A blizzard of riches for film lovers on your holiday list

by Alan Light

A blizzard of riches for film lovers on your holiday list
‘Tis the season for boxed sets and special editions, holiday chestnuts and Blu-Ray upgrades.
Read more on Courier-Post

gloom


Image by caffeina
tom hanks??

Zoltar Speaks


Image by Chuck "Caveman" Coker
We found this Zoltar Speaks machine outside the arcade on the Santa Monica Pier. The button on the front that is lit up says "Español." The sign above the machine says, "Children Only 70 Lbs. or Less." The coin (bill) slot is labeled 0 although the glass says .00. In the background you can see a Rambo sign next to the Dance Dance Revolution game—it must be a rough game.

Zoltar has a ring on the ring finger of his left hand, but we didn’t see Mrs. Zoltar anywhere nearby. I wonder if the rainbow beads he’s wearing are significant.

Zoltar Speaks machines are 77 inches tall. They come in three sizes: Premium (33"W x 28"D), Standard (27"W x 25"D), and Economy (24"W x 24"D). They are priced at ,500, ,500, and ,500, respectively. Zoltar Speaks comes with 16 pre-recorded messages and you can add as many of your own messages as you’d like. There are 23 different messages that are dispensed on paper cards at the front of the machine. The eyes and jaw move and the crystal ball lights up. On the Standard and Premium models the arm and head move too. You can add breathing animation to any of the models for an additional 0. The only address I could find for the manufacturer was www.zoltarmachine.com/.

The Zoltar Speaks machine was part of the plot in the movie Big (1988). The basic plot goes something like this (from Wikipedia):

After being humiliated while attempting to impress an older teenage girl at a carnival, Josh Baskin (David Moscow) goes to a wish/fortune-telling machine (called Zoltar Speaks) and wishes that he were "big". The next morning, he sees a face in the mirror he does not recognize. Overnight, he has become a 35-year-old man (Tom Hanks). With the help of his 13-year-old best friend, Billy Kopecki (Jared Rushton), Josh rents a cheap room in Manhattan and gets a lowly data-entry job at the MacMillan Toy Company. In a memorable scene, he meets the company’s owner, MacMillan (Robert Loggia), checking out the products at the FAO Schwarz toy store, and impresses him with his childlike enthusiasm. They end up playing a duet together on a Big Piano, a foot-operated electronic keyboard, performing Chopsticks and Heart & Soul. This earns Josh a promotion to a dream job for a kid: testing toys all day long and getting paid for it. He soon attracts the attention of the beautiful, ambitious Susan Lawrence (Elizabeth Perkins), a fellow toy executive. A romance begins to develop, much to the annoyance of her current boyfriend, Paul (John Heard). As Josh becomes more and more entwined in his "adult" life, much to the annoyance of Billy, he soon begins to wish for the carefree life of a child again and becomes determined to find the Zoltar machine to reverse the wish.

The Swedish version of Big was printed on 35mm film and was 2,855 meters long.

In the end credits for Big, Harold ‘Whitey’ McEvoy was the Transportation Captain. I’ve heard people say, "Never trust Whitey," but I don’t know why—maybe he’s a bad driver.

Also in the end credits for Big, Elizabeth Shelton was the Assistant to the Costume Designer. This was not my aunt Elizabeth Shelton; it was a different one.

The person who hired Danny Irom for the crew must have stuttered. Mr. Irom was the Second Second Assistant Director.

In the credits "FAO Schwarz" (the toy store) is misspelled as "FAO Schwartz" ("t" added).

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Update: This photo was used to accompany an article BC Predicts: June Baby Bargain Forecast on May 31, 2009 on the Baby Cheapskate website.

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Joe Banks


Image by Francis Carnaúba
Esse é um desenho baseado em foto. É Tom Hanks em "Joe contra o vulcão". Ótimo filme. O Personagem é Joe Banks. Ele é um funcionário de escritório, uma figura depressiva. Lembro dele sentir sua energia sendo drenada pela lampada que ficava piscando no teto. Achei o visual dele bem interessante, nunca vi antes um homem trajando roupas dos anos 50 e com cabelos longos. Me parece original. Essa fase do personagem é mesmo bem depressiva, me causou impacto quando criança.

Turner and hooch on, it's 80s my mateys! I'm into tom hanks as an actor. I'll chill boycee. – by zerickard80 (ant rickard)

#fourlokoingredients 1 part Peter Scolari's hatred of Tom Hanks, 1 part Jon Cryer's Oscar for Superman IV & 1 tear of Chuck Norris – by Chili31 (A.A.)

i did not know that Tom Hanks and Tim Allen were Buzz and Woody :O where have i been? – by lachelle94 (Lachelle)

Tom Hanks Trivia!
I was just wondering if there is anything symbolic about Tom Hanks’ character Captain John Miller in Saving Private Ryan having Parkinson’s disease. Those things aren’t usually random, what does it mean?

Answer by Keiran harry Smith
Doesn’t it show how he struggles to do simple things?
light a cigarette, aim his gun?
(its been a few years since i last saw it)