Went and saw "The Aviator" today...

[agilebrit]

Now, as far as I was concerned, going in, the thing had three strikes against it:

1. Martin Scorsese directed it. I saw "Bringing Out the Dead" and vowed Never Again. Plus the fact that he directed "The Last Temptation of Christ," which I don't have warm fuzzies for. Most of the time, I see "Martin Scorsese," and I automatically go "ick."
2. Leo DiCaprio stars in it. I really don't like him. At all. I hated "Titanic" and generally avoid anything he's in, with the exception of "Catch Me If You Can," which had Tom Hanks going for it.
3. It's been nominated for an Oscar. The track record for me liking Oscar-nominated movies = not so good. And if I do like it, it invariably loses. Think "Shakespeare in Love" vs "Saving Private Ryan." Yeah, the wrong movie won that year.

That being said, I quite liked this. Howard Hughes walked a fine line between being brilliant and being batshit insane. The man was a visionary of the first order, and he had the money needed to make his visions come true. Leo did a pretty good job of walking the Howard's line and making it believable. I did a moderate amount of squeeing when I saw Brent Spiner in a minor role, because I'm a great big nerd. I loved the lady that played Katherine Hepburn.

So, yeah. Go see this. It's worth it.

Comments

[crayonbreakygal.livejournal.com]

You know, I've always had this thing with certain actors. They just bug me. Leo is one of them. I don't know why. I just can't like them. Good to see that Brent Spiner is working :from one geek to another:. Maybe I'll rent the movie when it comes out. I rented "Catch Me If You Can" and it was alright. I only watched to see Amy Acker and her part was tiny. OK, so I'm weird like that.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

I guess Leo got to be in this because he executive-produced it and him and Martin have a thing (think "Gangs of New York"). But, yeah, he bugs me too. Honestly, I think an actor with less of a baby-face would have been better in the role. But he wasn't terrible. Which surprised me.

Amy was in "Catch Me If You Can"??? I may have to rent that again...

[crayonbreakygal.livejournal.com]

She was one of the stewardesses that Leo used to get through the airport. I can't remember where that is in the movie, near the end I think. I don't think she has more than one line.

[alliterator.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I didn't see it because 1) I hate Leo DiCaprio as well and 2) I generally dislike biopics. Just don't like 'em. Anyway, I do however like Howard Hughes, if only for the one time where when there were rumors of him being dead, he sent a jar of his breath to a newspaper as proof. Yeah. Batshit genius.

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

Well, we had to see it because of all the kewl airplane stuff. If HH had been the mogul of, say, a bread company, we wouldn't have gone.