Tom Hanks

Everyone has their favourite film from the funny and charming Tom Hanks.... 

1. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close; Stephen Daldry Click here to see trailer

Although not the main character of this film, Hanks still plays an influential and touching role as the father, Thomas Schell, of a young boy with autism. When tragedy during 9/11 strikes the young boy is left to find the missing pieces his father left behind in the streets of New York. We see a little snippet of the heartbreak caused by this disaster, the strains on the boys relationship with his mother Linda (Sandra Bullock), and a great adventure. 

2. Big; Penny Marshall Click here to see trailer

When a 12 year old boy John Baskin is magically turned into a 30 year old man, he finally gets to experience life as an adult - whether he is fully aware of what this means or not! He manages to climb his way to the top of a corporate toy company, and unwittingly has coworker Susan Lawrence (Elizabeth Perkins) fall head over heels for him. 

3. The Green Mile; Frank Darabont Click here to see trailer

Seasoned officer of a prison's death row, also called the Green Mile, Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) is greeted with a prisoner unlike any other he'd ever met before. John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) is a huge and daunting inmate who certainly has the physical capability to have committed the heinous crime he has been charged with, but certainly not the demeanour - with a soft side and a very special gift. This film is magical from start to finish, but get the tissues ready. 

4. The Terminal; Steven Spielberg Click here to see trailer

Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks) arrives in America to discover he is trapped in the airport - security won't let him neither enter nor exit the United States because of a war which has erupted back home during his flight. Poor Viktor now must live off of the fast food joints, bath in the public restrooms, befriend strangers passing by, and sleep on the waiting area seats for a long and unknown amount of time. 

5. Saving Mr. Banks; John Lee Hancock Click here to see trailer

This is the story of how beloved Disney film, Mary Poppins, was brought to life by Walt (Tom Hanks) and his team. This story not only shows the hassles it took to influence writer P.L Travers (Emma Thompson) to allow them to make the film, but the tough and sad life she lived as a child watching her alcoholic father throw his life away. This movie will make you straight away want to re-watch Mary Poppins as to truly appreciate the time and thought that went into it, and of course make you adore Tom Hanks a little more as his portrayal of Walt Disney is magical. 

6. Cast Away; Robert Zemeckis Click here to see trailer

In this funny, shocking, and emotionally charged one-man show, Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) is the only survivor when his plane crashes over the Pacific Ocean. All attempts at making contact or sailing home fail and he is forced to make a deserted island home, create a shelter, perform dentistry, and find a best friend in volleyball, Wilson, who through Hanks' amazing performance we are left believing it is a real person as well. 

7. The Polar Express; Robert Zemeckis Click here to see trailer

This is one of the very few Christmas movies I genuinely enjoy. Tom Hanks plays the voice of a myriad of characters in this animation about a young boy who is beginning to doubt Santa Claus, and is taken on a magical train ride to the North Pole. 

8. Saving Private Ryan; Steven Spielberg Click here to see trailer

During WW2 a mother loses three of her four sons to the battle, and so Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) is put in charge of finding and saving the fourth one deep behind enemy lines in a very treacherous and brutal war zone.