Sunday 23 August 2015

Catch Up With Me If You Can - Movie Brat - Steven Spielberg



Catch Up  With Me If You Can  -  Movie Brat -  Steven Spielberg


       







     






After 29 great films Steven Spielberg is steadily progressing to do further giant strides in Hollywood film making.  Steven Spielberg's 2002 film Catch Me If You Can inspired me to give the title of this Blog post.  It is literally impossible for anybody to catch up with him at this juncture.  Out of the 29 films many of them were Oscar Award winning films.


Undoubtedly one of the most influential film personalities in the history of film, Steven Spielberg is perhaps Hollywood's best known director and one of the wealthiest filmmakers in the world. Spielberg has a net worth of $ 3.6 billion as per the latest Forbes magazine reports.  Spielberg has countless big-grossing, critically acclaimed credits to his name, as producer, director and writer.


Spielberg is a contemporary of filmmakers George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, John Milius, and Brian De Palma, collectively known as “MOVIE BRATS”.


Spielberg won the Academy Award for Best Director for Schindler's List (1993) and Saving Private Ryan (1998). Three of Spielberg's films—Jaws (1975), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and Jurassic Park (1993)—achieved box office records, originated and came to epitomize the blockbuster movie.


I would like to present here some of his movie titles which made huge impact on the audience.

















Academy Award-winning filmmaker, director and producer Steven Spielberg's films include Jaws, Catch me if you Can, The Color Purple, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Munich and Schindler's List.  Many Indians have acted in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom like Amrish Puri and Roshan Seth.

His films can boast of greater contents, spectacular visuals combined with special effects and good cinematic experience with the genius director wielding the megaphone.

He is the most commercially successful film-maker too.   The living legend continues to churn out block-busters, the 2012 Lincoln was critically acclaimed one too.  His upcoming 2015 release is the “Bridge of Spies”.

If you say he is known as the Jurassic Park film Director, it will be demeaning his other successful and established ventures.  However, it suits a layman who knows him only with the internationally acclaimed Jurassic Park movies when the Dinosaurs slowly moving and filling up giant movie screens.

Born on December 18, 1946, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Steven Allan Spielberg was an amateur filmmaker as a child.  He went to California State University Long Beach, but dropped out to pursue his entertainment career.  He went on to become the enormously successful and Academy Award-winning director of such films as Schindler’s List, The Color Purple, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial and Saving Private Ryan. In 1994, he co-founded the studio DreamWorks SKG, which was purchased by Paramount Pictures in 2005.

An amateur filmmaker as a child, Steven Spielberg moved several times growing up and spent part of his youth in Arizona. He became one of the youngest television directors for Universal in the late 1960s. A highly praised television film, Duel, 1946, brought him the opportunity to direct for the cinema, and a string of hits have made him the most commercially successful director of all time.
His films have explored primeval fears, as in Jaws (1975).  This classic shark attack tale started the tradition of the summer blockbuster or, at least, he was credited with starting the tradition. He expressed childlike wonder at the marvels of this world and beyond, as in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).  Spielberg produced and directed two films in 1982. The first was Poltergeist (1982), but the highest-grossing movie of all time up to that point was the alien story E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). Spielberg has also tackled literary adaptations, such as The Color Purple (1985) and Empire of the Sun (1987). As director, Spielberg took on the book The Color Purple, with Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey, with great success.  And audiences around the world were riveted by the continuing adventures of his daredevil hero, Indiana Jones, in such films as Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). 
The late 1980s found Spielberg's projects at the center of pop-culture yet again. In 1988, he produced the landmark animation live-action film Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). The next year proved to be another big one for Spielberg, as he produced and directed Always (1989) as well as Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), and Back to the Future Part II (1989). All three of the films were box-office and critical successes. Imaginative fantasy is dominant in his version of Peter Pan, Hook (1991), Jurassic Park (1993), and its sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997).
Spielberg has also had an affinity for animation and has been a strong voice in animation in the 1990s.  Aside from producing the landmark "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", he produced the animated series Tiny Toon Adventures (1990), Animaniacs (1993), Pinky and the Brain (1995), Freakazoid! (1995), Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain (1998), Family Dog (1993) and Toonsylvania (1998). Spielberg also produced other cartoons such as The Land Before Time (1988), We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (1993), Casper (1995) (the live action version) as well as the live-action version of The Flintstones (1994), where he was credited as "Steven Spielrock". Spielberg also produced many Roger Rabbit short cartoons, and many Pinky and the Brain, Animaniacs and Tiny Toons specials.
Spielberg is also known for his impressive historical films. He produced and directed Schindler's List (1993), a stirring film about the Holocaust. The Holocaust drama Schindler’s List  starring Liam Neeson as a businessman who helps save Jews won seven Academy Awards, including Spielberg’s first win as Best Director.  
In 1993, Spielberg directed Jurassic Park (1993), which for a short time held the record as the highest grossing movie of all time, but did not have the universal appeal of his previous efforts. Big box-office spectacles were not his only concern, though. He won best director at the Oscars, and also got Best Picture. In the mid-90s, he helped found the production company DreamWorks, which was responsible for many box-office successes.
In 1998, he revisited World War II, this time from the perspective of American soldiers in Europe in Saving Private Ryan (1998), which earned him another Academy Award for Best Director. His first film company, Amblin Entertainment, which was founded in 1982, produced several other successful films, notably Back to the Future (1985) and its two sequels, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

