TOM HANKS

December 29, 2018

This brings us to the end of the most enjoyable Tom Hanks marathon. I'm very happy with the progress I made. This is the closest I've ever come to watching all of an actors IMDb acting credits. There are only two Tom Hanks credits I wasn't able to see so I'm extremely happy with that. I got to enjoy a lot of movies and TV projects I hadn't seen before and got to revisit several I've seen in the past and already loved. I didn't love them all but I truly enjoyed most of them. What an amazing actor he is. 

Everything in yellow I was able to find and watch. Those that are highlighted red, I wasn't able to see.

2003 - Freedom: A History of Us - I could only find a couple of episodes on YouTube and from what I could see, the DVD's are only available to buy on the PBS website for $179. I just don't have that kind of money right now especially since I just got laid off from my job this month and am looking for a new job. If anyone will lend me the DVDs to watch, I'll update this. 

2009 - Beyond All Boundaries - From what I understand by searching online, this can only be seen at The National WWII Museum in New Orleans. If I'm wrong, please let me know where I can find it and I'll update this. 

Thank you to everyone who followed along!!! 

December 29, 2018

Couldn't think of a better way to bring this Tom Hanks marathon to a close than watching his 2nd consecutive Oscar winning performance in the 1994 movie Forrest Gump. The movie also stars Gary Sinise, Sally Field, Robin Wright, Mykleti Williamson, Michael Conner Humphreys and Haley Joel Osment. Forrest Gump has got to be THE most lovable character ever created for a film. He's just so endearing. The movie is him telling his life story to strangers sitting on a bus stop bench. Forrest, who is a bit mentally slow finds himself being a part of many historical events over the years and makes some very special friends along the way. He talks of his one and only love since childhood Jenny. There's a whole lot to see in this 2 1/2 hour movie and not one boring second. Definitely see it if you haven't already and if you have seen it, watch it again. 

December 29, 2018

Watched the 1993 movie Philadelphia starring Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Antonio Bandaras, Jason Robards, Joanne Woodward and Bradley Whitford among many others.  This was Tom Hanks' first Oscar win and very much deserved. This is also one of the first big budget star studded major motion pictures to deal with AIDS and homosexuality. Tom Hanks plays a lawyer who hides the fact that he's gay from his coworkers and associates. When a colleague notices he has a lesion on his face, he tries to pass it off as a racquetball injury. Soon after paperwork he left on his desk disappears and he figures out he was set up to be fired for being gay with AIDS. He attempts to hire a lawyer who is homophobic but won't take the case until he speaks to a doctor and learns the facts of how AIDS is transmitted. That's as far as I'm going to go with it. If you haven't seen it, you really should. It's an excellent movie in every way.  

December 29, 2018

Watched the 2000 movie Cast Away starring Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, Nick Searcy and Chris Noth. I have seen this movie a few times before, but it's been a while. The one thing consistent with Tom Hanks movies is his commitment to doing whatever he has to do to make the character believable, including extreme physical changes. A FedEx employee is flying to Malaysia in a violent storm when the plane starts to malfunction and crashes into the ocean. He ends up stranded on a deserted island for over 4 years before he's able to construct a raft and be rescued. The rest of the movie deals with him trying to get back into life after he's been long pronounced dead. It's a great movie if you haven't seen it. 

December 29, 2018

Watched the 1992 movie Radio Flyer starring Elijah Wood, Joseph Mazzello, Lorraine Bracco and Adam Baldwin. Tom Hanks is uncredited in this movie and appears at the beginning, end and narrates throughout the movie. A woman, her two boys and dog move to California after her husband leaves her. The boys deal with typical bullying by neighbor kids and the mom marries a man who is a drunk and beats her youngest son. The boys come up with plan to convert an old Radio Flyer wagon into a plane so the younger boy can fly away forever. There's a lot more that fills out the story and I'm not going to give away the ending. It's a good movie and well worth seeing if you can find it.  The only copy I could find was a bad quality video on YouTube with Spanish subtitles.   

December 28, 2018

Watched the 2002 movie Catch Me If You Can starring Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Amy Adams and Josh Brolin among others. This is a biographical drama based on the true story of Frank Abagnale. As a teenager, his father was a failing business man, his mother was having an affair and they divorced. Frank ran away from home and to support himself, he learned how to pose as various professionals like pilots and doctors to forge checks and made millions doing it. An FBI agent is assigned to find him. After a lot of pitfalls and drama along the way, he finally gets him. Frank serves prison time and eventually goes to work for the FBI to help them catch other forgers. I'm not a huge Leonardo DiCaprio fan so that's why I'd never seen it before. Don't get me wrong, he's a great actor, but there was a point where his face was everywhere all the time and I got to the point where I couldn't stand to look at him anymore. It's not just him, there are other famous people who have been over-saturated by the media and I can't stand looking at them anymore either. Now that I have seen this movie, I can say it's very good and well worth seeing. 

December 28, 2018

Watched the 2006 animated movie Cars starring the voices of Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, Larry the Cable Guy, Cheech Marin, Tony Shalhoub, Jennifer Lewis, Michael Wallis, George Carlin, Paul Dooley, Guido Quaroni, John Ratzenberger, Katherine Helmond, Joe Ranft, Michael Keaton, "The King" Richard and Lynda Petty, Darryl Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeremy Clarkson, Jeremy Piven, Bob Costas, Richard Kind, Edie McClurg, Michael Schumacher, Jay Leno, Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Billy Crystal, John Goodman and a whole lot of other people. This was cute. I hadn't seen it before... and you'd think I would have since I've been a lifelong stock car racing fan. Obviously all of the characters are motor vehicles of some kind. A cocky rookie race car gets a three way tie win with two other seasoned veteran race cars and they will have a tie breaking race in Los Angeles. On the way, the hauler unintentionally drops the car on the freeway. The car speeds to catch up and gets caught in a small town and has to stay until his time re-paving their road is complete. There's a moral to the story you'll have to see for yourself. I do recommend this if you haven't seen it.

