A Celebration of Tom Hanks' Films

A Celebration of the Films of Tom Hanks

By Joe Cotter (Year 13)

 Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. He has earned and been nominated for numerous awards during his career, including winning a Golden Globe for Best Actor and an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Philadelphia and a Golden Globe, an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a People's Choice Award for Best Actor for his role in Forrest Gump, and earning the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film from the BAFTAs in 2004.





My Top 5 Tom Hanks Films 

5. The Terminal

My number 5 is The Terminal. Tom Hanks plays Viktor Navorski from the country Krakozhia, who arrives at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, only to find that his passport is suddenly no longer valid due to the outbreak of a civil war in his homeland. As a result, the United States no longer recognizes Krakozhia as a sovereign nation, and he is not permitted to either enter the country or return home. It is a comedy and Tom Hanks plays the character well as you sympathise him and feel bad for him at not being able to leave the country yet his determination to make it work. You also feel happy for him when he tries to talk to the girl who he is obviously in love with (played by Catherine Zeta Jones)

4. Philadelphia

My number 4 is Philadelphia. Philadelphia is a 1993 American drama film and one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to acknowledge HIV/AIDS, homosexuality, and homophobia. Tom Hanks played Andrew Beckett, who is a senior associate at the largest corporate law firm in Philadelphia. Beckett is not open about his homosexuality at the law firm, and doesn’t let them know that he has AIDS. He performs brilliantly in it and you sympathise the character emphatically when he passed away at the end of the film, and also how Denzel Washington manages to change his homophobic ways makes you believe just how much Tom Hanks character played a part in that.

3. Toy Story (1, 2 and 3)

Toy story 3 is a classic animation films made in the late 90’s and is in my opinion the third best film Tom Hanks has appeared in (although he wasn’t actually in the film, he just voiced a character). Tom Hanks voiced Woody, who along with Buzz Lightyear was the two most known characters in the film. In the first film you sympathise the character as Buzz Lightyear overtakes him as the favourite toy when Andy gets him as a birthday present. In my opinion he voiced the character great and made the character for me.

2. Saving Private Ryan

Number two for me is Saving Private Ryan. Tom Hanks plays Army Rangers Captain John H. Miller and the film is about Tom Hanks and his squad as they try and search for a paratrooper, Private First Class James Francis Ryan, who is the last-surviving brother of four servicemen. It is set in 1944 during the invasion of Normandy in World War II. It was directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat. The film is notable for its graphic and realistic portrayal of war, and for the intensity of its opening 27 minutes, which depict the Omaha Beach assault of June 6, 1944. Tom Hanks plays the character wonderfully and makes you feel as though he truly is a real leader and that you would trust him.

1. Forrest Gump

In my opinion Forrest Gump is Tom Hanks best performance in any given film. The story depicts several decades in the life of Forrest Gump, who Tom Hanks plays, who is a naïve and slow-witted yet athletically prodigious native of Alabama who witnesses, and in some cases influences, some of the defining events of the latter half of the 20th century in the United States.
Forrest Gump is straight away recognized as very much uneducated and dumb yet when he saves everyone at Vietnam he makes you believe that you don’t need to be smart to be a hero and he gives everyone hope. You sympathise him when everyone he loves passes away yet he manages to do them all proud and amazes people with his talents (especially in ping pong!)

Touching the Void - Movie Review

Touching the Void
Review by Micheline Macavoy

Have you ever had a dream where you are falling, falling into the unknown? Unable to know what is going to happen to you or whether or not you will survive this traumatic affair? This thrilling documentary film, ‘Touching the Void’, directed by Kevin Macdonald in 2003, is just as frightening as your nightmares. This true story tells the tale of two British mountain climbers, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, who came face to face with death whilst climbing a hazardous peak in the Peruvian Andes. ‘Touching The Void’ is a gripping tale of ordinary men coping with extraordinary circumstances.

