that thing you do!

the year: 1996

the genre: comedy


the cast: Tom Everett Scott (Guy "Skitch" "Shades" Patterson); Liv Tyler (Faye Dolan); Johnathon Schaech (Jimmy Mattingly); Steve Zahn (Lenny Haise); Ethan Embry (T.B. Player); Tom Hanks (Mr. White); Charlize Theron (Tina); Rita Wilson (Marguerite); Chris Isaak (Uncle Bob)


the plot: Jazz aficionado Guy Patterson, unhappily toiling in the family appliance store, is recruited into the band the Oneders (later renamed the Wonders) after regular drummer Chad breaks his arm. After Guy injects a four/four rock beat into lead singer Jimmy's ballad, the song's undeniable pop power flings the Wonders into a brief whirlwind of success, telling the tale of many American bands who attempted to grab the brass ring of rock and roll in the wake of the British Invasion.



count: how many suit colors the "guys look great in".



don't miss: Capn' Geech and the Shrimpshack Shooters.



watch for: the nod to Apollo 13 - when the Oneders are playing at Boss Vic Koss' show in Pittsburgh one of the other band names on the theater marquee is "Marilyn Lovell & The Geminis".



did you know: Tom Hanks wrote and directed the film.



listen for: "Hey, that's o-NEH-ders!"



extra bonus points: if you can name two other band names under consideration, according to Jimmy's notebook.


also listen for: "I play a lot of cards. Obviously." and "Oh, I'm not here with these fellas. I've got a pig in competition over at the livestock pavilion, and I am going to win that blue ribbon!" I love Lenny.

you've got mail

the year: 1998

the genre: comedy



the cast: Tom Hanks (Joe Fox); Meg Ryan (Kathleen Kelly); Greg Kinnear (Frank Navasky); Steve Zahn (George Pappas); Jean Stapleton (Birdie Conrad); Dave Chappelle (Kevin Jackson); Parker Posey (Patricia Eden)


the plot: He's the owner of a bookstore chain; she's the woman he falls for online. Both are unaware that she runs the little shop his company is trying to shut down.



don't miss: how to spell "dog".


watch for: what size cup Kathleen *really* gets when she orders a Tall Caramel Macchiato.


listen for: "One hundred and fifty-two people who think he looks like a Clark *Bar*."


did you know: the scene where Joe accidentally closes the door of Kathleen's shop on the balloons was unscripted. When it happened, Tom Hanks ad libbed the line, "Good thing it wasn't the fish." The director thought it was so funny that she kept it in.




extra bonus points: if you know the importance of the movie theater where the NYC previews of this film occurred.


also listen for: "Why?" "Because we're going to sell them cheap books and legal addictive stimulants. In the meantime, we'll just put up a big sign: "Coming soon: a FoxBooks superstore and the end of civilization as you know it."

apollo 13

the year: 1995

the genre: drama


the cast: Tom Hanks (Jim Lovell); Bill Paxton (Fred Haise); Kevin Bacon (Jack Swigert); Gary Sinise (Ken Mattingly); Ed Harris (Gene Krantz); Chris Ellis (Deke Slayton)


the plot: based on the true story of the ill-fated 13th Apollo mission bound for the moon. Astronauts Lovell, Haise and Swigert are scheduled to fly Apollo 14, but then moved up to 13. Having already achieved a lunar landing goal, Americans have little interest in this "routine" flight...until things go very wrong, and prospects of a safe return fade.



don't miss: the medical mutiny.




watch for: the real-life Jim Lovell - he plays the captain of the USS Iwo Jima in the final minute of the movie. You can see Tom Hanks' character shake hands with with him while Hanks narrates the line "And as for me..."


listen for: "Don't you worry. If they could get a washing machine to fly, my Jimmy could land it."



did you know: Ron Howard's mother played Blanche Lovell.



did you also know: the cast and crew flew between 500 and 600 parabolic arcs in NASA's KC-135 airplane (nicknamed the "Vomit Comet") to achieve real weightlessness. Each of the arcs got them 23 seconds of zero gravity.





extra bonus points: if you can name another movie that co-starred Chris Ellis, Tom Hanks, Clint Howard. (Hint: Ellis played Phil Horace, Hanks played Mr. White, and Howard played a disk jockey.)



also listen for: "We've got to find a way to make THIS...fit into the hole for THIS...using nothing but THAT."