December 27, 2018

Watched the 2004 movie The Terminal starring Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Stanley Tucci, Zoe Saldana, Chi McBride and Diego Luna among many others. I hadn't seen this before today but had heard it was good. A man travels to New York from another country to fulfill a task his father began before he passed away. When he lands, he learns his country has broken out in a civil war and the United States no longer recognizes his country, so his passport is invalid. He can't enter New York or go home. A whole lot of things happen as he ends up living in the airport for 9 months. It's a really sweet story.  I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it.  

December 27, 2018

Watched the 1984 movie Splash starring Tom Hanks, Daryl Hannah, Eugene Levy, John Candy and Dody Goodman. I've seen this a number of times over the years and it was good to see it again. Tom Hanks was already known because of Bosom Buddies, but this is his first starring film role that shot him to super-stardom. A young boy nearly drowns but is rescued by a mermaid. As an adult he ends up in the water again and is rescued by the same mermaid, only this time the mermaid falls in love with him and decides to go find him. I'm not going to give any more away. It has its funny moments and it has some heavy dramatic moments. If you haven't seen it yet, give it a go. I'm sure you'll like it. It's a great date night movie. 

December 26, 2018

Watched the 1996 movie That Thing You Do! starring Tom Everett Scott, Liv Tyler, Johnathon Schaech, Steve Zahn, Ethan Embry, Tom Hanks, Charlize Theron, Obba Babatunde and Giovanni Ribisi. There's a ton of cameo appearances like Rita Wilson, Gedde Watanabe, Alex Rocco, Clint Howard, Peter Scolari, Chris Isaak, Kevin Pollak, Bryan Cranston and Colin Hanks. I'm sure there's many I unintentionally left out. I've heard of this movie but I'd never watched it before tonight. This was Tom Hanks' directorial debut. The story basically covers the start and end of a small town band who makes it to the big time and crumbles as a one hit wonder and their personal relationships along the way. It's listed as a comedy but it's really more of a drama. I enjoyed it and it is worth seeing.   

December 26, 2018

Watched the 1988 movie Big directed by the late Penny Marshall, whom we just sadly lost last week, and starring Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia, John Heard and Jon Lovitz among many others. I can't even begin to count how many times I've seen this movie, but it has been a long time since the last time so it was fun to re-visit it again. Josh wishes on a carnival fortune telling machine that wasn't even plugged in that he wishes he were big... wish granted... and viola! The body of a grown man trying to function in a grownup world with the mentality of a kid and him trying to cope with it while attempting to figure out how to get back to normal. This is one of the most iconic movies from the 80s. If you haven't seen it, you should at least once. 

December 26, 2018

Watched the 2013 movie Saving Mr. Banks starring Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Colin Farrell, Paul Giamatti, Bradley Whitford, Kathy Baker, Ruth Wilson, Annie Rose Buckley, Melanie Paxon, B.J. Novak and Jason Schwartzman. It was very hard for me to get through this movie because I had to stop and ugly cry about every 10 - 15 minutes... which is a good thing. This movie really pulls at just about every emotion possible. Based on the true story of Walt Disney trying to buy the rights to Author P.L. Travers' "Mary Poppins" character and turn it into a Disney family movie. I love how in this movie Walt Disney is able to soften Mrs. Travers up, but somehow in real life I don't think it was so sweet. In real life she hated everything about the movie. I absolutely loved Colin Farrell in this, he's one of those men where you have to pause the movie every now and then just to look at him a little longer before moving on. Paul Giamatti was also perfect in this I shed a lot of tears in the scenes he was in. Definitely see this is you haven't already. It's well worth it. 

December 25, 2018

Watched the 1985 movie The Man With One Red Shoe starring Tom Hanks, Lori Singer, Carrie Fisher, David Ogden Stiers, David L. Lander, Edward Herrmann, Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning and Jim Belushi. I had never seen this before. I'm trying to figure out why it's listed as a comedy because it's really not very funny. Basically you have a CIA deputy director who wants to set up the director so he can have his job. The director has figured this out and is out for revenge. A random poor schmuck at the airport gets unknowingly caught up in it. Then you have all the drama going on in his life because he's completely oblivious to all the spy stuff going on for most of the movie. It's not a bad movie, I just think it would be a more likable movie if I weren't expecting it to be more of a comedy as it's advertised and categorized. 

December 25, 2018

Watched the 1990 movie Joe Versus the Volcano starring Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Abe Vigoda, Lloyd Bridges, Ossie Davis, Robert Stack, Amanda Plummer and Nathan Lane. I saw this back in the day when it first came out and I was working in a mom & pop video store. It was ok then and it's still ok... nothing too exciting but it has its moments. A hypochondriac who is miserable with his life is told he has a brain disease and is going to die within 6 months. He agrees to do a favor for a rich man where he would sacrifice himself to the volcano in return for something the rich man needs from the island tribe. He ends up falling in love on the trip and it turns out not everything is as it seems. 

December 25, 2018

Watched the 2016 movie Inferno starring Tom Hanks, Felicity Jones, Omar Sy, Ben Foster, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Irrfan Khan and Ana Ularu. This is the third in the Robert Langdon series. I don't know if there will be more or not, I've never read the books. He wakes up in a Florence Italy hospital with a bad head wound and amnesia. He teams up with the doctor to escape and find out what's going on. They try to stop a plan put in place by a crazy billionaire to release a virus that will wipe out more than half of the world's population. Again, not all is what it seems... and the people aren't what they seem to be either.  

December 24, 2018

Watched the 2009 movie Angels & Demons starring Tom Hanks, Ayelet Zurer, Ewan McGregor, Pierfrancesco Favino (sexiest man on the planet to me) and Stellan Skarsgard among others. This is the sequel to The Da Vinci Code and as I mentioned in my previous post, this is the one I'd seen before. A scientist is murdered and a can of antimatter is stolen. The pope has died, the world is mourning and preparations are in place for the papal conclave to name a new Pope. Four of those in the running for Pope are kidnapped by someone claiming to be the Illuminati. One will be killed each hour from 8pm until midnight when the antimatter will be released and destroy Vatican City. Robert Langdon is once again summoned to help. I'm not going to give away how it turns out. Let's just say all is not as it seems. As of now, there's one more in the Robert Langdon series called Inferno. That will be the next one I watch. 

