Leavin' on a Jet Plane (Not!)

Got a chance to see The Terminal today, and while Tom Hanks gives a hell of a performance, the movie was pretty much just okay. The first hour was definitely the best part of the film, watching Hanks play a man struggling to adapt to his new surroundings, it's heartbreaking and touching, but somewhere the movie becomes a typical "root for the good guy" movie, and things just become too conventional for me. Stanley Tucci plays an excellent asshole, better here than he was in Big Trouble (and he was great in Big Trouble), which combined with Hanks is enough to carry the movie, but not make it a must-see. Zeta-Jones was surprising, I usually can't stomach her, but she brings more humanity to this than any other role she's ever had (partly, I'm sure, due to Spielberg directing), and I love how bitter-sweet the end was. Not the tour-de-force that Cast Away was, but worth a rental, or if it's on cable (I caught it on HBO) it's worth watching.

-L