Tom Hanks Hustile: Catch Me If You Can

The saying that all of us used to tell friends and siblings when we were outside playing.. "cate me if you can". Now we find ourselves seeing that line played out by Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Frank Abagnale is a young man who life is being turned upside down. His father is loosing his business and all of their money, and on top of all of that his parents are in the middle of a divorce. He decides that he is going to get away and try to make some money so he can put his family back together. However, this is the story of a young person going out to take on the world that you have normally heard. Mr. Abagnale has a very different way of running through life. He goes out start committing check fraud on a global scale when he starts posing as a Pan America World Airways Piolet. As his scheme gets bigger he goes to even more extremes to pose as a doctor and a lawyer and all before he turns 19.

So, when I was thinking about what actor to watch all of their movies Leo DiCaprio was one of the finalist for me. He has done everything and he is a phenomenal actor. The reason I did not pick him was because while he does has a diverse acting career I felt that Tom Hanks' was a smidge more diverse. It's still nice to see a movie that Mr. DiCaprio is in that I haven't seen before. 

To be honest I was not sure how to feel about this movie. I mean everyone has seen the scene in the Gif above even if it's just a clip everyone knows what movie it's from. Catch Me If You Can is an unexpected charm of the extraordinary perseverance of a young man doing wrong trying to make things right. This is a story that seem too good to be real. That it should only exists in the realm of the moving picture. The fact that such a man as remarkable as Frank Abagnale is a real true person it's no wonder that a movie was made about him. 

Well you can't very well just scream Catch Me If You Can without someone to chase you. The other half of this story is Carl Hanratty, FBI Fraud Agent hell bent on bringing down Abagnale at almost any cost. He literally chased Abagnale all over the world in order to bring him to justice. However, he also brings him to a new life. He eventually brings Abagnale to the check fraud division of the FBI in order to help find other committing the same crime. Hanratty does this with a very dry sense of humor all along the way. 

I have to say that this movie was so much fun to watch. Like I said I wasn't sure about. I was not sure if this was going to be boring, to action packed, or what I was thinking about. I love movies that surprise me. I love that this movie has been out for years and talked about several times and nothing was spoiled for me. The fact that I get to be surprised by a movie still to this day is crazy. I can not wait to see more of these surprises in the future. 

   

 

Year of Couage: Sing Karaoke

Seeing that we are halfway through July I figured I need to get my June courage event.


In the month of June the thing that I was supposed to do was sing Karaoke. I was all excited and got a friend, Nora, go with me. Here is the thing about me. I like to sing in my car, in my shower, even surrounded by people at church. I do not like singing by myself where everyone is watching just me. So that means no in public in any way, shape, form, or fashion. Not my thing at all. I am also the type of person who used to be able to sing in a higher range when I was younger and totally can not do that now.... but I think I can in that moment and sing off key...

The movie I watch to go along with singing karaoke was Pitch Perfect. I mean a bunch of girls singing out of key and with no idea what they are doing totally rock it by the end of the film. I thought that when I got the chance that I might end up rocking the song. I made plans with Nora to go to a karaoke bar that a lot of people love to go to here in Knoxville.

The WEEK before we were going to go there was a stabbing at the bar.


I am not kidding someone stabbed someone else to death in the bar. Nora and I "noped" out of that situation really fast and did not go. There are other bars and places in the area that do karaoke but they are not a karaoke bar. Its different. So, I am left trying to figure out how to do this.


Queue the inspiration at a movie...


Toward the end of the month my mom found out that West Side Story was coming back into theaters nationwide for two day only. My mom took me to go! I love that movie and she does to and it has some of the best songs that have ever graced the silver screen!

As I was watching the "Mambo" scene I realized that it made me so happy watching these songs and stuff. So, work has been really busy here in the last few weeks and everyone's sprits were starting go down. I wanted to fight any negativity so I decided to buy the album and then start singing if anyone complained. That is what I did.


Again, I do not like singing in front of people really at all, let along the people I am in charge of. However, I did it for the day. I thought there is no way that anyone can be mad or upset in a room where a short girl who can sing or dance in singing and dancing to West Side Story right in front of them. Now I didn't get that chance to do it all day but I was able to do it more toward the end of the day. That is when I really let go and sang 'I Feel Pretty' because I was able to leave and go home and relax. My co-worker Bri was in the room and she was laughing at me and started dancing a little bit and it made me feel good.


This came in at the nick of time because it was the very last day in June in which I was able to pull this off.


Then came July 1st....


I have said quite often in this blog that I love going to the theatre. Any excuse I can use to go I do. The Tennessee Theatre has done Summer Movie Magic for the last 20 years. They always choose classic films and show them on the big screen. The year one of the movies that they chose was Grease.


Mom and I went and we were so excited because we have never seen Grease in the big screen. Ok, well I have never screen mom did when it first came out.


We were sitting front row in the most beautiful place in the world! People are dressed up, and they are doing announcement and a costume contest. Then they announce to horror of my mom and I that...


