Classic Movie Review Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom

Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom (1984)

Directed by Steven Spielberg 

Written by Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz 

Starring Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Ke Huy Quan, Amrish Puri 

Release Date May 23rd, 1984 

Published July 3rd, 2023 

Controversial opinion alert: I think Temple of Doom is the best Indiana Jones movie. Before you click away in disgust, allow me to make my case. I don't expect to convince you to agree with me. I understand this is a personal preference thing, my opinion is not more important than yours. But I want the chance to talk about the unending pleasures I find in Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom. From the opening scene to the final moments of Indiana Jones triumphing over evil, Temple of Doom is the most fun Indiana Jones adventure of them all. 

The opening set piece of Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom is incredible. It opens with a terrific musical number by Kate Capshaw, a lavish, gaudy, opening number that really sets the tone for who she is in this story, a classic screwball heroine. Our hero, Indiana Jones, is here to meet with gangsters with whom he has made a deal. Indy has secured a relic they want and in exchange, Indy is supposed to get a rare and quite large diamond. Naturally, betrayal is afoot, Indy gets poisoned and the bad guys withhold the antidote as a way of getting Indy to give back his treasure. 

The scene devolves into screwball chaos from there as the gangsters start shooting, Indy starts punching, he's chasing the vial full of cure, Willie (Capshaw), is chasing the diamond, and they both must run to get away from the many, many bullets being fired. This leads to one of my favorite action moments ever as Indy cuts loose a giant steel gong hanging from the ceiling of the nightclub. It lands and rolls off the stage and as it does, Indy hides behind it, using it as a shield from the tommy gun being endlessly fired in his direction. When Willie grabs the cure, Indy grabs her, and they both go flying through a window. 

The scene leads to a comic set piece with the two falling through numerous awnings before landing perfectly as Short Round (Ke Huy Quan) shows up with the getaway car. A chase scene ensues until Indy makes it to a plane only to reveal a terrific gag that yes, doesn't entirely make sense, but is still quite funny in presentation, especially Indy's comic grin as he thinks he's showed up the gangsters only to reveal to us the trouble he's just bought for himself. Spielberg's direction is pitch perfect, the adventure here feels like a direct lift from an Errol Flynn adventure from the 30s or 40s, and the screwball comedies of that era get wonderful homage as well. 

Much like Indiana Jones and The Raiders of the Lost Ark thrives on Spielberg and George Lucas's love of action serial movies from the era of Saturday afternoon matinees, Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom ages up for homage to Errol Flynn crossed with a classic screwball comedy with just the right touch of Hope and Crosby travel picture. All of it elevated to a level of originality by Spielberg at the height of his cinematic powers. Spielberg's talent for tone and invention is on best display in Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom as he deftly crosses comic touches with scares involving hearts being ripped out of bodies and child slaves living under the whip of a dangerous cult. 

Read my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Classic Movie Review Raiders of the Lost Ark

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) 

Directed by Steven Spielberg 

Written by Lawrence Kasden 

Starring Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, John Rhys Davies, Denholm Elliott 

Release Date July 12th 1981 

Published July 2nd 1981 

It's the spirit of Indiana Jones that gets me every time I watch Raiders of the Lost Ark. The sense of wonder and excitement that Steven Spielberg brings to his direction, the choices he makes in staging acting, and the way he and Harrison Ford clearly know the vibe they are going for, it's glorious to watch. I may not have grown up on the kind of serialized adventures that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg did, but watching Raiders of the Lost Ark, I feel like I was there with them, when they were little boys, delighting in adventures that they would watch over and over again at the movie theaters of their youth. 

It's a spirit of adventure as much as it is an actual adventure that you enjoy when you watch Raiders of the Lost Ark. It's old school movie magic, a sense of wonder that permeates the screen. In trying to recreate their youth, Spielberg and Lucas invited us along, welcomed us like fellow kids into their exuberant childhood obsessions, they invited us to play with them. It's invitation to be a little kid again and watch as a charismatic hero takes center stage to perform daring stunts because it needs to be done, it' the right and just thing. 

