A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: The Aviator

Date Viewed: 1/30/05

Details:

Leonardo DiCaprio

Cate Blanchett

Kate Beckinsale

John C. Reilly

Alec Baldwin

Alan Alda

Ian Holm

Gwen Stefani

Jude Law

Director: Martin Scorsese

Score: +

The Review: Focusing on the period between Hell's Angels and the Spruce Goose, Aviator is an engaging film biography of the many-faceted Howard Hughes -- erstwhile business-man, enigmatic multi-millionaire, mediocre film-maker, escort to the stars, obsessive compulsive, the person who gave TWA a kick-start on the international scene and made major endowments for independent medical research, but first and foremost, a pilot. It's easy to see what Hughes liked and wanted to do most of all, and that attitude is contagious. Even those who do not remember its auspicious debut will be cheering for the (original) Hercules on its maiden voyage.

But this biography is certainly no hagiography, and you sink into the disturbed thoughts of a much more youthful Hughes than you might have realized. If you remember anything of the man, you likely remember only the overly fastidious and crazed madman of the late 70's and 80's. But one of its curious aspects is the movie's ability to take you rather deeply into the off-balance mind of an extreme OCD in its earlier stages, when it might have been corrected..., but wasn't. The only out-of-sequence flashback that was included purports to offer some psychological back-story with formative rationale.

Overall a good movie, but itself not necessarily Oscar material; some of the performances, however, might be. DiCaprio's Hughes was surprising; he carried off a difficult role (and a much more mature one than I'd've expected of him), aging gracefully and bantering well with senators. Cate Blanchett may not look like Katherine Hepburn -- she's not quite angular enough -- but she absolutely nailed both her voice and her attitude; if I closed my eyes, I might have been hard-pressed to figure out who was actually on-screen. Hers was a fantastic performance. Very odd (and annoying) turn by Jude Law as Errol Flynn.

(5-Feb-05)

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