Wall Street Wolf

DiCaprio has never looked better. (I know, cheesy, but I mean it. [His portrayals never connected with me]). The guy looks like a real person in this trailer. He always looks like he's in 'actor-mode', but not here. Here, he looks like a Wall Street wolf. A crazy guy with tons of money. I'm looking forward to seeing DiCaprio in this movie -- something I've never been able to say before.

And Matthew McConaughey looks like a movie star, a lead, for the first time. Yes, I know, he's carried movies, but here he seems like a star, a headliner, which he never did before.

That this is based on a true story, namely Jordan Belfort's, and is directed by Martin Scorsese makes 'The Wolf of Wall Street' something to look forward to. Really, a breath of fresh air.






















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Some Real Pop

Tarantino delivers on a level I would not have expected. There's an organic tension that doesn't even hint at the kind of theatrics we're accustomed to from this director. Waltz plays the suck up buffoon for reasons unknown and it comes off perfectly. Foxx carries the scene effortlessly. Even the muscle with a stick seems natural, avoids that comic book tough-guy vibe. And, DiCaprio...wow. Can he prance about or what?

All this is due to Tarantino. It's the directing. Of course, camera/editing simply click. A pleasure to watch.

The dialogue has its cheeky moments, too, like "tasty refreshment". Did they even have the word 'tasty' back then. Who said 'tasty' in the 1860s? Not that T cares a whit about anachronism, mind you, but still, it feels like he wanted us to notice. It comes off as a self-reference, a bit of fun. Remember the 'tasty burger' scene in 'Pulp Fiction'. You know the one.



This clip has changed my mind about 'Django Unchained'. I still think X-mas is an odd release date for such a hardcore genre flick but now at least I'm looking forward to seeing the movie. I'm thinking this will be a good one. Not that Tarantino misses by much, or often, but it's hard for every flick to play as well as, say, 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Django Unchained' looks to do just that.

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A Message for the Academy: L. DiCaprio (J. Edgar Parody)

L. DiCaprio (J. Edgar Parody) - watch more funny videos

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That Inception/Matrix/Bond Thing

Each trailer is better than the last. Love that Ellen Page is in this one. I'm developing a slight case of DiCaprio burn-out -- he's great, but in so many movies with that squint-eyed gravitas... Very Bond/Matrix. Pretty much a must-see on DVD.

Revolutionary Road

I'm just getting into Richard Yates' novel Revolutionary Road. This is going to be a brutal read. The story is written with unaffected insight and objectivity. The kind that usually only comes decades after events, after the author has had time to process things enough to write about them honestly. I imagine Yates must have been driven by outrage as much as creativity in order to publish this novel in 1961.

While the story is set in the 50s it could just as easily take place today. So many today are trapped in the same soul-killing jobs and lives as Frank and April Wheeler. So many today face the same daily compromises, frustrations, and embarrassments. Really, nothing has changed in five decades.

Sam Mendes brought Alan Ball's examination of suburban duplicity, 'American Beauty', to life with frightening aplomb. I'm sure he will do the same with Justin Haythe's script for 'Revolutionary Road'. The difference is Revolutionary Road is anchored in everyday reality. For that very reason, because it is concerned with the mundane, it's a much more frightening story.

I can't think of two better actors than Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio for this story. I'm looking forward to this movie.

Keep It Simple

I see this poster and I immediately like it. It sums up what the movie is about. The character appears to be running away, (as opposed to chasing someone). He is facing (our) left and is moving to our left yet is placed poster-left, leaving the majority of empty space behind him where an unseen antagonist is giving chase.

If you look at what is behind the character all you see is out of focus highlights. This creates uncertainty and enhances the feeling one is being followed. It also lends more power to the antagonist. That is, the bad guy is frightening enough for the protagonist to run like hell despite the fact we can't see that anyone is giving chase.

The shot is done with a telephoto lens the way a sports photographer would cover an event, which creates an objective feel -- the viewer is watching from a distance (where it's safe), more of a disconnected observer, and is not an integral part of the action. This isolates the character from us making him appear more alone, more separated from anyone who might care or watch out for him. The telephoto lens also creates compression, which is the illusion that distant objects are the same distance as close ones. This ramps up the sense that the character is being chased because whatever is behind him appears closer than it really is -- a typical nightmare scenario.