December 24, 2018

Watched the 2006 movie The Da Vinci Code starring Tom Hanks, Audry Tautou, Sir Ian McKellen and Paul Bettany among others. I thought I'd seen this before, but I'm wrong. Now I think it may have been Angels & Demons I already saw. I'll know soon enough since that's the next movie I'm watching. In this one a curator at The Louvre is murdered and symbols are carved on his body. Cryptographer Sophie Neveu and symbol expert Robert Langdon are brought in to solve the mystery. The things they learn could threaten all religion as it's known. This is the type of movie you really have to pay attention to or you'll miss something and not know what's happening. If you're easily distracted like I am, you spend a lot of time going back to find out what happened so you're not lost. Once I finally finished it, it was worth seeing. I'll be watching the other two in the series.  

December 23, 2018

Watched the 2004 movie Elvis Has Left the Building starring Kim Basinger, John Corbett, Annie Potts, Sean Astin, Denise Richards, Tom Hanks, Philip Charles MacKenzie, Richard Kind, Angie Dickinson, Pat Morita, Joel Zwick and Mike Starr just off the top of my head among a whole lot of others. The movie was "eh". Not bad but not great. It's a black comedy about a woman who sells cosmetics is on a trip to Las Vegas and somehow manages to kill every Elvis impersonator she comes across. I'm not a huge Kim Basinger fan so it took a lot for me to watch it, and it's not one I'll watch again, but for the Tom Hanks marathon it was ok. 

December 22, 2018

Watched the 2012 animated short Toy Story Toons: Partysaurus Rex starring Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Timothy Dalton, John Ratzenberger, Estelle Harris, Wallace Shawn and Don Rickles among many others. When Rex gets left in the bathroom, he makes new friends with the bathtub toys. The bathtub toys need water in order to have fun or they just lie there. Since Rex has limbs, he's able to get the bath going for them and the party is on. 

December 22, 2018

Watched the 2011 animated short Toy Story Toons: Hawaiian Vacation starring Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Kristen Schaal, Timothy Dalton, Estelle Harris, Wallace Shawn, Michael Keaton, Bonnie Hunt and Don Rickles among many others. Ken and Barbie tried to stow away in Bonnie's backpack when she went on vacation to Hawaii but she didn't take it with her. Since they were so upset about not going, the other toys give them their Hawaiian vacation in Bonnie's room. 

December 22, 2018

Watched the 2011 animated short Toy Story Toons: Small Fry starring Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Timothy Dalton, Bob Bergen and Estelle Harris among many others. A Happy Meal Buzz Lightyear switches places with the original Buzz and the toys aren't happy because he's really obnoxious. The real Buzz comes across a support group for unwanted kid meal toys and plans to go home. 

December 22, 2018

Watched the 2014 animated short Toy Story That Time Forgot starring Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Timothy Dalton, Don Rickles, John Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn and Kristen Schaal among many others. It's Christmas time and a play date where the old toys have to get along with the new very aggressive action figures who don't understand that they're toys and not real. 

December 22, 2018

Watched the 2013 animated short Toy Story of Terror starring Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Carl Weathers, Timothy Dalton, Don Rickles, John Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn, Kristen Schaal and Kate McKinnon among many others. The toys are on a trip with their owners when they get a flat tire and have to stay the night in a motel where they start to disappear one by one. 

December 22, 2018

Watched the 2010 animated movie Toy Story 3 starring Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Ned Beatty, Michael Keaton, Don Rickles, Estelle Harris, John Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn and Laurie Metcalf among many others. When Andy goes away to college, the toys are packed up and accidentally taken to a day care center instead of stored in the attic. They toys think they've been abandoned and Woody tries to convince them they weren't and they need to go home. 

December 22, 2018

Watched the 1999 animated movie Toy Story 2 starring Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Kelsey Grammer, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Estelle Harris, John Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn, Annie Potts and Laurie Metcalf among many others. A crooked toy collector steals Woody and the other toys rally to save him before he's sold to a museum in Japan. Though Woody may not want to come home. 

December 22, 2018

Watched the 1995 animated movie Toy Story starring Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, John Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn, Annie Potts and Laurie Metcalf among many others. Toys come to life when there's no humans in the room. Woody the cowboy is jealous of the new spaceman toy Buzz Lightyear who takes Woody's place as Andy's favorite. It was hard to watch this again. The last time I saw it was when I was sick and went to the emergency room where I had to sit for hours and hours waiting for a doctor and they had this movie on loop the entire time. It was cute the first 4 or 5 times, but after that...

December 19, 2018

Watched the 2007 movie Charlie Wilson's War starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams. This is a political drama set in the early 80s and is based on the true story of Texas Democratic Congressman Charlie Wilson and CIA operative Gust Avrakotos. Actually I tried to watch it but had to stop after a while. When I think of everything that has happened since the early 80s and very much partly because of what happened in this movie, it's just too real and I don't have it in me to see it. I got through the other war films and mini series Tom Hanks made but for some reason I just can't get through this one.  

December 19, 2018

Watched the 2013 movie Captain Phillips starring Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi and Catherine Keener. This is the true story of the 2009 hijacking in the Indian Ocean of the American cargo ship MV Maersk Alabama by Somali pirates where Captain Richard Phillips was taken hostage. Saying any more will give away the plot completely. Of course many of us remember all of that from when it was really happening. Very scary. 

December 18, 2018

Watched the 2015 movie Ithaca starring Meg Ryan, Tom Hanks, Sam Shepard, Alex Neustaedter and Jack Quaid among others. I just now noticed it was directed by Meg Ryan. This is a coming of age drama. A young boy whose father has just died in the war and his older brother is serving in the war, he becomes a bicycle messenger to support his mother and younger siblings. It will make you cry so have Kleenex. 

