♥♥♥♥♥
+ Best Epic of the Year + Most Expensive Flop of the Year: 24.52 mil. $ range
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| Leonardo DiCaprio is the godly title character of Martin Scorsese's The Aviator, on this poster literally fixed in the skies |
American business magnate Howard Hughes makes flying picture Hells Angels in 3 years. Falls in love with screen diva Katharine Hepburn. Becomes an airplane tycoon. Suffers downfall. Is sued. And rises again.
The Aviator is written by John Logan (Alien: Covenant (2017)), based on Charles Higham's (Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart (1989)) biography Howard Hughes: The Secret Life (1993), and directed by New-Yorker master filmmaker Martin Scorsese (Hugo (2011)), with Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)) portraying the complex, super-ambitious Hughes. The way that Scorsese and DiCaprio manage to get us under the skin of this legendary figure, so that we feel that we really understand, how his ambitions and obsessive-compulsive disorder were his living nightmare is the crown jewel of this great biopic.
Thelma Schoonmaker (The Departed (2006)) again proves a master editor here. The Aviator is crafted as a classic Scorsese epic, - a very large film indeed.
Cate Blanchett (Robin Hood (2010)) is a real treat as Katharine Hepburn, and John C. Reilly (Carnage (2011)) and Alan Alda ((White Mile (1994), TV movie) also turn in remarkable performances.
The Aviator has an exciting color concept (Robert Richardson (City of Hope (1991)) handled the impressive cinematography) and, admirably, did not create its beautiful flying sequences in CGI but using scale models, just like in the old days.
The Aviator is simultaneously sad and uplifting, - a true, grand, American story, and a breathtaking piece of cinema.
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The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) - One helluva movie!
Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011) - Stapleton's Corman doc. is among the year's best films (interview subject)
Hugo (2011) - Scorsese's critically acclaimed, magical 3D family adventure/financial disaster
Boardwalk Empire - 1st season (2010) - Luxurious 1920's ensemble gangster treats (executive producer)
Shutter Island (2010) - Scorsese's heavy-handed, long, second huge thriller attempt
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The Departed (2006) - Scorsese's Boston-set wildcat of a capital letter Movie
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Top 10: Best 'box office success' movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Casino (1995) - Scorsese's sumptuous Vegas gangster tale has the wingspan of a Greek tragedy
The Age of Innocence (1993) or, Stayin' IN the Pants
Cape Fear (1991) - Scorsese adds lots of stuff to remake but loses the balance
Watch an amazing trailer for the film here
Cost: 110 mil. $
Box office: 213.7 mil. $
= Big flop (1.94 times the cost)
[The Aviator premiered 14 December (New York) and runs 170 minutes. Warren Beatty had been working on a Hughes biopic since the 1970s. It eventually came out as major flop Rules Don't Apply (2016). Other notable persons involved with the project at times include Brian De Palma, Nicolas Cage, Johnny Depp, Edward Norton, Milos Forman, Jim Carrey, Michael Mann and Christopher Nolan, the Beatty film always lurking in the shadows. Shooting took place in California, including Los Angeles, and in Quebec, Canada, including Montréal, from July - November 2003. The film opened #14 to an 858k $ first weekend in 40 theaters in North America, where it widened and spent the following 3 weeks in the top 5 (#5-#3-#3) and 3 weeks later another week at #5, grossing 102.6 mil. $ (48 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 15.9 mil. $ (7.4 %) and France with 11.7 mil. $ (5.5 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch better than this review. It was nominated for 11 Oscars, the most of the year, winning 5, also the most any film took that year: It won Best Supporting Actress (Blanchett), Cinematography, Editing, Art Direction and Costumes. It lost Best Picture to Million Dollar Baby, Best Actor (DiCaprio) to Jamie Foxx in Ray, Supporting Actor (Alda) to Morgan Freeman in Million Dollar Baby, Director to Clint Eastwood for Million Dollar Baby, Original Screenplay to Charlie Kaufman for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Sound Mixing to Ray. It won 3/6 Golden Globe nominations, 4/14 BAFTAs, 1 AFI award, was nominated for a Grammy, won a National Board of Review award and many other honors. Scorsese returned with an episode of American Masters, his brilliant music documentary No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005) and theatrically with The Departed (2006), which was also DiCaprio's next movie. The Aviator is certified fresh at 87 % with a 7.8 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
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