Quote:
Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins
Tom Hanks made you care about the fate of a ****ing volleyball and had legitimate on-screen chemistry with a dog. He was able to turn a career as a successful comedic actor into maybe the most well-rounded American actor of his generation, and he did so without ever becoming a parody of himself, like Pacino and DeNiro did.
He lost thirty pounds playing a lawyer dying of AIDS in one of the first major Hollywood treatments of the disease, followed that up by playing a mentally impaired Southerner, then played an astronaut, and then a high-school English teacher turned Army Ranger, and did all believably. The only roles he had in between were voice work and a bit part in a film that he was mostly behind the camera for.
He's taken mostly safe roles since then and he's largely transitioned into more of a producer than actor, but he's an example of an artist that can have major public appeal and legitimate acting chops simultaneously.
|
For christ's sake Hamas...are you working as his professional biographer or the caretaker of his wikipedia page?
Nobody gave a shit about the volleyball. Cast Away was a ****ing horrible movie. Hanks might as well have been a cardboard cutout for the range that role demanded.
You can't parody Hanks because he hasn't had a role worthy of parodying like DeNiro in Goodfellas or Pacino in Serpico. (Or a large number of other roles in movies that are ****ing terrific from an acting perspective.)
He's endeared himself to the masses because he is everyman. He's the same ****ing guy in 99% of the movies he does. The audience relates to him because they know him. He's ****ing the Applebees of movie acting.