Reviews

I just wanted to tell anyone interested in this movie that it's available on DVD from a small specialty supplier of hot rod movies and rock and roll videos, www.thevideobeat.com. The quality is very good (it appears that it was recorded from an AMC broadcast) and is well worth it if you, like me are a fan of the Chrysler Turbine Car program.

As for the movie itself, what can I say that hasn't been said in earlier posts? The most interesting elements for me are any of the scenes where the Turbine Car is featured, the scenes in and around Los Angeles (where you can see how the area has changed in the 40 years since the movie was filmed) and the racing scenes filmed in Death Valley (before it was a National Park) with the cooperation of the Department of the Interior, something that would never happen today.

Today, when I bought a consumer DVD recorder, and went through a stack of 300+ laserdiscs to dub some not-available-on-DVD-yet films for a very long flight to London tomorrow, this was the second disc I dubbed (Grand Prix was the first) and realized just how perfect a movie this remains, even after 20 years. First off, the John Barry score is first-rate; as someone else mentioned, the master took the easy way out and simply revised it for Out of Africa a few years later (and it works as well there as it does here).

I'm not sure what defines screen chemistry, but Selleck and Armstrong (one of my all-time favorite actresses) have it here. While there is conflict between their characters, it seems apparent to me that they are having a good time acting out this tightly scripted adventure/fantasy. The underlying sexual tension (again as someone else noted there's zero nudity here) between the two is palpable.

The aerial sequences stand up well over time; certainly better than the computer-generated crap that looks so fake (like Pearl Harbor) that passes for special effects today, will look in 2020.

While image quality of the laserdisc is certainly better than VHS, it falls short of what we've come to expect today, 10 years into the DVD era. Why this film hasn't made it into the 5-inch medium, with a cleaned up Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack (to better showcase the John Barry score), is beyond me.

When one sees the utter dreck that is released today, scraping the bottom of the film vault barrel, it amazes me to wonder why this neglected gem sits in a vault somewhere. As there are no true A-list stars in this film filled with wonderful performances, why Warner Brothers, has this not been given a full bore DVD release? I wonder if it's available in some market outside of North America.

Clocking-in at a bit less than two hours, this is a movie in the mold of similar films produced in the immediate post-WWII era. I think that when I watch it on the plane Sunday, I might even watch it in black and white.

A great reason to keep you laserdisc player, watch auctions on eBay for this to pop up on LD and to buy a DVD recorder as this is a movie you can watch over and over and enjoy it each time.

Shame on you Warner Brothers for not putting it out on DVD.

As an aviation buff (and historian) I went in to the theater today to see The Aviator with a mixed bag of reservations, mostly surrounding the casting of Leonardo DiCaprio as the legendary Howard Hughes. Was I every surprised and impressed at his portrayal of the famed aviator; he was in a word, mesmerizing.

I'm not sure what movie the people here who are complaining about Mr. DiCaprio or the movie's almost three hours running time, but he seemed to capture the essence of the Hughes character completely with his portrayal and while I could see where at least 10 minutes could have been cut, which would have resulted in an even better picture, not once did I think that The Aviator dragged in any way.

The transition in color, while something of a gimmick, worked for me. In watching the movie and now reviewing it in my mind as I write this, I compare it to two other epics, one obvious, one not; Tucker and Das Boat. The similarities between Tucker and The Aviator are obvious and I won't waste the space here as both tell the stories of misunderstood and eccentric industrialists with a sense of passion and compassion that is obvious. With Das Boat, one of my favorite movies, the comparison has more to do with the scope of the story and even a bit with the ballroom scenes. It's here where The Aviator falls a bit short in comparison. Maybe it's the substitution of CGI effects that leaves me a bit cold as it just seems less realistic than what Das Boat accomplished a generation ago with a proportionally smaller budget I'm sure.

I'm going to leave commentary on Mr. Scorcese's direction to others here far more qualified except to say that the movie was well-paced. Of his films I would have to say that this falls in behind Goodfellas and Raging Bull and ahead of Taxi Driver, but that's just one man's opinion.

Even with its flaws, this is a four stars out of four stars film, enjoyable and riveting at the same time, almost three hours of movie making magic. If 2004 has a must see film, this is it.

There's a good reason why people who are at one time "involved" with each other, shouldn't make movies together. At some point, they break up (can you say Nicole Tom or Kim and Alec) and these films are an embarrassing legacy to their one-time pairing.

That being said, this one isn't even worthy of a direct-to-video release. What was anyone thinking when this train wreck was green lighted? The funny thing is that through all the pre-release hype, these two do-dos seemed to be earnest in that they thought that this would be something that movie goers would actually want to see. I did (at a matinee to save money - it still was overpriced - because I wanted to see for myself just what the stink was all about) and can't wait to see it take it's rightful place in the $4.99 DVD bin at Tower. Actually even that's too much. It's totally worthless and as someone else has already said here, it makes Plan 9 from Outer Space seem like a masterpiece.

As bad as Affleck "acting" was in Pearl Harbor, he's taken his craft to new lows in this one. As for Lopez, she probably has given some lesbians a reason to re-examine their sexuality - she's so bad that men might start looking attractive.

Total trash...a lesson to be learned for all concerned.