 The cinematography in this film is out of this world, much like the exceptional landscapes. The establishing shots of the beautiful locations create a surreal juxtaposition between the traumatic events in the film and the exquisite natural beauty of the snowy mountain ranges.  How could a landscape this surreal cause such trauma? The pinnacle of this breathtaking documentary is this disaster in which as they scaled the snowy peak with "no margin for error, no helicopter rescue and no 999", disaster struck. Simpson shattered his knee joint as he hit the ground. This terror put the pair’s physical and mental abilities to the test, as well as their friendship. Will Yates risk his life to try and save his friend? Will either of them make it out of the perilous depths of the Andes Mountains?

The focus on the success of the human spirit is the frank sincerity of both men in relating their stories. Yates' admission that he spent most of his voyage down the mountain trying to think up a story that would make him "look better" makes him unexpectedly compassionate. Meanwhile, Simpson's account of sitting alone in an ice crevasse waiting for death while musing on the existence of God is harrowing, particularly since he came to the conclusion that he was completely alone in the universe.

           

The documentary interviews provide insight into the emotions that Simpson and Yates were feeling on their brave and traumatic expedition. The interviews provide a strong narrative to the reconstructions and enable the audience to gain a true insight into the reality of their courageous story. The reconstructed footage of their expedition allows the audience to witness the scale and scariness of this amazing true story.

           

‘Touching the Void’ is a first class film and the true story in the icing on the top of a dangerously hazardous mountain. 

            

Mamma Mia - Movie Review

 Mamma Mia

Review by Shelby Silver

Directed by: Phyllida Lloyd
Starring: Meryl Streep , Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Julie Walters, Amanda Seyfried, Dominic Cooper, Stellan Skarsgard

Much described like a pop music fairy tale, Mamma Mia! Is one of those films that is sure to divide the audience in two, this movie is very much like Marmite, you either love it or you hate it, and the only way to decide how much you enjoy it is how much you can tolerate the ever-lasting ABBA, and if you can’t stand them, well then this movie isn’t made for you in the first place. A some-what cheesy adaptation of the smash hit musical Mamma Mia! This movie (for the most of you) is guaranteed to have you dancing around your living room for sure.

Despite the outdated artist, the target audience has been chosen wisely to the teenage girl audience due to the teen girl fantasy of escaping the real world, living in a real-life musical where average people break out in song and dance whilst sliding down roofs, jumping out of windows and swinging from ladders, marrying the man of your dreams with the wedding of your dreams and then living happily ever after together on a sunny Mediterranean island.

Mamma Mia! Follows the story of Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) and her three best friend’s pre-wedding antics. Sophie is desperate to marry her long-term boyfriend Sky (Dominic Cooper) on the Greek island she grew up in; Kalokairi, there is just one thing stopping her from fulfilling her dream wedding, she doesn’t exactly know who her father is to walk her down aisle but she has her suspicions. This being Her Mother’s (Meryl Streep) best kept secret. However through much investigation Sophie has managed to narrow it down to three main suspects; architect Sam (Pierce Brosnan), banker Harry (Colin Firth) and traveler writer Bill (Stellan Skarsgard). These chosen three have all been invited to the exclusive wedding without knowing why, and without Sophie’s mother knowing. Sophie is convinced she will know who her father is at first sight, but it doesn’t exactly pan out the way she expects and finds herself in a bit of a mess.

This movie has that feel-good charm that all musical adaptations seem to have. It’s easy to watch and doesn’t really take much concentration to get into it and if you can deal with the cheesy music, the plot isn’t all that bad.

Student Short Films - Practice Task 2013

The Task

At the end of Year 12, students on the Film Studies course were given the task to create a short film under the following restrictions:

It had to be written, planned, shot and edited in two weeks.
It had to be no more than 3 minutes long.
It had to include the line of dialogue, "That's definitely not what this situation needs right now."
It had to include a toothbrush in some way.