The simple pleasures of Raiders of the Lost Ark are amplified but the wonderful intention of Raiders of the Lost Ark. It's intended to thrill you in a way that Spielberg and Lucas understand the thrill of their own childhoods. It's the purest expression of childlike wonder and nostalgia, rendered fresh and new via remarkable artistry, effects, and a movie star that feels perfectly at home amid the wonder and excitement. Harrison Ford is different from Spielberg and Lucas in a way that carries the spirit of Indiana Jones but also stands aside from it. 

Where Spielberg and Lucas are in earnest admiration of this kind of adventure, Ford's performance doesn't hold the same kind of preciousness. He's living the adventure, he's living Indiana Jones as if the character existed wholly within a real world. This is an essential part of his appeal. Had he attempted to deliver the same kind of enthusiasm and wonder that Lucas and Spielberg were bringing to the creation of Raiders of the Lost Ark, the whole thing could tip into a childish parody. Ford is very much the adult in the room, grounding the action from the perspective of someone taking all of this very seriously. 

That's because, for Indiana Jones, this is all very serious For him, it's an adventure but it is a genuinely life or death adventure. For him, there must be a sense of gravity, a sense of weight, he's providing the stakes of this story. He doesn't have time to indulge in the wonder or step back and think about being in the midst of an incredible adventure, this is life or death, and Ford brings that sense of gravity to Indiana Jones in a wonderfully tricky fashion. He must balance being the embodiment of a wondrous adventure and communicate the grave circumstances that he faces in this story all at once. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review The Lost World Jurassic Park

The Lost World Jurassic Park (1997) 

Directed by Steven Spielberg 

Written by David Koepp 

Starring Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Vince Vaughn, Pete Postlethwaite 

Release Date May 23rd, 1997 

Published June 12th, 2023 

The Lost World Jurassic Park fails to recapture the magic and wonder of the original. Why? That kind of lightning in a bottle is simply hard to catch a second time. With no Sam Neil, no Laura Dern, and only Jeff Goldblum returning, The Lost World Jurassic Park felt mercenary and obligatory. Someone at the studio backed several brinks trucks worth of cash at Steven Spielberg's door, promised him he could make any movie he wanted, but only if he delivered another dino-blockbuster. Unlike the wide-eyed wonder of Jurassic Park, The Lost World Jurassic Park plays like a market tested blockbuster more interested in reaching four audience quadrants than satisfyingly entertaining the people who made up those quadrants. 

That said, this is Steven Spielberg so the movie isn't as bad as it could be. Spielberg is far too good of a director to make a genuinely bad film. Rather, this is the rare soulless Spielberg effort. It's a Spielberg movie where you can sense his heart isn't completely in it. There is a great visual gag in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back where the titular heroes visit the set of a Scream sequel. There, we find director Wes Craven not paying attention to directing and instead counting his money and telling his actress, Shannen Doherty, to do whatever she wants. That's how I picture Spielberg except, instead of counting his money, he's paying for a different and far better movie to start production while he occasionally tells his actors to run. 

The Lost World Jurassic Park begins by telling us that billionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) has learned nothing from his Jurassic Park experience. He has another island full of dinosaurs and sees them as his ticket to get his dream of Jurassic Park back on track. Hammond calls upon Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) to help him by going to this island and certifying that the dinosaurs are safe and accounted for on this new island. Dr. Malcolm refuses the lucrative offer until Hammond tells him that Malcolm's girlfriend, Dr. Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore), is already on the island. 

Malcolm takes the offer from Hammond but not to co-sign a new park. Malcolm is going to this new island on a rescue mission. Along for the ride are a guide, Eddie Carr (Richard Schiff) and a hotshot photographer, and greenpeace activist, Nick Van Owen (Vince Vaughn). Once on the island, they must try to find Sarah while also trying not to become dinner for the burgeoning new wildlife. Soon after this however, they will find themselves having to compete to save the dinosaurs from Hammond's idiot nephew, Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard), and a big game hunter played by Pete Postelthwaite. 

