Fricassee Five Friday: Tom Hanks

Spiced Just Right

Toy Story 2
Toy Story 2 is one of my all time favourite Pixar flicks. In my opinion it is the definitive moment when Pixar proved that they were here to stay. Toy Story 2 reminded us that great animation and strong stories are both needed to make a successful animated feature.

Big
This film still holds up well, it takes me back to my youth when I see it. Seriously, who did not want to be in that keyboard playing scene?

Forrest Gump
It was hard to exclude Philadelphia from this list but there simply was not enough room. Out of Hanks’ two Oscar winning performances, Forrest Gump is the film that has the greater replay value.

A League of Their Own
“There is no crying in baseball” A classic line that I have said to myself many times on the softball field. Tom Hanks gives a great performance in this film while still allowing his female co-stars to shine as well.

Saving Private Ryan
Here is another example of too many quality films and not enough space for them all. Not only is Saving Private Ryan a great war movie, it also help to pave the way for both Band of Brothers and The Pacific.


Lay Off The Cheese

The Bonfire of the Vanities
I have seen this film a few times and I still cannot figure what they were trying to achieve? The film does not work as a dark comedy, it is too light to be a serious drama, and none of the characters are likeable to begin with.

Joe Versus the Volcano
Remember when Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan were the brief face of romantic comedies? Sure they have great chemistry together but it did not really meld perfectly until Sleepless in Seattle. Joe was just too silly to work any level.

The Polar Express
I never understood the love that this film received from both critics and movie goers. The animation did not reach the level of realism it strived for; and the story was as engaging as you would hope from a Christmas tale. No matter how hard the studio tries, The Polar Express is not going to be considered a holiday classic in my books. I would rather watch A Christmas Story than this film any day.

That Thing You Do!
Tom Hanks feature film directorial debut had its moment but was ultimately a rather forgettable film.

Turner & Hooch
Before mall cops were all the rage, Hollywood had a fascination with lawmen and their dogs. Both Turner & Hooch and K-9 were released in the same year and both were erased from my mind a year later. If I had to choose one over the other I would pick K-9; but that is the equivalent on picking being punched in the face over being kicked in the groin.

A Christmas Carol Out of Tune

A Christmas Carol

The massive success of Avatar only cements that 3D films are here to stay. So the question now becomes what requirements does a movie need to warrant this technology? Would Inglourious Basterds or Up in the Air be better or worse if they were done in 3D?

Robert Zemeckis follows up his Old English 3D epic, Beowulf, by revisiting the holiday terrain he first ventured to with his 3D movie, The Polar Express. A Christmas Carol finds Zemeckis tackling Charles Dickens classic tale of Ebenezer Scrooge (Jim Carrey) who is visited by three ghosts (all Carrey) on the eve of Christmas. The three ghosts will not only show Scrooge the errors of his past and present, but how Scrooge's decisions may lead towards an unsettling future.

Zemeckis has been one of the prominent filmmakers who has been championing the 3D movement for that past 5 years now. While the animation in Zemeckis's 3D films keeps improving, the 3D technology continues to thwart his overall storytelling. A Christmas Carol follows a ever growing number of films that serves no real purpose in 3D format at all. The flow of each ghosts' segment is constantly interrupted for no other purpose than to justify the extra price of admission. As a result we are provided with 3D scenes of Scrooge being shot into space, speeding down the street on a soda bottle, etc. Sure these scenes may please the really young kids in attendance, whose attention spans are small to being with, but for the rest of us this is just plain annoying.

The need to justify the 3D format hurts the one element of the film where Zemeckis actually got it right, the story. Although the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge has been interpreted numerous times, it was actually refreshing to see how close Zemeckis stayed to Charles Dickens' original story. While many incarnations of A Christmas Carol have glossed over, or simply left out, the religious element of the text; Zemeckis does not shy away from it at all. Robert Zemeckis even goes as far as making the ghost of Christmas-present God himself. There is even a great scene where the ghost of Christmas-present, after being questioned by Scrooge, chastises those who use his name as grounds for conducting evil deeds. It is moments like this, and not the 3D snowflakes, where A Christmas Carol really connects with the audience.

Another thing connects, but ultimately gets lost in Zemeckis' 3D excess, is Jim Carrey's performance. Carrey actually does a really good job not only as Scrooge but the three ghosts as well. As Scrooge, Carrey finds the right balance where we believe him as botha crotchety old-man and a misguided soul who just wants one last shot at redemption. In A Christmas Carol, Carrey is actually the best he has been since his 2004 combo of Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. It is just too bad that Zemeckis inadvertently overshadows Carrey's work with his need to have objects flying off the screen. If A Christmas Carol had just played it straight, it might actually be worth recommending. Unfortunately Zemeckis tries too hard to create a 3D experience for a picture that should not have been in 3D in the first place.