December 18, 2018

Watched the 2017 movie The Post starring Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk and Bradley Whitford among others. This is a historical drama set in the late 60s and early 70s about when Daniel Ellsberg leaked confidential government information to The New York Times concerning The United States' involvement in the Vietnam conflict that went back several decades. The Times wouldn't publish the information but the Washington Post, run by the first female publisher Katharine Graham, did. After a Supreme Court hearing determined The Post was within their First Amendment rights to publish it, "President" Nixon demanded The Washington Post be banished from the White House. If you know your American history, you know what comes next.    

December 8, 2018

Watched the 2007 animated movie The Simpsons Movie starring Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardly Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, Pamela Hayden, Albert Brooks, Marcia Wallace, Green Day, Joe Mantegna and Tom Hanks. After Homer pollutes the lake, the Simpsons become fugitives and the EPA covers Springfield in a giant bubble and it's up to the Simpsons to save the town. Tom Hanks plays himself in this. If you're looking for good, silly fun... then you'll enjoy this. It's not for little kids though so keep that in mind. It's typical Simpsons, only with language and nudity you don't get to see on TV.  

December 8, 2018

Watched the 1987 movie Dragnet starring Tom Hanks, Dan Aykroyd, Christopher Plummer, Harry Morgan, Alexandra Paul, Dabney Coleman and Elizabeth Ashley. I actually like this movie despite the fact that it was a box office bomb back in the 80s. I think it's because Dragnet was a very beloved TV show and people were expecting the movie to be similar and were put off by the goofy comedy. If you can separate the two in your brain, you'll probably enjoy it too. Harry Morgan does appear in his role as Detective Gannon and Dan Aykroyd is Detective Friday, but other than that there are no other similarities. 

December 7, 2018

Watched the 1986 move The Money Pit starring Tom Hanks, Shelley Long, Alexander Godunov, Maureen Stapleton, Joe Mantegna and Yakov Smirnoff among others. I love this movie and it was fun to watch it again. A couple buys a mansion to renovate as their dream house... only it's taking forever and new problems pop up daily and strains the relationship to the extreme. This is one of the few movies I enjoy with Shelley Long where she doesn't get on my last nerve. If you're looking for something really funny to watch and you haven't seen this yet, I highly recommend it. 

December 6, 2018

Watched the 2010 mini series The Pacific starring James Badge Dale, Joseph Mazzello, Jon Seda and Rami Malek,among a whole lot of other people. Tom Hanks is the Narrator. This is the followup to Band of Brothers where Band of Brothers focuses on the war in Europe, The Pacific focuses on the 1st, 5th and 7th regiments of the 1st Marine Division's battle against the Japanese on various Pacific islands like Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester, Peleliu, Okinawa and the Battle of Iwo Jima. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. Those battle scenes are very gruesome and difficult to watch, especially knowing that those things really did happen. I can't even begin to imagine how it was for the real men these stories are based on to have been there. The actors are outstanding. I don't think Tom Hanks made a cameo in this one like he did Band of Brothers. If he did, I didn't see him and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. It was interesting to see Joseph Mozzello and Rami Malek on screen together again after having just seen them in Bohemian Rhapsody, which I wrote about and you can read HERE if you like. I think it's important that we all see movies like these mini series to get a better understanding of what our soldiers go through for us.    

November 29, 2018

Took me a while with the Thanksgiving holiday, plus I wrote a long blog entry about my take on the movie Bohemian Rhapsody which you can read HERE if you like, but I finally finished watching the 2001 mini series Band of Brothers starring a whole lot of young actors from that time; Donnie Wahlberg, Damian Lewis, Scott Grimes, Ron Livingston, David Schwimmer, Colin Hanks, Michael Fassbender and Tim Matthews among many others. Tom Hanks has cameo appearances in this and he produced, co-wrote, co-directed it. The series is about "Easy Company"; part of the 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment assigned to the United States 101st Airborne Division during WWII and follows the soldiers from basic training to some of the historic battles like Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge etc. Tom Hanks and the people he collaborates with on these mini series he does, really go above and beyond to be as authentic as possible. It's very gory and difficult to see but well worth watching. 

November 17, 2018

Spent the last week binge watching the 12 part 1998 TV mini series From the Earth to the Moon starring Tom Hanks, Jay Mohr, Blythe Danner, Mark Harmon, Clint Howard, Peter Scolari, Tim Daly, Chris Isaak, Bryan Cranston, Carey Elwes and Brett Cullen among a whole lot of other amazing actors. I'd heard of this before but never got into watching it until now. It's a docudrama about the Apollo space missions back in the 60s and 70s. Some of it is fictional but most of it is factual so it's quite educational and well worth watching. 

November 11, 2018

Watched the 2002 movie Road to Perdition starring Tom Hanks, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tyler Hoechlin, Paul Newman and Daniel Craig. Personally I'm not a fan of mobster movies. Given the choice, I pass on them... unless they come up in my actor marathons, like this one, then I'll watch it to complete the challenge. I won't say it's a bad movie because it's not. It's actually quite good. A man is a hit man for the mob and one night his son witnesses what he does and they have to go on the run. Unlike some mobster characters in movies, this one has a conscience and a heart. 

November 11, 2018

Watched the 2011 romantic comedy Larry Crowne starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Cedric the Entertainer, Wilmer Valderrama, Pam Grier, Bryan Cranston, George Takai, Rita Wilson and Rami Malek (who may just get an Oscar nomination for his role as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody... we'll see). A divorced middle aged man loses his job because he never went to college and can't advance anymore without a degree. He decides to go to college where he excels and meets new and interesting people. There's a lot going on and it's a fun movie to watch. Definitely worth seeing if you like rom-coms. 

November 11, 2018

Took a week off from movies to get a few things done with the election and I'm also losing my job at the end of next month and may or may not be leaving California so there's a lot happening at the moment. Today I decided to take it easy and watch some more Tom Hanks movies. 

Watched the 1985 comedy Volunteers starring Tom Hanks, John Candy, Rita Wilson, George Plimpton and Gedde Watanabe. A young rich college student racks up a lot of gambling debt. His father refuses to help him so he trades places with his roommate and takes his place on a Peace Corp mission in Thailand to escape the thugs he owes money to though they end up encountering some really bad people there too. It's not the greatest movie, but it's ok and worth the time to see. 

