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.
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 hypochondriac, goes to a doctor and is told that he has a Brain Cloud, which will kill him in about six months. From here, Joe meets an industrialist who essentially gives him his life back. He offers him a chance to live like a king, die like a man.
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.
This scenario gives Joe his life back. From here he becomes more daring, more appreciative of the human experience. Therein lies what makes this movie so special, it's core philosophy: Stop worrying and enjoy life for what it is, because it's really pretty great.
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.
Spoiler Alert: The original draft of the script for this film had the industrialist and the doctor getting their comeuppance in the finale. Honestly, it's better that they don't. While they were scamming Joe, the fact is that they gave him his life back. Whether or not this is with intent, the doctor and the industrialist serve in the story as both the villain, and as Joe's savior. - 40723
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 hypochondriac, goes to a doctor and is told that he has a Brain Cloud, which will kill him in about six months. From here, Joe meets an industrialist who essentially gives him his life back. He offers him a chance to live like a king, die like a man.
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.
This scenario gives Joe his life back. From here he becomes more daring, more appreciative of the human experience. Therein lies what makes this movie so special, it's core philosophy: Stop worrying and enjoy life for what it is, because it's really pretty great.
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.
Spoiler Alert: The original draft of the script for this film had the industrialist and the doctor getting their comeuppance in the finale. Honestly, it's better that they don't. While they were scamming Joe, the fact is that they gave him his life back. Whether or not this is with intent, the doctor and the industrialist serve in the story as both the villain, and as Joe's savior. - 40723
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Treat yourself to an evening of intrigue, and give it a try. Watch Movie Online Daisy and Jamie Lee fall in love and announce their engagement, much to the chagrin of the Duke and Hogg families. Knowing in advance what these problems are is critical to making sure that you are successful even if the problems appear.
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