The Aviator

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as the famous millionaire, film producer, playboy, recluse Howard Hughes.  This biopic of his life shows his obsession with airplanes and his decay into the neurotic OCD obsessive weirdo that we read about in the newspapers and wondered how anyone could keep bottles of their own piss and grow their nails until they were so long their fingers can’t function.  Leonardo plays Hughes so well in fact that after the neuroses creep in you have bought into it and don’t think of him as leo anymore.  You can watch the transformation into the germaholic from the very beginning.  Cate Blanchett does the Katherine Hepburn larger than life droll voice and manly mannerisms very well for someone who does not resemble Hepburn. Kate Beckinsale simply looks like Ava Gardner. It is not the usual Scorcese film set.  We are shown Hollywood elitism and time is spent in the air rather than on the ground and, these scenes are rather good, notably a crash landing just short of the Beverly Hills Wiltshire Hotel as was back then.  We are in technicolour it seems with strange colours being brought out reminiscent of the Wizzard of Oz.  Well over 2 hours this movie does not feel as long as it really is and I would probably watch it again just to see DiCaprio carrying yet another film to victory.  Other famous faces, Jude law, Alec Baldwin and Gwen Steffani also star.  Scorsese never relies on fresh blood. In summary, a detailed and authentic biopic of Hughes’extraordinary life.
IMDB The Aviator

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Rating:  8.2/10

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The Departed

Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon are freshly appointed State Police fighting organised crime not merely City cops.  One of them will be asked to become an undercover cop, the “rat” in the crime gang. The other works for the police but is tipping off the crime lord, the “mole” in the police force.  Although they are aware of each other the trouble is that they don’t know who they are after. Each has to blow the other’s cover to ensure their own cover is safe.   Jack Nicholson plays the crime lord extremely well this is a role that he probably spends a lot of time getting into character and stays like it for days and Vera Farmiga plays the love interest between the two cops nice choice.  Fast paced action movie high on emotion. There is no complicated plot however it is tense and well thought out.  So apart from the intro’s childish dialogue and the cringeworthy Mark Wahlberg‘s potty mouth this was an excellent maffiosa film from Scorsese and we enjoyed it!  One of my favourite films.

IMDB The Departed 

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Rating 8.6/10

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Blood Diamond

You will never feel the same about diamonds again!  It is 1999, it’s the civil war in Sierra Leone in Africa.  Solomon Vandy is the award winning actor Dijmon Honsou who is in slavery sieving diamonds, finds a priceless pink blood diamond and buries it. When  DiCaprio as Danny Archer, the smuggler, discovers the African who hides it, they go searching for it which is near enough impossible in the political environment but this priceless diamond could get Archer out of the troubled continent and bring Solomon’s family back together.  DiCaprio finds Jennifer Connolly a journalist and realises he needs her help.

While very sad and sometimes upsetting, the movie has many emotional swings right from the start as the African father loses his family and his son to a tribal army.  DiCaprio is excellent, with a believable South African accent. The characters had depth and the film was steeped in the reality of history i.e. real events which DiCaprio certainly makes you watch on the edge of your seat.

IMDB Blood Diamond

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Rating: 8.1/10

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Shutter Island

This film gets you on the Island and seriously messes with your mind. A patient is missing from the mental institute on an island. Leonardo DiCaprio, a federal marshal, is sent to investigate and find the missing patient. As soon as he arrives you want DiCaprio to get off the Island….but there is a storm and the ferry will not be arriving.  Spine chilling, thrilling and gripping.  Solid performance from Leonardo DiCaprio as expected and good casting of Ben Kingsley as the Psychiatric doctor.  We felt it made an impact on us – need a shrink!

IMDB Shutter Island

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Theme music – Krzysztof Penderecki – Symphony No. 3 – Passacaglia – Allegro moderato

Rating: 8.6/10

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Inception

The ability to plant an idea in somebody’s subconscious that will take seed and grow is Inception.  In order to do this DiCaprio puts his victims into a dream state and he can take his colleagues with him all sharing the same dream to get the job done.  We are taken into a dream within a dream within a dream – 3 levels of subconciousness where time is compounded so that in the 1st level, 5 minutes of our time becomes a week, 2nd level becomes 6 months and in the 3rd, its 10 years so you can get a lot of work done in very little time the deeper you go.  Bringing everyone back has to be properly co-ordinated or you could end up in the subconscious abyss (a whopping 50 years or more before returning to reality).   Awesome anti-gravity sequences, flashes of genius in terms of story telling and mind bending graphics together with a large cast of stunt people. I loved all of the cast but Leonardo Di Caprio needs special mention and so does Marion Cotillard.  I watched the first 30 mins twice because I didn’t get the opening sequence, am I the only one?  This affected the rating.
IMDB: Inception

Trailer

Rating 8.9/10

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