Category: Legacy

Philadelphia is pretty much the best-case scenario for an Oscar-bait film: A movie, beneath its preachiness, that is beautiful, lovingly-made, and deeply-felt.

A League of Their Own is pretty close to the best possible version of itself: It is well-cast and well-directed. The lines are impeccably delivered. The tone is a just-right blend of cynical, smart, and sweet. It’s a big meal of comfort food even if it never quite ascends into greatness.

Rose-tinted nostalgia shouldn’t be that difficult to nail: Find a non-horrible kid actor; pipe in a soundtrack of retro jams; spin some episodic coming-of-age shenanigans with a few “that wouldn’t fly today!” twists; and bring it home with a treacly voiceover about the “good ‘ol days.” Bam! Thumbs up!

Sometimes it’s a relief to watch a movie that’s exactly what it says on the tin.

Buried early in Tom Hanks’ filmography is a a light drama about comedians with broken personal lives.

Of all the moral panics from the last half century, Dungeons and Dragons is one of the most inexplicable to me.

Back before Hollywood had properly figured out the Tom Hanks everyman persona, Volunteers provided a goofy little lark where Hanks plays a totally different type of protagonist.