As a producer, he was very active in the late 90s, responsible for such films as The Mask of Zorro (1998), Men in Black (1997) and Deep Impact (1998). However, it was on the directing front that Spielberg was in top form. He directed and produced the epic Amistad (1997), a spectacular film that was shorted at the Oscars and in release due to the fact that its release date was moved around so much in late 1997. The next year, however, produced what many believe was one of the best films of his career: Saving Private Ryan (1998), a film about World War Two that is spectacular in almost every respect. It was stiffed at the Oscars, losing best picture to Shakespeare in Love (1998).


Spielberg produced a series of films, including Evolution (2001), The Haunting (1999) and Shrek (2001). He also produced two sequels to Jurassic Park (1993), which were financially but not particularly critical successes. In 2001, he produced a mini-series about World War Two that definitely *was* a financial and critical success: Band of Brothers (2001), a tale of an infantry company from its parachuting into France during the invasion to the Battle of the Bulge. Also in that year, Spielberg was back in the director's chair for A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), a movie with a message and a huge budget. It did reasonably at the box office and garnered varied reviews from critics.
Spielberg has been extremely active in films there are many other things he has done as well. He produced the short-lived TV series Sea Quest 2032 (1993), an anthology series entitled Amazing Stories (1985), created the video-game series "Medal of Honor" set during World War Two, and was a starting producer of ER (1994). Spielberg, if you haven't noticed, has a great interest in World War Two. He and Tom Hanks collaborated on Shooting War (2000), a documentary about World War II combat photographers, and he produced a documentary about the Holocaust called Eyes of the Holocaust (2000). With all of this to Spielberg's credit, it's no wonder that he's looked at as one of the greatest ever figures in entertainment.
In 2001 he completed the science fiction film AI: Artificial Intelligence, a project begun by Stanley Kubrick. Later films include the Academy Award-nominated Munich (2005). He also served as producer for the Clint Eastwood-directed World War II films, Flags of our Fathers (2006) and Letters from Iwo Jima (2006).
Spielberg's fast-paced crime adventure Catch Me If You Can (2002) adapted the real life exploits of legendary con artist Frank Abagnale, Jr. to the big screen to the delight of audiences hungering for an entertaining and lightweight holiday release. By the age of 19 years Frank Abnagale Jr. was a Professor, Doctor and a Pilot. Frank Abnagale Jr. was a forger of documents such as checks and always one step ahead of the anti-forgery squad led by Tom Hanks.  Finally, he was recommended for a Government job to check and stop forgery and was lived a fruitful life in that assignment.
Spielberg cinematically visited his Jewish heritage for the first time since Schindler's List with 2005's critically acclaimed Munich. Beginning with the 1972 Munich Olympics at which 11 Israeli athletes were kidnapped and later murdered by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September, the film follows the small group of Mossad agents recruited to track down and assassinate those responsible. Praised for its sensitive and painful portrayal of ordinary men grappling with their new lives as killers, Munich earned Spielberg a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination, reminding audiences and critics alike of the filmmaker's ability to go far beyond the realm of adventure and fantasy.
Spielberg reunited with George Lucas for the latest installment of the Indiana Jones saga in 2008. Spielberg directed the film, which featured Harrison Ford reprising his role as the famed adventurer in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. He also helmed 2011's animated action film The Adventures of Tintin, based on the popular comic series by Hergé. It was his film version of War Horse (2011) that won him his most recent critical acclaim, however. The movie received six Academy Award nominations.
In November 2012, Spielberg kick-started another legendary film project Lincoln. He directed Daniel Day-Lewis in the biopic of President Abraham Lincoln. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Lincoln's son Robert and Sally Fields plays his wife Mary Todd Lincoln in this much-anticipated drama. In addition to directing, Spielberg has instrumental in numerous projects as an executive producer. He has helped bring such television shows as Terra Nova, Smash and Falling Skies to the small screen.