The films produced were of a very high quality especially considering the very short time frame they had to do it in.

The Films

My Top 3 Crime Dramas

My Top 3 Crime Dramas
By Katie Power



1. Whitechapel

Broadcast on ITV 1 since February 2009, and has completed 3 series. Starring Rupert Penry-Jones as DI Joseph Chandler, Phil Davis as DS Ray Miles, and Steve Pemberton as Edward Buchan.

The reason for why Whitechapel is my favourite crime drama is because it doesn’t necessarily follow the typical crime dramas such as The Bill. Whitechapel includes exciting storylines, including the copycat murders of Jack the Ripper, with paranormal events included. The main characters within Whitechapel all have diverse roles and storylines. Steve Pemberton’s character in Whitechapel is one of his best yet; he plays a crime based historian, mainly a Ripperologist, who is fascinated by well know crimes in history, and is an expert in analysing copycat cases of Jack the Ripper. He is extremely passionate about each historic case, and with this he starts to annoy Ray Miles. Rupert Penry-Jones character suffers with OCD, which effects him when he is stressed, and I think this is portrayed really well. Phil Davis character is most probably the best one in Whitechapel; I love his dry sense of humour and his sarcasm, even when he is in the most dangerous of situations.


2. Luther

Broadcast on BBC 1 since May 2010, and has completed 3 series. Starring Idris Elba as DCI John Luther, and Warren Brown as DS Justin Ripley.

Luther is a crime drama, which also includes psychological aspects. As I enjoy psychology and I’m interested in criminology, it makes me enjoy watching Luther and expands my interest in the psychology of murderers. In my personal opinion, DCI John Luther is the best crime drama detective of all time. He is obsessive, dangerous, dedicated and fixated on the motivations of the criminals, but with these traits it makes him one of the finest detectives, and it is one of Idris Elba’s best work since The Wire. Luther includes a subgenre of psychological horror, which makes it stand out from all of the standard crime dramas, and this is why Luther is so successful because it provides further entertainment for the audience.

3. Ashes to Ashes

Broadcast on BBC 1 since February 2008, with the third and final series broadcast from April – May 2010. Starring Philip Glenister as Gene Hunt, Keeley Hawes as Alex Drake, Dean Andrews as Ray Carling and Marshall Lancaster as Chris Skelton.

Ashes to Ashes is a police based crime drama with a subgenre of time travel, and is the sequel of Life on Mars. Gene Hunt is probably one of the most loved characters with his straight talking personality, being very corrupt with in the police force and having a love-hate relationship with Alex Drake. However, one of my favourite characters in Ashes to Ashes has to be Chris Skelton, who is the most cheeky and loveable characters with his sense of humour and naivety. What I love most about Ashes to Ashes has to be the mystery of how Alex Drake had woke up in 1981 and the importance of the people she is working with, mainly Gene Hunt, who ended up being the one who had brought her there.

My Top 5 Tarantino Movies

My top five films by Quentin Tarantino.

By Kieran Brown (Year 13)

5. Kill Bill Volume 1 and 2 (2003 – 2004). 

Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Michael Madsen and Daryl Hannah. 

Reason – Like Inglourious Basterds, Kill Bill mixes the Western genre with Martial Arts. For example the non-diegitic music and the stand offs, as a film fan it is easy to admire these sort of things. Uma Thurman is another reason why Kill Bill is such an entertaining film, she is funny, violent and is enjoyable to watch, her performance is highly underrated, she is just as good and memorable compared to her performance as Mia in Pulp Fiction. The action scenes especially when the bride fights the crazy 88 draws you inn and are also funny. Although the film is incredibly violent and gory it adds to the entertainment and also shows that Tarantino has respect for the Japanese film industry and Kill Bill also shows Tarantino’s depth of knowledge of different film genres.

4. Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn and Steve Buscemi. 