It's the sing-a-long version of the film.....

Here's the thing mom doesn't sing either, she won't even sing Book of Mormon songs with me in the car on long drives.


We were both scared and filled with dread that this movie was going to be ruined.


So, I thought that maybe I would sing I order to get another chance to get karaoke of my list. I ended up not because...


1. Since we were in the front row the speakers were super close to us so we didn't hear any one else sing.


2. The lyrics were on the screen and mom and I were horrified to find that we have been singing this song wrong all of our lives.... I mean way wrong... like they were faaaaaaaaaar dirty lyrics than we thought they were.....


So, we kept keeping shocked every 5 minutes about a new lyric that was not what we thought it was and embarrassed because there was a 6 year old sitting near us with her father and she was being exposed to the correct lyrics!!!

Let's just say mom and I will never be able to watch Grease  the same way ever again.


Anyways, so while I did not technically go out and sing karaoke in front of a bunch of strangers I did sing uncomfortably in front of people which is the same thing. The fear was to sing in a place I would not normally do it. Which it was I did.




Hopefully, July will go much better than June...

Tom Hanks Hustle: Road to Perdition

Mr. Hanks' next film is one I never even heard of until I watched the video from The Late Late Show. Road to Perdition is something I thought I would never see Mr. Hanks in.

This is a movie about a hit man with a family. Michael Sullivan is an enforcer for John Rooney, an Irish Mob Boss. Michael is out on a job one night with another colleague a it goes sideways. The man was not supposed to be killed but he was supposed to just be talked to. When his colleague decides to start a gun fight. On top of all of that Michael's son, Michael Jr., hid away in the car to see what his dad does for a living only to find out the scary truth. Jr.'s discovery leads to Rooney having to call the order to kill Jr. and anyone who gets in the way so his secret doesn't get out. When the man hired to kill Jr. kills Sr.'s wife and youngest son by mistake Sr. and Jr. start going on the run to save their lives and escape the mob.


Now, other than the great Tom Hanks there are other phenomenal actors that star in this movie: Paul Newman and Jude Law are some of them. I was really excited when I read the description of the film. I was thinking that the father was going to be Paul Newman and the son was going to be Tom Hanks. I did not think that Mr. Hanks would be playing a hit man. I mean we have seen him kill people in other film so far but it was because he was a soldier and fight for what was right, not to keep up the honor of "The Family".

Like I said we have Mr. Newman in this movie as well. He was the only person anyone wanted to play this role. He did a great job! His character was very likable and you felt sorry for him through the movie was well. He has a son who wants nothing but revenge, and is stealing from his father right from his nose, and he has Michael Sullivan Sr. who he has always loved like a son. Both of his son have betrayed him, one on purpose and one on accident, and he hates that he has to now kill Sr.. It's crazy because he is the man in charge he could call off the whole thing and no one would have to die for Jr.'s curiosity. Yet, he can't because he can't be seen as weak or a fool. It's crazy that he has the power to change things and the chooses not to.

Then there is Jude Law. I have not seen very many of his films but I will say that one of my favorite films that I saw in 2016 was Genius which he is the star of. He was amazing in that role so I was excited to see what him in this. I was not disappointed. He was very creepy in this film, and rightfully so for the character that he played. It wasn't even a crazy creepy he had a subtly to  his creepiness that kept his character intriguing. I personally wish he wasn't playing a "bad guy" in the film but he did a wonderful job in his role.

The new comer, and narrator of our story, is Tyler Hoechlin who plays Michael Sullivan Jr.. He really make his big jump into acting at the age of 14. He has got to be one of the best young actors that I have ever seen. I say this because most of the time when we see young actors they are in a kids film or a comedy. They are not a thriller drama about the mob. His character is so interesting to watch go from a curious young boy to a few months later a man running from the "law" with his father. Then going back to a boy again.

What I really love the most is how even though there is a lot of blood, violence, crime, and darkness in the film it's really about a father's love for his kids and his family. It sounds crazy for film to sound like a family film but it really is. It's not a traditional family film but it is. You can tell from the beginning that Sr. is not the one to really shows his emotions. He plays his hand close to his chest but you can tell that he really does love his kids. What I really like about this film is that Jr. starts to realize that his father does love him and tries to understand him rather than be afraid of him. It's nice that they start to a real relationship by the end of the film and it's both of them try and reach out and meet either rather than it being one sided.


I really didn't know what to make of this film when it was over. I thought it was good but I really did get it. Then after mulling it around in my head for a few days I realized how much there was in the film that you don't see right off. There was so much more than meets the eye and it just hits you at different point over the next few days. You start thinking about this film and you don't realized you are even thinking about it until you get an epiphany.


I would have to say anyone who like thrillers or mob movies needs to watch this film. It's not like other films of either genre. It's almost its own genre really. It's a film that really surprises you in an unsurprising way.