![]() ![]() I believe that Hanks’ story telling ability is what sets him apart and made him perfect as Disney. On the whole a valuable, yet sadly overlooked, gem in Mr. Hanks is up for the challenge, but he seems to be combatting the all-American image he has built up for several decades turning this story more into a white-washed feel-good success story instead of the juxtaposition it really is with a morally flawed man clawing his way to finally use the power he has in Congress to do the only moral thing he seems to have been a part of. Tom Hanks has the near impossible role in playing Charlie Wilson, however, as the congressman was a known philanderer, and was investigated for doing cocaine and other scrupulous behavior. Everyone is perfectly cast and the film has strong humor amidst an intriguing story. The Texas democratic congressman who made this all happen was Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) working alongside CIA agent Gus Avrakotos (Hoffman) with financing and help with political leveraging from Houston Billionaire, Joanne Herring (Roberts). The film is a strong behind-the-scenes look at how in the 1980’s, America was able to get Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Pakistan (an impossible political pairing even today) to work together to funnel weapons and supplies to the Afghanistan freedom fighters who were taking on the invading Soviet Union. Starring Tom Hanks, the cast also includes Julia Roberts, the late-great Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, John Slattery, Om Puri, Rizwan Manji, and Ned Beatty. ![]() Written by Aaron Sorkin ( The West Wing, The Social Network) and directed by Mike Nichols ( The Graduate, The Birdcage) in his final directorial effort, the film boasts as much talent on camera as it does off. Sandwiched in between these films, I found a smaller film that seemed to do very little at the box office despite it’s enormous amount of talent. The later period has some good ones, such as Road to Perdition, and it also has Hanks doing his best to keep the Dan Brown novels respectable with The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons. Tom Hanks’ “late” period has had some solid entries, but nothing that is as known as his classic period films of the 1980’s and 90’s, with everything from Splash to Big, and of course Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryan, and A League of Their Own. His careful choices have become ever so much riskier ( Cloud Atlas, The Ladykillers), even as his established reputation takes greater root in the cultural soil. In 1995, he would make his directorial debut with the beloved That Thing You Do! Other major acting work includes Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan, Ron Howard’s Apollo 13, and Frank Darabont’s The Green Mile.Īll these many years later, Tom Hanks continues to impress us with his resonant, relatable performances. Indeed, in Julie Salomon’s absorbing chronicle of the making and unmaking of Brian De Palma’s The Bonfire of the Vanities, The Devil’s Candy, Hanks is one of very few to emerge from the book unscathed. However true or untrue that reputation is, we certainly have little trouble buying into it. It’s moments like these that have earned him a reputation as one of Hollywood’s nicest guys. In that moment, one that I assumed would be that “comedy actor’s” one and only shot at the Oscar, Hanks’ genuine nature shined though, as he understood that some things were more important than winning an award. ![]() (the Oscar went to Dustin Hoffman for Rain Man). ![]() In the very moment of his name not being read, Hanks leaded over to give his wife a kiss. As a comedy actor, I suppose he had no chance of winning, and knew it. I vividly recall when he scored his first Best Actor nomination for the 1988 smash Big. Hailing from television situation comedy (specifically the straight-dudes-in-drag series Bosom Buddies), semi-lowbrow, then mainstream comedy was how the actor spent much of the 1980s. Rather, it’s a testament to not only the deep, essential power of the Toy Story films, but in a way, to the very scope and resonance of the rest of filmography.īut before Hanks achieved other immortality as Forrest Gump or broke ground playing an AIDS sufferer in Philadelphia, he was a comedy actor. This is not to say that the entirety of Hanks’ considerable career is paltry in the face of a long-running voice acting gig. And yes, I suspect Hanks has in fact come around to understanding this. In that animated instant classic, Hanks once again voiced Woody the vintage toy cowboy. “Do you think he knows that this is by far his most important work, that it will go on to outshine everything else he’s ever done or will do?” That was by brother’s question to me about Tom Hanks, just after seeing Toy Story 3. ![]()
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