#HANX for the Memories: The Tom Hanks Podcast Joey Lewandowski and Mike Manzi

Now that A Man Called Otto is available on VOD, we stopped kicking the can down the road and decided to watch it. After sharing our pre-conceived notions of the film (and whether or not it lived up to them), we talk about the depressing trend of Hollywood's continual remakes of European films and wonder whether a movie with those tone plays better there than it does here. We also wonder why the movie decided to both cast a young Tom Hanks AND digitally de-age him in separate scenes, whether or not Hanks will return to comedy (or at least to the types of movies we prefer), and what's holding Hanks back from making more exciting movies. We try to manifest his upcoming film roles and share ways we could make A Man Called Otto better -- or at least more interesting.

#HANX for the Memories is back for a semi-surprise dump of Pinocchio (2022) onto Disney+, featuring Tom Hanks as Gepetto. It's not the longest episode we've ever done, because, well... it's a movie we've seen before. We dive into the "quest for content" on all streaming services, the many adaptations of Pinocchio that have released in the past few years, and whether or not Robert Zemeckis's version does anything truly new. We talk about Tom Hanks's portrayal of Gepetto, the character found in this movie but not in the original, and whether or not the ending is a cop out.

It's a Viva Pod Vegas / #HANX for the Memories special crossover event as we talk about Baz Luhrmann's Elvis, the Elvis Presley biopic! We discuss Austin Butler's portrayal of Elvis (and how he is the movie), Tom Hanks's portrayal of Colonel Tom Parker (and why he took the role), and Baz Lurhmann's novel take on the biopic via a new POV. We talk about Hanks's makeover and his level of "going for it," the movie's frenetic pacing and structure, and how it navigates around some controversy. We also wonder if Riley Keough would have fit in the movie and try to picture Tom Cruise as Colonel Tom.

After a brief hiatus, #HANX for the Memories is back and talking about Tom Hanks' most recent film, Finch! Available on Apple TV+, Finch tells the story of a dying man who builds a robot to take care of his dog after he's gone. In this episode, we talk about the complicated journey of bringing Finch to the big screen, the bizarre reality that this WASN'T filmed during the pandemic, the fairly outstanding performance turned in by Caleb Landry Jones, and our sort of frustration at a movie that we mostly liked but feel we should have loved. Also, we preview the (really, really) big year that Tom Hanks has coming in 2022!

Tom Hanks wasted no time in getting the year (and Phase II of #HANX for the Memories) started off right with News of the World! The film sees Hanks re-unite with Paul Greengrass, which now marks two team-ups where Hanks plays a captain: Captain Phillips and News of the World. In this episode, we talk about "western Hanks," the pacing and structure of the movie, and the sort of surprise (yet inevitable?) ending. Also, we talk about the difference between character-based and atmosphere-based westerns as we try to figure out which of those styles this movie tried to hit -- and whether or not it was successful.

At long last, the time has come to (once again) don our tuxedos and roll out the red carpet. Welcome to The Woodies: The Tom Hanks Awards! All podcast long, we've talked about our favorite (and least favorite) parts of Tom Hanks's movies and TV roles, and we announced our official selections for the best and worst of what Tom Hanks's filmography has to offer and opened the voting to the public. Now, your votes have been tallied, our very special guest Bob Fischer has verified the results, and it's finally time to reveal our picks -- as well as the fans' selection -- for each and every category. Live, from the internet, it's The Woodies: The Tom Hanks Awards!