Movie - A Man Called Otto

PG-13 (2:06)

Wide 1/12/23

Viewed date at 2/21/23 at South Point Casino Cinema with Fran

IMBd: 7.6/10

RT Critic:  69  Audience:  97

Critic's Consensus:  Check all cynicism at the door and allow A Man Called Otto to tug at your heartstrings with its tried-and-true tune -- it just might sing. 

Cag:  5/Loved it, unexpectedly 

based on the book A Man Called Ove by (which I didn't read)

Tom Hanks

My comments:  Otto can't live his life without his beloved wife, so decides to end it all, with hilarious consequences.  When the new neighbors across the street, a young transgender guy who loved Otto's teacher/wife, and a stray cat all come into his life at once during a snowy Pittsburg winter, Otto's grumpy, unhappy life changes. Very well done movie...and of course, Tom Hanks plays it perfectly.  His own son is cast as the younger Otto, which I personally think is quite cool.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Based on the comical and moving New York Times bestseller, A Man Called Otto tells the story of Otto Anderson (Tom Hanks), a grumpy widower whose only joy comes from criticizing and judging his exasperated neighbors. When a lively young family moves in next door, he meets his match in quick-witted and very pregnant Marisol, leading to an unexpected friendship that will turn his world upside-down.

MOVIE - Inferno

PG-13 (2:02)

Wide release 10/27/16

Viewed Roadhouse on Halloween with Cyra!

RT Critic:  20  Audience:  43
Critic's Consensus:  Senselessly frantic and altogether shallow, Inferno sends the Robert Langdon trilogy spiraling to a convoluted new low.

Cag:  3/Liked it once I started understanding what was going on....but not great

Directed by Ron Howard

Sony Pictures

Based on the book by Dan Brown

Tom Hanks, Ben Foster, Felicity Jones

My comments:  For the first third of the movie I was totally and completely confused, as I imagine anyone watching this would be, unless perhaps they'd read the book.  There were three or four different factions of people working against?? with?? each other and major flashbacks.  As it slowly started making sense I enjoyed it more.  You had to really pay attention, and it would help if one had a tiny sense of 

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Tom Hanks reprises his role as Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon in director Ron Howard and screenwriter David Koepp's adaptation of author Dan Brown's bestselling novel Inferno, which finds Langdon using Dante's The Divine Comedy as a tool in the race to prevent a devastating global pandemic. 

MOVIE - Sully

PG-13 (1:36)

Wide release Sept. 9, 2016

Viewed date at ElCon with Sheila on Monday, 9/12/16

RT Critic: 84   Audience:  89
Critic's Consensus:   As comfortingly workmanlike as its protagonist, Sully makes solid use of typically superlative work from its star and director to deliver a quietly stirring tribute to an everyday hero.

Cag: 5.5 - Tribute to an "everyday hero"

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Warner Brothers

Based on a true story

Tom Hanks, Aaron Eckhart, Laura Linney

My comments: No complaints about this movie, that's for sure!  Sheila always gets me to go to these biographical movies that I don't usually want to go to, then I'm SO glad I did.  This was put together brilliantly (though I hate to give credit to Clint Eastwood (bleh) he did an incredible job directing), the way the story was told was brilliant. I realize that the hearings about possible other ways for Sully to more safely land the plane were the only way that there was enough for a full-length movie, but Eastwood and Hanks hit the nail on the head.  This was a wonderful movie, more-than highly recommended.

RT Summary:  On January 15, 2009, the world witnessed the "Miracle on the Hudson" when Captain "Sully" Sullenberger glided his disabled plane onto the frigid waters of the Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 aboard. However, even as Sully was being heralded by the public and the media for his unprecedented feat of aviation skill, an investigation was unfolding that threatened to destroy his reputation and his career.

MOVIE - Hologram for the King

R (1:30)

Limited release 4/22/16

Viewed date at El Con Monday, 5/2/16 - no one was at the movies, any of them!

RT Critic: 65   Audience:  87
Critic's Consensus:  A Hologram for the King amiably ambles through a narrative desert, saved by an oasis of a performance from the ever-dependable Tom Hanks.

Cag:  5/ Loved it
Directed by Tom Tykwer

Roadside Attractions
From the Novel by Dave Eggers

Tom Hanks

My comments:  This hasn't gotten the best of ratings, and practically no one's heard of it, so I wasn't expecting much.  But I really enjoyed this movie, other than for a few minor details.  The setting, Saudi Arabia (with its people, religion, culture etal) was fascinating...if it was depicted correctly.  The story was intriguing.  The protagonist Alan Clay, played by Tom Hanks, was a great study - his depression, anxiety, and observations about the world around him.  I particularly enjoyed his friendship with the "local guy."  And then there was the "situation" with the strange lump on his back....  So what did I not like?  All of a sudden it was the end of the story.  So much of the beginning took its time telling the story, and then - poof - it was over and done.  Voila!  Too quickly, I think....