November 5, 2018

Watched the 2016 dramedy A Hologram for the King starring Tom Hanks and Omar Elba. A man has lost everything when he played a key role in closing down an American manufacturing plant and moved the operation to China thinking it would save the company money, but China then closed the company completely leaving him struggling and failing financially. He's trying to redeem himself with his current company by going to Saudi Arabia to sell their new hologram communications package to the King for his developing country. This is an excellent movie and if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. 

November 5, 2018

Watched the 1998 movie You've Got Mail starring Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Greg Kinnear, Parker Posey, Jean Stapleton, Dabney Coleman and Dave Chapelle among others. I did see this 20 years ago and thought it was an ok RomCom. I watched it again for this marathon and still think it's an ok RomCom. One book store owner is putting another bookstore owner out of business yet neither of them realize they've been communicating with each other and falling in love through email. That was the time period when people started buying their own personal computers for the first time and it all seems like ancient history instead of just 20 years. It was the first step in what has become internet romances where you never really have to see the person you're talking to. The movie is cute to see - it's predictable with no surprises but the characters are all very lovable and relatable. 

November 5, 2018

Watched the 2017 movie The Circle starring Emma Watson, Tom Hanks, Patton Oswalt, John Boyega and Bill Paxton in his last film among others. A young woman starts a new job at a technology company and falls into the trap of the belief that our entire lives must be transparent and shared online. What's scary is, it's really happening... just not to the extreme in this movie... yet. The movie is pretty predictable but it's well done and worth seeing. 

November 4, 2018

Watched the 1986 movie Nothing in Common starring Tom Hanks, Jackie Gleason, Bess Armstrong, Hector Elizondo, Eva Marie Saint, Sela Ward and Barry Corbin. I remember when this movie first came out. I was a huge Jackie Gleason fan and it opened in theaters not long before he passed away. This was his last acting role. I wouldn't watch it then because I tend to get emotional about things like that so today was the first time I saw it. It is a wonderful movie. An ambitious ad executive tries to balance his life between work, dating and being a the beck and call of his recently separated parents. I admit, I did cry some.  

November 4, 2018

Watched the 1986 drama Every Time We Say Goodbye starring Tom Hanks. I only recommend this movie to people who speak fluent English and Spanish. It was beyond irritating trying to watch this movie with long scenes of continuous dialog in Spanish with no subtitles. I'm sure it was probably better than I think it is if I knew what people were talking about. I know he's an American who sneaked into Canada so he could join the Royal Air Force since the United States hadn't entered into WWII yet. I believe he was shot down and was recovering in Jerusalem where he meets a Jewish Spanish girl and falls in love. Her family is against it. A lot of conversation went on with the family and I don't know what any of it was. Like I said, don't see it unless you speak both languages. I've never come across that before and I see a LOT of foreign films. 

November 4, 2018

Watched the 1990 black comedy The Bonfire of the Vanities starring Tom Hanks, Melanie Griffith, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and Kim Cattrall. I was working in a mom & pop video store when this was released on VHS. I remember the reviews being so horrible I didn't want to waste my time on it when there were so many other movies I needed to watch for my job. So today I watched it for the first time and now I understand why it did so poorly when it was released. A guy having an affair accidentally runs over a young black guy but they don't report it to the police so their affair won't become public. You know, I think this story would have been better as an independent film instead of a studio film. A straight drama instead of trying to throw humor in that was completely out place and inappropriate. The casting wasn't right. I understand the studio's need to have big names in it and all of the actors were hot at the time... but there wasn't true chemistry at all and it just felt awkward. I think Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone would have been better choices than Bruce Willis and Melanie Griffith. I'm not the biggest fan of movie remakes, but I think this is one movie that MUST be remade the right way. 

November 4, 2018

Watched the 2012 sci-fi fantasy movie Cloud Atlas starring Tom Hanks, Halley Berry, Hugh Grant, Jim Sturges, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Doona Bae, Susan Sarandon, Keith David and many more. I gotta tell ya... this is one of the most confusing movies I've ever seen. I tend to get distracted easily and I would miss important things and then be completely lost so I would have to start over. The movie is already 3 hours long but my inability to focus took me nearly 5 hours to get all the way through it. That's the only negative about it. Once I got focused and quit letting myself get distracted, it's a really great movie. There are several stories in different places in time that all intersect. All of the main cast play many different characters each... different races, different sexes, different ages... you name it. The makeup was phenomenal and the scenes were beautifully shot. Definitely worth seeing. 

November 3, 2018

Watched the 1998 movie Saving Private Ryan starring Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Barry Pepper, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns, Adam Goldberg, Vin Diesel, Giovanni Ribisi, Jeremy Davies, Paul Giamatti, Dennis Farina, Nathan Fillion and Bryan Cranston. I avoided watching this movie all these years on purpose. I'm just not a war movie kind of gal. I can take horror movies because with most, there's no way the story can be real. War is real. It was real back then and it's still real now so that tends to be too hard for me to watch. While this is an excellent movie, it was very difficult for me to get through it because I had to keep pausing it. The movie takes place in 1944 WWII when Allied troops invaded Normandy in France. A squad is sent to find a paratrooper whose 3 brothers have been killed in action so he can go home as his mother's only surviving son. I cried a lot through the movie.  

November 3, 2018

Watched the 2004 black comedy The Lady Killers starring Tom Hanks, Irma P. Hall, Marlon Wayans, J.K. Simmons, Tzi Ma and Ryan Hurst. It's an unlikely group of criminals who use an old lady's house to tunnel into a nearby casino to steal money. I have to be honest. I really didn't like it very much. I have never seen the original movie so I'm not going to compare this to that. Tom Hanks' character was too over the top and unbelievable... and barely understandable at times. Marlon Wayans played the same loud, vulgar, clownish in a bad way stereotypical character he's played in other movies. The old lady character was also over the top and unbelievable. The sheriff deputies were ridiculous. I honestly can't think of anything good to say about it. 