The trailer back in 1997 carried a very big spoiler: The dinosaurs, at least one of them, the fearsome T-Rex, is coming to America. Commercials and trailers touted a dinosaur raging through city streets. This revealed further just how mercenary the whole effort was. The T-Rex doesn't arrive in America until the 3rd act and revealing that this dangerous dinosaur was going to rage through the streets of San Diego rather harms any chance of building tension and suspense as to where the movie was going to go. It's a great visual but spoiling it in the trailer made it very clear that The Lost World Jurassic Park was more of a marketing campaign than a movie. 

Read my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Classic Movie Review Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park (1993) 

Directed by Steven Spielberg 

Written by Michael Crichton, David Koepp 

Starring Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough 

Release Date June 11th, 1993 

Published June 12th, 1993 

To say that Jurassic Park was ahead of its time in film technique would be an understatement. Somehow, Steven Spielberg made a massive CGI world come to life that still looks good today compared to much more expensive movies that came after it. Spielberg's dinosaurs of 1993 are, for me, more appealing than anything created since by his peers such as George Lucas or James Cameron. Spielberg's magical realism, the grounded story he tells about humans and dinosaurs, is filled with wonders that Lucas and Cameron forego in favor of spectacle. 

Spielberg still believed in actors and performances while Lucas and Cameron appeared to feel that actors got in the way of their vision. Spielberg never lost sight of what truly compels an audience, characters they can relate to, fear for, and root for. In selecting his cast for Jurassic Park he didn't choose giant movie stars, he chose people who were well known for their skillful acting. Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum, the core of the Jurassic Park cast, were actors first and movie stars a distant second. 

Spielberg needed their skillful performances to truly give life to the monsters he was using CGI to bring to life. It would be mildly impressive to see the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park on their own but the dinosaurs take on a greater sense of wonder when actors are able to convince you that the dinosaur is in front of them. The wonder and excitement of these performers is truly what gives life to the CGI creations of Spielberg's brilliant behind the scenes team. 

Jurassic Park kicks off on a horror movie cliché. A black actor is tasked with letting the monstrous T-Rex out of its cage and, in unfortunate horror movie fashion, the black guy dies first. I'm not calling the scene racist, it's not really my place to make that judgment. I'm merely pointing out one well worn trope that was strangely present throughout the history of horror and monster movies. And, make no mistake about it, while I am not sure I would call Jurassic Park a horror movie, it's most certainly a monster movie. 

Dinosaurs in Spielberg's universe, especially the vicious raptors and the horrifying T-Rex, are introduced in classic monster movie fashion. Much the way that Godzilla and his cadre of fellow movie monsters are introduced in their films, Spielberg establishes his monsters as dangerous killers, slows down to show us how beautiful his monsters can be, and then unleashes the monsters upon his heroic human characters. The nature of the suspense of Jurassic Park is no different than the nature of the suspense of 1950s drive-in monster movies that you can easily imagine Spielberg himself having enjoyed. 

Spielberg is undoubtedly making a drive in monster movie, he's just doing it with modern tools unavailable to the forgotten generation of monster movie makers who delighted drive-in audiences of the 50s with the unforgettable sight of giant spiders, aliens, and gorillas. Godzilla is owed a debt as is King Kong who was the T-Rex of 1933, impressing audiences then just as Spielberg's fearsome dinosaur impressed us in 1933. Jurassic Park is a great improvement over the monster movies of the past but Spielberg is also fearlessly paying homage to movies that he grew up with and help generations fall in love with the spectacle of going to the movies. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media. 

Movie Review: War Horse

War Horse (2011) 

Directed by Steven Spielberg 

Written by Lee Hall, Richard Curtis

Starring Emily Watson, David Thewlis, Peter Mullan, Jeremy Irvine 

Release Date December 25th, 2011 

Published December 25th, 2011

There is one truly great scene in Steven Speilberg's "War Horse." The scene involves the hero horse escaping from torture minded German soldiers, racing through a field covered in barbed wire. The horse manages to break through much of the barbed wire but eventually is taken down and looks to be dying a horrible death wrapped in barbed wire.

As the sun comes up British and German soldiers from opposite ends of this World War 1 battlefield see something moving in the middle of the battlefield and assume it may be a wounded soldier. White flags go up from both sides and a sentry is dispatched from each.

