Ernest and Howard

The Aviator
Saw this last night at one those comfy lounge full service cinemas which was a treat - especially for this 3 hour film.
While i was in year 12/13 i for some reason got way into the myth of Howard Hughes; i read every biography of his and tracked down all the documentaries about him.

Anyway, near the end of his life, Howard would sit in a darkened room and stare intently into a light bulb which would naturally attract insects. At this point of his life Hughes was surrounded by Seven Day Adventists, he liked that they were genetically pure and just as secretive as he was. When some insect did appear, the germaphobic recluse would start to freak out, his aides, usually hulking brown suited mormons (the brown suited mafia) would have to try and catch the fly. they couldn't use swatters because it would raise dust (germs) and they couldn't use chemical based sprays so they only things they could do was actually catch the insects with their hands.

To get into the film course at uni i put this scenario on film, using bouncers i know as the mormons. Essentially oafs clamberring around trying to catch a fly while bumping into stuff in a darkened room while a skinny dero screamed. And i got in, did really well and here i am. Thanks Howard.

Back to Scorsese Movie.
Boy does Martin love Hollywood. He wants to marry old time Hollywood and have Hollywood's children.
Ever since Age of Innocence, Scorsese has developed the bad habit of tracking and panning everywhere, his early work had perfect shot composition and a perfect stillness that let his actors do their stuff. Now that's been muddied. Hughes work in Hollywood is only a small part of his life and i think it got too much attention here, more emphasis should have been placed on girls and his obessions with large breasts. Martin though seems to be obsessed with popping flash bulbs, there was a scene in Cape Fear, Kundun and now Aviator where paparazzi and flashing lightbulbs are given an emphasis.
Anyway the film itself, it's good. As mentioned the hollywood angle is given alot of time, i felt leonardo acting was technically good but it felt inorganic, like he was just going through the motions. The story moves along at a nice clip but i don't think Hughes OCD is given a good build up, it sort of crashes a scene every now and again. The movie also stalls at the senate hearings and features poor editting. He tries some non liner story telling (flashbacks) which are done kind of clumsily and is not a narrative trick i've seen Scorsese do before (not that i can remember)
I don't think Scorsese should win the Oscar for this, but i haven't seen the other films nominated for thsi year so what do i know. If he does it'll be a pity present for all the times he's missed out.

It's a good film that lackes a bit of tension but it has a good script and some good performances.
Also look for the blue peas and beetroot leaves.

The motorcycle diaries
Saw this one at one of those outdoor sit-on-the-ground cinemas they set up during the summer. I hate sitting on the ground and it rained and this large headed woman kept blocking the sub titles everytime she went to fill up her champange glass. (with red wine!)

Anyway, motorcycle diaries is about a male gucci model who travels with his non-model (ie ugly) friend on a motorcycle. the model gets very angry when he meets ugly people and he has a bad allergic reaction to ethical dilemas. He ends up in a leper colony where he becomes Moses and delivers soccer to his people. They are all happy. He later grows up to become Jesus with an AK47. His friend gets really old and stands around airports looking sad.

This film reminded me of Ned Kelly with Heath Ledger, essentially a travelogue hosted by a revolutionary;
-shot of kangaroos bouncing "we are not the dregs of the earth!"
-shot of galas flying "we must fight our oppressors!"
Same here. the film is 30 minutes overlong with whole scenes in there for one or two easy jokes. But it looks nice. the plot suffers because it doesn't know when to end, you'd imagine that once they get to where they are going, the journey is over - roll credits but the movie keeps going - it doesn't provide a satisfactory end. Aviator suffered from the same problem, because biopics of this nature only show a small part of a life, subsequently its boundaries and structure (beginning middle end) are blurred (Aviator does a lot better job though).
A good effort if not a bit unbalanced.