“The Aviator” has landed at the top with an impressive list of Academy Award nominations: for the technical areas of Best Screenplay, Art Direction, Cinematography,

Costume Design, Sound, and Editing; for the flashy categories of Best Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio), Best Supporting Actor (Alan Alda), Best Supporting Actress (Cate Blanchett), and Best Director (Martin Scorsese); and for the most coveted Best Picture of the year.

This is a big movie made with the Scorsese flair for epic proportions. Weighing in at 170 minutes, “The Aviator” entertains in that slick, Hollywood fashion that leaves you breathless. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but don’t expect psychological depth or intrigue, both of which might have been possible given the subject: Howard Hughes.

            “The Aviator” falls into place as yet another biopic in the line-up of movies that arrived in 2004 about real people. Like the company it keeps, “The Aviator” makes reasonable effort to unravel the tangled “facts” that surround Hughes’ life from the late 1920s to the mid 1940s. The glamorous side involves filmmaking and movie stars. Dalliances with beautiful women including Katherine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett), Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale), and Jean Harlow (Gwen Stefani) fed the tabloids of the time.  

Plowing through millions earned from his interests in Hughes Tool Company, he was relentless in his efforts for money and power. Ultimately, Hughes lobbied his family fortune into a mega-force on the world market.

            In spite of his boisterous way of doing business, Hughes had an untouchable, reserved side that he protected. As his eccentricities hit the edge of downright madness, he pulled further and further into the maelstrom of his own mind, only to emerge and then retreat again.

            As selective as the story is, the moments that define Hughes come at clipped intervals and always bring surprise. DiCaprio’s acting is a study in control. He has the mannerisms, the abrasive margins, and the sensitive nuances carefully orchestrated. I’m not sure what happened to DiCaprio’s boyish good looks, but here his hungry energy over-shadows them. For the price of a ticket, you can see a performance worthy of Academy recognition and certainly his best since “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.”

            Working against a backdrop that sets the tone for excitement, Hughes manipulated the airline industry as an industrialist, a pilot, and an architect for the future. Aviator fans will love the air footage. Scenes capture the sheer force of wind against metal, and the Spruce Goose in all its infamous glory flies again.  Don’t miss the take off.