T 0 M '
By Thomas LeClair
Staff Reporter
tjll9l@psu.edu
The Aviator
Miramax films presents a film
directed by Martin Scorsese.
Written by John Logan. Starring
Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate
Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, Alec
Baldwin, Alan Alda, and lan
Holm. Running time 166 min
utes. Rated PG-13 (for thematic
elements, sexual content, nudity,
language, and a crash
sequence).
Martin Scorsese, arguably one
of the greatest directors in recent
history, responsible for such
classics and masterpieces as
Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The
Last Temptation of Christ and
Gangs of New York, has now
created the most visually stun
ning and captivating film of his
career. The film tells the story of
Forget Oscar: The Tommys are
S T 0
multi-millionaire Howard Hughes
(DiCaprio) and his visionary
insanity with his film Hell's
Angels and his huge passion for
aviation. The film progresses in
the second and third acts when
Hughes designs and builds
planes not only for personal
pleasure, but for spying, trans
portation, and the most infamous
plane, the Spruce Goose. The
Spruce Goose could carry battal
ions and weaponry, with its 200
yard body and eight turbo
engines, anywhere in the world.
Hughes was also the master
mind behind Trans World Airlines
and the huge scandal between
TWA and Pan AM president Juan
Trippe (Baldwin). Along the path
of his aviation financial success,
Hughes meets and falls in love
with Katharine Hepburn
(Blanchett). Throughout the film
nuances are revealed about his
severe obsessive compulsive
ness about germs and cleanli
ness. Writer John Logan smartly
FOOL
kept the screenplay in the time
period between Hell's Angels
and the flight of the Spruce
Goose, a time period where
Hughes was strong and deter
mined; where people could
respect him.
Scorsese was not the original
director lined up to do this pic
ture. Fellow veteran film-maker,
Michael Mann was originally
given the screenplay, however
after directing the bio-pics The
Insider and Ali, Mann only stayed
on as one of the producers,
passing the film on to Scorsese.
The point to be made is that this
film could not have been made
as successful and triumphant by
anyone other than Scorsese.
Everything was perfect with this
film. The casting of the actors
was tremendous; DiCaprio and
Blanchett are both nominated for
Academy Awards. One of the
brightest performances was by
Jude Law in his cameo as clas
sic actor Errol Flynn. The art
By Thomas LeClair
Film Critic
tjllBlgpsu.edu
Along with the announcements
of the nominees for the 77th
annual Academy Awards come
this humble critic's picks for the
winners, as well as who will most
likely end up with the Oscar.
These are my picks, and they
are purely in the interest of enter
tainment. If these guesses are
incorrect this critic is not libel for
any discrepancies. Overall, this
was the hardest year to pick a
winner out of the nominees
because everyone nominated
this year was deserving of the
award. There were also a few
upsets involving people who
were not nominated. It is unfortu
nate that Paul Giamatti once
again was not nominated; he
had a great performance with
American Splendor a couple
years ago, and his performance
in Sideways was excellent. The
same can be said for Uma
Thurman and David Carradine in
Kill Bill, Vol. 2. So without further
ado, it is my pleasure to give you
my picks for winners of the 77th
annual Academy Awards. A "T"
designates who I think deserves
the award, A * indicates who I
think will actually get it.
Entertainment
ERY OF CINEMA
department created some of the
greatest recreations of sets, cos
tumes and Hughes' planes. The
sound and visual effects depart
ments created the most accurate
sounds and realistic visual
effects ever conceived for a film,
and most importantly, besides
the directing, the music and edit
ing were superb. Howard
Shore's music brought cinema
back into the 1940 s with subtle
hints of jazz influence. Finally,
Thelma Schoonmaker, who has
edited all of Scorsese's films,
was given this challenge and
emerged victorious over the end
less reels of footage that needed
to be edited.
In what is quite possibly the
toughest year for the Academy to
decide the winners, Scorsese
just made the competition that
much closer. However, Mr.
Scorsese's the curse may be
broken, and this film may just
give him his first win in the Best
Director category.
For best performance by an
actor in a leading role:
T Leonardo DiCaprio- The
Aviator
* Jamie Foxx- Ray
For best performance by an
actor in a supporting role:
T Thomas Haden -Church
Sideways
* Morgan Freeman -Million
Dollar Baby
For best performance by an
actress in a leading role:
T Annette Bening -Being Julia
* Hilary Swank -Million Dollar
Baby
For best performance by an
actress in a supporting role:
T Natalie Portman -Closer
* Cate Blanchett- The Aviator
For best animated feature:
T Shrek 2
* The Incredibles
Achievement in art direction:
T The Aviator -Art Director:
Dante Ferretti Set Decorator:
Francesca Lo Schiavo
* Finding Neverland -Art
Director: Gemma Jackson Set
Decorator: Trisha Edwards
Achievement in cinematogra
phy:
T The Passion of the Christ -
Caleb Deschanel
* The Aviator -Robert
Richardson
Achievement in costume
design:
T Lemony Snicket's A Series of
Unfortunate Events -Colleen
The Capital Times, February 7, 2005
From left, director Martin Scorsese offers instruction to Leonardo
DiCaprio as he recreates the story of multi-millionaire visionary
Howard Hughes in The Aviator.
coming to town
Atwood
* Finding Neverland -Alexandra
Byrne
Achievement in directing:
T The Aviator -Martin Scorsese
* Ray -Taylor Hackford
Achievement in film editing:
T Collateral -Jim Miller and Paul
Rube
* Ray -Paul Hirsch
Achievement in make-up:
T The Passion of the Christ -
Keith Vanderlaan and Christien
Tinsley
* Lemony Snicket's A Series of
Unfprt4pate
O'Reilly and Bill Corso
Achievement in music written
for motion pictures:
T Harry Potter and the Prisoner
of Azkaban -John Williams
* The Passion of the Christ -
John Debney
Achievement in song written
for motion pictures:
T and * "Learn to Be Lonely" -
Phantom of the Opera Music:
Andrew Lloyd Webber Lyric:
Charles Hart
Best motion picture:
T The Aviator
* Ray
Achievement in sound edit
ing:
T and * Spider-Man 2 -Paul N.J.
Ottossen
Achievement in sound mix
ing:
T Ray -Scott Millian, Greg
Orloff, Bob Beemer, and Steve
Photo courtesy of Yahoo Images
Contamessa
* Spider-Man 2 -Kevin
O'Connell, Greg P. Russell,
Jeffrey J. Haboush, and Joseph
Geisinger
Achievement in visual effects:
T Harry Potter and the Prisoner
of Azkaban -Roger Guyett, Tim
Burke, John Richardson, and
Bill George
* Spider-Man 2 -John Dykstra,
Scott Stokdyk, Anthony La
Molinara, and John Frazier
Best-adapted screenplay:
T Sideways -Alexander Payne &
Jim Taylor
* Million Dollar Baby -Paul
Haggis
Best original screenplay:
T The Aviator -John Logan
* Hotel Rwanda -Keir Pearson &
Terry George
Congratulations on all of the
nominations, and good luck to all
the nominees. From how the
nominations look, this has the
potential to be an exciting
evening. There are so many
good films and performances
that the Academy must have
really close voter tabulations for
the winners. The 77th Annual
Academy Awards will air Sunday,
February 27th on ABC.
Coverage begins at 7 p.m. EST.