Cady's Take:

The Aviator tells the story of Howard Hughes: aviation enthusiast, ladies' man, filmmaker, multi-millionaire, and eventual basket case losing a battle with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

In the beginning we watch Hughes' in his early years in Hollywood in the 1920s, when he struggled to film his war movie, "Hell's Angels," After spending two million dollars of his own money, Hell's Angels went on to become a critical and financial success. Even after becoming a movie titan, he continues to pursue his true love of new highs in the world of aviation, setting transcontinental speed records, circumnavigating the globe and coming up with cutting-edge aircraft designs.

Meanwhile, he begins a three-year intense, complicated love affair with actress Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett in a superb performance) in the 1930s. With her at his side he seems to be at his best. But, after a horrifying crash in the Hollywood Hills, the mogul retreats into seclusion and his obsessive-compulsive quirks become full-blown psychosis. Most would not realize from the previews that this is really a film about a genius's gradual slip into madness. While Hughes' obsessive nature is what made him, it's also what brought about his downfall in later years.I found this movie extremely entertaining. There's something wonderfully magical about having people like Cary Grant (Michael-John Wolfe), Jean Harlow (Gwen Stefani), Errol Flynn (Jude Law), or Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale) traipsing about as background characters in your film.

The Aviator is stylish and engrossing. The three hours just seem to "fly by".

Sweeping, ambitious, lush, grand.these are just a few adjectives I could use to describe Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator". What a marvelous film, on every level. While "Kinsey" failed to thrill me, "The Aviator" is a Hollywood biopic of Howard Hughes, a man who practically crushes himself under the weight of his own ego. And yet, for all his ambition and self-assurance, Hughes is clearly a troubled man with inner demons that continually present themselves to him, pushing his dreams further and further out of reach. The sadness of Hughes' "eccentricities" is not that they overtake him so much as it is that he watches them do so, helplessly.

Leonardo DiCaprio turns in a careful performance as the engineer/aviator/filmmaker/playboy/eccentric Hughes. The film is peppered with some of my favorite actors: John C. Reilly as Hughes' often-harried financial manager, Kate Beckinsale as Ava Gardner, and of course Cate Blanchette as Katherine Hepburn (Blanchette's performance won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress). I cannot forget to mention other fine actors who make appearances such as Frances Conroy, Jude Law, Alan Alda, Brent Spiner and Alec Baldwin, and Gwen Stefani makes a screen appearance as Jean Harlow. "The Aviator" is an all-star cast from top to bottom.

Quite long at just under three hours, "The Aviator" is a worthy investment of your time this weekend.