For a moment a tenuous peace is forged as two enemy soldiers work together to free the horse from the barbed wire. The dialogue, the acting and director Steven Speilberg's calm, observant style give this centerpiece scene in "War Horse" energy and excitement that is lacking in the rest of the film.

A Horse Named Joe

"War Horse" stars Jeremy Irvine as Albert, a farm boy with a loutish, drunken father (Peter Mullan) who brings home skinny horse more suited for racing than the plow horse he was supposed to purchase. Albert takes to the new horse and names it Joey.

When Albert's father sobers enough to realize what he's done he wants to shoot Joey. Albert and his mother (Emily Watson) manage to stop him at least long enough for Albert to try to teach Joey how to draw the plow over the rocky shoals of the family farmland.

Albert's task becomes a spectacle as their landlord, Mr. Lyons (David Thewlis) brings a crowd to watch what he expects will be a major failure. The plowing scenes are a solid piece of cinema; rousing and sympathetic but they are merely killing time until the major plot kicks in.

Separated by War

The major plot is World War 1 and Peter's father giving up Joey, against Albert's wishes, to the military cause. Joey becomes the property of Captain Nicholls (Tom Hiddleston) who promises to return Joey to Albert after the war. Sadly, Captain Nicholls underestimates the toll of the war ahead.

Will Joey be able to find his way back to Albert? Will Albert join the cause and search for Joey? Can either survive the horrors of the First World War? Good questions all and each has the potential to be very moving and entertaining.

"War Horse" is filled with potential mostly unrealized. Steven Speilberg's approach here is almost entirely homage with little of anything new or exciting. Individual scenes of "War Horse" capture Speilberg at his best but most of the film is a droning bore of tributes to War movies past.

Old School Meets New School

"War Horse" is the first film that Steven Speilberg edited digitally rather than with a traditional editing suite on the back of a flatbed truck. This move toward a more modern approach is somewhat ironic in that it is applied to one of the most old school movies of Speilberg's long and illustrious career.

"War Horse" is certainly not a bad movie but it's not a great movie either. The film will appeal to fans of old war movies as well as to fans of horse movies, a genre all its own. I recommend "War Horse" for the very particular group of fans I just mentioned; for everyone else "War Horse" shouldn't be your first choice until it arrives on DVD in 2012.

Movie Review The Adventures of Tintin

The Adventures of Tintin (2011) 

Directed by Steven Spielberg 

Written by Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright

Starring Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg

Release Date December 21st, 2011 

Published December 20th, 2011

The Adventures of Tintin is a remarkable technical achievement. Every moment of The Adventures of Tintin looks like a beautiful comic book come to life. There is no doubting the technical mastery involved in bringing 'Tintin' to the big screen; it does after all have the names Steven Speilberg and Peter Jackson over the title.

So, why am I not completely sold on 'Tintin?'

Who's Tintin?

Tintin (Jamie Bell) is a boyish newspaper reporter with a great nose for a story. Tintin stumbles on what may be the biggest scoop of his career when he buys a model ship at a flea market. The ship is highly coveted and Tintin is warned by one strange man while another man, Ivan Ivanovich (Daniel Craig) offers him a suspicious amount of money for the ship.

Having been intrigued by the warning and the bidding war over the ship, Tintin gets into investigation mode. When he returns home he finds his flat ransacked and the ship missing. After another encounter with Mr. Ivanovich, Tintin stumbles over another important clue; one that Ivanovich will kill to get his hands on.

A Voyage to India

Tintin's clue leads to his kidnapping and a trip to India via ship during which Tintin makes a daring escape with the ship's former Captain, Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis). Haddock's connection to the model ships, there are more than one, is the key to a remarkable adventure that, of course, includes a fabulous treasure.

The Adventures of Tintin is a remarkable technical achievement that delivers fun with terrific visuals and some dazzling adventure scenes. Especially fun is a chase scene set in India involving a crumbling dam, a rocket launcher and an incredibly shrinking motorcycle and sidecar.

