Rating: Summary: what If intelligence goes unrecognized & unrewarded Review: In Ancient China they sentenced counterfeiters to work in the mint. That could be the underlying message of this movie. Intelligence will find a way to get what it thinks it deserves if unrecognized and unrewarded in the normal course of events.Young bright a-little-lazy kid watches his dad just a little too closely, and becomes just like him only better. Christopher Walkien is excellent as the dad; moody, manipulative, eager to be recognized and top-of-the-heap. And the son inherited double doses of all these with a chutzpa without end. At seventeen, with barely any facial hair he pretends to be a mid-20's airplane pilot. Fills his apartment with bikini clad blondes, all financed by kiting checks. If you excuse the making of a criminal who rips off banks for more than 4million, he is a hero, outrunning the FBI and tricking their best agent on the spur of the moment. but the real point is talent needs to be, demands to be recognized, and thankfully in this case it was.... decent movie. good acting, nice plot with things to think about. the only thing the movie lacked was special effects *grin*
Rating: Summary: Not Spielberg's best, but nonethess enjoyable Review: Steven Spielberg's latest film is the true story of the prodigious teenage con artist Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo Di Caprio) who manages during the late 1960's to forge over two million dollars in checks throughout several different countries while posing as an airline pilot, a pediatrician, an attorney, and a college professor. All the while, he is being pursued by FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks), whose dedication to catching Abagnale borders on obsessive. While the main focus of the film is on Abagnale's genius for defrauding the government, deceiving just about anyone with whom he comes into contact, and the ensuing cat and mouse game with the FBI, it also allows us a glimpse into the underlying roots of his deception. His father Frank Abagnale Sr., portrayed with great depth and sincerity by Christopher Walken, has a penchant for deceit himself but when his business and marriage fall apart it ignites his son's strong yearning to restore the life and family they once had and ultimately his ambitious yet perilous journey into high stakes fraud. There are times when the plot seems repetitious and predictable, and therefore robs this film of becoming a first rate thrill ride. But strong performances, a fascinating storyline with both comical and sad undertones, and a fulfilling ending make Catch Me If You Can worth the trip to the cinema.
Rating: Summary: A great "light" movie Review: I've read a lot of reviews about this movie and very few people think it is good. A great mayority thinks that this movie doesn't deserve to be seen as an "Spielberg's movie" and that the actors weren't as good as they always are. I think completly different. My impression is that this movie is great because of its simplicity. It doesn't want to give an example, it doesn't discuss a political, religious or social issue, it just entretains; and that's the beauty of it. It only tells a story, a real (and sometimes unbelievable) story, and leaves you thinking about Abagnale's great capacity and intelligence and Hanratty's great determination to not only catch this kid, but to use his abilities to turn him in the right path. This movie has it all: a good story, a great director, marvelous actors......Why ask for more?
Rating: Summary: ehhhh..its alright. Review: Steven Speilberg is a man we have come to expect a lot from lately.....he is the epitome of superstar directors...the kind of director upon whose name actors hearing start to uncontrolabally drool...hmmmm..he will make me a star and then i can charge millions of dollars!...well speilberg is just what DeCaprio needed to recover from carreer disasters like The Titanic and The Beach...too bad this film could have been made by any Bob Smith. As far as acting is concerned this ones a winner...stellar performances specially by Christopher Walken and Tom Hanks...they are both solid professional actors and they diliver...DeCaprio is young and no where near the level of his fellow cast members but here he does show singns of the great talent he displayed ealier on in his carreer during his basketball Diaries and Whats Eating Gilbert Grape glory days. Visually the film is also very interesting...all the scenes are filled with fluffy retro goodness...they really play beautifully into stereotypical images of that era with your sharp tight fitting suits and your scarfs and your mammoth sized automobiles and those perfect rim tipped eye-glasses and last but not the least the imortal Dectectives Hat that Tom Hanks proudly sports. The plot is not too bad but major problems kick in when you try to connect with this film...i rememebr feeling only partly satisfied after i left the theater where i saw this film. I feel Speilberg has not explored any issue from the plotline intricately. I totally agree with the Amazon.com reviewer. The protrayal of the fraud seems way too easy...it seriously lacks depth...protrayal of Frank's personal anguish is also leavs much to be desired..i mean, we know he's got major problems and we know he is on this major rebellious spree...we are looking for some more emotion and a more jucy plot line! Because of all the talent thats involved in this project...its not a bad film...its light hearted and easy...personally i'd prefer and expect something more challenging from the great Spielberg!...peace.