As for future projects, the famed filmmaker is rumored to be revisiting some old favorites in the coming years. There is talk of a new Jurassic Park film and even possibly a fifth Indiana Jones movie.
Along with his three Academy Award wins, Spielberg has received many other honors during his distinguished career. He received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1986. In 2004 Spielberg received the Directors Guild of America Lifetime Achievement Award and the French Legion of Honor in recognition of his work. He was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2005.

Filmography

Amateur releases

Year
Film
Director
Producer
Writer
Other
Notes
1959
The Last Gun
Yes
No
No
Yes
Actor
1961
Fighter Squad
Yes
No
Yes
No
Escape to Nowhere
Yes
No
Yes
No
1964
Firelight
Yes
Yes
Yes
No

Theatrical releases

Year
Film
Director
Producer
Writer
Other
Notes
1968
Amblin'
Yes
No
Yes
No
Short film
1971
Duel
Yes
No
No
No
1974
The Sugarland Express
Yes
No
Yes
No
1975
Jaws
Yes
No
No
No
1977
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Yes
No
Yes
No
1978
I Wanna Hold Your Hand
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
1979
1941
Yes
No
No
No
1980
The Blues Brothers
No
No
No
Yes
Cook County Assessor's Office Clerk
Used Cars
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
1981
Continental Divide
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Yes
No
No
No
1982
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Yes
Yes
No
No
Poltergeist
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Co-director
1983
Twilight Zone: The Movie
Yes
Yes
No
No
Segment: "Kick the Can"
1984
Gremlins
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Yes
No
No
No
Room 666
No
No
No
Yes
Himself
1985
Fandango
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
Back to the Future
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
The Color Purple
Yes
Yes
No
No
The Goonies
No
No
Yes
Yes
Executive producer
Young Sherlock Holmes
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
1986
An American Tail
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
The Money Pit
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
1987
Batteries Not Included
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
Empire of the Sun
Yes
Yes
No
No
Innerspace
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
Three O'Clock High
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
1988
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
The Land Before Time
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
1989
Always
Yes
Yes
No
No
Back to the Future Part II
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
Dad
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Yes
No
No
No
Tummy Trouble
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
1990
Arachnophobia
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
Dreams
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
Back to the Future Part III
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
Gremlins 2: The New Batch
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
Joe Versus the Volcano
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
Roller Coaster Rabbit
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
1991
A Wish for Wings That Work
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
No
Yes
No
No
Cape Fear
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
Hook
Yes
No
No
No
Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
A Brief History of Time
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
1993
Trail Mix-Up
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
Jurassic Park
Yes
Yes
No
No
We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
Schindler's List
Yes
Yes
No
No
1994
The Flintstones
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
1995
Casper
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
Balto
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
1996
Twister
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
1997
The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Yes
No
No
No
Men in Black
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
Amistad
Yes
Yes
No
No
1998
Saving Private Ryan
Yes
Yes
No
No
The Last Days
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
The Mask of Zorro
