrating character who you struggle to warm to at first, but by the credits roll I had tears in my eyes. The whole cast made this a wonderful film to watch, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

I’m a huge fan of Jennifer Aniston and films that tackle depression have always interested me, which I realise sounds quite morbid! Therefore, I thought Cake would be a film I would really enjoy. Cake is a dark story of a woman who becomes obsessed with the suicide of a friend in her support group for chronic pain, who also tries to deals with her own severe issues.

Maybe watching this in chunks throughout my lunch breaks didn’t help, but I found the story so hard to understand, I had to read half on an IMDB synopsis to work out what was going on. Once I worked it out it was more enjoyable, but still fell flat for me.

When the posters and trailers came out for Ex Machina came out, I wasn’t bothered in the slightest. I didn’t even notice it come and go from my local cinema. However, anyone I knew who went to see it or watched the DVD said how brilliant it was, and the got my curiosity. It’s hard to even explain the plot of Ex Machina without ruining the experience, but I would recommend it to anyone.

It starts of as a family friendly, futuristic film and out of nowhere, takes a very dark turn, and rapidly turns into adult-only territory. I haven’t seen anything like it, and although I don’t think a re-watch will give the same impact, it was a brilliant experience first-time.