Roger Ebert.com review here. (3 stars)

RT Summary:  Cultures collide when an American businessman (Tom Hanks) is sent to Saudi Arabia to close what he hopes will be the deal of a lifetime. Baffled by local customs and stymied by an opaque bureaucracy, he eventually finds his footing with the help of a wise-cracking taxi driver (Alexander Black) and a beautiful Saudi doctor (Sarita Choudhury).

MOVIE - Bridge of Spies

PG-13 (2:15)

Wide release 10.16-15

ElCon with Sheila

RT Critic: 91   Audience:   89

Cag:  6/Awesome

Directed by Steven Spielberg
Written by Coen Brothers

Dreamworks

Tom Hanks - Mark Rylance was particularly GOOD

My comments:  This was one interesting, fascinating movie.  So much history!

RT Summary:  Tom Hanks stars as the American attorney tasked with negotiating the release of a U-2 spy plane pilot who was shot down over Russia at the height of the Cold War in this historical drama.

MOVIE - Captain Phillips

PG-13 (2:13)

Wide release 10/11/13

Viewed 10/24/13 at El Con with Sheila

RT Critic: 94  Audience: 93

Cag:  5 It was really, really good

Directed by Paul Greengrass

Sony Pictures

Tom Hanks

Fandango synopsis:  Captain Phillips is a multi-layered examination of the 2009 hijacking of the U.S. container ship Maersk Alabama by a crew of Somali pirates. It is — through director Paul Greengrass’s distinctive lens — simultaneously a pulse-pounding thriller, and a complex portrait of the myriad effects of globalization. The film focuses on the relationship between the Alabama’s commanding officer, Captain Richard Phillips (two time Academy Award®-winner Tom Hanks), and the Somali pirate captain, Muse (Barkhad Abdi), who takes him hostage. Phillips and Muse are set on an unstoppable collision course when Muse and his crew target Phillips’ unarmed ship; in the ensuing standoff, 145 miles off the Somali coast, both men will find themselves at the mercy of forces beyond their control.

My comments: There is a really interesting Los Angeles Times article about Barkhad Abdi, the Somali actor who plays the antagonist here.  I found it really interesting.

Based on a real-life event that took place off the coast of Somalia in 2009.

This was a different genre of movie than I usually go for.  For our monthly "movie date" the choices this week were Gravity and Captain Phillips.  I'd seen the preview for both - many times - and I know they would both be anxiety-ridden nail-biters.  I was reluctant to see either in this particular period of my life.  I decided that Captain Phillips would be the better of two evils, and I'm, of course, very glad that I went to see it.

Yes, it was a nail-biter.  Even though I knew....more or less....what was going to happen (and this helped) I found myself holding my breath a lot, especially near the end.  It was really well done.  Tom Hanks final scene was amazing, and Sheila and I talked a lot about the four Somalis - they did a wonderful, believable job.  Barkhad Abdi, particularly, used facial expressions that made you realize that this character was a real human being, someone trying to dig himself into a better life, not exactly or entirely a monster.

I'm glad I saw it.

Movie - Larry Crowne

reviewed as "bland and conventional," I'll call it "light and entertaining"
Released 7-1-11
PG-13 (1:38)
Monday, 7-11-11 at Orleans 18 (Las Vegas) by myself
RT:  36%  cag: 83%
Director:  Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Wilmer Valderrama & Gugu Mbatha-Raw

This movie is about a makeover, the makeover of a man. This is Tom Hanks’s show. Julia Roberts did her part really well (disdain and boredom were acted superbly!), but it is ultimately the trip Hanks takes changing himself – both mentally and physically – after 20 years as a Navy cook and a handful of years at the local “big mart” employee-of-the-month. After reading the reviews I was looking forward to a ho-hum movie, but I found this fun to watch and really quite thought-povoking.

The Julia Roberts part could have been played by any pretty womanl Two parts that really stole the show were the two young, hip scooter enthusiasts who take Larry Crowne under their wing and teach him how to live in the current era...including his choice of clothing.  I think this movie had a lot to say and said it well, and the reviewer that panned it are way out in left field.  It may not be the best movie of the year, but it's linkable, enjoyable, and just plain fun.