Three Best Of - Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks is quite possibly one of the most well-known and well-liked actors around today. He has done just about every kind of movie imaginable...from historical dramas to screwball comedies. He has been nominated for Best Actor at the Academy Awards five times, and has won twice (1994 for Philadelphia, 1995 for Forrest Gump). The last time an actor won back-to-back Oscars for Best Actor...the late 1930's, when Spencer Tracy did it for "Captains Courageous" and "Boys Town". Hanks himself was quoted as saying, "I've made over twenty movies and five of them are good." Well, I think he's done a little better than that. Here now, I give you in no particular order, my three picks for Tom Hanks' best movies.
1) "A League Of Their Own" (1992). While the female cast members were the main stars of the movie, it was Hanks' performance as an alcoholic ex-baseball player that was one of the highlights of this movie. His initial reluctance, which slowly turned into begrudging respect for the women he was (more or less) forced to manage, plays wonderfully...and his on-screen relationship with Geena Davis swings from touching to hilarious.
2) "Philadelphia" (1993). The movie that won Hanks his first Academy Award, and considered by many to be one of Hanks' best movies ever. Hanks brings both sympathy and strength to Andrew Beckett, a lawyer who is fired from a law firm after his employers learn that he is HIV positive. Watching as Hanks seems to waste away on screen before your eyes is moving and powerful...Hanks himself lost almost thirty pounds on the film. Even more impressive is that AIDS was still a very misunderstood ailment at the time of this movie...and Hanks' performance helped to bring a lot of awareness to it.
3) "Saving Private Ryan" (1998). On Veterans Day in 1999, Hanks received the Distinguished Public Service Award, the highest honor the United States Navy can bestow onto a civilian, for his work on this movie. It also earned Hanks his fourth Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. His portrayal of a war-wearied Captain leading his unit on a mission to find a single man, and his underlying animosity towards him lends a great deal of power to an already incredible film. Hanks has made a career out of playing ordinary men and turning them into something more. This movie is a great example of that.
Honorable Mention - "Forrest Gump" (1994), "Apollo 13" (1995), and "Road To Perdition" (2002).