HotToastyRag
The Aviator is a biopic of the famous Hollywood director and producer Howard Hughes. Martin Scorsese directed the film, so naturally, his beloved Leonardo DiCaprio starred as the title role. The film was advertised ad nauseum, so much so that even movie goers who didn't want to see it felt compelled to at least rent it at some point. Everyone loves to watch movies about old Hollywood, chalk-full of celebrity impressions of legendary stars, right? From a technical standpoint, the movie was very well done. The shots are well-framed, the colors are beautifully saturated, and the sound is well-created and mixed. However, if you're at all familiar with the actors and actresses portrayed on the screen, you will be beyond disappointed. To summarize, Cate Blanchett plays Katharine Hepburn, Kate Beckinsale plays Ava Gardner, Jude Law plays Errol Flynn, and Gwen Stefani plays Jean Harlow.Katharine Hepburn had such a distinctive way of talking that it's almost a game to imitate her, like Michael Caine's or Cary Grant's accents. Cate didn't sound anything like her, and I don't know why no one told her. In addition, she didn't look like her and she didn't even mimic the way she moved her body. Basically, she wore trousers and dyed her hair and thought the audiences would be fooled.Jude Law, while a very handsome man, doesn't happen to look like Errol Flynn. His eyes are further apart on his face and neither down-tilting nor deep set, his nostrils take a different angle, the tip of his nose is shorter, his bottom lip has a bow-shape, and his eyebrows have a different arch. So why was he cast? Why didn't the casting director pick Kevin Kline, who does look like Errol Flynn and actually portrayed him in a movie nine years later? Ava Gardner's defining characteristics are the large features of her face. She has a huge mouth, large eyebrows, eyes so far apart they seem to be falling off her face, and a big skull. I've been waiting in vain for someone in Hollywood to cast Eva Mendes as Ava Gardner, because I'm sure audiences would think Ava had been reincarnated. Kate Beckinsale has a small, delicate-looking frame, and a thin face. Her eyes and eyebrows are not falling off the sides of her face, and her smile doesn't scare people with its size. I can't imagine any reason why she was cast.Last, but certainly not least, we have Gwen Stefani, who was extremely excited about her film debut. She played the original bombshell, Marilyn Monroe's idol: Jean Harlow. Jean Harlow is one of my all-time favorite actresses, so I took this insult to her memory personally. We'll start with her face. Jean Harlow had close-set, deep-set eyes, a substantial nose, a cleft in her chin, an extremely small mouth, a very high forehead, and eyebrows that were stylish at the time but nowadays look clownish. Gwen Stefani, during her five minutes in the film, was not given any putty for her nose, her chin was cleft-less, her mouth was its normally large size, and her eyebrows had not been altered one millimeter in shape or position. This in itself is absurd. Next, we have body structure. Jean Harlow was very petite at 5'2" and had a beautifully curvaceous figure. She was diminutive. Gwen Stefani, at 5'7", is intimidating. Her shoulders are very prominent, and her athletic build is nothing like the woman she's supposed to be portraying. Finally, we have the feature that was Jean Harlow's trademark: her voice. Jean Harlow had an incredibly thick and distinctive accent, but when Gwen Stefani opened her mouth, she spoke like a breathy Valley Girl. It's appalling that she either refused to do her homework, take direction, or submit her resignation.With all my criticisms, I haven't yet mentioned one word about the lead actor. Throughout the film, Leonardo DiCaprio portrays a larger-than-life figure who ends up succumbing to a debilitating case of OCD. He was nominated for an Oscar for The Aviator, and when you watch it, you will concede that it's the type of role that usually gets a nomination. In general, I'm not a big fan of his because I always feel that he's acting. Actors are supposed to convince audiences that they're not acting and that there isn't a camera, crew members, sets, lights, and modern contraptions all around them. I never feel that way when watching Leo's performances. I always feel he's trying to pull from something that isn't there, and that if you went to see him in a community theater production, you'd think he was very good but probably stretching the limits of his talent. Unless you already love Leo and everything he does, you probably won't like this movie.While it didn't end up being a huge success at the box office, Hollywood couldn't get enough of it. The Aviator was nominated for eleven Oscars in 2005, taking home the gold for Costume Design, Art Direction, Cinematography, Editing, and Supporting Actress. Cate Blanchett has given some very good performances for which she should have won an Oscar; portraying an unrecognizable Katharine Hepburn isn't one of them.
