The Aviator
Ahh, what a glorious Super Bowl Sunday. The Patriots won and everyone in Boston is in heaven. Their Sawx and their P’s are on top of the sports world. Whatever happened to the C’s and the B’s? Oh well I guess you cannot have it all. As predicted I scarcely watched the first quarter and then I threw up. I will have more on this later in the week, but from the time they tell you to turn the game on at 6 pm until the end of the first quarter lasted a mere one hour and twenty four minutes. I decided then it was time for a break so I went to the movies to watch the latest effort from Martin Scorsese, The Aviator.
There are lots of things I have to say about this very well done film. I know it is cool and cliché and very Hollywood to not like things done with big budgets and by overly celebrated actors & directors, but I am into bucking trends all the time. Martin Scorsese knows how to make great films; just look at his track record, there is no denying it. Secondly, as much of a prick as he seems like in real life I believe Leonardo DiCaprio is a very good actor, and he does not over work himself with a ton of shitty roles in bad films. The Aviator chronicles the life and times of America’s most eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes. DiCaprio gives a soundly convincing performance. He shows the deterioration of the man as well as Russell Crowe did with John Nash in A Beautiful Mind. This picture is long, but much like Million Dollar Baby the story had me so engrossed I was actually upset that it was not longer. Scorsese had a great soundtrack to go along with the movie; the music did a great job of setting the mood of the piece. Also the production design to recreate all those old plane’s and production factories was unbelievable. I was one person who did not totally despise Gangs of New York and I again like this collaboration between DiCaprio and Scorsese. The supporting actors in this movie were also very good. John C. Reilly as Hughes financial advisor, Alec Baldwin as his rival at Pan Am, Alan Alda as Senator Brewster (Oscar Nominated) and the most underrated performance by little known Matt Ross as “Ody” Hughes chief engineer and design partner.
All that brings me to a disturbing part of the movie. The women that Mr. Hughes famously courted. Most famously were Ava Gardner and Katherine Hepburn. In the movie they are played by Cate Blanchett and Kate Beckinsale, and if you gave me 1 million dollars I could not tell you the difference. This is a sad part about Hollywood, there are just tons of no talent ass clowns whom I do not know the difference between. It seems to be mostly these lat 20’s early 30 something actresses; Kate Beckinsale, Kate Bosworth, Cate Blanchett, Cate Winslett, Naomi Watts, Helen Bonham Carter, Jennifer Connelly, Bridget Moynahan, Samantha Morton, and Maggie Gyllenhaal just to name a few. All these women have been in a variety of popular films over the last 5 years and of you put them in a police lineup I couldn’t tell them apart. To me that means none of their performances have been worth a damn, much like the two in The Aviator.
In short, The Aviator is a very good film well deserved of all the praise it has received. I judged a biopic like this; was the person so believable as the character that you forgot you were watching a movie (Jamie Foxx in Ray) and/or was the movie so interesting as to make me want to seek out more information & literature about the person. The Aviator has definitely done the latter for me. As I once though Jaime Foxx was a shoe in for the Oscar I do believe DiCaprio has a legitimate chance at winning it. My Oscar preview will be coming shortly.
There are lots of things I have to say about this very well done film. I know it is cool and cliché and very Hollywood to not like things done with big budgets and by overly celebrated actors & directors, but I am into bucking trends all the time. Martin Scorsese knows how to make great films; just look at his track record, there is no denying it. Secondly, as much of a prick as he seems like in real life I believe Leonardo DiCaprio is a very good actor, and he does not over work himself with a ton of shitty roles in bad films. The Aviator chronicles the life and times of America’s most eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes. DiCaprio gives a soundly convincing performance. He shows the deterioration of the man as well as Russell Crowe did with John Nash in A Beautiful Mind. This picture is long, but much like Million Dollar Baby the story had me so engrossed I was actually upset that it was not longer. Scorsese had a great soundtrack to go along with the movie; the music did a great job of setting the mood of the piece. Also the production design to recreate all those old plane’s and production factories was unbelievable. I was one person who did not totally despise Gangs of New York and I again like this collaboration between DiCaprio and Scorsese. The supporting actors in this movie were also very good. John C. Reilly as Hughes financial advisor, Alec Baldwin as his rival at Pan Am, Alan Alda as Senator Brewster (Oscar Nominated) and the most underrated performance by little known Matt Ross as “Ody” Hughes chief engineer and design partner.
All that brings me to a disturbing part of the movie. The women that Mr. Hughes famously courted. Most famously were Ava Gardner and Katherine Hepburn. In the movie they are played by Cate Blanchett and Kate Beckinsale, and if you gave me 1 million dollars I could not tell you the difference. This is a sad part about Hollywood, there are just tons of no talent ass clowns whom I do not know the difference between. It seems to be mostly these lat 20’s early 30 something actresses; Kate Beckinsale, Kate Bosworth, Cate Blanchett, Cate Winslett, Naomi Watts, Helen Bonham Carter, Jennifer Connelly, Bridget Moynahan, Samantha Morton, and Maggie Gyllenhaal just to name a few. All these women have been in a variety of popular films over the last 5 years and of you put them in a police lineup I couldn’t tell them apart. To me that means none of their performances have been worth a damn, much like the two in The Aviator.
In short, The Aviator is a very good film well deserved of all the praise it has received. I judged a biopic like this; was the person so believable as the character that you forgot you were watching a movie (Jamie Foxx in Ray) and/or was the movie so interesting as to make me want to seek out more information & literature about the person. The Aviator has definitely done the latter for me. As I once though Jaime Foxx was a shoe in for the Oscar I do believe DiCaprio has a legitimate chance at winning it. My Oscar preview will be coming shortly.
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