Motion Capture Animation

I am very resistant to motion capture animation; I have yet to see it rendered in truly spectacular fashion. Tintin is, in fact, the closest any filmmaker has come to making the form palatable, at least to me. The attempt to make animation look more and more realistic is a fool's errand. Speilberg and Jackson's 'Tintin' teeters on the brink of the 'uncanny valley' , the sweet spot between animated cute and animated creepy.

The adventure of "The Adventure of Tintin" helped me in getting over a little of my resistance to motion capture animation but not completely. 'Tintin' doesn't have that joyous, Pixar quality that inspires me to write love poems about the beauty of modern animation.

Nor does 'Tintin' have the ability to make me care for and worry for the characters; not in the way I might have for a live action character. Take Indiana Jones for instance; you know Indy is in no danger of death but you worry for him nevertheless. There is less worry for Tintin; the animation gives us distance from the characters that live action 'Indy' is able to bridge.

'Worth Seeing if'

That said, I still recommend "The Adventures of Tintin." Kids and parents alike will love the film's bright colors and colorful characters. Tintin as a character is a terrific role model and Captain Haddock's story of redemption from drunk to hero is a terrifically well played arc.

"The Adventures of Tintin" doesn't reach the heights of great animated movies and falls well short of the best live action movies. Instead, "The Adventures of Tintin" rates a 'worth seeing if' rating. It's worth seeing if you have already seen "We Bought a Zoo," "The Muppets," or "Hugo."

Movie Review Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) 

Directed by Steven Spielberg 

Written by David Koepp 

Starring Harrison Ford, Shia Labeouf, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen, Ray Winstone, John Hurt

Release Date May 22nd, 2008 

Published May 20th, 2008

In full disclosure mode, I write this review while wearing an Indiana Jones t-shirt. The fact is, as long as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull hit the screen I was going to love it. As an Indy nerd who spent last Thursday watching all three original Indy adventures back to back to back plus a two hour documentary feature, I have waited very impatiently for a new Indiana Jones for 19 years.

As we rejoin the adventure of archaeologist and treasure hunter Henry "Indiana '' Jones Jr it is 1952 and Indy has been kidnapped by Russian infiltrators. They want Indy to help them locate an artifact being held by the US government at Area 51. The artifact is related to a top-secret excavation that Dr. Jones took part in briefly at Roswell New Mexico.

Naturally, Indiana Jones isn't one for treason and after a chase, a gun battle, and another chase, he nearly gets the artifact back. He will need to keep trying to get it because red scare paranoia has the FBI calling him a traitor. Forced out of his teaching gig by the FBI, Indy heads for New York only to be sidetracked by a kid named Mutt (Shia Labeouf).

Mutt has a letter from an old friend of Indy's who claims to have found the lost city of gold and includes a map. With Mutt in tow, Indy heads for South America with the Russians hot on his heels as well. If you guessed that the City of Gold is also related to that Roswell gig, kudos for your observational prowess.

Indiana Jones isn't overly complicated in its plotting but it's not stupid either. The script from George Lucas with some spit polish by three other writers, proceeds with a similar logic to the first three Indy films balancing outlandish supernatural phenomena with old school adventure movie thrills.

Steven Speilberg's direction is relaxed and assured like an old friend retelling a story we've heard before but with just as much energy, vigor and life as ever before. Working with Oscar winner Janusz Kaminski there is a little extra polish to the old school look of Indy but not so much as to distract from the old time feel.

Harrison Ford is restored to his world-weary charming self as Indiana Jones. His persona seeming ever more strained and stressed in his most recent action movie roles, Ford is chilled out and laid back as Indy and he has not lost a bit of the light touch humor and hard ass tough guy persona that has made Indiana Jones an icon.

I was going to love this movie just for existing; so imagine how geeked I am that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is so awesome. Great story, great direction, great acting, welcome back Karen Allen, welcome Cate Blanchett and Shia Labeouf and Ray Winstone, everything about Kingdom of the Crystal Skull works.

I love this movie.

