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That Thing You Do! - Tom Hank's Extended Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition)
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DVD detailsActor: Bill Cobbs, Howie Long, Kevin Pollak, Obba Babatunde, Paul Feig Brand: TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT Cinematographer: Tak Fujimoto Composer: Howard Shore DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround Format: AC-3, Color, Director's Cut, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen Picture Format: 1.85:1 Running Time: 108 minutes DVD Release Date: 2007-05-08 Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Reviews of That Thing You Do! - Tom Hank's Extended Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition)DVD Review: TTYD Extended Cut Review - 2 DVD - Tom Hanks cut Summary: 5 StarsMan I love this film.
Its the story of the Wonders - thoroughly entertaining and (yes) moving
The Tom Hanks extended (by a half hour!) cut..
I've always been fond of this film. The music is great (the soundtrack cd is especially wonderful - even the tracks by Tom Hanks himself like "Love you lots and lots" - though good luck finding the songbook!)
There are wonderful lines ("I...quit. I quit. I quit I quit I quit. I quit Mr White.") Theres a touching love story..
Watching the extended cut again, I'm reminded of the recent Tolkien films, where they added so much footage in so seamlessly, and it added a lot to the point that you would never watch the theatrical cut ever again (unless you had to be somewhere by a certain time and couldn't afford the longer time!)
I like the added time given to Guy Stevens and Faye (Liv Tyler)'s relationship. I can see why some stuff was left out of the theatrical cut - its fun to see Tom Hank's Mr White character bickering with his date, but its not essential.
But if you love this film (it IS a very likable film - even Hanks wife and son have cameos) you really have to get this then.
I like how Guy gets along with his dad, theres a good relationship with his family at work (I like how they don't pay the sister!) Its not cliched - these are just regular kids from Erie Pennsylvania who happen upon a hit song, pretty much by accident..
Theres a strong American Graffiti influence (the end credits tell what happened to the Wonders after) and theres also little nods to Spinal Taps (the Wonders play while aircrafts pass overhead).
Did I mention the music? Yes I have. Dude from the Fountains of Wayne (an actual place in Wayne NJ!) wrote the catchier songs
And thank God they're GOOD catchy songs, cos "That thing you do" is played ad nauseum throughout the film, as the group promote it while on tour (often playing no other number!) and then on tv.
Keep an eye out for Peter Scolari (of Bosom Buddies, and friend to Hanks) as the MC on that. Jonathan Demme has a cameo as (what else) a director. White flirts with him btw
Its not a dark film by any means, which is why I like it so much I bet. No rock screw ups in this, who drive themselves and everyone around them to ruin. The worst you get is an egotistical songwriter in the group who rubs everyone else the wrong way.
The dvd extras - well, they're wonderful: interviews with the cast, talking about the film (apparently a lot of kissing in the scene with Cherlize Theron). Heck, you can even play the That Thing You Do single at 78 rpm if you so choose (just click on the speed knob on the title menu while the dvd is loading!)
Again - the deleted scenes DO add a lot to the film. I was watching the deleted scenes for Tootsie recently (4-5 of them all told) and I watched them once, never peered at them again (and I've seen Tootsie at least 20, 25 times all told - even owned the video pre-dvd and watched it on laserdisc besides)
But I tend to watch the extended cut for TTYD. I like how it fleshes out the story more. You see more of Guy talking with his hero Del Paxton, and doing interviews with him and his musical cronies. Which is great.
Nice little scenes - you see the sweet T.B. Player (The Bass Player) hooking up with one of the Tritone singers on tour
Also - I didn't pick up on this first time I saw this film - Tom Hanks is probably the only character besides Guy who cares for Faye. Hanks got a good role here - he has fun with it, you can see hes having a good time; gets a kick from the music. His manager character is an outsider (he tends to be standoffish with the Wonders, although he cares for them and genuinely likes them). But you can tell hes having fun - hes doing what he wants to do, even if hes not given the credit (a great added scene where the head of Tritone takes credit for the Wonders - Guy asks him about it, and White just says "Never mind. Did you like Texas?")