November 3, 2018

Watched the 2013 made for TV docudrama Killing Lincoln starring Billy Campbell as Abraham Lincoln, Jesse Johnson as John Wilkes Booth, and Tom Hanks as the Narrator. When I saw that it was based on a book co-written by Bill O'Reilly and the screenplay was also co-written by him, I took it with a grain of salt since he tends to have a problem distinguishing the difference between fact and opinion. The timeline was pretty accurate from what I had already learned years ago so that's a plus. There was some details I wasn't aware of but I'll do some double checking on my own to see if they're fact or not. I don't recall John Wilkes Booth being such an asshole as he was portrayed in this because people were so shocked he was involved. The actors in this were fantastic. It's worth seeing. 

November 2, 2018

Watched the 2008 movie The Great Buck Howard starring John Malkovich, Colin Hanks, Emily Blunt and Tom Hanks. Tom Hanks has a small role in this and appears briefly a few times as Colin Hanks' character's father. I had never seen this before and I really did enjoy it. The Buck Howard character was inspired by The Amazing Kreskin; a mentalist who entertained and was most popular in the 70s because of his appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. This movie is about a has-been mentalist who was once very famous but now entertains small crowds yet he keeps on going because he doesn't know anything else. He has his young law school dropout assistant trying to keep him in check. I do recommend it!  

October 30, 2018

Watched the 2015 movie Bridge of Spies starring Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance and an appearance by the great Alan Alda whom I had the cherished privileged of meeting last year. I hadn't seen this before tonight. It's a longer than average movie so you'd better time yourself better than I did because I should have been in bed over a half hour ago. It's a true story cold war drama. A lawyer is assigned to defend a Russian spy, then recruited by the CIA to arrange a prisoner swap in Germany.  He negotiated the exchange of the Russian spy for a captured American Pilot and an American graduate student. This is definitely worth watching! 

October 28, 2018

Watched the 1984 movie Bachelor Party starring Tom Hanks Tawny Kitaen, Adrian Zmed and Wendy Jo Sperber among many others. I've seen this movie a few dozen times at least but I haven't watched it in a very long time. A party boy is growing up and getting married even though his friends are still stuck in adolescence and give him a bachelor party to remember. It's the typical 80s sex romp movie that were so popular back then where everything in it would offend God only knows how many people in this day and age. There was a time when movies were fun and not taken too seriously because we all knew they weren't real. If you haven't seen this movie and don't get offended at every little thing, then you'll love it. If you're the type where everything offends you, then don't watch it.  

October 28, 2018

Watched the 1989 movie Turner & Hooch starring Tom Hanks, Mare Winningham, Craig T. Nelson, Reginald VelJohnson and Beasley as Hooch. I admit this was a very good movie. I've never seen it before because I try to avoid movies about animals like the plague because I get extremely emotional. I can trace that back to a Lassie movie I saw when I was a kid that really upset me and well over 40 years later it's still with me. But, as long as I'm alone I can watch them because nobody has to witness my ugly cry or my hysterical cry. This is about a dog who witnessed his human's murder and the detective who will solve the case. Years ago when I worked in a mom & pop video store, I had a customer who kept calling this movie Hooch & Pooch. I just remembered that today and it made me smile. 

October 26, 2018

Watched the 2011 movie Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close starring Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Thomas Horn, Max von Sydow, Viola Davis and John Goodman. I had never heard of this movie before now. WOW! This movie made me go beyond the ugly cry straight to the hysterical cry. An autistic boy is dealing with losing his father on 9/11 and clashing with his mother in the process. When he finds a key in his father's things, he won't rest until he finds out what the key unlocks and goes on quite a journey. And how great is Max von Sydow? If you haven't seen this, I highly recommend it... just have tissues handy. 

October 24, 2018

Watched the 1992 movie A League of Their Own starring Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Madonna, Lori Petty, Rosie O'Donnell and Megan Cavanagh along with several others in this most amazing cast! The story is fiction, but it's based on the true story of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) which was started to fill the void left in professional baseball when all of the male ball players enlisted in the military during WWII. The movie covers the recruiting, the tryouts, the rejection, the victories and each character's personal struggles being women trying to be the best at what they love in a time when it wasn't common and they weren't taken seriously. Along with their alcoholic, bitter manager, they all figure out what's really important in each of their lives. I've seen this movie probably 50 times by now and I've yet to get through it without crying. I love it!!  

October 23, 2018

Watched the 2004 3D computer-animated movie The Polar Express. I figured since it's almost Halloween, it would be most appropriate to watch a Christmas movie. Tom Hanks voices 5 characters and does the motion-capture for another. A train picks up non-Santa believers and takes them to the North Pole with a lot of adventure along the way. This is really good for the whole family. I can't get over how life-like the characters are. 

October 21, 2018

Watched the 1989 movie The Burbs starring Tom Hanks, Carrie Fisher, Corey Feldman, Bruce Dern and Courtney Gaines among others. The plot is the people who live on a suburban street suspect a neighbor of being murderers and set out to prove it. I remember at the time it came out it didn't get great reviews but it's grown quite a cult following. I fist saw it at a drive-in movie theater in Aurora Colorado along with the Chevy Chase movie Funny Farm. Ah good times. 

October 21, 2018

Watched the 2012 animated web series Electric City created by and starring the voices of Tom Hanks, Holland Taylor, Paul Sheer and Jeanne Tripplehorn among many others. It's not like the Sunday morning cartoons I grew up on and it's definitely for young kids, but worth watching for the older kids and adults. It's a futuristic theme that explores topics like population control, energy usage and crime. I have the feeling though that it ended without being finished... no resolution... like more episodes were planned but the plug was pulled before that could happen. 

