Cast Away (Two-Disc Special Edition)

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Great Movie, 2010-03-11
Tom Hanks is brilliant in this movie about him who works for FedEx and while he is flying on a FedEx plane the plane has problem with its cargo and the plane crashes into the Pacific. Hanks lives and survives for four years on a island and after the four years makes his escape with Wilson who is a volleyball that he talks to. I remember seeing this in the theater and when he finally makes fire the audience clapped for him. You will actually cheer for him while he learns to survive on some remote island in the Pacific, I believe it was. The ending will have wondering which way he turns either North, South, East, or West, I believe that is how life is. This movie is a must see.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

THIS IS NOT BLU-RAY!, 2010-03-09
Yeah, the box says "Blu-Ray" and it's in a Blu-Ray jewel case but it is not a blu-ray DVD. It is an AVC DVD. Why the manufacturers/studio chose to cheat the public with a blu-ray movie price is senseless. Great movie but a terrible product.

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Intriguiging Isolation, 2010-03-05
Castaway presents an interesting series of premises. The first, and most obvious, is a survival story: Chuck Noland is the sole survivor of the crash of a cargo plane, and finds himself stranded on a very small island in the South Pacific. He must learn to survive there, and we are treated a a painful series of scenes as he does so, salvaging what he can from the wreckage and from the body of a comrade. Tom Hanks does a fine job with the role, and despite the beauty of the island, it never is allowed to feel welcoming to us. br / br /But what makes Castaway a step above is that is isn't about the island, or about Noland's survival. Rather, it is about what the experience does to him, how he deals with the loss of pretty much everything in his life. For his is a sort of death, a sort of purgatory, a liminal state. And then we see him leave his island and achieve rescue. br / br /Here the movie could have ended, and many stories would have, giving in to the all too common desire to have a happy ending (see films like either version of The Flight of the Phoenix/Flight of the Phoenix). But what pushes Castaway into a class of its own is that we get to witness Noland's rebirth, his resurrection of sorts. Helen Hunt does a nice job as his old girlfriend, who was forced to grieve for him and move on, and Nick Searcy is excellent as his friend and colleague. And so the film poses the question of identity in the end: who are we, and how much of who we are depends on those around us? Castaway brings us closer to an answer without preaching by first stripping so much away from Noland, and then giving it back.

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Thought provoking, 2010-03-02
I enjoyed the movie. Image surviving for four years on coconut milk, rain water, crab, a picture of Kelly, and imaginary talking companion called Wilson. br / br /The story is about tragedy. Chuck survives on an Island for four years in complete isolation. At one point, Chuck decides to kill himself, but the plan does work. Instead, Chuck plans an escape from the island. Chuck builds a raft and sails 500 miles on the ocean after being rescued by a Chinese cargo ship. Chuck returns home, to find his wife, Kelly has remarried and has a child named Susan. Chuck socializes with his friend Stan. Chuck learns that Stan's wife has died while he was gone. He also, learns, Kelly had given Chuck a burial ceremony believing him dead. Kelly can not see Chuck because of the emotional drama. Chuck decides to visit Kelley and arrives by taxi, late at night. Chuck kisses Kelly and the chemistry ignites. However, both know circumstances have changed. Chuck says, "you should have more children". Kelly has a surprise for Chuck and he discovers Kelly has kept his Jeep handing him the keys. Chuck kisses Kelly and departs, but Kelly runs after Chuck and tells him, "you are the love of my life". Kelly wants to run off with Chuck. This is very sad part of the movie, Chuck tells Kelly, she has to return home to her family. Kelly is broken hearted, but understands; Kelly must be responsible. Chuck returns to his life of isolation.

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Hanks at his finest..., 2010-03-02
Everyone that I know either loves this movie or hates it. They either find it completely engrossing or mind-numbingly boring. I'm kind of in the middle. I find it a tad long, but I find Hanks to be surprisingly riveting (I'm not always sold on his talent) and his strong performance carries the film for me. It has to, since he is the only person on screen for nearly the entire running length. br / br /The film tells the story of Chuck Noland, a FED-EX systems engineer who finds himself stranded on an island for four years after the plain he is on crashes into the ocean during a terrible storm. He survives, obviously, but the experience has a lasting effect on Chuck. br / br /For me, it is hard to really build a film based solely on a man's solitary survival. There is not a whole lot you can do, and while the film's execution of Chuck's adventures are startlingly engaging, when the film ended I felt as if it was just beginning. For me, the most intriguing aspect of this story is how Chuck survives AFTER he comes home to find the life he left behind a mere memory. Yes, his escapades on the island are necessary to establish growth and that survival instinct (and the way that Zemeckis films the island itself perfectly establishes to `gravity' of the whole experience) but when all is said and done, this is about how this experience CHANGES a person, and I feel like we only witnessed to very beginning of that change. br / br /Alas, I still really like this movie. br / br /Like I mentioned, Tom Hanks is not an actor I am usually drawn to. I find a lot of his work highly overrated and even gimmicky and amateurish (his two Oscar wins themselves are disgusting) but here he transcends gimmick (I mean, this is a gimmicky character) and develops a REAL man. He commands the screen 100% of the time, and never resorts to taking advantage of the situation, but sells himself the entire time. This is a powerhouse performance, one that rises in the ranks with me the more I see it. I think that Hanks' performance is also a reason why I hate the ending of the film. He was doing such a riveting job that I really wanted him to sink his teeth into Chuck's `afterlife' SOOOOO much (no, he doesn't die...by afterlife I meant `life after his rescue'). br / br /If I could reshoot or reedit this film I would be so happy. br / br /Anyways, in the end `Cast Away' is a very good film. It has been mentioned (and I agree) that this film lacks a tad of the emotional punch (emotional `human' punch) that it tries to convey, but I feel that that punch would have been achieved had Chuck's story continued.