The Aviator (2004) — Page 2

Oh, my friend, I have written about a dozen posts about Finding Neverland.

To sum it all up, I found the dialogue cliched and weak as hell, the score an irritating rehash of so many afterschool specials, the themes about "believing" and "giving in to childlike impulses" overly simplistic, and the pacing really slow. It also severely underused Kate Winslet, which is like a sin to me because I love her so much. As far as my seemingly bizarre appreciation for The Aviator goes... well, some dull moments aside, it's a film about OCD, Old Hollywood, early film and aviation technology, and other topics that just interest me much more than Finding Neverland's dialogue on dying and rekindling youth (which really didn't amount to much for me since I've been forced to deal with those issues on much more complex terms this year). I guess it's ultimately just a matter of personal taste. I can see why others would like it.

Kinsey, IMO, is brilliant and amazing... but for some reason I've encountered more detractors for it than I have for any other film released this fall. Sideways is also very intelligently written and left me with the feeling that I had just experienced something special. This hasn't been a bad year at the cineplex for me.

Unfortunately, I've never seen Being Julia so I can't say whether or not Annette Benning should win the Oscar. She was terrific in American Beauty. It'll be a slap in the face for her if she's nominated and loses to Hilary Swank, AGAIN! :-P

Right. I'm a real turn of the century fanatic (which perhaps calls into question my dislike of Finding Neverland even more, lol) so I wouldn't have minded if more time had been spent portraying Hughes' childhood as it related to the rest of the film's events. Obviously that one incident with his mother couldn't have fully defined the rest of his life. What we don't get from that scene is a sense of why he chose aviation. Why was the man afraid of germs but not of something more deadly?

Those are good questions. And in all likelihood, Scorsese has good answers for them. He's so educated about every period film he makes that what ends up on the screen is in some ways more appropriate for viewing by the cognoscenti than the rest of us. No doubt about it, he's an intellectual filmmaker.

We've come along way in understanding OCD since the first half of the 20th century. My guess is that the first scene was reflective of how Hughes understood his disorder - as something that emerged in his childhood - rather than how modern science would understand it.

That's a good point about no one appearing to have physically aged (beside Hughes with his facial hair and new haircut). Kinsey does a better job of this.

Updated On: 12/29/04 at 02:16 AM

As tempted as I am to see Phantom just for the costumes, sets and Minnie Driver - who costarred in some of the best Will & Grace episodes - I'm backing out unless I can sneak into a screening for free. The music isn't my type. I prefer the more eclectic scores for Chicago, Rent and Ragtime.

Sure it's all jazz but there's great tone variation between All That Jazz and We Both Reached for the Gun, to name only the two best examples.

I will see Phantom eventually but Bad Education, Hotel Rwanda and The Incredibles are top priority. Apparently I haven't seen almost everything that's worth seeing. The Motorcycle Diaries was one of my most anticipated films of the year, but now it's practically left theaters and I never got around to seeing it!

I saw "The Assassination of Richard Nixon" last night. While the movie was very good, Sean Penn delivered one of the most stunning performances I have seen in years. I doubt he'll get any recognition for it, but he deserves it.

I pretty much agree with you 100%. Although I would give Leo his Oscar, and maybe even Scorcesse, it doesn't deserve much else.

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