I take it all back

[Jay Honeck]

When I first heard that Leonardo DiCaprio -- a skinny, blond, wimpy, surfer
boy -- was going to play Howard Hughes -- a skinny, dark, tall, brooding
character -- I laughed out loud. It just seemed like the movie mis-casting
of the decade.

Well, we went to see "The Aviator" last night, and -- amazingly -- I have to
admit, he pulls it off. By the end I forgot who the actor was, and got
caught up in the story. DiCaprio especially captures Hughes' descent into
madness in a very realistic (and chilling) way.

(And the lady who played Katherine Hepburn was marvelous.)

It's not a great movie, but it's good, and the flying sequences -- although
not perfect -- are worth the price of admission alone.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Michelle P]

Jay,
I wanted to go see it last night but it has left all the "local", within
30 miles theaters. Guess I will have to wait for the DVD.
Michelle

Jay Honeck wrote:

>When I first heard that Leonardo DiCaprio -- a skinny, blond, wimpy, surfer
>boy -- was going to play Howard Hughes -- a skinny, dark, tall, brooding
>character -- I laughed out loud. It just seemed like the movie mis-casting
>of the decade.
>
>Well, we went to see "The Aviator" last night, and -- amazingly -- I have to
>admit, he pulls it off. By the end I forgot who the actor was, and got
>caught up in the story. DiCaprio especially captures Hughes' descent into
>madness in a very realistic (and chilling) way.
>
>(And the lady who played Katherine Hepburn was marvelous.)
>
>It's not a great movie, but it's good, and the flying sequences -- although
>not perfect -- are worth the price of admission alone.
>
>

[C J Campbell]

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
news:wl9Gd.7986$OF5.1171@attbi_s52...
>
> Well, we went to see "The Aviator" last night, and -- amazingly -- I have
to
> admit, he pulls it off. By the end I forgot who the actor was, and got
> caught up in the story. DiCaprio especially captures Hughes' descent into
> madness in a very realistic (and chilling) way.
>
> (And the lady who played Katherine Hepburn was marvelous.)
>
> It's not a great movie, but it's good, and the flying sequences --
although
> not perfect -- are worth the price of admission alone.

I thought the same. Granted, I thought blaming it all on Hughes' mother was
a little trite -- sort of Oprah Winfrey meets the Fortune 500 -- but it was
a good movie.

There are some big holes in the "Howard Hughes was crazy" theme, as some
reviewers pointed out. For one thing, how did a guy who supposedly had such
a fear of germs ever have sex? It almost supports the idea that Hughes'
insanity was a put-on, partly because it entertained him, partly because it
caused his enemies to underestimate him, and partly because it allowed him
to do whatever he wanted without anyone questioning him. It could well have
been useful in his work with the CIA, too. Hughes was involved in
intelligence from the beginning of World War II. He might have liked being
able to explain away his dropping out of sight for long periods of time by
letting people think he was a crazy person holed up in his cell.

[Scott D.]

On Sat, 15 Jan 2005 13:59:56 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
> wrote:

>When I first heard that Leonardo DiCaprio -- a skinny, blond, wimpy, surfer
>boy -- was going to play Howard Hughes -- a skinny, dark, tall, brooding
>character -- I laughed out loud. It just seemed like the movie mis-casting
>of the decade.
>
>Well, we went to see "The Aviator" last night, and -- amazingly -- I have to
>admit, he pulls it off. By the end I forgot who the actor was, and got
>caught up in the story. DiCaprio especially captures Hughes' descent into
>madness in a very realistic (and chilling) way.
>
>(And the lady who played Katherine Hepburn was marvelous.)
>
>It's not a great movie, but it's good, and the flying sequences -- although
>not perfect -- are worth the price of admission alone.


At first, I thought it was a little long winded, especially the first
scene where he was shoot the movie. I felt that they could have cut
some of that out and actually got a little more into other aspects of
his life. I almost fell asleep during the first hour. Then things
started getting interesting and I actually got into it. But it turned
out to be a good movie.


Scott D

To email remove spamcatcher

[Cub Driver]

Jay, I had the identical experience. I didn't want to go, but it was
the day after Christmas and the kids had literally just sailed away
out of our lives, and Sally of course thought that anything called The
Aviator was just what I needed. So I went in great skepticism.

Yes, DiCaprio was good. He is an actor, not just a pretty face.

And yes, Cate Blanchett as Hepburn was a marvelous role. She deserves
a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for that one.

I enjoyed the movie very much, and so I think did everyone else in the
theater.

On Sat, 15 Jan 2005 13:59:56 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
> wrote:

>When I first heard that Leonardo DiCaprio -- a skinny, blond, wimpy, surfer
>boy -- was going to play Howard Hughes -- a skinny, dark, tall, brooding
>character -- I laughed out loud. It just seemed like the movie mis-casting
>of the decade.
>
>Well, we went to see "The Aviator" last night, and -- amazingly -- I have to
>admit, he pulls it off. By the end I forgot who the actor was, and got
>caught up in the story. DiCaprio especially captures Hughes' descent into
>madness in a very realistic (and chilling) way.
>
>(And the lady who played Katherine Hepburn was marvelous.)
>
>It's not a great movie, but it's good, and the flying sequences -- although
>not perfect -- are worth the price of admission alone.


