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	The Aviator
	Martin Scorsese Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, Alec Baldwin, Alan Alda, John C. Reilly, Ian Holm, Jude Law, Adam Scott, Danny Huston, Frances Conroy, Brent Spiner, Matt Ross, Kelli Garner, Gwen Stefani 2004		Clocking in at three hours, "The Aviator," directed by Martin Scorsese, neither falters in its trajectory nor feels like an endless journey. If anything, this fascinating, lushly appointed biopic about industrialist/filmmaker/pilot Howard Hughes could use a coda to address its subject's demise. Scorsese's award-winning 1980 film "Raging Bull" told the story of a different sort of celebrity, boxer Jake LaMotta. "The Aviator" also deals with a fighter, one whose battleground encompassed Hollywood, big business and Washington, D.C. With Leonard DiCaprio in the title role, the film covers the first two acts of Hughes' life, from the 1920s to the 1940s. At first, it's hard to accept baby-faced DiCaprio as the flamboyant, troubled Hughes, even in scenes from Hughes' younger days as a tyro producer/director laboring to complete his ambitious aerial war movie "Hell's Angels." But DiCaprio is a hell of an actor, and with the more familiar mustache that the older Hughes grew, it's easier to buy the performer as the man. Scorsese surrounds DiCaprio with a distinguished cast that brings notables from show biz, aviation and politics to vivid life: Actresses Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett) and Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale), two of Hughes' lovers, are pivotal to the film, as are his nemeses, Pan Am CEO Juan Trippe (Alec Baldwin) and Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster (Alan Alda). With a cameo by Jude Law as debonair old-school star Errol Flynn.


	Wednesday, December 18, 2024





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