DIRECTOR: Martin Scorsese
STUDIOS: Miramax, Warner Bros., Forward Pass, Cappa Productions, IEG & Appian Way
RATING: PG-13
WEBSITE: theaviatormovie.com
RELEASE DATE: December 17, 2004
Scorsese & DiCaprio Soar
REVIEW BY CATHERINE KRUMMEY
Martin Scorsese's The Aviator is one of the year's more-hyped films and lives up to the majority of its hype. The hype is not as accurate as it was for Ray or Finding Neverland, but it was not as disappointing as Closer.
Leonardo DiCaprio stars as famed aviation conossieur and movie director Howard Hughes and pulls off the legend's quirks and obsessive compulsive disorder to a T. Cate Blanchett is also terrific as legendary actress Katharine Hepburn. Kate Beckinsale, as screen goddess Ava Gardner, was interesting, but not a very strong performance. John C. Reilly also gave a strong performance as Hughes' right-hand money man, Noah Dietrich. Garden State's Ian Holm is surprisingly good as a professor Hughes initially hires to help him with the production of Hell's Angels. Alan Alda and Alec Baldwin played the villains of the film, as, respectively, a Maine's Senator Ralph Owen Brewster, and Juan Trippe, President of Pan Am Air. Gwen Stefani's voice is near-unrecognizable as another screen goddess, Jean Harlow, star of Hughes' Hell's Angels. Jude Law, who has starred in a cavalcade of movies in the last four months, also cameos in a couple of scenes as legendary actor Errol Flynn.
Scorsese did a terrific job with the film, but it is unlikely that he'll finally get the Oscar for Best Director. Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby) and others are putting up pretty good competition for the award. Alfred Hitchcock never won a Best Director Oscar, and he is considered one of the best directors of all time, as is Scorsese. DiCaprio will likely be nominated for a Best Actor Oscar, but it is doubtful that he will win. Johnny Depp (Finding Neverland), Jamie Foxx (Ray) or Jim Carrey (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) will most likely win.