This weekend Cast Away trundled loudly into theatres and devoured its
competition like a trio of man eating sharks feasting on a Value Jet
smorgasbord. But good filmmaking is not about numbers, nor is it about
how fast you can chew the competition's leg off and feed it to your
young.
Sunday, 30 December 2012
Friday, 28 December 2012
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Thursday, 27 December 2012
Cast Away movie cast and crew
Directed by
Robert Zemeckis
Tom Hanks
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Paul Sanchez
Lari White
Leonid Citer
David Allen Brooks
Yelena Popovic
Valentina Ananina
Semion Sudarikov
Peter von Berg
Dmitri S. Boudrine
François Duhamel
Michael Forest
Robert Zemeckis
Tom Hanks
Lari White
Leonid Citer
David Allen Brooks
Yelena Popovic
Valentina Ananina
Semion Sudarikov
Peter von Berg
Dmitri S. Boudrine
François Duhamel
Michael Forest
Cast Away movie overview
This weekend Cast Away trundled loudly into theatres and devoured its competition like a trio of man eating sharks feasting on a Value Jet smorgasbord. But good filmmaking is not about numbers, nor is it about how fast you can chew the competition's leg off and feed it to your young.
It seems like that any time Tom Hanks puts a film out these days people start screaming the word OSCAR all around town. Frankly who cares, I doubt Tom does after winning two, so why should you? That having been said, Cast Away's success rests solely on a single actor, who for 75% of the film is the only person on screen. Previous rumors notwithstanding, Cast Away does in fact focus on a single person trapped on a deserted island in the Pacific for 4 years. Its also briefly about his return to society, and coping with the problems of having, for all intents and purposes, been dead for the last 4 years.
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Tom Hanks plays (as usual) an every-man, cast into disaster, struggling for survival in a fight against a slow slip into madness and a struggle to find a reason to live. He is alone, VERY alone, and Cast Away conveys this well, not only through Hanks fine acting, but also through its stellar soundtrack. What makes Cast Away's soundtrack so perfect? There isn't one. There also is next to no dialogue through over half the film. Just sounds of sand, surf, and wind. This man is truly and UTTERLY alone, and the silence of it all helps bring the audience along on this lonely journey with him.
Hanks has a real talent for saying a lot with his expressions, and its really put to test in this dialogueless film, especially when he is further hampered by having 4 years worth of beard on his face. Fortunately by this time, Hanks character is completely mad and has made a friend to talk to in the form of his Volleyball companion "Wilson". But even through that shaggy beard, Hanks eyes say so much about his mind... or lack thereof.
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Cast Away isn't perfect. It is at times slow and tedious, and tends to waste more time than necessary getting to the point. But if nothing else, it takes an old idea and puts it together in a way that is not only believable, but creative as well. This is a film about reality. This is what would really happen to YOU if YOU were trapped alone on this island. Would YOU survive? Would YOU find the will to live when it seemed there was no reason to go on? Would YOU fall prey to Richard's machinations and be voted off the island or would you go home with 1 million dollars?
Cast Away is a film for those with patience and a willingness to put themselves in the movie alongside its character. It's not a film about the triumph of the human spirit, just a film about a guy who manages to survive, and comes home to find he must become someone else.
It seems like that any time Tom Hanks puts a film out these days people start screaming the word OSCAR all around town. Frankly who cares, I doubt Tom does after winning two, so why should you? That having been said, Cast Away's success rests solely on a single actor, who for 75% of the film is the only person on screen. Previous rumors notwithstanding, Cast Away does in fact focus on a single person trapped on a deserted island in the Pacific for 4 years. Its also briefly about his return to society, and coping with the problems of having, for all intents and purposes, been dead for the last 4 years.
Tom Hanks plays (as usual) an every-man, cast into disaster, struggling for survival in a fight against a slow slip into madness and a struggle to find a reason to live. He is alone, VERY alone, and Cast Away conveys this well, not only through Hanks fine acting, but also through its stellar soundtrack. What makes Cast Away's soundtrack so perfect? There isn't one. There also is next to no dialogue through over half the film. Just sounds of sand, surf, and wind. This man is truly and UTTERLY alone, and the silence of it all helps bring the audience along on this lonely journey with him.
Hanks has a real talent for saying a lot with his expressions, and its really put to test in this dialogueless film, especially when he is further hampered by having 4 years worth of beard on his face. Fortunately by this time, Hanks character is completely mad and has made a friend to talk to in the form of his Volleyball companion "Wilson". But even through that shaggy beard, Hanks eyes say so much about his mind... or lack thereof.
Cast Away isn't perfect. It is at times slow and tedious, and tends to waste more time than necessary getting to the point. But if nothing else, it takes an old idea and puts it together in a way that is not only believable, but creative as well. This is a film about reality. This is what would really happen to YOU if YOU were trapped alone on this island. Would YOU survive? Would YOU find the will to live when it seemed there was no reason to go on? Would YOU fall prey to Richard's machinations and be voted off the island or would you go home with 1 million dollars?
Cast Away is a film for those with patience and a willingness to put themselves in the movie alongside its character. It's not a film about the triumph of the human spirit, just a film about a guy who manages to survive, and comes home to find he must become someone else.