Movie Review Minority Report

Minority Report (2002) 

Directed by Steven Spielberg 

Written by Scott Frank, Jon Cohen

Starring Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Max Von Sydow 

Release Date June 21st, 2002 

Published June 20th, 2002 

I have never cared for science fiction. Most science fiction, to me, is gory trash referred to as sci-fi because no one knows what else to call it. The science in sci-fi films is usually somewhat suspect, lacking in any real possibility. Furthermore, the vision of the future is usually very bleak and depressing with a low opinion of us in the audience, often blaming us for the destruction of the fantasy future. Steven Spielberg's Minority Report is nothing like the recent trend of trash sci-fi. This film has a brain and a point and it also happens to be entertaining.

The film stars Tom Cruise as John Anderton, the head enforcer of Washington D.C's Precrime division. Precrime is designed to stop murders before they happen through the use of computers and genetically engineered humans called Precogs. The Precogs can see a murder before it happens and communicate the images to computers which are manipulated by the police to figure out who the murderer is and where the murder will take place.

As we enter the story there hasn't bee a murder in DC in six years. The system, in Anderton's opinion, is flawless. Colin Ferrell, as a cop for the justice department, is more pragmatic and investigates on the basis that nothing is foolproof. We soon find out there may be a flaw as Anderton is fingered as a future murderer of a man he's never met.

This leads to some spectacular chase scenes and awesome special effects that are surprisingly realistic. Spielberg employed real sets and stunts with special effects and CGI which helps Minority Report to feel more grounded and real than say George Lucas and his entirely CGI backgrounds or Sam Raimi's CGI Spiderman. The integration of the real sets and stunts with the CGI and effects is flawless and Janusz Kaminski's cinematography makes everything just that much more dynamic and real. Minority Report however is no mere technical achievement. The story is fascinating. It's based loosely on a Philip K. Dick story but punched up for a more modern, futuristic approach by Scott Frank.

Legendary science fiction writer Isaac Asimov once said, and I'm paraphrasing, that the best science fiction is a logical extension of existing technology. Minority Report has the feeling of eerie prescience. It's not prophetic but it seems like a logical extension of existing technology. Scenes of touch screen computers and holographic images are science already in sight. Also the idea of genetically engineered people is not the least bit far fetched with the recent controversy over cloning and the genome project. Of course engineering people who can see the future is unlikely, but it is just a movie.

If I had any trouble with the film it was the ending. Spielberg may still be feeling the effects of his downer ending in A.I. I don't want to give too much away but let's just say the false ending is slightly more satisfying than the one that follows it. Still, Minority Report worked for me. I was fascinated by its ideas, drawn in by its story and awed by its adventure. Let's hope Cruise and Spielberg work together again soon as they bring out the best in each other.

Movie Review: Catch Me If You Can

Catch Me if You Can (2002) 

Directed by Steven Spielberg 

Written by Jeff Nathanson 

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Amy Adams, Martin Sheen

Release Date December 25th, 2002 

Published December 24th, 2002 

Less than a week ago, Leonardo DiCaprio entered theaters with Gangs of New York, his first truly adult performance. He returns in his new film portraying a kid again. In Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can, DiCaprio is famed teenage con man Frank Abagnale Jr, the youngest man ever to make the FBI's most wanted list. Though DiCaprio is playing a teenager in this film, it is yet another grown up performance that announces DiCaprio as an actor of great depth.

The true story of Frank Abagnale Jr. is one made for the big screen. Before the age of 19, Abagnale had been an airline pilot, a lawyer, and a doctor. He was also a master check forger. The story is told in flashback as FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks) arrives at a French prison to retrieve Abagnale who had served two years in the prison for the same crimes he was charged with in the States. We flashback to young Frank and his picturesque family life. Frank's father, Frank Sr. (Christopher Walken), and his mother (Natalie Baye) seem to be happy. Unfortunately his father's business is going under and the IRS is beating down their door. The stress is breaking up the marriage. This leads Frank Jr. to hit the road and begin his life of crime.

Frank writes a series of bad checks before the banks finally cut him off. Then, inspiration strikes in the form of an airplane pilot. Seeing the respect and admiration people showed for airline pilots, Frank sets about becoming a pilot (or at least looking the part.) After conning officials at Pan Am into giving him a uniform and enough background information to be able to talk a good game, Frank sets about being a pilot. Using his uniform and sheer bravado, Frank starts forging checks from Pan Am. The uniform gave him instant credibility and Frank's ability to charm the female bank tellers meant never even having to produce an ID to have a check cashed in any bank in the country.

