HOT: You've Got Mail

So, this movie is a remake of a film called The Shop Around the Corner, which I have not seen but the title of that film is used nicely here as a store.

You've Got Mail is the final of three films (so far) that Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks star in together, previously starring in Joe vs. the Volcano and Sleepless in Seattle. Here, I feel they were going to the Sleepless in Seattle well yet again - but with a little more comedy this time around.

Ryan stars as Kathleen Kelly, the owner of a small bookstore called The Shop Around the Corner. It was her mother's and she inherited it when her mother passed away. It has what all of the superstores tend to lack - a face and a heart.

Hanks stars as Joe Fox, who is part owner of Fox Books with his father and grandfather - which just so happens to be a book superstore. One, that slowly is taking out the other local bookstores just by being built. Kelly's store is one of the last to go under.

So, it goes without saying that Kelly hates Fox without really getting to know him.

That is where things sort of get twisted. Fox is currently seeing Patricia Eden (Parker Posey), while Kelly is in a long-term relationship with Frank Navasky (Greg Kinnear). However, both Kelly and Fox have found a friend online that they enjoy chatting with.

This is where that updated version - is already sort of outdated. I am not sure how many people still use AOL out there, but I have not had it in years. Plus, not sure how many people are actually finding there soul mates in chat rooms (this could actually still be happening, but I am way out of the dating game so I am not sure). But, in the ever growing age of technology - the dial-up and iconic 'You've Got Mail' message have already gone the way of the dodo.

Anyway, their chatting at first is rather bland - just every day things and someone to rant to. Plus, they keep it anonymous - no names or jobs.

After the two of them break things off with their significant others, however, Fox asks to meet. And, he soon finds out that the person he has fallen in love with over the internet is in fact Kelly, the one woman who despises him.

With this knowledge, however, he stands her up and begins to make nice with her - he now knows who he is chatting to online, yet she is still clueless. And, he uses this to get her to fall in love with him - the real him, not the superstore guy that tanked her business.

Though it is already outdated for the most part, I actually liked this Ryan/Hanks feature the most out of all of them. I know a ton of people love Sleepless in Seattle, but I feel this one is the better of the two.

It also has a pretty solid cast with Dave Chappelle playing Kevin Jackson, Hanks' right-hand man; Dabney Coleman playing Hanks' father; Steve Zahn playing George Pappas, one of the workers in Kelly's bookstore

Again, already a pretty outdated movie in terms of technology - but a pretty fun rom-com if you ask me.

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HOT: Sleepless in Seattle

I pretty much knew the entire story of this movie before even watching it. Yes, this was the first time I had ever watched it - but it was still good to get to finally watch it.

Sleepless in Seattle opens at a pretty depressing point. Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks) had just lost his wife, Maggie, to cancer and he and his son, Jonah (Ross Malinger) pickup and move from Chicago to Seattle.

Baldwin had lost his soul mate in Maggie and the loss of her has really hit him hard. One night, Jonah calls into a late-night radio station and talks about his dad's predicament and how he wishes that his dad would get back out there. Then, he forces his dad to talk about his loss and his feelings over the airwaves.

The radio host nicknames him Sleepless in Seattle and women all over the world fall for him over his story, including Annie Reed (Meg Ryan).

Reed lives in Baltimore and is engaged to Walter (Bill Pullman). Walter is quite possibly the nicest man in the world, though he suffers from about every allergy known to man. Although she is comfortable with Walter, Annie feels there just may be something missing. And, she writes a letter to Sleepless in Seattle.

The letter, however, was not mailed by Annie. Her friend, Becky (Rosie O'Donnell) mails the letter without her knowing. But, Annie continues to be what I can only classify as a stalker. She hires a P.I. to take pictures of Baldwin, and she herself even travels to Seattle and tries to track him down.

After discovering him and thinking he has moves on with another woman, Annie heads back to Baltimore and tries to move on with Walter. In her letter, though, she had mentioned that on Valentine's Day she would meet Baldwin on the top of the Empire State Building.

Not liking his father's current girlfriend, Jonah has become infatuated with Annie after reading her letter. He begs his father to go to NYC for Valentine's Day to meet her - but Baldwin refuses. Jonah's friend, Jessica (Gabby Hoffman), breaks into her mother's computer (her mother is a travel agent) and books Jonah on a flight to NYC.

I found it pretty darn fascinating that a movie that stars Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, and the two of them are in pretty much two scenes together throughout the entire film. There is a small scene (which is basically two scenes) where he sees her at the airport, and then they see each other when she is stalking him. Then, at the conclusion of the film - and that's it.

The movie to me was, adequate. I don't really think this movie was made for me. I love Hanks and Ryan is cute - and I can take a love story or girly movie with the best of them, but even this one was far too sappy for me. But, it totally worked for a lot of people and it is brought up as one of the greatest love story movies whenever those are talked about. So, for some people it works - and it setup one of Hanks' other films which I will talk about shortly.

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HOT: Joe vs. the Volcano

I remember watching this film when I was younger and not liking it very much. Since rewatching it, I feel I like it a bit more - but it is still not up to par with most of Tom Hanks' films.

Anyway, Hanks plays the titular character Joe in Joe vs. the Volcano. This is Hanks first time costarring with Meg Ryan. They will star together in two more films in the 90s, which of course I will get to in the near future.

So, Joe works in this boring factory where he trounces in to work each day and sits with flickering fluorescent lights above him. He drinks crappy coffee and puts up with a pain in the butt boss each and every day. Plus, he has a crush on a coworker, DeDe (Ryan), but never does anything about it.

Finally, he is a hypochondriac. Joe visits his doctor on a regular basis constantly thinking he has some sort of disease - but really he may just be hoping for something exciting to happen in his life. On this one day, the doctor announces that Joe has a 'brain cloud' and will die within six months.

With the news, Joe quits his job and asks DeDe out - which actually goes well until he tells her he is dying. The next day he is visited by a wealthy man, Samual Graynamore (Lloyd Bridges), who asks him to do the unthinkable - jump into a volcano. Graynamore needs to mine on a small island called Waponi Woo and the locals will allow him to do so if he can find them someone to appease the volcano and jump into it.

So, with nothing really to lose, Joe agrees. Graynamore sets him up with a credit card and he goes nuts with it - with his main purchase being these large trunks to carry is clothes. He is to set sail to the island and when he arrives he will be treated like a king then he must jump into the volcano.

On the ship, he meets Patricia (also played by Ryan - she played three roles in this film). Patricia is Graynamore's granddaughter and she has only agreed to bring Joe to this island because she was promised the yacht that she loves so much once he is delivered.

While bonding on the boat, a typhoon hits and Patricia is knocked unconscious. Joe jumps into save her and as he does the boat is hit by lightning and sinks. Luckily he purchased those trunks, because he was able to string them all together to form a life raft.

I won't say anything else about it except that they do manage to make it to the island, and the island folk are in love with orange soda.

As I said at the top, this movie was not a favorite of mine when I was younger. It was very bleak and dull in the beginning, but it does manage to pickup once he actually finds out he is dying (odd to say, but it's true). I'd say it has grown on me a bit with repeat viewings, but it is still lacking compared to other Hanks films.

It is also a bit unbelievable at times - but you have to let that slide, I guess.

Overall, a decent little film that I can watch whenever it's on, but not one that I would search to see again.

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