Reason – For me personally Reservoir Dogs is the best debut film in film making history. Each is character is cool, slick and quotable. Like in every Tarantino film the dialogue is the strongest part of the film. In the first scene we learn about each characters personality. I was immediately drawn into the first conversation that takes place about Madonna and also how they all debate about why it is important to tip in a restaurant, this makes the film appear more realistic as the characters are talking casually about subjects which have no significance to the plot of the film. The performances of Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen and Steve Buscemi are for me personally their best performances the script allows each character to show off their acting talents and also for them to make the characters their own. 

3. Django Unchained (2013) 

Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo Dicaprio, Kerry Washington and Samuel L Jackson.

Reason – The second film in Tarantino’s ‘Historical Trilogy’. This film shows audiences how brutal slavery was in America before the civil war. Compared to other films about slavery this one sends out the strongest message. Tarantino doesn’t hold himself back in this film; he shows how cruel Americans were. The acting especially from Christoph Waltz, Leonardo Dicaprio and Samuel L Jackson is world class. The characters for each actor are perfectly written for them and any other year all of them would have been nominated for an Oscar. Another reason why this is one of my favourites is because of Leonardo Dicaprio. He always seems to play similar characters but in this film he is a breath of fresh air. He’s brilliantly sadistic and brutally funny, it is quite disappointing and embarrassing that he wasn’t nominated for an Oscar considering it was one of his best performances to date.







2. Inglourious Basterds (2008) 

Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, Diane Kruger, Melanie Laurent and Eli Roth. 

Reason – For me Inglourious Basterds is the most underrated film of the past ten years. The main factor why this is my second favourite is the western conventions used. The ‘Bear Jew’ scene is my favourite ever Tarantino scene because of the Western Diegitic music used to build up for the Bear Jews appearance and also the slow motion editing effect used, everything in this scene fits together. Another reason why I rate this film so highly is because of Christoph Waltz who plays a cruel but also hilarious villain called Hans Landa. Shockingly this is Christoph Waltz’s first American film, and he gives a spellbinding performance. This just shows Tarantino’s talent as he picked an unknown actor Christoph Waltz over Leonardo Dicaprio. 

1. Pulp Fiction (1994) 

John Travolta, Samuel L Jackson, Uma Thurman, Tim Roth, Harvey Keitel, Christopher Walken and Bruce Willis. 

Reason – the main reason why this makes it to the top of my list is the script. It is brilliantly written and each story in the film is as good as the last. Like in every Tarantino film you expect great dialogue, Pulp Fictions dialogue is the best of the lot. It allows the audience to know characters better, even though some points of conversation are not necessarily important to the plot; it makes the characters appear more realistic and relatable. 

Breakfast at Tiffany's - Movie Review

Breakfast at Tiffany's
Review by

The perfect blend of romance, comedy and tragedy. ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ is the must-see classic that captures the life of the young and ambitious, and shoes the clear statement of what it is like to make it in a big city. Perfectly put together by Blake Edwards, and creatively written as a novel by Truman Capote, Audrey Hepburn (Holly Golightly) and George Peppard (Paul Varjak) make this film just as special as its name.

I decided to watch this iconic move, as Manhattan is the city I have fallen in love with since I was a little girl and have dreamed of living there. For many generation, my family have been talking about ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ and it motivated me to buy the DVD and watch it with my sister, being a fan of Audrey Hepburn’s work; I found myself enjoying every moment of it. I felt happiness, sadness, excitement and love during the whole duration of this movie (1:54)

Set and released in 1961, we are immediately introduced by elegant and gorgeous Holly Golightly as she eats her breakfast at Tiffany and Co (hint in the name) wearing a little black number by Givenchy and sunglasses whilst eating a pastry and drinking coffee, this is the iconic movie-moment, which inspires many people including myself.