The character's index finger is on the trigger of the pistol. A rather uncool thing considering the normal 'finger alongside the weapon, flat and off the trigger, very cool and benefiting from lots of training' look usually favored in the movies. This yields a gritty feel that conveys the gravity of the subject matter -- appropriate in the current environment. Of course, this may have been done simply to avoid having the character look as if he did not have an index finger on his right hand as it would not have been visible if it were flush against the far side of the weapon. Even if that was the case, the end result still works despite being a convenient side-effect.

Another effect that stands out is the use of vertical lines across the entire poster. These are the kind of lines you see if you look closely at a CRT video monitor.

Read the rest

Based On A Novel

NPR has a review of Richard Yates' novel Revolutionary Road by writer Anthony Giardina. A movie of the same name starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio directed by Sam Mendes will open in January.

Meanwhile, Over At Vanity Fair

There's a look at some of Annie Leibovitz's VF covers. (Can you guess who's pictured)?

Michael Douglas makes faces for Howard Schatz's book In Character: Actors Acting.

And Leo DiCaprio with icebergs.

Wells Covers Cannes

Jeff Wells attended the press conferences of Michael Moore (Sicko) and Leonardo DiCaprio (11th Hour). Both with audio and photos.

Scorsese Throws His Hat In The Ring...Again

I will see any movie because it was directed by Martin Scorsese -- and -- I'll see any movie with Robert De Niro. Put the two together, and, well, I buy the disc and admire their work again and again. Scorsese's latest, "The Departed", will surely be nominated for Best Picture and he will probably get another Best Director nod. This will make the sixth time Scorsese will be up for top honors. Stephen Hunter (story at WP) asks whether we should care, calling “The Departed” 'an earnest bit of corporate filmmaking designed to honorably milk genre expectations for maximum profit'. This is exactly the impression I've gotten from the previews. 'Departed' just doesn't seem to have the power of "Goodfellas" or "Casino", and Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, and Jack Nicholson don't have quite the magnetism of De Niro.

Hunter continues with, "It's somehow largely unconnected with his previous great films..." -- and, "The irony? If he wins, it'll be for one of his least Scorsesesque films. It even could be argued that "The Departed" is an imitation Scorsese film." Again, reading my mind. "Gangs of New York" was a far cry from the gritty quality of, say, "Taxi Driver" and Scorsese seems to be continuing the trend with ‘Departed’. His recent work, while avoiding self-parody, does strike me as a tad derivative and a little too pretty, a little too safe, a little too 'product'.

This leaves us with the possibility that, if he wins for "The Departed" Scorsese may be left high and dry when and if he makes some future picture with the snap and click of his earlier movies. I'm not a fan of proper epics like "The Aviator" (and Gangs) and keep holding my breath for this auteur to deliver another 'shoot from the hip' crime saga. For now, I'll get the sit-up-straight 'Departed' on disc and hope it's a bit edgier than most are saying.

Scorsese seems to be striving for a glossier, more conventional, more mainstream professionalism is his recent movies, and it just doesn’t quite come off. Marty, give me the spiked energy and slick subversive sleight of hand I fell in love with when I first watched “Goodfellas” -- just one more time -- and if it goes unrecognized by the Academy (again), well, that’ll be okay.

Catch Me If You Can

DVD review by Alan Green
December 26, 2006

Leonardo DiCaprio portrays Frank Abagnale Jr., who is known as one of the best con men in history. He is pursued by FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks). While Hanratty is fictional, Abagnale is not, and some background may help. This is from Frank Abagnale's website:

His rare blend of knowledge and expertise began as a teenager. More than forty years ago he was known as one of the world's most famous confidence men as depicted in his best-selling book, "Catch Me If You Can." He cashed $2.5 million in fraudulent checks in every state and 26 foreign countries over a five-year period. Between the ages of 16 and 21, he successfully posed as an airline pilot, an attorney, a college professor and a pediatrician. Apprehended by the French police when he was 21 years old, he served time in the French, Swedish and U. S. prison systems. After five years he was released on the condition that he would help the federal government, without remuneration, by teaching and assisting federal law enforcement agencies.

