You can pick up hundreds of DVD's for a round-pound each - it doesn't matter. Its never about quantity, its about quality. A-Z is my way of going through my collection, from A-Z, and understanding why I own the films ... or you can tell me why I should sell 'em
#39 - Catch Me If You Can
Why did I buy it?
Much like my first foray into the films of Hitchcock ("How can I call myself a fan of film if I haven't seen any Hitchcock?"), having finished watching a huge bunch of his films, I moved onto Spielberg with the same attitude. I tried to get the double discs and, initially, I had the intention to keep every DVD owning all of Spielberg's back-catalogue. But, alas, I bought 1941 and it was a really bad film - and I have no intention of watching it again, so I sold it.
Why do I still own it?
Whereas, having only watched Catch Me If You Can once, I know that it is a great film - and more importantly a film I would like to revisit. Catch Me If You Can and Gangs of New York were both released the same year - 2002 - and became the real breakout films for DiCaprio. Though he still looks quite young in this film, there is something very different about DiCaprio here and the DiCaprio we saw two years before in The Beach. For some reason we have teen-hearthrob DiCaprio beginning with Romeo+Juliet, Titanic and - for all the die-hard fans, What's Eating Gilbert Grape. I think this phase ended with The Beach - don't get me wrong, it's an okay film, but DiCaprio is sold as the hearthrob poster-boy (Yes, I will ignore Don's Plum. I haven't seen it but, lets be honest - who has?). 2002 marked the year he worked with Scorsese and Spielberg - the two giants in the cinema, only for DiCaprio to be constantly involved in exceptionally credible talent - his constant work with Scorsese, Ridley Scott and Body of Lies, the Oscar-nominated Blood Diamond.
This film is a great film with a great performance from Hanks and the awesome Chris Walken.
Do I need such a film? Is it good enough to own?
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As much fun as Catch Me If You Can is, I've always found it to be a little too much style over substance. Spielberg's The Terminal usually gets rated below Catch Me If You Can but for fun and comedy I'd go with Hanks stuck in an airport than Hanks trying to catch up with Leo.
ReplyDeleteI watched THE TERMINAL at the cinema and thought it was okay, but I am guaranteed to watch it again in due course. Watch this space...
ReplyDeleteDan - you're right that this is stlye over substance, but I would never choose The Terminal in a million years over Catch Me. Just because it's high high high on style doesn't mean that the substance is bad. It's a caper, so it's never going to be wildly deep, but it has a lot going for it.
ReplyDeletei have to watch it again. asap.
ReplyDelete