Does 'Sully' mark an Oscar return for Tom Hanks?

Posted Thursday, June 30, 2016 at 4:19 PM Central

by John Couture

There was a period of time (the 1990s) when Tom Hanks was THE consummate Hollywood actor. Fresh off back-to-back Oscar wins for Best Actor (Philadelphia and Forrest Gump), Hanks was at the top of his game and the competition wasn't even close.

Then, something odd happened, Tom Hanks was no longer the top actor in Hollywood. It's not that he suddenly became a hermit and stopped acting, he was just no longer the untouchable heat of mid 1980s Dwight Gooden. He made a few questionable choices and his peers took advantage.

It has been a long way back to the top, but 2016 might finally be the year that restores the name Tom Hanks to relevancy at the Academy Awards. Can you believe that it has been 15 years since the last time Tom was nominated for an Oscar (Best Actor, Cast Away? And he hasn't won a statue since completing the back-to-back trick in 1995.

So, what film will see him rise back to the top? Sully. Yes, that's right, a film based on the heroic efforts of Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger who landed his Airbus A320 plane in the Hudson River after striking a flock of Canadian geese on takeoff. Oops, spoiler alert.

Well, if first glances mean anything, it would appear that Sully and Tom Hanks are an ideal match. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the film is directed by Clint Eastwood and covers a story that most Americans will remember with fondness. The only oddity is that the film's September 9 release date is a bit outside the traditional awards-season window.

Time will only tell if that will hurt Tom's chances at winning a third Oscar.