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The Aviator

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The Aviator (2004)

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Reviews Counted:210

Fresh:184

Rotten:26

Average Rating:7.8/10

Consensus: Highly evocative of the period, Scorcese's biopic of Howard Hughes is being hailed as another excellent film from the master.

Runtime: 2 hrs 50 mins

Genre: Dramas

US Box Office: $102,563,679

Synopsis: Martin Scorsese's THE AVIATOR is a lavish spectacle of a motion picture that harks back to Hollywood's Golden Era in telling the story of Howard Hughes, one of 20th-century America's most... Martin Scorsese's THE AVIATOR is a lavish spectacle of a motion picture that harks back to Hollywood's Golden Era in telling the story of Howard Hughes, one of 20th-century America's most pioneering and influential figures. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio as the eccentric billionaire, Scorsese's biopic concentrates on Hughes's life between the 1920s and '40s, when he made striking contributions to both the film and aviation industries. At only 25 years of age, Hughes directed the most expensive film ever made up to that point, HELL'S ANGELS (1930), which Scorsese gleefully recreates here in all its sprawling, audacious glory. At the same time, he became known as an unabashed playboy, bedding the likes of Jean Harlow (singer Gwen Stefani), Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale), and Katherine Hepburn (a brilliant Cate Blanchett). In the mid-'30s, he turned his attention to the aviation industry, where he quickly became world-renowned for shattering speed and distance records. He also continued to test the limits of flight technology, building bigger, faster, and stronger aircrafts. All the while, he struggled with an obsessive-compulsive disorder that sent him into a full-fledged tailspin after a near-fatal plane crash. The film concludes with Hughes being called before the Senate in 1947 to defend himself against the nefarious Senator Owen Brewster (Alan Alda), who accused Hughes of taking money from the United States government during wartime. Stunningly photographed by Robert Richardson, Scorsese's nearly three-hour drama features an impassioned performance by DiCaprio, who is also credited as an executive producer. Although she appears in less than a third of the film, Blanchett delivers a performance that cements her status as one of the finest actresses ever to appear on the big screen. [More]

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, John C. Reilly

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, John C. Reilly, Alan Alda, Alec Baldwin, Gwen Stefani, Jude Law, Danny Huston, Ian Holm, Adam Scott, Willem Dafoe, Loudon Wainwright, Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, Kelli Garner, J. C. Mackenzie

Director: Martin Scorsese

Director: Martin Scorsese
Screenwriter: John Logan
Producer: Michael Mann, Charles Evans, Graham King
Composer: Howard Shore
Studio: Miramax Films

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Reviews for The Aviator

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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Scorsese gives us a lot more than the Charles Foster Kane of the clouds. He keeps focus on Hughes, the dreamer, who continually reached out, grabbed the future and pulled it toward him.

Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
01/17/06
Jim Schembri
Jim Schembri
Sydney Morning Herald
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

With Gangs of New York, DiCaprio and Scorsese came close to making a masterpiece; with The Aviator, they might just have got there.

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
02/18/05
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: In Film Australia | comment Comment
02/05/05
Luke Buckmaster
Luke Buckmaster
In Film Australia
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This handsome movie is an oddly well-behaved one to come from the preternaturally energetic Scorsese.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment Comment
02/03/10
Richard Corliss
Richard Corliss
TIME Magazine

It’s all rather sprawling and a bit disjointed, but Scorsese’s vigorous pacing and eye for detail hold it all together and provide a vivid setting for DiCaprio’s masterful performance (his best work yet).

Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | comment Comment
08/07/08
Jim Lane
Jim Lane
Sacramento News & Review

This almost-great epic has one foot in legend: it's a vision of an American titan that could have sprung from the insides of Hughes's own obsessive, perfectionist head.

Full Review Source: Newsweek | comment Comment
11/01/07
David Ansen
David Ansen
Newsweek

Scorsese's most engaged and engaging filmmaking in a while.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
07/23/07
Rob Gonsalves
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com

Its plot moves from event to event without a story driving it and the audience is left drifting along.

Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound | comment Comment
07/14/07
Joe Lozito
Joe Lozito
Big Picture Big Sound

All tabloid style gloss accessorized with brassy special effects, and bloated storytelling based loosely on period gossip.

Full Review Source: WBAI Web Radio | comment Comment
02/08/07
Prairie Miller
Prairie Miller
WBAI Web Radio

full review in Greek

Full Review Source: Movies for the Masses | comment 1 Comment
10/03/06
Joseph Proimakis
Joseph Proimakis
Movies for the Masses

It's almost predictable in the way it delivers the cinematic goods, yet there's no denying that it is a compelling and entertaining look at a larger-than-life individual.

Full Review Source: Christianity Today | comment Comment
09/01/06
Russ Breimeier
Russ Breimeier
Christianity Today

The Aviator feels like old-fashioned Hollywood with a bracing jolt of Scorsese's cinematic flair

Full Review Source: Cinema Writer | comment Comment
08/19/06
Jay Antani
Jay Antani
Cinema Writer

Despite a pacy, technically brilliant but otherwise slightly ordinary first half-hour or so, Scorsese’s Howard Hughes movie is his best since The Age of Innocence.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out

It's a measure of The Aviator's complexity and ambiguity that it can be read equally as a celebration of rugged, capitalist individualism and as a leftist critique of cutthroat free-market competition.

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
09/26/05
Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin
AV Club

Beneath the glossy surface there's a niggling lack of depth, but otherwise this is a grand, impressive Tinseltown drama.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
06/25/05
Simon Braund
Simon Braund
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A tremendous success.

Full Review Source: Reno Gazette-Journal | comment Comment
06/02/05
Forrest Hartman
Forrest Hartman
Reno Gazette-Journal

The Aviator is more than entertaining and engrossing enough to keep you interested ... for at least 130 minutes or so.

Full Review Source: DVDTalk.com | comment Comment
05/24/05
Scott Weinberg
Scott Weinberg
DVDTalk.com

Its primary appeal is its speed: It rushes along, from scandal to air crash to movie romance to Senate hearing, each anecdote well realized but never tarried over.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
05/20/05
Stephen Hunter
Stephen Hunter
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Regardless of the fact that The Aviator may not be Scorsese's best work, it is unquestionably a creative piece of moviemaking.

Full Review Source: DVDTown.com | comment Comment
05/13/05
John J. Puccio
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com

If the folks who made Hollywood were going to make a movie today it would be made like The Aviator.

Full Review Source: 3BlackChicks Review | comment Comment
04/27/05
Kamal  'The Diva' Larsuel
Kamal 'The Diva' Larsuel
3BlackChicks Review
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 >> >|
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Latest News for The Aviator

October 23, 2007: Scorsese, DiCaprio Reuniting for Shutter Island
Their first three collaborations netted copious amounts of Oscar love and box-office receipts, so it isn't surprising that Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio are in no hurry... More...

October 11, 2007: Will Smith and Michael Mann are Empire Builders
Will Smith and Michael Mann are reuniting to build an Empire for Columbia Pictures. More...

April 18, 2007: Kate Beckinsale as "Barbarella"?
This word arrives by way of a British gossip column, so you know what to do with it, but here's the dirt: Kate Beckinsale is apparently being considered for the lead role in... More...

March 26, 2007: Scorsese and DiCaprio, Together Again for the Fourth Time
It's a hectic time for both Leonardo DiCaprio and his own personal svengali, Martin Scorsese; though both are currently super busy, movie-making bees, they'll make time... More...

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