Philadelphia

At the time of its release, Jonathan Demme's Philadelphia was the first big-budget Hollywood film to tackle the medical, political, and social issues of AIDS. Tom Hanks, in his first Academy Award-winning performance, plays Andrew Beckett, a talented lawyer at a stodgy Philadelphia law firm. The ...more

Widely noted as the first mainstream studio film to deal with AIDS, and featuring two of the world's biggest actors (Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington), Jonathan Demme's moving, well-intentioned drama, despite its naysayers, is a challenging and sometimes surprising work. Both leads (especially Hanks, in his first Oscar-winning role) deliver wonderfully nuanced portrayals, and Demme's signature touches (particularly the potent use of close-ups and music) are perfectly suited to this material. ...more