So Which 4 Tom Hanks Movies Does He Like Himself?

When he was plugging his upcoming novel this week, Tom Hanks made a statement to People that caught people by surprise. "I've made a ton of movies, and four of them are pretty good, I think," he said. Which has Hanks fans wondering, "Only four? Which ones?" Hanks himself did not elaborate, but movie sleuths are on the case.

• At Vulture, Nate Jones does a deep dive into what Hanks has said about his own movies over the years and comes up his educated guesses: Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryan, and Cloud Atlas. The latter might be a surprise. It was a 2012 sci-fi flop in which Hanks plays six roles, but Hanks clearly loves it. The film "went right over everybody's heads," he has said.

• At the Guardian, Stuart Heritage also puts Cloud Atlas on the list, given how much Hanks has spoken fondly of it. But the other three are different: A League of Their Own, Castaway, and That Thing You Do. The list comes largely from what Hanks himself said on the Bill Simmons Podcast last year, though Nate Jones of Vulture thinks the actor was talking during that podcast only about the filming experience, not how the movies actually turned out.
• At Far Out Magazine, Calum Russell settles on The Green Mile, Philadelphia, Saving Private Ryan, and Toy Story.

(More Tom Hanks stories.)