Thursday, January 06, 2005

Mad Genius

I just saw The Aviator starring Leonardo DiCaprio. I highly recommend it. From the trailer I saw a couple of months ago, it looked like it was going to be some sort of Spielbergean Cheesefest waste-o-time (also, until now, I've never much liked Leonardo Babyface as an actor). Because it had a high rating at Rotten Tomatoes, I wanted to see it, and was not disappointed. It is a Scorsesean dark comedy, an at times surrealistic romp through a fascinating slice of history, with some memorable personalities: the troubled Howard Hughes, the singular (and also shy of a few marbles?) Katherine Hepburn (played by Cate Blanchett-of course!), Ava Gardner, and Jean Harlow (played by Gwen Stefani-of course!), as well as Errol Flynn (Jude Law-of course!).

If you put Chicago and A Beautiful Mind in a blender with the other ingredients Scorsese poured in, this is what you get. A very tasty concoction.

Fantastic job by DiCaprio, too. And a bitchin' musical score, to boot.

Poor Howard Hughes...

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