Cast Away movie review
Cast Away is hardly the type of big-budget Hollywood film one would expect from star Tom Hanks and director Robert Zemeckis, who first teamed up back in 1994 for Forrest Gump. A sombre drama that actually dares to spend close to 80 minutes almost in total silence, Cast Away shows yet again that Hanks is an extraordinarily versatile actor, while also showing that Zemeckis is a director capable of showing restraint when needed.
Chuck Noland (Hanks) is a man obsessed with time. As an executive for Federal Express, he travels all over the world to whip the company's employees into being Punctual Petes (we first meet Chuck as he yells 'We live or we die by the clock!' to Fed Ex employees in Moscow). He also makes sure that he is home to celebrate the holidays with the love of his life, Kelly Frears (Helen Hunt). But, work beckons and Chuck heeds the call, promising Kelly that he "will be right back" in time to celebrate New Year's Eve with her.
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Unfortunately, nature has other plans. While flying over the South Pacific, the engine on the plane carrying Noland as a passenger explodes and crashes, with only Noland surviving (this sequence is both a magnificent set piece and terrifying as hell). He washes up on an island, one completely devoid of any other living thing. Here, over the course of four and a half years, Chuck must learn to survive, not only in the most basic ways of acquiring food and building shelter, but he also must learn how to start over again in a place where there are time, keeping schedules and punctuality are nonexistent.
Almost everyone who is reading this review by now knows what happens to Chuck thanks to a trailer and television ad campaign that gives most of the third act away. For those who don't, you will just have to see the film to find out on your own. Still, the conclusion is hardly what matters in Cast Away. It is the middle 80 minutes where Chuck is alone on the island that makes this movie something truly spectacular to behold. There is no music, no cutting away to a rescue mission with tons of boats and planes, no cutaway shots of Kelly crying back in the States.
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Instead, it is Hanks, perfectly conveying Chuck's fear, anger, pain and desperation as he does all he can to survive. Zemeckis wisely holds back in areas where almost any other director would have gone overboard to tell the viewer what to experience, instead allowing Hanks' body language and facial expressions to make the viewer feel as if they are on the island right alongside him. He even manages to engage us emotionally in his conversations with a volleyball named Wilson (the ball was part of the wreckage washed up on shore), one that he converses with in order to keep his sanity. There are a lot of great actors out there besides Tom Hanks, but I'd be damned if there is anyone who could have pulled this role off as well as he did. As for Helen Hunt, I have not been a fan of her work of recent (What Women Want, Pay It Forward), but for the limited screen time she has here, I think she turned in a fine performance.
I don't believe that Cast Away will win over every person that sees it. I believe that those going in expecting another Forrest Gump are going to be in for a shock and those who like their Hollywood movies to be cut and dry with a sappy, happily ever after ending are going to hate the film. But for those who want something different, something with a bit of substance and something worth your time and money, this film is hard to beat.
Chuck Noland (Hanks) is a man obsessed with time. As an executive for Federal Express, he travels all over the world to whip the company's employees into being Punctual Petes (we first meet Chuck as he yells 'We live or we die by the clock!' to Fed Ex employees in Moscow). He also makes sure that he is home to celebrate the holidays with the love of his life, Kelly Frears (Helen Hunt). But, work beckons and Chuck heeds the call, promising Kelly that he "will be right back" in time to celebrate New Year's Eve with her.
Unfortunately, nature has other plans. While flying over the South Pacific, the engine on the plane carrying Noland as a passenger explodes and crashes, with only Noland surviving (this sequence is both a magnificent set piece and terrifying as hell). He washes up on an island, one completely devoid of any other living thing. Here, over the course of four and a half years, Chuck must learn to survive, not only in the most basic ways of acquiring food and building shelter, but he also must learn how to start over again in a place where there are time, keeping schedules and punctuality are nonexistent.
Almost everyone who is reading this review by now knows what happens to Chuck thanks to a trailer and television ad campaign that gives most of the third act away. For those who don't, you will just have to see the film to find out on your own. Still, the conclusion is hardly what matters in Cast Away. It is the middle 80 minutes where Chuck is alone on the island that makes this movie something truly spectacular to behold. There is no music, no cutting away to a rescue mission with tons of boats and planes, no cutaway shots of Kelly crying back in the States.
Instead, it is Hanks, perfectly conveying Chuck's fear, anger, pain and desperation as he does all he can to survive. Zemeckis wisely holds back in areas where almost any other director would have gone overboard to tell the viewer what to experience, instead allowing Hanks' body language and facial expressions to make the viewer feel as if they are on the island right alongside him. He even manages to engage us emotionally in his conversations with a volleyball named Wilson (the ball was part of the wreckage washed up on shore), one that he converses with in order to keep his sanity. There are a lot of great actors out there besides Tom Hanks, but I'd be damned if there is anyone who could have pulled this role off as well as he did. As for Helen Hunt, I have not been a fan of her work of recent (What Women Want, Pay It Forward), but for the limited screen time she has here, I think she turned in a fine performance.
I don't believe that Cast Away will win over every person that sees it. I believe that those going in expecting another Forrest Gump are going to be in for a shock and those who like their Hollywood movies to be cut and dry with a sappy, happily ever after ending are going to hate the film. But for those who want something different, something with a bit of substance and something worth your time and money, this film is hard to beat.
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