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Quint caught CATCH ME IF YOU CAN!
Hey folks, Harry here with another one of the films that fate decided I couldn't see early... Spielberg's CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, which I'll be seeing Christmas Eve. I've heard that this film is an absolute delight, Moriarty believes it's "the beard's" best film since EMPIRE OF THE SUN, which would be nice if true. That means at the very least it'll have a super solid ending, which all the films since EMPIRE OF THE SUN have had a bit botched. Here's Quint with his look at Leo's other Holiday film...
Ahoy squirts! Quint, the one and only crusty seaman, here with my opinion on the new Steven Spielberg flick CATCH ME IF YOU CAN starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks and Christopher Walken.
I stumbled upon the original source material for this film, Frank Abagnale Jr. and Stan Redding's autobiographical novel of the same name, earlier this summer while perusing a Goodwill in search of collectibles and dove into it immediately. It was a quick read, amazingly entertaining and full of the most thrilling real life adventures one could hope for. In the novel I could live vicariously through Mr. Abagnale as he took on the world headfirst and damn near conquered it. To have the balls to walk onto an airplane in a pilot's uniform at the age of 17 and "deadhead" (fly for free in a courtesy seat in the cockpit reserved for other airline's pilots) all over the world... To have the smarts to fool your way into becoming a doctor or a lawyer... Astonishing.
Needless to say, I was smitten with the book and excited to see what Steven Spielberg could make out of it. Surprisingly enough the film never really screams out MADE BY STEVEN SPIELBERG and that saves it from being distracted by any huge sentimentality and allows us to concentrate on the story. Though you never get the feeling that this is A STEVEN SPIELBERG film, there's no doubt it was made by a filmmaker who knows his shit, someone who knows how to pull the best performances out of the actors involved, someone who knows what to focus on in a particular scene, someone who can balance the drama, the thrill and the comedy just right to make a great little movie. This film could have been made by Robert Altman (ie:SHORT CUTS), Frank Darabont (ie: SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION), Peter Jackson (ie: HEAVENLY CREATURES), Milos Forman (ie: damn near every movie he's ever done), etc.
Regardless of what you may think of the man's more recent films there is never a doubt that Spielberg's one of the few filmmakers out there who knows how films work and how to get the most out of every scene. Spielberg understands film about as well as any person can and that comes through in CATCH ME IF YOU CAN.
I make no secret about my love of Spielberg's films. For god sakes I took the pseudonym "Quint" from JAWS, which is my all time favorite movie. As a child of the '80s I grew up with his flicks. The man was more of a steady father figure in my young life than my actual father. Spielberg's presence was always there when I watched movies or TV. RAIDERS, TEMPLE OF DOOM, LAST CRUSADE, JAWS, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, GOONIES, INNERSPACE, ET, BACK TO THE FUTURE, JURASSIC PARK, GREMLINS, POLTERGEIST, AMAZING STORIES, TINY TOONS... He was a constant in my life.
The Spielberg of today carries a little less magic, though truth be told he hasn't made a movie that I haven't at least liked. I liked 1941. I liked AMISTAD. I liked AI. I even liked fucking HOOK, though I see it as an amazing misfire, a film that could have been a timeless classic, but for some reason didn't pull it out.
So, I carry hope that Spielberg will once again tap into the person he was in the '80s and give me some more flicks along the lines of RAIDERS and JAWS. In the meantime we have him giving us fun movies like MINORITY REPORT, serious films like SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and the lighter films that lay somewhere in-between like CATCH ME IF YOU CAN.
If you don't know, CATCH ME IF YOU CAN is based on the real life exploits of Frank Abagnale Jr. who, as a kid under 20 years old, took the nation's banks for over $4 million dollars by perfecting check fraud, impersonated airline pilots, lawyers and doctors to fit his needs... All stemming from a nasty breaking of his family due to divorce... WAIT! I know that sounds like typical Spielberg social commentary, but I assure you as it's playing out there's no feeling of manipulation.
Leonardo DiCaprio is perfect for this type of role. He can look both 29 and 13 with just a change of outfit, his hair combed in a different way and a bit of an expression change. Despite what the post TITANIC backlash says, he is a good actor. Why else would people like Spielberg and Scorsese hire him to carry a huge film? His boyish charm? DiCaprio plays this role with great relish. There's a glee in his eye the whole time, a confidence that can't be faked. He's come a long way since CRITTERS 3. hehe
Yay for Christopher Walken! Walken is hands down one of my all time favorites to watch onscreen and he's fantastic in this film as Frank Abagnale Sr., a hustler in his own right, but not as talented as his son turned out to be. Walken is a pro of this industry no matter how many JOE DIRT and COUNTRY BEARS movies he does.
