Patrick's Rants

Time to take a break from the political postings for a moment. When the kids are all away sometimes my wife and I get a chance to go out. That happened just yesterday, and as part of our routine we picked up several videos at the local branch of a large video store .
The first movie that we managed to watch, since it is on the new release list and has to be back sooner, is The Lady Killers starring Tom Hanks. While I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from this movie, based on the 1955 The Lady Killers, looked like it could be an interestingly different role for Tom Hanks.
Interesting is definately a word to describe Hanks in this movie. His character seemed quite different from any other role that I have seen him in. He plays a highly educated criminal mastermind who recruits disparate individuals who only share the desire for ill gotten cash. The plan is brilliant and flawless. The criminals only have to tunnel to the offices of a gambling river boat, take the money collapse the tunnel and repair the wall to make it look like the money just simply disappeared. The hardest part is keeping Hanks’ snooping landlady, played by Tzi Ma, from discovering that they are not practicing music down in her basement. Ma, who is known to the local sheriff as a bit of a complainer who talks to the painting of her dead husband hanging over the fireplace, is a kindly church going widow. Upon discovering the crime that began in her basement she gives the thieves an ultimatum, take the money back and go to church or else. Hanks and crew determine that they must do away with the old lady and that’s when the real fun begins. If you haven’t seen the movie I won’t give away the ending which is somewhat predictable while also being funnily surprising.
Hanks fulfilled my expectations of playing a completely different character in this movie, a move away from his somewhat sameness of movies like You’ve Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle.
All in all a pretty good movie. Since this is my first review, I haven’t come up with a rating system yet, but I may develop one.