Question:
I believe Tom Hanks is a great actor and a very nice, like-able guy. I wonder what people think his best movie is and what other people think of him.

Choices:
Saving Private Ryan
Forrest Gump
Big
Cast Away
Other

 

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Forest Gump Hands Down then;
2. Cast Away
3. Saving Private Ryan
4. Big

Definately "Forrest Gump"!! With "Saving Private Ryan" coming in at a close second. "Big" was a fun movie but not that substantial and "Cast Away" was the biggest bunch of pretentious Hollywood crap to come out of the mill in a loong while.

I agree with forrest gump being his best movie and saving private ryan right behind. I havent really seen cast away since I first saw it in theaters though I remember it being good, atleast not that bad. I have to see it again though to make a real judgement.

Castaway was good as long as Tom was on the island, afterwards, when he goes back home, it just gets very syrupy.

My favourite film of his is actually The 'Burbs, I don't know why, I've always loved this movie and Tom is so funny in it.

His best film is definitely Forrest Forrest Gump.

I loved Forrest Gump. I just bought the 2-disc DVD with all the specials. Its really cool.


Did you guys hear that he has just been cast as Robert Langdon in the Da Vinci code. I think it should be pretty cool... what do you think?

I am not very excited about Hanks in the "Code". He hasn't been in a good movie in years. I am hoping it will be a comeback for him, but that is all.

I like him quite a bit, but more for his comic roles in the 80s than his turn as a leading mana of dramas in the early 1990's. But he's had a fair share of great movies in both phases of his career. Here's how I rank him.

1. "Big"
2. "Philadelphia"
3. "Joe Versus the Volcano"
4. "Splash"
5. "A League of Their Own"
6. "The Burbs"
7. "Forest Gump"
8. "Catch Me If You Can"
9. "Cast Away"
10. "The Money Pit"

"Saving Private Ryan" I didn't care for that much. It was alright, but nothing profound to me.

I was going to put this under Jude Law because that is where it is being discussed but found it more appropriate to go under this. People are saying that recently Hanks has been in bad movies and hasnt been choosing well. He has had a couple bad movies recently, but is that really a surprise considering that pretty much every actor is in bad movies sometimes. Now his past 4 large movies.

Polar express- Ok, beautiful cinematography. Not that great of a movie but ok.

Terminal- A funny movie where Hanks plays a different role.

The Ladykillers- Havent seen. Heard from some very funny, others not.

Road to Perdition- Good movie. Good acting. Well done.

These are all recent movies of his. Do you really consider all of these bad movies?

I think they are all decent movies, just not the usual Tom Hanks-blockbusters that people expect out of him. I think he is just at a point in his career where he can choose movies that he is excited about, and not depend so much on having a big money-maker. Those movies may not have done incredibly well at the box offices, but they definitely show diversity in his acting ability.

Well I for one thought "The Terminal" was horrible horrible horrible

I thought the Terminal was disappointing too but "horrible" I think is a bit too harsh. The film started off well as a decent black comedy and Hanks is funny. But Zeta-Jones is terrible, the ending, frankly, sucks and the film becomes a very improbable romantic comedy. A real shame.
Definitely Spielberg's weakest film. And Hanks' performance is nothing compared to his performance in The Ladykillers in which he was brilliant.

Why is it that people dislike "The Terminal." Not Spielberg's best but not his weakest film. I thought it was better than "A.I." "Hook" and "Jurassic Park."

Sure it was a little "light" but it was very funny, and just made you feel good.

I thought that Tom Hanks performance was excellent. Mostly Tom Hanks plays the same kind of character, usually portraying an average american man. Not that this is bad, for he performs all his parts very well, but when he has to try to be someone who he's not, such as in "Forrest Gump" or "The Terminal" it is even better.

I agree that Tom Hanks' performance in "The Terminal" was great. But I am going to have to blame Spielberg, unfortunately, it just didn't have direction, the plot was unbelievable (in a negative way). The only thing that saves this movie is Hanks just like in "The Ladykillers" without Hanks there is no reason to even care about the film. It is just too cliche in my opinion, which is the same reason that I didn't really like "Collateral", but that is just one strange man's opinion.

Arguably the biggest movie star in the world or at a minimum on the short list for biggest movie star (the only other one on that list may be Tom Cruise) but I have never really warmed up to him. I find him bland.

I think his best role was probably PHILADELPHIA. He is just too much an everyman for me.

He also made a lot of bad films in the eighties. There was dumb comedy after dumb comedy before he finally found his legs in the nineties and started to get better roles.

My top fave Tom Hanks movies:


5. A League Of Their Pwn. - It's ironic that, a game mostly associated with male players, a film which focuses on the women's first professional entry into the sport, would be the one that, for me, truly captures the feeling which best reflects of why this sport is truly an American pasttime. That the purpose of a game is, no matter how the political world events may be turbulently transpiring, we all can just escape for a little while, catch a ballgame & hopefully return into the real world with our spirits a little higher & our perspectives a little bit clearer. Because, as we all know by now (the one person whom you would expect to be the first to forget this point), there is no crying in baseball.


4. Saving Private Ryan Spielberg. Hanks. A world war two pic.
You do the math.

3. Forrest Gump - I like my shrimp barbecued, sauteed, creoled, pan fried, deep fried, stir fried, peppered, as a soup, stew, salad, with pineapple, lemon, coconut, boiled, broiled, kebobbed........

2. Road To Perdition - A quality film that adresses something that rarely gets any notice from any mobster movie: the relationship of a gangster with his kid(s). Just this one aspect of the mafia lifestyle is enough to open a new set of ideas for future movies plotlines that focus on those in the world of organized crime.

1. Big - In this movie, Tom Hanks isn't really big.
He's just actin' like someone who is.

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Tom Hanks can take characters others would make so dull they would die from our forgetfulness, and make them so unique they take on a life of their own in culture. Can we imagine anyone else playing Forest Gump? Could anyone else birth compassion in us for a gay man, dying from AIDS, and fighting for dignity at a time when we were terrified as some preached AIDS to be the wrath of God against those of a different sexual orientation? His poetic, passionate explanation of the aria playing as the postlude to his own wake to Denzel Washington should go down as one of the most memorable performances that year in film. Hanks is a gem.