October 19, 2018

Watched the 2012 documentary Radioman about a former homeless man in New York who has become one of the most famous extras in movies and TV shows. I've heard of him but didn't realize there was a documentary about him until today. It was so nice to hear all of the famous people talk about him in such an endearing way. He knows everybody. The stars in this documentary were just the tip of the iceberg and there are some huge names like George Clooney, Tom Hanks, Ron Howard, Sandra Bullock, Johnny Depp, Matt Damon, Robin Williams, James Gandolfini, Whoopi Goldberg, Tilda Swinton, Helen Mirren, Jude Law, Josh Brolin, Tina Fey, Sting and Meryl Streep among so many more. He certainly doesn't look like the actor "type" and certainly doesn't live like you would think and actor would live like, but they adore him anyways and that just touches my heart. I wish everyone would care about everyone like that. 

October 19, 2018

Watched the 2017 Saturday Night Live animated feature David S. Pumpkins Halloween Special starring Tom Hanks and narrated by Peter Dinklage. That was cute. I think it's something kids and adults of all ages would enjoy, especially at this time of the year. David Pumpkins is a magical guy who helps the kids get their Halloween candy back from the Raincoat Man who stole it. 

October 19, 2018

I'm really not much of an expert on current music. I listen to some and there are songs I really like, but even as a musician of 45 years, I have a difficult time distinguishing the difference between a lot of the current artists. Their voices are too similar, especially with the young female singers. So for me it's no surprise I wasn't familiar with Carly Rae Jepsen, but I watched the video for her 2015 song I Really Like You since it's listed on Tom Hanks' IMDb page. It was a catchy tune and it was fun seeing him in it. You can find it on YouTube. 

October 19, 2018

Watched the 2005 short film Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon. I was reading reviews about it and some of the negative reviews were by people who were confused thinking this is a documentary and were upset that it was filmed in studios. This is a short film, not a documentary, though it's all factual of real events. If you pay close attention, all of the voices you hear are known actors. Of course Tom Hanks is the narrator, but you'll also hear Morgan Freeman, Rita Wilson, Matt Damon, John Travolta, Peter Scolari, Bryan Cranston, John Corbett, Donnie Wahlberg, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Kevin Pollak, Barry Pepper, Matthew McConaughey, Paul Newman and I'm sure I'm missing several others. I thought it was very informative and very well done. I'm sure any kid interested in space and astronauts would really enjoy this. 

October 19, 2018

Watched the season 5 episode 21 of the 2011 TV show 30 Rock called 100 (part 2). Tom Hanks had a quick cameo in it where he calls George Clooney to talk about taking Tracy Jordan off of the official A list because he's doing television again. I never really got into that show when it originally aired. I may get around to watching all of it some day I'm sure in an actor marathon. 

October 19, 2018

Watched the season 10 episode 5 of the 1982 TV show Happy Days called A Little Case of Revenge. Tom Hanks guest starred as a guy who had been holding a grudge against Fonzi since they were in the 3rd grade when Fonzi pushed him off the slide and he showed up to challenge him to a fight. This was when Happy Days was winding down and had lost a lot of the magic it had in its earlier seasons, but it always had its enjoyable moments... like this episode. 

October 19, 2018

Watched the season 4 episode 23 of the 1982 TV show Taxi called The Road Not Taken where each of the characters tells a story about a turning point in their lives. Tom Hanks was a guest star as a college student who is partially responsible for turning straight-laced Reverend Jim Ignatowski into a brain dead dope head. 

October 19, 2018

Watched an episode of the 1993 Showtime TV Series Fallen Angels called I'll Be Waiting starring Bruno Kirby, Marg Helgenberger, Peter Scolari, John Polito and Tom Hanks. Once again Tom Hanks was also the Director of this episode. A mobster's girlfriend stays holed up in a luxury hotel waiting for him to be released from prison and things don't go so well. I don't recall ever seeing this before. I'll have to see if I can find all of the episodes to watch. I found this one on YouTube. 

October 19, 2018

This shot of Tom Hanks is from the 1994 Bruce Springsteen music video Streets of Philadelphia from the movie Philadelphia, which we'll get to later in this marathon. 

October 19, 2018

Adding to my previous post, there was a TV movie released in 1994 called Vault of Horror I which was a compilation of 3 Tales from the Crypt episodes. The Episode Tom Hanks was in that I just watched was one of them. 

October 19, 2018

Watched the 1992 episode 1 of season 4 of Tales from the Crypt. Tom Hanks not only has a role in this episode, he is also the Director. The episode stars Treat Williams, Frances Sternhagen, Sugar Ray Leonard, Henry Gibson, Tom Hanks and John Kassir as the voice of the Crypt Keeper. A young man seeks older women to seduce, marry, obtain financial control and murder and it backfires on him. I love that show and miss it. 

October 19, 2018

Watched both of Tom Hanks' guest appearances on the 80s TV show Family Ties and Elyse Keaton's younger brother Ned Donnelly. The first was the 2 part episode in season 1 titled "The Fugitive" where he was on the run from the FBI for hiding millions of dollars from the company he worked for. The second was the season 2 episode titled "Say Uncle" where he was still down & out and had become an alcoholic. Too bad he wasn't on more often. That would have been a great recurring character. 

October 19, 2018

Watched the 2002 mockumentary The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch. I love good mockumentaries more than any other genre like This is Spinal Tap, Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman, Groom's Cake and its sequel Birthday Cake, What We Do in the Shadows and A Mighty Wind just to name a few.  This is the sequel to the mockumenatry The Rutles: All You Need is Cash and was created by Eric Idle about a fictitious British rock band that resembles the Beatles, which was Rob Reiner's inspiration for This is Spinal Tap. Over 20 years later, Eric Idle plays a reporter who interviews modern day celebrities in Can't Buy Me lunch such as Tom Hanks, Robin Williams, David Bowie, Billy Connolly, Carrie Fisher, Steve Martin, Conan O'Brien, Garry Shandling, Jimmy Fallon, Bonnie Raitt and Bill Murray among others. All of the mockumentaries I mentioned here are definitely worth watching. 

