CAST: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Alec Baldwin, John C. Reilly, Kate Beckinsale, Alan Alda, Ian Holm, Danny Huston
SYNOPSIS: Biopic on Howard Hughes' early rise to success. Nominated for Academy Awards for picture, director, actor (DiCaprio), supporting actor (Alda), original screenplay and sound mixing and won Oscars for supporting actress (Blanchett), art direction, cinematography, film editing and costume design and sound mixing.
WHAT WE SAID: Times film critic Steve Persall gave the movie a B. "It's off-putting to watch fresh-faced Leonardo DiCaprio take the role (of Hughes) in The Aviator. He simply doesn't project the toughness, even preternaturally, of someone who battled his way to success," Persall wrote. "DiCaprio's casting is one of the few mistakes director Martin Scorsese makes with The Aviator, but it's enough to make such an impressively mounted project seem disappointing. Scorsese's attention to period detail is impeccable, as usual." Persall praised the performances of Alda and Blanchett, but wrote, "Scorsese's film and Hughes' legendary Spruce Goose aircraft have much in common: They're both impressively enormous but never carry valuable freight."
CAST: Ice Cube, Nia Long, Aleisha Allen, Philip Bolden, Jay Mohr
SYNOPSIS: Ice Cube plays a man trying to impress his girlfriend (Long) by escorting her rambunctious children on a road trip.
WHAT WE SAID: Times reviewer Rick Gershman gave the movie an F, writing that it contains "a story that exploits the hilarious theme of child endangerment. A set piece centered around a boy urinating in a woman's face. . . . This is one trip that's not appropriate for kids. Or adults. Or mammals."
MPAA RATING: PG; language, rude humor
RUNNING TIME: 95 min.
Pooh's Heffalump Movie
DIRECTOR: Frank Nissen
CAST: Voices of Jim Cummings, John Fiedler, Nikita Hopkins, Kath Soucie, Peter Cullen, Brenda Blethyn, Ken Sansom, Kyle Stanger
SYNOPSIS: Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and the rest of the gang encounter a Heffalump, which looks like an elephant.
WHAT WE SAID: The Times did not review the movie, which was produced to go directly to home video, but then distributed to theaters first.