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
Deep Impact
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
1999
Wakko's Wish
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
Medal of Honor
No
No
No
Yes
Video game, original concept
2000
Shooting War
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
2001
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Jurassic Park III
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures
No
No
No
Yes
Himself
Vanilla Sky
No
No
No
Yes
Guest at David Aames' Party
2002
Minority Report
Yes
No
No
No
Men in Black II
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
Austin Powers in Goldmember
No
No
No
Yes
Himself
Catch Me If You Can
Yes
Yes
No
No
2003
Double Dare
No
No
No
Yes
Himself
2004
The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing
No
No
No
Yes
Himself
The Terminal
Yes
Yes
No
No
2005
Directed by John Ford
No
No
No
Yes
Himself
War of the Worlds
Yes
No
No
No
The Legend of Zorro
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
Memoirs of a Geisha
No
Yes
No
No
Munich
Yes
Yes
No
No
2006
Flags of Our Fathers
No
Yes
No
No
Letters from Iwo Jima
No
Yes
No
No
Monster House
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
The Shark Is Still Working
No
No
No
Yes
Himself
2007
Transformers
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
2008
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Yes
No
No
No
Eagle Eye
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
2009
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
The Lovely Bones
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
2010
Hollywood Don't Surf!
No
No
No
Yes
Himself
Hereafter
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
True Grit
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
2011
Paul
No
No
No
Yes
Himself
Super 8
No
Yes
No
No
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
Cowboys & Aliens
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
Real Steel
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
Yes
Yes
No
No
War Horse
Yes
Yes
No
No
2012
Men in Black 3
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
Lincoln
Yes
Yes
No
No
2014
Transformers: Age of Extinction
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
The Hundred-Foot Journey
No
Yes
No
No
2015
Poltergeist
No
No
Yes
No
Remake of the 1982 film
Jurassic World
No
No
No
Yes
Executive producer
Bridge of Spies
Yes
Yes
No
No
2016
The BFG[1]
Yes
Yes
No
No
2017
Ready Player One[2]
Yes
Yes
No
No

 

Music video

Year
Film
Director
Producer
Writer
Other
Notes
1985
"The Goonies 'R' Good Enough"[3]
No
Yes
No
actor
During the filming Steven Spielberg sustained an ankle injury that caused him to limp during the video

Television

(Lengths include commercials)
  • Night Gallery (1969, 1971)
    • pilot movie segment B "Eyes" [aired November 8, 1969] (30 min)
    • ep4 segment A "Make Me Laugh" [aired January 6, 1971] (30 min)
  • Marcus Welby, M.D. (1970) ep 1–27 "The Daredevil Gesture" (60 min) [aired March 17, 1970]
  • The Name of the Game (1971) ep 3–16 "L.A. 2017" (90 min) [aired January 15, 1971]
  • The Psychiatrist (1971)
    • ep. 1–2 "The Private World of Martin Dalton" (60 min) [aired February 10, 1971]
    • ep. 1–6 "Par for the Course" (60 min) [aired March 10, 1971]
(This was released on a VHS named The Visionary after the other episode included)
·         Halo (2015) (TV) (executive)

 

Uncredited production credits

Spielberg has worked as a producer or executive producer on ten separate films, where he was not credited.
Year
Title
Notes
1987
Harry and the Hendersons
1998
Small Soldiers[6]
The Prince of Egypt
1999
The Haunting
2001
Shrek
Evolution
2002
Road to Perdition
2005
Just Like Heaven
2007
Disturbia
2014
Need for Speed
In 2002, Spielberg was one of eight flagbearers who carried the Olympic Flag into Rice-Eccles Stadium at the Opening Ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. In 2006, Premiere listed him as the most powerful and influential figure in the motion picture industry. Time listed him as one of the 100 Most Important People of the Century. At the end of the 20th century, Life named him the most influential person of his generation. In 2009, Boston University presented him an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.