So this could be one of the better roles Tom Hank has ever had. His first film role at age 29 (in He Knows You're Alone) was just a cameo where he was a student, basically commenting on the film itself; here hes having a good time - doesn't really let his guard down, but lets it loose when he wants (theres a great shot of him at one of the Wonders live performances of "Dance with me tonight" and hes completely internalized but thoroughly enjoying the performance)
And Shades! Guy Patterson's shades make you think back on all the ridiculous gimmicks people in bands have done to stand out. You got the Beatles having the long hair, the Byrds Roger McGuinn wearing different colored shaded glasses, Lennon doing the whole granny glasses bit, Love's Arthur Lee walking around with one shoe.. Groups really are marketed, and the drummer has a whole set of shades he to wear AT ALL TIMES! To make him "dangerous" - great stuff.
Very highly recommended film, theatrical OR extended. Very entertaining, especially if you're nostalgic for the 60s (and after all who isn't?) The period background is totally believable, what with the old models of tvs and radios, especially in the Paterson's Appliance store! (Closed on Sunday)
DVD Review: A Refreshing Throwback Summary: 5 StarsI remember when I first saw this in the '90s and thinking, "Wow, what a shock: a modern-day movie with no no villains, no nasty people and nary a cuss word." I kept waiting for that stuff as the story unfolder, and it never appeared. It also has a nice sentimental ending.
The story is a simple one about a group of average guys who form a band and become one-hit wonders.
Tom Everett Scott, a young Tom Hanks-lookalike, is an appealing lead and Liv Tyler looks very, very pretty in the female lead role. The band in this almost-old-fashioned musical, is good to hear, too. They are a throwback to the old movie musical days of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. Yes, you hear the same song (the movie title) over and over but's a great song which is very catchy. The rest of the music is decent, too.
Speaking of Hanks, he plays the promoter of the group. It's not a huge part but Hanks, as always, is entertaining. The whole film is, and, is refreshing to see.
DVD Review: Great Movie for the FAMILY Summary: 4 StarsGreat Movie. We have preteens and this is a movie we all enjoyed. I think we hve seen it 4 or 5 times. The extended directors cut is too long to sit through. We decided the movie was edited perfectly.
DVD Review: Doing that thing you do Summary: 5 StarsThe directors cut answered so many questions that came up in the edited version. The relationships between the friends and then the addition of their manager in all of that created a great movie. Too bad everyone couldn't just skip the edited versin and gostraight to the Directors Cut.
DVD Review: Extended version Summary: 5 StarsSince "That Thing You Do" is one of my favorite movies, I saw it running on one of the cable movie channels last night and clicked it on, expecting to see the theatrical version that I am used to seeing (and own). I sat there dumbfounded as scenes that I had never seen before kept popping up! (and I thought I knew the movie by heart!) What a treat! It was like watching the movie again for the first time! To see the "Tina" character with her new dentist boyfriend, The Riot scene at "Villa Piano's","Mr. White" with the drunken Guy Patterson after his night out with "Dell Paxton", Oh my goodness, it was GREAT! I couldn't wait to get online and purchase this amazing version and I can't wait to start watching it over and over again!
I've also owned the soundtrack since the movie came out, you can't help but sing along, the whole thing is just so catchy and adorable!! I recommend this to EVERYONE!
Description of That Thing You Do! - Tom Hank's Extended Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition)Tom Hanks writes, directs and co-stars in this refreshing, big-hearted comedy that captures the overnight triumph of an American rock band during the glory days of rock and roll. Tom Hanks's debut as a writer and director is a lively, affectionate account of the shooting-star career of a forgotten (fictional) '60s pop-rock band called The Wonders--as in "one-hit wonders." Hanks plays the manager of the group, which includes drummer Guy "Sticks" Patterson (Tom Everett Scott) who works the floor at his parents' appliance store in Erie, Pennsylvania; Jimmy (Johnathon Schaech), the talented and temperamental lead singer and songwriter; Lenny (Steve Zahn), the goofy guitarist; and Ethan Embry as a geeky little fellow identified in the cast list only as "The Bass Player." The movie traces their meteoric rise and fall, from cutting their first record, to going on tour with a Phil Spector/Motown-type revue, to the internal tensions that lead to the band's disintegration, which comes when they fail to follow up their smash hit single, "That Thing You Do!" And that song, by the way, is so catchy it would definitely have been a hit in 1964--and deserves to be one today. This delightful movie would make a great double-bill with Allison Anders's wonderful Grace of My Heart. --Jim Emerson
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