The Aviator

[andyfox]

A grand entertainment. Over the top Scoreseseismo, but great fun. Leoanrdo DiCaprio is terrific, although I thought he was a bit too young to play the part. Cate Blanchett is great too; Kate Beckinsale is terrible, though nice to look at. Alan Alda's scenes with DiCaprio are wonderful and Alec Baldwin and Willem DeFoe are present as well. Three hours, but it doesn't seem that long.

A big, Hollywood movie in the best sense. One would think Scorsese will finally win his Best Directing Oscar.

[JimRivett]

It's certainly being heavily promoted. I agree, I think Leoanrdo DiCaprio looks too young to successfully play Hughes, although if I'm not mistaken, in the movie, the story ends just prior to him "taking over/buying out" Las Vegas.

I may see it next week.

[andyfox]

Yes, it doesn't get into the later Las Vegas years. But Hughes was born, I think, in 1905, which would have put him in his early '40s when the movie does end, and DiCaprio looks too young to me. But his performance is wonderful, probably Oscar-worthy.

Andy

[Tim&Joe]

Tim: That Leo is something else Joe. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Joe: We are talking Judy Garland territory Tim [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

[fsuplayer]

i feel like i should know this, but what airline did he start?

[andyfox]

Didn't start it, bought TWA.

[jakethebake]

Are you people serious? I haven't seen Aviator, but I can't figure out why Leo D. keeps getting parts in what are actually good movies. He couldn't act his way out of a paper bag. The only thing he's ever been good in was Gilbert Grape, and only because he kind of looks retarded anyway. [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[Iceman]

[ QUOTE ]
Are you people serious? I haven't seen Aviator, but I can't figure out why Leo D. keeps getting parts in what are actually good movies. He couldn't act his way out of a paper bag. The only thing he's ever been good in was Gilbert Grape, and only because he kind of looks retarded anyway. [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Titanic grossed over $1 billion because of all the 12-year old girls who saw it in the theater five times...does that answer your question?

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
Titanic grossed over $1 billion because of all the 12-year old girls who saw it in the theater five times...does that answer your question?

[/ QUOTE ]
I guess it does. They give him parts, regardless of acting ability, because a lot of 12 year-olds will spend their allowance money to see him. Next question then has to be what the 12 year-olds see in him, but I won't ask it because that would assume rational thought/good taste on the part of 12 year-old girls. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

[ QUOTE ]
Didn't start it, bought TWA.

[/ QUOTE ]
Ummm... there is (was - they were bought out by McDonnell Douglas) a little company called the HUGHES AIRCRAFT COMPANY. It was once the largest employer in Southern California. Hughes Space and Communications company was once the largest producer of commercial satellites and was the first to produce a synchronous communications satellite.

If you haven't heard of Hughes the aerospace company, maybe you've heard of THE SPRUCE freaking GOOSE - the world's largest wooden sea plane (due to a shortage of metal during the war).

If still none of that rings a bell (I'm not demeaning - I really forget sometimes what non-aero geeks would be familiar with), maybe you've heard of the Hughes AH-64 APACHE HELICOPTER.

TWA can suck my ass - Hughes' real contributions were in aerospace and a wide variety of other fields like electronics and communications. His companies went on to be giants in their field (maybe in spite of him in some cases - he was not the best businessman). He was a very innovative man and it's a real shame his capacities were cut short early.