Tom Hanks is, as usual, great as Carl Hanratty, the Federal Agent chasing Abagnale's paper trail all over the world. The two bond in ways you wouldn't imagine possible. This is a cat and mouse movie and the idea of the cat and mouse needing each other to give their lives a purpose is a great angle. Hanks' chemistry with DiCaprio is very real and is essential to the success of this story's translation onto film. And Hanratty's joke he tells in the film is classic. Knock-knock...
Jennifer Garner has a small role that pays off in one of the film's best comic moments. Garner has star power, no question about it. Beauty, talent... plus the camera just eats her up. Can't wait to see her turn as Electra in DAREDEVIL.
All the actors involved in this film are top notch. From Martin Sheen to Amy Adams to Frank John Hughes... All perfectly cast.
John Williams goes back to his roots to come up with the score for CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, which is very Jazz oriented. It's not Williams' best score, not one you can hum and whistle as you're leaving the theatre, but it perfectly fits the film. It also perfectly fits the kickass opening credits animation.
My only beef with the movie is something very minor that I don't expect many other people to share. There is a bit of a spoiler in this bit of the review, so if you don't want to know, don't read. The film starts out with DiCaprio in a French shithole prison. The way it was described in the book was hell on earth. Abagnale literally didn't leave a 5 foot by 5 foot by 5 foot cell for a year. He had no toilet, just one bucket that quickly filled up and overflowed. He literally had to sleep and live in his own urine and shit. He was deathly ill.
This scenario hits so unexpectedly in the book... He's cheating the system, living the high life, conning his way into and out of things with amazing timing and ease... Then BAM! He's not only caught, but he's thrown into hell. The film opens up with this and tells the rest of the story in flashback... It takes the impact of the capture away... I don't know. I guess I just wanted Spielberg to do it straight and not feel the need to cut back and forth between the story and Hanks and DiCaprio talking about it.
I know why he did it. He wanted to make this much more of a story between Cat and Mouse, Hanks and DiCaprio. He changed quite a few things from the book to include Hanratty more, which I have no problem with... But I would have preferred that hellhole coming out of left field and kicking out asses while filling us with sympathy for Abagnale at the same time.
That's one minor little nitpick from an overall great film. I would highly recommend this film to anybody. This is one of those rare films that can be enjoyed by every age group. Take the parents to see it. Hell, take the Grandparents. You won't be disappointed.
It's time for me to shove off, squirts. I have a bundle of salty goodness to unfurl on you folks in the next few days, so keep yer eye on the horizon, squirts! I shall return! 'Til that day, this is Quint bidding you a fond farewell and adieu.
-Quint
email: Wanna share scars? Wanna hear my Indianapolis story? Email me here!!!
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I liked it too. Also read the book. Did you notice they changed the ending as well. It's impossible to capture the entire book and put it on film so I think the guy did a good job. The book was great too. It was filled with movie moments. I couldn't believe it took over 20 years to get this film made and that it had to land in Spielberg's lap.
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Though I'm still as curious as ever to see "Catch Me," I'm sure I'll share Quint's disappointment about where the French prison scene was placed in the film. I'll never forget reading that part of the book, it hooked into me like few things have before. I was so wrapped up with the excitement of Abagnale's scams of young women's hearts and Pan-Am's money that I never felt a moral dilemma at all during the read. Then the prison section comes like a punch in the face, it hits me how wrong Abagnale was in doing all of this conning, yet I still asked myself: Does he really need to suffer THIS much? - Those who have read the prison scene (with all of its sickening detail) know what I mean - I know comparing films and books are like apples and oranges (though quite a hot topic right now because of all those "true fans" screaming foul over TTT) but this part in the book comes in the EXACT time that it needs to. It's like watching all of Eastwood's "Man with No Name" films in a row and then watching "Unforgiven" where that iconic legend is exposed for who he really is. The prison scene marks that the roller-coaster ride is finally over, adds gravity to Abagnale's crimes, and tell us what kind of man (kid, really) that Frank has become. Rearranging this scene takes it completely out of context and that is disappointing I guess. The book was not a Cat and Mouse chase at all and the FBI agent is pursuit of Abagnale barely figures in as a secondary character. Hey, I know I'll still like the film but I imagine some of the power will be lost in the translation. Still curious . . .