Rating: Summary: Worth catching? Review: Have you ever wanted to be someone else? Just imagine walking away from your life into the life of a doctor, or a lawyer, or maybe an airline pilot. Wouldn't that be great? Now imagine for a moment trying to walk into all of these lives in the course of only four or five years. Sound difficult? What if you tried to do all of this between the ages of 16 and 21? Tough, huh? This is the life that was lived by Frank Abagnale, Jr. for a period of time in the 1970s and was recently adapted by Steven Spielberg into the film Catch Me If You Can. Leonard DiCaprio plays Frank Abagnale, Jr., the charming conman who seems to be always one step ahead of the FBI agent in pursuit, Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks). Based on the true story, this film is a departure from recent works for both Spielberg and DiCaprio. Spielberg's Minority Report, A.I., and Saving Private Ryan, while all being fantastically directed films haven't exactly been, well, fun. The same goes for DiCaprio's roles in Gangs of New York and The Beach. As for Tom Hanks ' we all know there's nothing the man can't do. So far we have a true story, a fast, fun plot, one of the best directors ever, and two of Hollywood's hottest stars'what else could a film need? Supporting actors, set design, and a score, for starters. Luckily, this film holds strong on all counts. Christopher Walken, for example, plays the role of Frank Abagnale, Sr. brilliantly. With all of the wonderful things there are to say about his film, a slightly disturbing aspect of this emerges ' it's not terrific. Nor is it unbelievable, unforgettable or utterly amazing. Go figure. What happens when you mix all of these ingredients together is an entertaining movie truly worth watching. Unless, of course, you are looking for depth, high drama and clearly defined character motivations ' they're not here.
Rating: Summary: The Movie May Have Been Promoted Wrong, But... Review: This movie was promoted as if it were a comedy, however it is nothing of the sort. I found it more to be that of a drama. Now if you people would just put aside what you have been told and look at a movie for what it is, you would see A MOVIE...not a prediction of what you thought it would be...and you would notice that it is still a GOOD movie. I admit, if you're in the mood for laughing and see this movie expecting that, you wouldn't be impressed, however, if you stop "predicting" for a second and just watch, you WILL SEE a story, and a good one at that.
Rating: Summary: Very dissapointing Review: I felt the essence of the book was destroyed , Leo was terrible , very very dissapointing.
Rating: Summary: Pink Pantheresque dramatization of Abnigale Review: His amazing trail of impersonations and forged checks gets started at age 16 and continues for a madcap five or six years. He successfully impersonates an airline pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer. He never finished high school, but after two weeks of study he passes the Louisiana bar exam! Tax your credibility?? Well, it's a true story based on the life of Frank Abnigale and his autobiographical novel of the same name. Follows the book pretty closely, except for the addition of a good deal of fictional detail regarding his relationship with his father and mother. Those relationships become the motivation for his criminal escapades, a major departure from the book, and presumably from the true story----but it makes for a compelling and VERY entertaining movie. And we identify sympathetically with Frank and his bold and technically sophisticated crimes. He is relentlessly pursued by the dogged and persistent FBI agent played engagingly by Tom Hanks. The opening credits give us a clue of a Pink Panther-like tale, and Tom Hanks reminds us a little of Peter Seller's Inspector Clusoe---without being anywhere near so broadly comic. Great performances by all, and another triumph for Spielberg. My whole family LOVED this movie!!
Rating: Summary: Exceeded my expectations. Review: I'm not a fan of Steven Spielberg. About L. DiCaprio, well some of his movies are among my most hated (particularly Titanic, of course), yet I can't hate him as an actor because there are some others that I have enjoyed (ex. Marvin's Room). About this one, I must say that I ejoyed it from the opening credits (they are so good that a special prize called "Best Opening Credits" should have been created specially for this occasion) until the end. What I like about this movie is that it shows an interesting story (adaptation of a true story) without being too pretentious (which is one of the main problems I find in Spielberg - ex. Artificial Intelligence) or too sentimental; and mainly, because Spielberg uses no aliens, monsters, dinosours or sharks. Well, I'm not telling much about the movie, but I'll say that eventhough this movie won't change film history, it made me feel so good about it as to give it five stars (yeah, why less?). In my opinion it is DiCaprio's and Spielberg's best.
Rating: Summary: A Delightful Hilarious Movie Review: When me and my friend went to view the film we were interested about how Leonardo Dicaprio performance would be since he went through such a quiet time period where he ceased to act. He was sweet in it and often hilarious. His performance was quiet colourful and provided a great contrast to Tom Hanks who played a more dull layed back character. Leonardo pulled off the role of a teenager very well and i think did the true con justice. I thought i was amazing how smart he was trust me i was taking notes on how to forge a letter to be excused from school to how to cash in cheques that were not even paid to him. It also shows the world that not all us teens aren't intellectual. Of course we should have known that anything filmed by Steven would not let us down. The only thing was it is a little long but then again i could have a short attention span!
|