What teenager has the talent to do this? And, if he has the talent to accomplish this, why does he? While “Catch Me If You Can” is breezy entertainment, it's also a subtle exploration of the need for meaningful relationships and the lengths to which people will go to fulfill this need. Even the title, “Catch Me If You Can” -- suggesting the tease of someone who wishes to be pursued -- hints at this.

So, why did Abagnale embark on this life of crime? As good stories always do, this one leaves plenty of room for interpretation. During the court proceeding of his parents' divorce, the judge asks Abagnale to choose who will live with, his mother or his father. Faced with a decision he could not make, Abagnale runs away. He pays his way by writing checks -- even after the account runs dry.

This is the point at which the average teenager would have gone home. But, Abagnale is far from average. He keeps going, becoming better and better until he elevates the simple act of writing bad checks to a self-taught, finely-honed craft. He did this, I believe, so that someone would chase him. That's quite a leap, I know, but the mechanics of this psychology make a lot of sense. Having been unable to choose which parent to live with Abagnale runs away for the same reason most kids do -- to have the parents pursue them, for attention, to incite concern, or to rekindle love if it is threatened. Once he decided he wasn't going home writing worthless checks would have been a practical solution for two problems: it was a way to get money to survive, and a way to have someone continue to pursue him -- even if that someone was the FBI.

Ridiculous? Could be. But, if anyone could have done such a thing for such a motive it would have been Abagnale. This is a guy who, as a teenager, pretended to be a Secret Service agent so convincingly he fooled FBI agents. Abagnale had just been caught by the FBI in a motel room full of fake checks and the equipment to produce them. He (Abagnale) convinced the FBI agents that he was part of a Secret Service team that had just arrested Abagnale and had taken him away. (This really happened). After consoling the FBI for their missed arrest, Abagnale left, taking check-printing equipment with him as evidence, and got away. That's gamesmanship, and Abagnale was just the kind of brilliant emotionally injured kid who could have written bad checks, and pretended to be an airline pilot, a doctor, and a college professor, just for sport, just to be pursued by Federal agents.

Did Frank want to be caught? Did the FBI become his surrogate family, replacing the one which had disintegrated? Why not? This is the kind of story you can't make up. Any screenwriter who did would be thrown out the office. This kind of thing only happens in real life, not in fiction. It's the kind of thing you can't believe unless it's true.

”Catch Me If You Can” is directed by Steven Spielberg and is probably his best movie. It doesn't have the flash of a marauding shark or digital dinosaurs, but has a more heartfelt exploration of the human condition. This is one of those rare DVDs that I watched in one sitting.

Spielberg's camera is, as usual, flawless. John Williams' bad-boy progressive improvisational 50s jazz score is pretty toe-tapping and sneaky, and makes a fine accompaniment for the material. The set design is a wonder, recreating the 50s and 60s so organically it doesn't feel like a put-on. This is a two-disc set, and the extras are worth a look.

Frank Abagnale's story makes a good case study. Was he successful because of talent? Or, was it naivety? Or, was it a disregard for the risk? It's open to interpretation. “Catch Me If You Can” is a lot of fun to watch, and Abagnale's story is as entertaining as it is thought-provoking.

This is also an inspirational story of turning bad experiences into good things. Today Frank Abagnale Jr. is a security consultant who makes a fine living advising banks and agencies about how to prevent fraud. In one of the DVD featurettes he says, “I've developed technology today that's found on just about every driver's license, card title, birth certificate, passport,currency, around the world.”

Not bad for a runaway teenager.

Directed by Steven Spielberg; written by Jeff Nathanson, based on the book by Frank W. Abagnale Jr. and Stan Redding; director of photography, Janusz Kaminski; edited by Michael Kahn; music by John Williams; production designer, Jeannine Oppewall; produced by Mr. Spielberg and Walter F. Parkes; released by DreamWorks Pictures. Running time: 140 minutes. This film is rated PG-13.

WITH: Leonardo DiCaprio (Frank Abagnale Jr.), Tom Hanks (Carl Hanratty), Christopher Walken (Frank Abagnale Sr.), Martin Sheen (Roger Strong), Nathalie Baye (Paula Abagnale), Amy Adams (Brenda Strong) and James Brolin (Jack Barnes).