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I can just picture Quint shouting this with glee while jumping up and down and clapping his hands. He's such a cutie! Recess is over, Quintie, time to come in for your nap...then we'll have COOKIES!
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I'm eager to see this. I miss the good caper pics of yesteryear. And i'm not talking shit like Entrapment, but stuff like the Thomas Crown Affair. Half the fun is watching the chase and seeing if they got caught. It worries me that he's caught in the opening. Then you know. The thrill of the chase is gone. So that takes a little of the wind out of my sails in anticipation. I'm still psyched, but it sort of seems pointless to start a caper movie with the character being caught. Thats my 2 cents
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Dec 23, 2002 10:59:16 AM CST
How come no one is challenging Moriarty's "...since Empire..." c
by lance rock
Hard to fathom he'd rank Empire above Schindler's List, a masterwork.
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Catch Me If You Can stinks? I had no idea! The movie reeks. Face it.
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I'm really looking foward to this film, although I have an idea that it won't knock me on my ass like Minority Report, the film that should be a surefire oscar contender, but (sigh) isn't.
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Is actually the fact that they make it too nice. Placing it at the beginning of the movie is all well and good, but you don't see the nastiness of it, the utter 5'x5'x5' crappiness of it, the evil guards, the layer of feces on the floor that he's been forced to sleep in for nearly a year. Also, you don't get to see the contrasting Swedish/Norwegian (can't remember which it was, just remember it was one of those up there) prison afterward, nor the terror he felt at being probably sent back to a place just as bad after his time was up. But that's just me... I understand it's a movie and all and you can't keep any movie completely true to the book. Overall, I really enjoyed it, though those changes will nag at me.
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I have some thought about this review though, Ms. Alias there has a fucked up face and looks quite ugly to me. I could care less about her in this movie, Alias, or Daredevil.
And why is Hook considered a failure or misfire? -
Spielberg is a filmmaking god...even 1941 was okay...this movie will be awesome
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I believe this film does have the look and feel of a Spielberg movie. There are many scenes with beams of light shining through windows. And Spielberg himself used to pretend he was a Hollywood big shoot, when we a kid. He snuck into a Universal office, with a suit and suitcase full of lunch. He fooled everyone and they even gave his office a name plate.
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"e.g. means for example." aka "i.e. fuck you." I knew I'd get to use that line in a talkback one day. Thank you, Mighty Quint.
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Only the exact opposite. Nobody can ever give me a coherent reason why Hook sucks. "It's a kiddie film." Judging it's a "sequel" to Peter Pan you should have seen that coming. I let my feelings get in the way of criticizing it properly? Isn't that the ultimate goal of the filmmaker? - To incur emotion. Stupid. Other than hating Leonardo DeCaprio this has got to be the biggest bandwagon i've seen lately - to hate Hook. Here's the scoop, Hook kicks ass because I said it kicks ass, if anybody has an opinion different from mine is inexcapably wrong. Respond if you're gay.
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Respond if you're a self-righteous psuedo-intellectual roaming the site constantly and often for easy prey so you can attempt to force your opinionated thoughts about movies on everyone else.
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"roaming the site constantly and often" I'm timing your responses btw. Respond calling me a hyporcrite if you love the cock.
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Alright, seeing my screenname you can obviously tell I am a huge fan of Spielberg. Now, lots of people don't dig his new movies, and that's okay. That's kind of the point. The man is experimenting, he's taking risks. I think he could continue to make movies like the ones he did in the eighties, but that's become pretty easy for him at this point. Not that they are easy movies to make...that's why movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T. only come around so often, and they are from the same man. But...Spielberg has done those movies, and now he is ready to grow up, move on. A.I. was flawed, but it is also a movie that deserves a few more viewings before you can dismiss it. There is so much going on in that movie, while you are watching it you can literally see Spielberg of old and Kubrick's ghost wrestling, and that makes for a fascinating film. His movies have gotten more twisted as he's gotten older. Look at those rolling eye balls in Minority Report and just think about that for a minute. As for Spielberg's problems in ending his films...well I can't argue with that. I feel like the tacked on bookends of both Schindler and Saving Private Ryan are both trite and unnecessarry. The end of Minority Report is too trite as well...unless interpret it as Anderton's fantasy of how it all turns out, while he is still in slumber and the murderer gets away with it. If that is an intepretation that you buy, then it is Spiely brilliantly undermining his overdone happy endings. And AI's ending, is overdone, oversentimental, unbelivable...and completley creepy at the same time. The boy ends up lying in bed with his mother saying she loves him, then she dies, then he stays there forever by her side. It's also not real, it's all a fantasy in his mind...but that's enough for David. AI's ending is a mess, but a tragic, heartbreaking, and thought provoking mess. The end of Catch Me is alright, but the movie should have ended about five or ten minutes before it did. Catch Me is fun, but it is also not as experimental as Spielberg's last two, other than that he is taking the risk of trying comedy again (his only other comedy was his only other miserable failure.)His movies have not been "perfect" recently, but they have all been interesting and different. Think about that in terms of Hitchcock. "Rear Window" is more cinematically perfect than "Vertigo," but which movie is the one that haunts you more and makes you think about it hours after it is over?