Holly Golightly has no intention for love, all she wants to do is have parties, socialize and get money off rich men in whatever way she can. When Paul Varjack, an aspiring writer moves into her building, holly forgets about the life she lives as a socialite and finds herself interested in Paul’s life. Despite the fact that in the novel, Capote has no interest in telling the typical boy-meets-girl love story, the film portrays Holly and Paul’s relationship in exactly this way however it grows in an unusual way. We can sense that chemistry between the two will happen from the minute they meet.

Audrey Hepburn pulled this character off astonishingly as she is just as elegant as Holly is portrayed. As for George Peppard, he truly is a charming individual. The way they act out their love for each other makes their spark real. Their acting was just spectacular which made their roles even more believable, in my opinion they probably are the most believable actors I have ever seen.

As a studier of media, I love analyzing the cinematography in films, and I have to admit, ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ has some of the best camera shots I have ever witnessed, I find this because in the first scene we see the most effective wide shots of Old Manhattan and the vintage yellow taxis. The music is extremely moving, which makes it just as effective as the cinematography, especially when Hepburn sings ‘Moon River’ when she is on the fire escape, in my opinion, this makes the whole scene much more personal if the actor is singing rather than an artist’s song being played on a surround system. Hepburn’s dresses give the clothing the Tiffany look, the diamond look, the expensive look.

I truly did experience my heartbreak in the last scene but witnessed it repair in the last minute. ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ is packed with unforgettable moments and wonderful dialogue. Whether Paul and Holly end up together is less important than whether they are able to forgive each other, and themselves, for their past and present problems. Maybe these two can find a future together; Holly deserves a happy ending, doesn’t she?

So who is Holly anyway? Where has she come from? And what secrets does she hold? Only you can answer these questions, and how you ask? By watching it. I can assure you, you will one hundred percent, experience the feelings I have felt, you might even feel more or less, but I can’t tell you what you feel, only you know. So what’s next? Brunch at Barneys?

The Purge - Movie Review

The Purge
Review by Daniel Cullen

In this review I will be discussing the film ‘the Purge’ by James DeMonaco. To summarise briefly the film is about a theory that America has been “reborn” out of a terrible era, all thanks to the ‘New Founding Fathers’, who invented a tradition in which once a year, all crime is legal for one twelve-hour period. The film begins with a title informing us that now, in the year 2022, unemployment is at an astonishing rate of just 1 percent and a large majority of the people in the USA is happy.  Apparently, it’s all due to “The Purge”, an incredible new holiday during which the rich settle into their heavily guarded houses behind their gated communities, turn on the TV, cook up some dinner for the family, and watch everybody else (mainly the homeless and poor people) rape, fight with and kill each other in a nationwide event said to be ‘soul-cleansing’.

Our ‘heroes’ that we follow on this particular night are the very rich Sandin family. The father of the family, James (Ethan Hawke), is very successful by selling security systems, most likely because of his possibly resentful neighbours in their perfect, gated community. Meanwhile, there are 2 kids; ultra shy Charlie (Max Burkholder) and the rebellious teenager Zoey (Adelaide Kane), resent their family in their own ways. As the Sandins settle in for the Purge, calmly barricading their house and setting up the father’s ‘immaculate’ security system, we begin to sense that things may be about to go a little wrong. Firstly, Zoey’s boyfriend has snuck into the house and wants to “have a talk” with Dad. Then, an unknown, bloodied man (Edwin Hodge) comes screaming for help down the street, chased by an unseen mob, and Charlie lets him in; big mistake!

The film is then followed by a series of events involving the unseen mob we previously briefly heard of being revealed. They are a group of individuals, dressed in a disturbing attire to say the least, who approach the Sandin family’s house with a proposition. The man that entered their house is a homeless man, and they wish to relieve themselves by killing him. The rest of the film contains a struggle of the family trying to safely get the man to the mob without further consequences occurring.

This film uses specific features in order for the audience to easily distinguish and recognize is as a film. For example, the masks used in the film are particularly scary and are a key factor in the associating factors linked with the film. Also, the actual concept of the Purge is a very original idea, and subverts from the usual horror film.