leplatypus
I got prejudices against this movie, even before I watched it! First of all, it's a Biopic and so far the Hollywood ones proved to be inept: 1) they reorganize the fact to be like they want them to be and not like they are in reality 2) An artist exists by his artistic creation and the process to get them is irrelevant. Due to the title (aviator) I expected the movie to be just a rich hobby about flying that could only appeal to rich: I don't see why as a simple citizen, I could be interested in such child-play… So I put the DVD and start the movie with Scorcese comments: as soon as I understand it's also a movie about (old) Hollywood, my tiny little interest for it just got totally extinguished as for me, movies about movies are the ground-zero of filmmaking: I just don't understand how such movies can be produced except to please the navel-gazing ego-centrism of this little world! It would be like reading books about writing or listening to album about making music! It's silly, a huge loss of time so I just skip chapters to only watch scenes between DiCaprio and Beckinsale: Sure the production is lavish, every one has fantastic wardrobe but nothing comes of it: later, DiCaprio lives like a hobo in his house and Beckinsale helps him to get ready for a Senate hearing: honestly, why should I care? What's the point to such story? I just don't give it a Sh!t.This quickest 3 hours movie i watched just adds tons to my opinion that Scorcese is a poor director, totally overrated and he finds such support from the establishment because they just need to find a name!
Inception Report
Martin Scorsese's films all have a distinctive style and tone to them so it's always been nice to see him change things up a bit and while this most certainly has hints of his style The Aviator was a nice departure from his usually films and I can honestly say that I enjoyed this film though it's not without its flaws. Easily the best thing about this film is the central performance of Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes, DiCaprio just brings a presence to Hughes making him very charismatic yet charming, his character is never dull to watch and it's always interesting to watch. Mainly because his breakdown into near insanity is so well done, its built up slowly across the films run-time so that when that pivotal moment where he loses his mind it feels merited. If I'm honest I've never been the biggest fan of Cate Blanchett but I can honestly say that I thought she was excellent in this movie, not only was her character just extremely entertaining she had such good chemistry with DiCaprio and her romance with him joint with their gradual parting is done perfectly. The Aviator it set from the mid 30s to the late 40s and the production design joint along with the Costume Design are immaculate, it sucks you right into this period. The actual aviation scenes themselves sequences themselves are very well done, the green screen is completely convincing and they're built up just right so that we understand just how much they mean to Hughes. However if I'm honest while this film is far to well acted and executed to be bad I do think this film is a little overrated. For one while the central character is developed perfectly and given good and clear motivations for his actions the other characters in this film have very little reasoning behind their actions so when they start their attacks against Hughes they don't feel earned and this makes this entire arc fall a bit flat. Another thing this film doesn't do very well is make you feel much sympathy for Hughes, because he's such an unlikable character it doesn't really make you care that much that he has so much at stake. However after this arc finishes I enjoyed the final act and DiCaprios haunting last "The Way of The Future" monologue was extremely haunting that did make me feel sympathy for him unlike the previous act of the film. I do like The Aviator, both DiCaprio and Blanchett are both amazing in this film, it's a fantastic period piece but ultimately where it succeeds with its central character it ultimately fails with the Supporting making for a lot of this film coming of as unsatisfactory. But it's definitely a good film and would recommend it to any fan of Scorsese's work. 72%/B
Miguel Neto
The Aviator is below many films that Martin Scorsese made even more so is a good film, based on real facts , here we see the second time one of the best partnership of cinema, Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio , DiCaprio does a great acting, the cast also this very well , Cate Blanchett this very good , John C. Reilly , the beautiful Kate Beckinsale , Alec Baldwin, Danny Huston , Alan Alda , Ian Holm and etc , the script is good, more believe weakens the third act , I found almost three film, unnecessary , thought very long , and is tiring , since the pace is also not so good, the picture is excellent, the costumes it's great , and has very good scenes , the Aviator is far to be the best film of Scorsese , more is still a very good movie with a great cast, great performances , most unfortunately wanes in the third act. Note 7.5
