The Aviator

With one of the best performances ever on screen by Di Caprio, this incredible story is a must-see!

Dear Greedy Studio, Please make this film available for rent.

This was Leo's best performance hands down. I didn't see this movie until its release on Blu-Ray. In interviews he talked about how much he had studied Howard Hughes. I'm 45 & remember his death but I had no idea of his mental health issues & his advancement of aviation. This is a movie that you can't pass up.

This movie is a complete great work of Howerd Hughes life. It captures art and effects so well that it made the 20th century with gold bricks. What can i say its a good movie.

One of my all time favorite films. This movie has great acting, direction, music, everything. Dicaprio gives his best performance yet, Scorsese should've won an Oscar for this, but what can you do. A must see.

I had always wondered why this movie attracted so little attention. Well, I found out the hard way -- it is a VERY BORING, slow-moving, three-hour drama. Don't let the trailer fool you as it did me. They only show the best parts in the trailer. The rest is garbage. Aviator should be cut to 90 minutes just to make it bearable. Good luck trying to make it through the entire film. You are going to need it.

Boring in parts but overall still a good movie.

Does he die........................ again???

I love movies about movie directors, and this movie in particular stands out, mainly due to the brillant direction of Mr. Scorsese. I say this is the movie that turned Leonardo Dicaprio from a teen idol to a fully legitimate actor. And the airplane filming scene near the beginning is one of my favorite scenes of all time.

This movie was so, so, so good. I saw it for the first time mainly for Leonardo DiCaprio...I'm a fan of his and I'd heard good things about this movie...and I didn't have any idea what to expect, considering I knew next to nothing about Howard Hughes. And it wasn't that I came out of this movie knowing much more, considering that there were historical inaccuracies and Scorsese chose to dramatize certain characters and points in his life and leave others out. But I did come out of it enormously entertained. It's the kind of movie that sticks with you, not making you think or analyze everything but still staying in your mind because it makes a big impact. Every single scene, every single sequence was gorgeously shot, and so much detail was put into immitating each setting and each character. And the writing was great...while the story didn't have a set arc (it's hard to do a real story arc in biopics because real life just isn't like that...) each moment and line is so symbolic of everything the movie is and everything to come. From after the huge crash sequence (a terrifying sequence, as you feel like you're there), when Howard is lying on the ground and chokes out, "I'm Howard Hughes, the aviator" to the end scene when he thinks back on his childhood future for himself and how it was all coming true, but he couldn't so much enjoy it because of his debilitating mental condition, it was just perfect. I've read so much about how the characters were so "miscast," but I couldn't disagree more. Leo is perfect as a pre-downward-spiral Hughes (a strange casting choice, but one that made sense nonetheless, considering his contribution to the picture on a producing standpoint and his real life as an idolized but extremely private celebrity as Howard Hughes was in his glory days) and his acting just got better and better as the film went on. When you end up in the Senate hearings sequence and you see him on screen, he's such a complete dead ringer for Howard Hughes...right down to the things he says, the way he says them, the way he carries himself, his fidgeting, his facial expressions...even his appearance (although not really close to Hughes's at all to begin with) is so accurate. Leo really did his research and gave Hughes his own spin while still getting as close to the actual mannerisms of the man as possible. He gives such a convincing performance I'm surprised that he was able to come out of the character at the end of the day. Cate Blanchett was an amazing choice as Katharine Hepburn, and she really has fun with the role, turning out a great performance that was both accurate and a bit teasing, something that the real life Hepburn probably would have admired. Alan Alda is ridiculously great as Senator Brewster, and Kate Beckinsdale is a believable Ava Gardner. She definitely has a sensual poise about her that is so hard to come by. John C. Reilly is great as Noah Dietrich (his confusion at Howard's behavior yet his sympathy for him was spot on). I didn't really understand the inclusion of Alec Baldwin as Juan Tripp, but he does have that somewhat slimey feel that translates well into that type of a manipulative role. All in all, this movie was great. There are a couple scenes in which people might feel slightly uncomfortable or disturbed, such as the sequence in the screening room, but they're necessary to carry the movie and understand the character and his madness, and they're a great example of DiCaprio's acting talents and the fact that he's fearless in becoming his character. Even if you might go "ew, what the heck?" during those, this movie isn't so much about being pretty (even though it is) as it is about contrasting the public persona and legend of Howard Hughes with the private one, and it succeeds wonderfully.