It was a night of good movies.
Went to see "Catch Me If You Can" with my sister and her boyfriend tonight. It was a good movie: as one of my friends criticized, simple, but simple is a good change of pace from time to time. You need something to cleanse the palate between complex battle scenes with thousands of Orcs versus Elves, Humans and other assorted species and movies that throw that twist at you in the last five minutes that makes the previous 2 hours completely worthless.
The acting was so-so in my opinion: nobody seemed to excel in their roles. Tom Hanks passed off a decent Boston accent. Leo DiCaprio was able to pass off his crimes as cries for a decent family structure. I don't know - I think I might be demanding too much, however, these are two Oscar nominated actors but neither was incredibly stand-outish in their role.
The story is what I praise most: inventive, insane at times, yet seemingly based in fact. What exactly that means, I'm not sure: the film proclaims itself "inspired by true events," but where the truth ends and Spielberg's inspiration begins is up to the viewer. It follows a pretty logical structure throughout - albeit simple - giving background for Hanks chasing DiCaprio.
The only leap that I thought I was making with the story was that so much seemed to depend that DiCaprio's character was committing these acts of fraud solely to bring his family back together. This felt forced at times, and in some aspects, was not given enough background story to seem plausible to my mind.
My other major praises go to the score and the main titles. John Williams (a frequent collaborator with Spielberg) did the score, and without the opening credit to that effect, I wouldn't have known. The score is quirky and seemed to be set well in the sixties and seventies. Williams is frequently known for monumental scores (Star Wars, Jurassic Park, The Patriot, Jaws) and epic orchestrations: This music was toned down and fit well. The main titles were beautifully done, in a style suited for the rest of the film. Too many movies recently have relied on Helvitica Sans on a film overlay: these titles felt refreshing and well done.
And that is what this film felt like to me: it was refreshing and well done, telling a fantastic story in a straightforward way that allowed the events to feel as incredible as they were.
When I got home, Rain Man was playing, unedited, on cable. Without getting too much into it, it was a really good movie. Dustin Hoffman creates his character in such detail that the results are startling and completely authentic.
Thats it for the movies. I'm off for Jersey in the morning.
Posted by Matthew at December 28, 2002 02:53 AM