                 

   
        Hollywood Walk of Fame                                                                 Pentagon Guard of Honor

According to Forbes‍ '​ Most Influential Celebrities 2014 list, Spielberg was listed as the most influential celebrity in America. The annual list is conducted by E-Poll Market Research and it gave more than 6,600 celebrities on 46 different personality attributes a score representing "how that person is perceived as influencing the public, their peers, or both." Spielberg received a score of 47, meaning 47% of the US believes he is influential. Gerry Philpott, president of E-Poll Market Research, supported Spielberg's score by stating, "If anyone doubts that Steven Spielberg has greatly influenced the public, think about how many will think for a second before going into the water this summer.
Spielberg has won three Academy Awards. He has been nominated for seven Academy Awards for the category of Best Director, winning two of them (Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan), and nine of the films he directed were up for the Best Picture Oscar (Schindler's List won). In 1987 he was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for his work as a creative producer.
Steven Spielberg received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1995.
In 2001, he was honored as an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II.
In 2004 he was admitted as knight of the Légion d'honneur by president Jacques Chirac. On July 15, 2006, Spielberg was also awarded the Gold Hugo Lifetime Achievement Award at the Summer Gala of the Chicago International Film Festival, and also was awarded a Kennedy Center honour on December 3. The tribute to Spielberg featured a short, filmed biography narrated by Tom Hanks and included thank-yous from World War II veterans for Saving Private Ryan, as well as a performance of the finale to Leonard Bernstein's Candide, conducted by John Williams (Spielberg's frequent composer).
The Science Fiction Hall of Fame inducted Spielberg in 2005, the first year it considered non-literary contributors. In November 2007, he was chosen for a Lifetime Achievement Award to be presented at the sixth annual Visual Effects Society Awards in February 2009. He was set to be honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the January 2008 Golden Globes; however, the new, watered-down format of the ceremony resulting from conflicts in the 2007–08 writers strike, the HFPA postponed his honor to the 2009 ceremony. In 2008, Spielberg was awarded the Légion d'honneur.
In June 2008, Spielberg received Arizona State University's Hugh Downs Award for Communication Excellence.
Spielberg received an honorary degree at Boston University's 136th Annual Commencement on May 17, 2009. In October 2009 Steven Spielberg received the Philadelphia Liberty Medal; presenting him with the medal was former US president and Liberty Medal recipient Bill Clinton. Special guests included Whoopi Goldberg, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.
On October 22, 2011 he was admitted as a Commander of the Belgian Order of the Crown. He was given the badge on a red neck ribbon by the Belgian Federal Minister of Finance Didier Reynders. The Commander is the third highest rank of the Order of the Crown. He was the president of the jury for the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.










       
 Addresses the Pentagon

On November 19, 2013, Spielberg was honored by the National Archives and Records Administration with its Records of Achievement Award. Spielberg was given two facsimiles of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, one passed but not ratified in 1861, as well as a facsimile of the actual 1865 amendment signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln. The amendment and the process of passing it were the subject of his film Lincoln.
Married twice, Steven Spielberg has a son from his first marriage to actress Amy Irving. He has five children and two stepchildren with current wife Kate Capsha.

His latest offering “Bridge of Spies” being readied for 2015 release is believed to be a strong contender for an Oscar.

Steven Allan Spielberg undoubtedly is one of the most influential celebrities in the world.

The Godfather of Hollywood ‘Steven Spielberg’ with more than 50 years experience in film making  continue to win global attention and ovation for his cinematic and other notable works.  The world fraternity wishes continued success to the veteran film maker and await many more praiseworthy offerings from him.

This BLOG post finds the genius filmmaker Steven Spielberg in good stead and hale and hearty to further enrich the world with his invaluable contributions.
                                                                                           

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