After the cancellation of Bosom Buddies, the show that gave him his start, Tom Hanks starred in his share of goofy comedies throughout the late eighties and early nineties. While Big and Turner and Hooch are both entirely watchable movies in their own right, Joe Vs. The Volcano is the one that stands as one of the all time must download movies.
What makes this one any different? Well to begin with, Big and Turner and Hooch were fun comedies, but Joe Vs. The Volcano is something more. It's a great comedy, yes, but it's more than that, even. The movie is sort of a Rocky story. It contains the meaning of life. Hanks begins as an everyman, selling his time for, as he puts it, "Three hundred dollars a week".
We start off in a dismal state of affairs, with Joe experiencing an existential crisis, having no idea why he was put on earth. This is driven home by the excellent production design of Beetlejuice's set designer Bo Welch. The factory where Joe works, sitting in the middle of a vast expanse of muddy terrain, is simply disgusting and soul crushing.
The hypochondriac Joe quits this job when he's told by a doctor that he has a "Brain Cloud" which will kill him in five or six months. Into Joe's life comes an industrialist who offers him the opportunity to "Live like a king and die like a man".
The industrialist, played wonderfully in his one scene by Lloyd Bridges, will finance Joe's trip and all the luxuries he can indulge in if he'll go to the Waponi Woo and jump into a volcano. The industrialist uses this island for mining, but the people of the island are fearful of the volcano and believe that it needs a human sacrifice every hundred years lest it blow up and kill them all. The chief, finding nobody among his own cowardly people to do the deed, needs Joe to do it.
Joe is made to fully appreciate what a gift life is. By accepting his death, by having nothing to lose, Joe is able to do anything he wants in life, including jumping into a volcano. This is where the movie's philosophy lies, this is the meaning of life: Enjoy it for what it is. Don't worry about the afterlife, don't worry about mortality or bills or rent, don't let the troubles of the world get you down, just appreciate every moment for what it is.
The look of the film is similarly wonderful. Bo Welch really sends it out of the park on this one. The film takes place in a sort of fantasy mirror universe of our own. Taking cues equally from Dali and Andy Warhol, the film looks like a living dream.
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. - 40725
What makes this one any different? Well to begin with, Big and Turner and Hooch were fun comedies, but Joe Vs. The Volcano is something more. It's a great comedy, yes, but it's more than that, even. The movie is sort of a Rocky story. It contains the meaning of life. Hanks begins as an everyman, selling his time for, as he puts it, "Three hundred dollars a week".
We start off in a dismal state of affairs, with Joe experiencing an existential crisis, having no idea why he was put on earth. This is driven home by the excellent production design of Beetlejuice's set designer Bo Welch. The factory where Joe works, sitting in the middle of a vast expanse of muddy terrain, is simply disgusting and soul crushing.
The hypochondriac Joe quits this job when he's told by a doctor that he has a "Brain Cloud" which will kill him in five or six months. Into Joe's life comes an industrialist who offers him the opportunity to "Live like a king and die like a man".
The industrialist, played wonderfully in his one scene by Lloyd Bridges, will finance Joe's trip and all the luxuries he can indulge in if he'll go to the Waponi Woo and jump into a volcano. The industrialist uses this island for mining, but the people of the island are fearful of the volcano and believe that it needs a human sacrifice every hundred years lest it blow up and kill them all. The chief, finding nobody among his own cowardly people to do the deed, needs Joe to do it.
Joe is made to fully appreciate what a gift life is. By accepting his death, by having nothing to lose, Joe is able to do anything he wants in life, including jumping into a volcano. This is where the movie's philosophy lies, this is the meaning of life: Enjoy it for what it is. Don't worry about the afterlife, don't worry about mortality or bills or rent, don't let the troubles of the world get you down, just appreciate every moment for what it is.
The look of the film is similarly wonderful. Bo Welch really sends it out of the park on this one. The film takes place in a sort of fantasy mirror universe of our own. Taking cues equally from Dali and Andy Warhol, the film looks like a living dream.
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. - 40725
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Its all about the importance of getting a balance of what I call macro training. Music And Movie Downloads My helplessness, my despair, my frustration and the darkness and isolation in my "life" had simply reached its limit. Dexter is a sociopath but those who are innocent of extreme crimes will have nothing to fear from him.
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