October 18, 2018

Watched the 1999 movie The Green Mile starring Tom Hanks, David Morse, Michael Clarke Duncan, Bonnie Hunt, James Cromwell, Michael Jeter, Sam Rockwell and Barry Pepper among many others.  This is one of those movies I re-visit from time to time just because it's just so damn perfect. This man with a beautiful soul and an amazing gift to heal is falsely accused of murder and sentenced to death. The prison guards of the green mile get to experience his amazing gift as he helps others but there's nothing they can do to help him. He sees his gift as a curse as he feels all the ugly people put out there all the time. This is a Stephen King story so you can never go wrong with that. I don't want to know anybody who thinks this is a bad movie. 

October 17, 2018

For the past couple of weeks I've been watching episodes of the 1980 sitcom Bosom Buddies starring Tom Hanks, Peter Scolari, Wendy Jo Sperber, Holland Taylor, Donna Dixon and Telma Hopkins and tonight I finished both seasons. I've always loved this show and have always been disappointed that it didn't last longer than just 2 seasons. This is the show that has made Tom Hanks a household name for the last 38 years. Two guys lose their apartment and a friend has them stay with her in an all women's hotel so they have to dress like women to be there. This is one of those shows I hope they never reboot because it would be impossible to capture that heart again.    

October 16, 2018

Watched Tom Hank's 1980 guest star appearance on season 4, episode 1 of The Love Boat with other stars such as Vic Tayback, Nipsey Russell, Doris Roberts and Dennis Cole. This is his first television credit listen on IMDb. He played a jerk who was a thorn in the side of his old college buddy Gopher. That was a great show. I wish they still made shows like that. 

October 14, 2018

Watched the 2016 movie Sully starring Tom Hanks, Aaron Eckhart, Jamey Sheridan, Mike O'Malley, Laura Linney, Chris Bauer and Molly Hagan among many others. This is the first time I've seen it. Most of us will never forget that day in 2009 and the sight of seeing that airplane in the Hudson River in the middle of winter with all of those people lined up on the wings with rescue boats coming at the from every direction. Captain Chesley Sullenberger became an instant hero and media sensation for landing that plane in the river without any loss of life after losing both engines when they collided with a flock of birds. The movie does depict the crash but the main focus is the aftermath and what the pilot and co-pilot had to go through to prove what really happened and dealing with the NTSB. I hadn't watched it before because I knew I'd get emotional...and I did. Be sure to have tissues handy.   

October 14, 2018

Also while I was doing the Victor Garber Marathon, I watched this 2016 documentary called Tom Hanks: A League of His Own where he is interviewed along with many stars like Victor Garber, Barry Pepper, Gary Sinise, Bill Paxton, Snoop Dog, Felicity Jones and Ron Howard about his career and him as a person. Very interesting and I recommend it.  

October 14, 2018

Watched the 1980 horror movie He Knows You're Alone starring Don Scardino, Caitlin O'Heaney, Elizabeth Kemp and Tom Rolfing.  Tom Hanks had a small supporting role in this and it was his first feature film role. We also get the treat of seeing Russell Todd in a small supporting role as well. Those of us who were die-hard Another World fans will always know him as Dr. Jamie Frame. The movie is ok. The typical 80's slasher film that tried too hard to be like Halloween. It's worth seeing at least once. 

October 13, 2018

Watched the 1995 movie Apollo 13 starring Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise, Bill Paxton, Ed Harris and Kathleen Quinlan. Based on the true story of the disastrous 1970 Apollo 13 mission to the moon with astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise and all the people who worked to get them back to earth alive. This is one of those movies you can never watch too many times. I also love that Director Ron Howard always manages to sneak in most of his family in his movies. 

October 13, 2018

Watched the 2016 documentary California Typewriter. Tom Hanks has a whole lot of "Self" credits on IMDb page I didn't tap into. I am mainly focusing on his acting credits for this marathon. However, while trying to decide what to watch tonight, I stumbled across this documentary and decided to watch it. Who knew that a documentary about the different ways people love typewriters would be so interesting, but it is. It held my attention the entire time. The documentary features a few celebrities like Tom Hanks, Sam Shepard and John Mayer who prefer writing with typewriters instead of computers, along with people who collect typewriters, people trying to make a living selling and repairing typewriters in a world where computers are putting them out of business, people who use typewriters as art... many very interesting stories. I'm glad I stumbled across it. 

October 12, 2018

Watched the 1982 made for TV movie Mazes and Monsters starring Tom Hanks, Wendy Crewson, David Wallace and Chris Makepeace. At the time Chris Makepeace had my heart after having just been in the movies My Bodyguard and Meatballs. This movie is based on a true story about a college student who goes missing after losing all sense of reality and getting stuck in a fantasy role-play game. In reality the gave was Dungeons & Dragons, in this movie the game is Mazes and Monsters. I've seen this movie many times over the years. It's on YouTube at the moment if you want to see it. 

October 11, 2018

Watched the 1988 movie Punchline starring Tom Hanks and Sally Field. The movie is about people who dream of being stand-up comics and perform at a the Gas Station Comedy Club and the drama of their personal lives. I saw this movie when it first came out and loved it. I didn't understand why the critics were so brutal, but I figured out that because it was Tom Hanks and Sally Field, people naturally thought it would be a rolling on the floor with laughter movie, and it's not. It has some very funny moments, but it's really a drama and has some very emotional moments. With that in mind, watch it! 

October 8, 2018

I'm going to start this marathon with the 1993 movie Sleepless in Seattle starring Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Victor Garber, Rita Wilson and Ross Malinger. I just recently watched this when I did my Victor Garber marathon so it's still very fresh in my mind. A widow's son calls a radio station in hopes of finding a wife for his dad. Such a sweet movie everyone should see at least once! 

October 8, 2018

The first thing I always do before I begin an actor marathon is set up an Excel spreadsheet listing all of their credits listed on IMDb and divide it into Film and Television. This makes it easier for me to know where online to look for them. As I watch the movies and TV shows I'll highlight the lines yellow. The goal is to have all of the lines yellow. If after exhausting every resource I know of and I'm unable to find something, I'll highlight it red. I now have my Tom Hanks page all set up and I'm ready to begin the marathon.