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I think i'm done with you.
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I appreciate it BladeRunnerUnit. It has been years, since I have seen Hook. And "Give It A Name" be proud of your preciousssssss Jennifer "Horseface" Garner. ;)
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"And why is Hook considered a failure or misfire?"
HOOK is a near-disaster. The only compelling reason to see it is Maggie Smith who as always is a class act even in a bad film. Williams is dreadful, Hoffman is a hoot but way overplayed, and the whole thing smells of sentimentality and includes such bizarre touches as fucking Julia Roberts as Tinker Bell. It should never have been made. -
That Statement above got me curious so I search the AICN Archives to find out... NO Doubt HARRY is the main man, posting too many thousands of stories to count since the site re-design in the summer of 1997 when the current files start. But the number "2" poster by a huge lead is FATHER GEEK with 1353 stories posted; MORIARTY is #3 with 396 stories up; QUINT comes in at #4 with a total of 192; #5 is Chicago's CAPONE with 133 stories; DARIUS25 is the #6 poster at 124; DR. SOTHA is in 7th place with 102 reports on file; then comes COFFIN JOE at #8 with 90 stories; then tied for #9 is PIGMON and ROBOGEEK at 67 apiece; the #10 belongs to ACCSPY with 60; #11 belongs to the lovely Ms. ALEXANDRA DUPONT with 57 well written entries; the infamous JOE HALLENBECK is next at #12 with 49 curse ridden stories; LOBO is #13 with 47; TOM JOAD is #14 with 38 reports; EL COSMICO has 31 to place him at #15; and at #16 with 22 stories is ANNETTE KELLERMAN. I stopped there, no point in listing those with less than 20 postings... Hope I didn't leave anybody out...
interesting AICN trivia, huh? -
Where it turns out Hanks and DiCaprio are really the same person! (Nyuck Nyuck - Adaptation rules!)
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ELSTON GUNN of the Weekly Recap has posted 189 columns which places him right behind QUINT in the #5 spot... so move everyone else back one notch... sorry Elston!
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If you just gave away a spoiler for "Adaptation," which isn't out here in the UK yet, you die.
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It's "genius." And "thought." And "brought." And "sensibility." And countless other EASY words you can't fucking get right. If you're going to get off on being an elitist pseudo-intellectual fuckwit all the time, at least do so without undercutting your feigned superiority by misspelling damn near EVERYTHING you fucking moron.
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Hey hey, yeah I realize shes not in this movie and what Ima saying has nothing to do with anything but whats up with this chick? Its like she saw Aliens and decided to play Vasquez in every damn film she makes. Shes hot but seeing her snarl and give that, 'who farted!' face in every damned movie shes in makes me snarl...and oddly enough, gives me gas. So Im watching Resident Evil and pissed off at her always looking pissed off...but my farts smell like honey, so come on over, we'll talk about Catch Me.
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Actually, if you count stories I've posted as well as stories I've written, I've put up north of 2300 articles by m'self on the site, and of those, 300 or so are major pieces, so I'll take that number two spot again, if'n you don't mind. And regarding my comments about EMPIRE OF THE SUN and SCHINDLER'S, I called CATCH ME IF YOU CAN his most "complete" film since EMPIRE, and that's because I believe SCHINDLER'S is seriously flawed in the last ten or fifteen minutes. The real-life story was so much more brilliant and powerful than Spielberg having Neeson break down and sob over his watch and his ring, and it mars the film for me. I think it's a great movie, but that ending is like if someone burnt one corner off the MONA LISA. It leaves EMPIRE as the last Spielberg film before this that I liked from beginning to end without any complaints.