-- all the best, Dan Ford

email (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum: www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum: www.pipercubforum.com
the blog: www.danford.net

[Jay Honeck]

> I enjoyed the movie very much, and so I think did everyone else in the
> theater.

Actually, both my 14 year old son, and 11 year old daughter thought it was
terrible.

But, anything that requires them to sit still for almost 3 hours -- without
planets exploding -- is going to be a tough sell.

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[gatt]

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message news:wl9Gd.7986

> Well, we went to see "The Aviator" last night, and -- amazingly -- I have
to
> admit, he pulls it off. By the end I forgot who the actor was, and got
> caught up in the story. DiCaprio especially captures Hughes' descent into
> madness in a very realistic (and chilling) way.

My wife is a former psychology professional who worked with people with
severe obsessive compulsive disorder, a la Hughes. She said that during his
day nobody really had any idea, but compared DiCaprio's study of OCD to
Dustin Hoffman's mastery of autism in Rainman. Very fascinating, and
DiCaprio appears to have nailed it in way that lets us understand much more
about Hughes.

Particulary accurate was his repetition of words and phrases starting with
"quarantine," which, my wife explains, is a form of ritual people with the
disorder use to cope with and attempt to control what is happening. (In
Hughes' time, he would have had little idea what was happening to him at
all.) As their condition advances, they can no longer control the ritual,
either.

I was raised by a fomer POW who shared a degree of the same symptom with
regard to cleanliness...not being able to touch a restroom door handles,
violently ill reactions to dogs jumping on him (or many years ago, even
seeing Lassie lick the boy's face on TV.) The reasons for the behavior
were different, but seeing it rendered like that onscreen so well chills me.

Personally, though, I'm tired of CGI whiz-bang fake aviation, and the movie
didn't really capture the essence of flight. "Engine 1 on. Engine 2 on.
Engine 3 on...." They could have done a LOT more with the Goose, in terms
of the engineers in the wing and all of that. My only beef.

-c

[gatt]

"C J Campbell" > wrote in message

> I thought the same. Granted, I thought blaming it all on Hughes' mother
was
> a little trite

Maybe. Like I said in a previous post, I was raised by a fellow who became
violently ill around dogs based on a brief experience he had in a Nazi
concentration camp (he was an American POW...how he ended up at KZ
Mauthausen is not particularly relevant.)

In any case, I grew up thinking that the act of a dog licking somebody's
face was abhorrent and nausea and disgust at the very sight of such a thing
normal. To this day, the smell of a dog still disgusts me, and I didn't
think it abnormal at all until my wife told me so.

>For one thing, how did a guy who supposedly had such a fear of germs ever
have sex?

OCD is irrational. That was the answer I was given when I asked how a guy
afraid of something a trivial as a germ straps himself into an experimental
airplane people say won't fly, and then breaks records with it. A guy like
that shouldn't be afraid of anything.

-c

[gatt]

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message news:vJuGd.9012

> But, anything that requires them to sit still for almost 3 hours --
without
> planets exploding -- is going to be a tough sell.

Jay, never underestimate the entertainment value of exploding planets.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy released May 6.

[Roger]

On Mon, 17 Jan 2005 14:09:04 -0800, "gatt" >
wrote:

>
>"C J Campbell" > wrote in message
>
>> I thought the same. Granted, I thought blaming it all on Hughes' mother
>was
>> a little trite
>
>Maybe. Like I said in a previous post, I was raised by a fellow who became
>violently ill around dogs based on a brief experience he had in a Nazi
>concentration camp (he was an American POW...how he ended up at KZ
>Mauthausen is not particularly relevant.)
>
>In any case, I grew up thinking that the act of a dog licking somebody's
>face was abhorrent and nausea and disgust at the very sight of such a thing
>normal. To this day, the smell of a dog still disgusts me, and I didn't
>think it abnormal at all until my wife told me so.
>

I was raised on a farm, I raised Labs for year and I still consider a
sloppy kiss from a dog as disgusting, but I'm not phobic about it.

Ever have a cat kiss you on the end of the nose just after cleaning
its sent glands<LOL> That;s a kiss that will keep on giving, and
giving, and giving...

>>For one thing, how did a guy who supposedly had such a fear of germs ever
>have sex?

Rationalization? Immaculate conception?
>
>OCD is irrational. That was the answer I was given when I asked how a guy
>afraid of something a trivial as a germ straps himself into an experimental
>airplane people say won't fly, and then breaks records with it. A guy like
>that shouldn't be afraid of anything.

Every one fears something, but most aren't phobic about it.
Phobias are irrational. Being afraid of something usually has a
reason behind it.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com
>
>-c
>