The sound in this film is a key aspect in adding to the scary feel of the film. Throughout the film, the sound goes from very quiet and then parts in which they wish to intensify the horror for the audience, it suddenly goes extremely loud, and especially if you watch it in the cinema, it creates an extremely scary effect which will make you jump.

The costumes are very distinctive and in this film make the film a great amount scarier. The costumes for the villain characters are some of the scariest costumes in not only this film, but of any film I have ever seen.

The scene is set in at night time, so the lighting is always dark. This yet again intensifies the scary and dramatic feel because for a large majority of the film you can either not see what is happening, or it is very difficult to see what is happening. This element of the unknown is very scary and creates dramatic effect.

The setting of ‘The Purge’ is in a household environment. Personally, when a film is set in a house it makes it that much more scarier because it is an environment which you live in everyday, as opposed to films that are set in an abandoned house, in a forest, because that is an unrealistic setting and you cannot really relate to it.

Personally I would give this film a mixed review. There are both good and bad things about this film. For instance, a good thing is the narrative of the film. The unique aspect of the idea behind the film really appeals to me as it is new and refreshing to have a different idea as opposed to the ordinary horror film setting. However, there are many things I believe James DeMonaco could have done better. The first half of the film was rather slow, and it was just a buildup of the story to come, and nothing of significance really happened. Then all of a sudden, around half way through the film it spontaneously turned into an extremely fast paces film and all of the action happened at once. Some people prefer this, however I personally do not. Also, I believe the genre was not represented clearly enough; at some points I was sat wondering if I was watching an action film!

Man of Steel - Movie Review

Man of Steel
Review by David Edwards (Year 10)

It's been a year since the end of Christopher Nolan's 'The Dark Knight' trilogy but he's back assisting Zack Snyder in bringing a more comedic and brightly dressed hero into the dark morbid world that has adopted DC's film adaptations.

‘Man of Steel’ is the first in another expected trilogy, and starts with, well, the start. It follows a younger Clark Kent (played by Henry Cavill), who works as a mysterious freeloader amongst the country, as he remembered his past. However, a few evil dudes from his planet threaten to blow the earth up, if he does not surrender. A conventional plot, however the delivery of it is something to be acknowledged.

The protagonist’s super alias is slowly revealed by a tedious reporter named Lois Lane. Superman fans will know her as Kent’s romantic fantasy, but this feature is hardly touched on during the film. The storyline isn’t very stable until towards the end. The constant flashbacks and age changes quickly get very confusing, and Snyder’s tendency to stay serious for the whole film and use dramatic quotes doesn’t exactly fit in with the comedic personality of Superman.

Zack Snyder was, not surprisingly recruited to do the soundtrack. This is one of the film’s most astonishing features. The OST track is memorable and even made it into the top 100 downloads on iTunes. As well as this, sound effects and visual effects are astonishing. However, the 3D feature was lacking and almost seemed like a waste of money. It had some pretty “that’s cool” moments, but it wasn’t ‘Life of Pi’ standard.

The film does not try its best to mix with your emotions. Snyder made a risk by reducing some of the action for the dramatic quotes, and it’s quite a mixed response. The quotes and overall feel of the film make you feel like you are spectating something quite epic, which should be the case when watching a Superman one especially. However, this means that dramatic death scenes seem to drag on for an unnecessarily long time.

The storyline seems a little bit broken also. It takes 4 encounters with the antagonist for Superman to defeat him – and the ending isn’t what you would expect.

‘Man of Steel’ needs to work. It’s not debatable, but it’s fixable. Hopefully it’s like the Batman trilogy and the first one was the weakest and used more to introduce the character. We’ve already been told, through a lot of little references that Lex Luthor may be making an appearance. Hopefully Clarks’ archenemy delivers more action than Zod, and ‘Man of Steel 2’ marks the best Superman film ever made.