The Aviator is a fun mixed bag
Scorsese's "The Aviator" blends three different sorts of movies: a boy's adventure, where Howard and the Professor and the engineering team barnstorm Hollywood and build planes and make movies and design brassieres; an interior drama about Howard's increasingly tormented inner life, much tied up with his relations with women; and a political drama, about the intrigue between TWA and Pan Am. It's a lot of fun, though the three elements threaten to separate into completely different layers. Stories of Golden Age Hollywood are catnip for Scorsese, and he spends too much time on them. But DiCaprio holds up his end well, and the supporting cast is excellent.