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actually I lied, it's the same subject. BladeRunner, nobody likes you can't you tell? What are you going to do now? On a site of movie buffs your opionions are the least welcome, it seems. Meanwhile a rambler like me can get away with not really having anything important to say and nobody attacks me personally. Respond if you're constantly hitting refresh on your browser because you care what people think about you.
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Meanwhile you're inadvertantly calling American's presumptious and shallow. Guys, I think we have a terrorist on our hands here. You trying to take over this site with your box cutter words? I'm still greiving about September 11th and you come in here and bash Americans, how inconsiderate. What say you? Choose your words carefully, I think the FBI are watching. Respond if you're a terrorist with world domination plans that stem from a diabolical hierarchy of victorys rooted in taking over an internet site.
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Quick review - look at my posts, then look at yours. Who needs the English lessons again? I never called you the enemy. But you did. I think it's clear that you're a terrorist. I'm just trying to have a converstation here, or am I being to presumptuous and shallow? It's people like you that cause me to build a bombshelter out of my basement and stock up on the Jolly Green Giant. Your first language isn't by chance Arabic is it? Respond if it's not Arabic and you want to tell me your REAL primary language like I really cared and didn't ask a rhetorical question.
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I agree with you in that abagnale's imprisonment should have been out of left field... I'm a sucker for surprises...
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Is my favorite film of all time. I just wanted to say that here on Good ol' AICN.
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If you want to see some hilarious rationalizations of a bag-of-suck film, watch the director interview with Spielberg on the 1941 DVD. "They understood it in Europe" - - going for the Jerry Lewis defense. Oh, and the defining moment for when SS started sucking was when he dumped Amy Irving for whatshername during filming the aptly-named Temple of Doom.
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Why didn't Spielberg make this flick R-rated? This man wields more power and influence in Hollywood than God, yet he doesn't sack up and stray from conformist formula. If he would've thrown some mad pussy in this flick, it would have rocked. Imagine some fur in a Spielberg flick? I mean, how much money can one man horde; better yet, how many minority children can one man adopt? His house must feel like some fucking midget UN summit.
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Saving private ryan had a bothched ending, I suppose? You're outta your mind.
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No worries, eh? If it was a spoiler, I wouldn't have posted it.
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just saw the film and found it very entertaining. it was a fun and charming adventure that any teenage boy would die for. it is much like "raiders" in that respect. if you're up for lighter holiday fare, you really can't go wrong w/ this movie...unless you hate spielberg, hanks, or dicaprio. and there are a surprising amount of you out there...
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It was a VERY flawed ending: "Am I a good man?" "Oh yes, Sweetie, you're a good man." "Thanks, Honey!" Matt Damon's older self gets a nice tummy rub in a French cemetary. Quelle merde.
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Dec 26, 2002 4:03:50 PM CST
Glad you enjoyed your trip to the Trade World Center, BladeRunne
by vegas
It's WORLD TRADE CENTER. WTC. Not TWC. Second language doesn't excuse the fact that you type like a fucking MORON. Fucking smarter-than-thou elitist fuckprick coming here and trying to make people feel bad about what they like or where they're from when you can't even put THREE FUCKING INITIALS in order. You fucking did that more than once too, so don't say it was just a typo. You're a fucking IDIOT. Just accept it you fucking goober.
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More fun than the fucking lord of the rings.
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I'm not 5 years old.
Okay, got it? I'm not 5. I don't need to be pandered to, or coddled or have my endings wrapped up in a nice, big red bow. If I want to go to a grown-up movie, movies that deal with morals and laws and ethics and grown-up notions of family, movies that use the f-word, the last thing I want is to be condescended to. The VERY last thing I want is to be outright lied to.
Steven Spielberg is obviously one of those men who refuses to tell his kids the truth about Santa Claus, even when they're thirteen. He makes them look away from the screen anytime the question of potential nudity arises and he turns off Old Yeller 10 minutes before the end, telling them "that's it, that's the end."
Spielberg can go fuck himself. If he's not willing to make a movie with moral ambiguity or ethical gray areas then he should not be seeking out projects entrenched in those very concepts. He should stick to movies about aliens and kids or whip-cracking archeologists.
If I had left the theatre last night, and came across Mr. E.T., I probably would have punched him. So, yeah, if someone could tell Stevie that I'm not 5 years old, and that he can go fuck himself, that'd be great. Tell him at the very least to stop lying, and that he should stop ruining movies, scripts, or concepts that somebody with balls could actually make great.
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