LOS ANGELES - Every cent that made up the estimated $116 million budget of "The Aviator" was evident on screen, from its soaring flying sequences to its depiction of the lavish lifestyle Howard Hughes led alongside his cohorts and conquests.
|
ADVERTISEMENT
|
|
|
Have a thought?
Go to the Forums or Chat.
|
|
|
|
Visit our special section for the latest Academy Awards news, profiles of actors and reviews of nominated movies. Go to the Oscars® section.
|
|
The plane crash alone could have cost that much, it looked so spectacular.
It's what you couldn't see with the naked eye, though, that made "Million Dollar Baby" the champion on Oscar night.
Yes, the boxing drama comes from an iconic director and star (Clint Eastwood) and a studio that's as entrenched as you can get in the Hollywood establishment (Warner Bros.). Despite some contemporary twists, it's really an old-fashioned motion picture, full of familiar, inspiring themes about coming from nothing and making something of yourself.
But it had the raw performances and honest emotion of a small, independent film. That's what left a stronger impact on the audience - and apparently on Oscar voters, as well.
"Million Dollar Baby" won the Academy Awards Sunday night for best picture, best director, best actress (Hilary Swank) and best supporting actor (Morgan Freeman).
While "The Aviator" ended up with more statuettes - five, including best supporting actress for Cate Blanchett's spirited portrayal of Katharine Hepburn - "Baby" was the evening's big winner, having taken most of the top categories.
"Aviator" director Martin Scorsese again came up short in his fifth nomination, which makes absolutely no sense when you consider that the man has provided some of the most stirring, influential films in modern American history, from "Taxi Driver" to "Raging Bull" to "GoodFellas."
While "The Aviator" was one of his larger films, alongside the gargantuan "Gangs of New York," it wasn't his best. (Though the honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement surely is en route.)
For all its sweeping scope, its visual thrills and its obsession with evocative detail, "The Aviator" sadly skimped in the most fundamental department of all. It never truly connected with its audience. Too often it felt like an elaborate game of dress-up, with Leonardo DiCaprio vividly recreating Hughes' idiosyncrasies, while the film itself provided little insight into the mogul's interior life.
Having said that, "The Aviator" richly deserved the technical awards it won: for Robert Richardson's dazzling cinematography; for Thelma Schoonmaker's seamless editing; for Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo's impeccable art direction. Sandy Powell's costume design helped transform famous movie stars into other famous movie stars, including Kate Beckinsale as a stunning Ava Gardner.
And the mind-bogglingly versatile Blanchett was a hoot as Hepburn, all snap and swagger with that hard New England accent. Her performance wasn't a dead-on impression like Jamie Foxx's eerily accurate, Oscar-winning portrait of Ray Charles in "Ray," and it didn't need to be, but it did capture the legendary actress' spirit. Blanchett's victory is long overdue.
But perhaps there was also some leftover fond sentiment for Eastwood from "Mystic River," which earned acting Oscars for Sean Penn and Tim Robbins and probably would have won best picture and best director if 2004 hadn't been the Year of the Hobbit. The third and final "Lord of the Rings" film swept all 11 categories in which it was nominated, an acknowledgment of the trilogy's enormous achievement as a whole.
"Sideways," truly a small wonder of a film, unfortunately never had a chance this year, despite the cavalcade of kudos it received from critics groups coast to coast. Even Eastwood praised Alexander Payne backstage as one of his favorite young directors, citing 1999's "Election" as one of the best movies of the past five or six years.
Nominated for five Academy Awards including best picture and best director, the poignant wine-tasting road trip earned a much-deserved adapted-screenplay Oscar for Payne and writing partner Jim Taylor.
The road trip Eastwood has taken to reach this point is remarkable, too.
This is a guy who began his career playing Rowdy Yates on TV's "Rawhide" in the '50s, made his name starring in spaghetti Westerns and drew criticism for the violence and misogyny that marked his "Dirty Harry" character.
As Eastwood has matured he has evolved into a filmmaker who's famous for his efficiency, craftsmanship and the trust he places in his cast and crew. Since his revisionist Western "Unforgiven" - which earned him his first Oscars for best picture and director in 1993 and until now was considered his masterpiece - he has slowly revealed his tender side, from the romantic "The Bridges of Madison County" to the affectionately goofy "Space Cowboys."
And now, on the brink of his 75th birthday, Eastwood has delivered his two most powerful films of all in back-to-back years, and found himself firmly - and deservedly - at the center of Hollywood's golden embrace.
