Before he was Forrest Gump, before Saving Private Ryan, Tom Hanks was primarily a comedy star. If you watched Bosom Buddies, you knew that Hanks showed a lot of promise. He may not be considered one of the best actors out there, but he's always cited as one of the most charming and instantly likable. His early comedies, Turner and Hooch and Big, showcased his talent for making you laugh and his likability, but Joe Vs. The Volcano is one of the all time must movie download.
So, what makes this one so much better than his other early nineties comedies? Well to start off with, those other comedies provided big laughs and a charming leading man, but Joe vs the Volcano provides something more. Not only is this movie funny, weird and unpredictable, it also contains the meaning of life. No joke.
The film starts off with Joe slaving away at a miserable, miserable job. He works in a dismal factory, a disgusting, repugnant block of concrete in the middle of a field of mud, where flickering fluorescent lights, he believes, are giving him cancer. Bo Welch, the set designer for Beetlejuice, created this ugly masterpiece of depression as well as the look of the rest of the film.
Joe, a serious hypochondriac, takes a trip to the doctor's office where he learns that he has a "Brain Cloud". A fatal condition. From here he meets the industrialist played by Lloyd Bridges, who offers him a chance to live like a king for several months, in exchange for his suicide by jumping into a volcano.
The industrialist uses an island, the Waponi Woo, for mining, and in order to keep the people happy, he must sacrifice someone to their volcano God, lest he get mad and blow the whole island up. The chief of these people would rather someone from his own tribe do the deed, but they all seem a bit too cowardly. Joe is more than happy to give his life and die like a man, since it's that or waste away on a hospital sickbed.
From here, Joe is given his life back. He quits his job, he does what he wants with his time, he enjoys himself, and for the first time in his life, he appreciates what a gift it is to have been born. This is the core philosophy of the movie and the meaning of life: Enjoy it.
This belief is reflected in the look and feel of the film. It's not just another comedy, it takes place in a world all its own. As Roger Ebert said of the film: So many films you've seen before, but you've never seen this movie before.
Interestingly, the original draft of the script (SPOILER ALERT) had the industrialist and the doctor getting their just deserts at the end of the film. It's probably better that that ending was nixed, as these two characters can almost be seen in a heroic light. While their scheme was dastardly, the fact is that they serve not only as the villains of the film, but as Joe's saviors as well. - 39815
So, what makes this one so much better than his other early nineties comedies? Well to start off with, those other comedies provided big laughs and a charming leading man, but Joe vs the Volcano provides something more. Not only is this movie funny, weird and unpredictable, it also contains the meaning of life. No joke.
The film starts off with Joe slaving away at a miserable, miserable job. He works in a dismal factory, a disgusting, repugnant block of concrete in the middle of a field of mud, where flickering fluorescent lights, he believes, are giving him cancer. Bo Welch, the set designer for Beetlejuice, created this ugly masterpiece of depression as well as the look of the rest of the film.
Joe, a serious hypochondriac, takes a trip to the doctor's office where he learns that he has a "Brain Cloud". A fatal condition. From here he meets the industrialist played by Lloyd Bridges, who offers him a chance to live like a king for several months, in exchange for his suicide by jumping into a volcano.
The industrialist uses an island, the Waponi Woo, for mining, and in order to keep the people happy, he must sacrifice someone to their volcano God, lest he get mad and blow the whole island up. The chief of these people would rather someone from his own tribe do the deed, but they all seem a bit too cowardly. Joe is more than happy to give his life and die like a man, since it's that or waste away on a hospital sickbed.
From here, Joe is given his life back. He quits his job, he does what he wants with his time, he enjoys himself, and for the first time in his life, he appreciates what a gift it is to have been born. This is the core philosophy of the movie and the meaning of life: Enjoy it.
This belief is reflected in the look and feel of the film. It's not just another comedy, it takes place in a world all its own. As Roger Ebert said of the film: So many films you've seen before, but you've never seen this movie before.
Interestingly, the original draft of the script (SPOILER ALERT) had the industrialist and the doctor getting their just deserts at the end of the film. It's probably better that that ending was nixed, as these two characters can almost be seen in a heroic light. While their scheme was dastardly, the fact is that they serve not only as the villains of the film, but as Joe's saviors as well. - 39815
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Pressed he hooks back up with Hector and Frank to steal the money he needs to pay Anton. Watch Movies Over The Internet Still a novice to Hollywood she attended a cattle call audition for Ang Lee's "Sense and Sensibility" in 1995 It may be that they are tired of being bombarded with commercials.
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