With the FBI onto his pilot scheme, Frank settles in Atlanta where a chance encounter with a sweet little nurse named Brenda (Amy Adams) leads Frank to become a doctor. He fakes a degree from Harvard Medical School and watches Dr. Kildare. Suddenly, he's working the night shift as the head on call doctor in the emergency room. Thankfully, being in charge of a group of doctors means that Frank is never left to tend to a patient. Frank's relationship with Brenda leads to yet another close call with the feds, and has Frank headed for Europe.

Despite his adept criminal mind and quick wit, Frank is still a kid and still a sloppy criminal and the FBI is quickly on his path. In one amazing encounter, Frank actually comes face to face with the FBI agents on his tail and crafts an amazing lie to make his escape by posing as a secret service agent. The scene relies on a great deal of convenient timing and luck, but then I'm sure the real Frank Abagnale was the beneficiary of convenient timing and luck throughout his criminal run.

Indeed, Frank Abagnale's story is true. He was the youngest man ever to make the FBI's infamous most wanted list. He did cash forged checks over a three year span that totaled over 4 million dollars and he did impersonate a doctor, an airline pilot, and a lawyer and even for a short time a French teacher in his own high school. His first taste of how to run a good con, he made it a full week as a French substitute without actually speaking any French.

Why did Frank Abagnale do all of this? The likely answer is because he thought he could get a way with it. Spielberg however can't help tossing in a little pop psychology as a partial explanation. The film posits that the break up of his parents' marriage and his desire to reunite them by buying their problems away caused Frank to become a criminal. That and his father's hatred for the government kept Frank on the run. 

DiCaprio however never communicates a tortured victim, but rather, an excitable teen who lacks a good solid hobby. If there had been extreme sports in Frank's day, he may have just risked his life on stupid stunts. In place of that, his need for a constant rush leads him to crime. FBI agent Hanratty becomes his unwilling accomplice, providing Frank with the reason to keep running. What fun is being a great con artist or a great anything for that matter, if no one is around to appreciate it?

Spielberg is a preeminent story teller and in Frank Abagnale he has a great story. Unfortunately, Frank is too good of a guy for there to be any great drama. The film makes great use of the audience as Frank's co-conspirators. With his charm and wit, DiCaprio has the audience cheering for him to get away and you can't help but laugh at the way Frank toys with the people who attempt to deny him. However, the audience never really understands the gravity of his situation. Stealing four million dollars is a serious thing; it's grand theft. Yet, Frank is so likable and the narrative is so forgiving to him one would think it was okay for him to get away.

In many ways, Catch Me If You Can reminded me of a far better film, The Talented Mr. Ripley. Both films are about troubled youth con men. Both guys are loners who are desperate for attention and both draw the sympathy of the audience; however, Ripley is far more dramatic than Abagnale. His longings and crimes add weight to the character that Abagnale lacks. Catch Me If You Can is far more flashy than Ripley is and, for that reason, the drama is lacking. Frank never seems to be in any real danger.

Both DiCaprio and Hanks are strong but Catch Me If You Can still seems weightless. It isn't a comedy but it's not nearly dramatic enough to be taken seriously. Yes, this is a true story. But something tells me the real story is a little more dramatic than the featherweight screen version. All of that said, Catch Me if You Can is wildly entertaining and with Spielberg, Hanks, and DiCaprio, you have a trio incapable of making a bad movie together. Catch Me if You Can may not live up to all of your expectations but it is nevertheless entertaining. 

Movie Review: The Terminal

The Terminal (2004) 

Directed by Steven Spielberg 

Written by Sacha Gervasi, Jeff Nathanson 

Starring Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta Jones, Stanley Tucci, Chi McBride, Diego Luna, Zoe Saldana

Release Date June 18th, 2004 

Published June 17th, 2004 

I thought it was an urban legend. My brother and I were discussing the new Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks flick The Terminal when he told me the story of Merhan Karimi Nasseri. Mr. Nasseri has spent the past 15 years in the international terminal of Charles De Gaulle Airport in France after his bag was stolen with all of his identification.

The Iranian born Mr. Nasseri has lived off the kindness of the airport staff for 15 years, has inspired 2 documentaries and a French film called Tombes Du Ciel or Lost In Transit starring the legendary Jean Rochefort. Now Mr. Nasseri is a getting a big time American treatment from Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. Sadly, this trifle of a film is exposed for it’s light as featheriness by the dramatic true story on which it is loosely based.

In The Terminal, Tom Hanks is Viktor Navorsky who has come to New York City from his Eastern block home of Krakozhia. Unfortunately while Mr. Navorsky was flying to America, Krakozhia plunged into civil war and the government dissipated. Now in America, Mr. Navorsky is a man without a country, his Visa is invalid because the U.S government can’t recognize a ruling power in Krakozhia. Until the war ends and a new government is established, Viktor must remain in the airport terminal.

Breaking the bad news to Viktor is the not so kindly head of the airport’s Homeland Security Office Frank Dixon (Stanley Tucci). It is Frank who could find away to really help Viktor but instead strands him with bureaucratic red tape and then takes a sadistic interest in preventing Viktor from making the most of his desperate situation.

Stuck in the International terminal, that looks more like a mall than an airport thanks to the numerous real brand name stores, Viktor waits and involves himself in the lives of the airport staff. There is Diego Luna as a food delivery worker who trades Viktor free food in exchange for Viktor’s help in romancing an INS Agent played by Zoë Saldana. Although Viktor knows he can’t leave, he visits the INS office every day to have his passport declined.

Chi McBride is a baggage handler with a soft spot for late night card games. He sees Viktor as a soft mark for poker games but soon becomes a real friend. And then there is the janitor, an Indian man played by Kumar Pallana, a lovable oddball with a secret past. Pallana provides the biggest laughs of the film and none of them at his expense.

Finally, there is Catherine Zeta Jones as Amelia, a flight attendant who takes a shine to Viktor but can’t get involved because she is hopelessly involved with a married man played briefly by Michael Nouri. While she tries to resist the urge to be with the married man, Amelia and Viktor come close to romance until the plot conspires to split them.

Despite the film’s dramatic underpinnings, everything is kept very light and airy. In fact, it’s so light that it floats off the screen and almost immediately from your memory. Tom Hanks, arguably our most talented actor, here plays a sort of lovable puppy of a character whose moral fiber is so unquestionable, he is too good to be true. There is nothing wrong with a character that is virtuous but Viktor is Touched By An Angel good. Maybe that explains why Stanley Tucci's officious bureaucrat hates him so much anyone this perfect would eventually get on your nerves. Still, Tucci is too evil to be true until the plot calls for him to look the other way.

Too good to be true describes most of The Terminal which suffers from a script full of contrivances. Viktor quickly learns English, lucks into the food deal with Diego, lucks into a job working construction in the terminal and in typical forced romantic comedy fashion, he has a meet-cute with Amelia that becomes a running gag.

I have been quite hard on The Terminal to this point so I should point out that their are a number of good things about the film. Steven Spielberg's direction is typically strong in its structure and look. Cinematographer Janusz Kaminsky relishes the freedom given him by a set that was built specifically for the film and for his camera to be positioned as he pleased.

The film’s biggest star may in fact be the set created by production designer Alex McDowell. Rather than trying to wrangle shooting time in a real airport terminal, McDowell and his team of designers built a terminal inside of a Los Angeles airport hangar. The flawless design is a seamless recreation of any major airport terminal in the country right down to the uncomfortable benches, the ungodly level of branding, and astoundingly high prices.

However, without a well-told story to decorate the terrific set, the movie isn't worth anymore than it's production design. The Terminal is likable and sweet, and occasionally quite funny, but it is also inconsistent, simpleminded, and lighter than air. Tom Hanks is his typically likable self and Mr. Spielberg's direction is of his usual quality. It's unfortunate that the script by Sacha Gervasi and Jeff Nathanson is far below the quality of their work.