ccosborne3 Wrote:I was really pulling for Scorcese for Best Director. Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Gangs Of New York and now The Aviator were all worthy of winning Best Picture and Director awards yet Hollywood sends Marty home empty handed again. Twenty years from now the Academy will toss him a lifetime achievment award as a consolation for all the times they screwed that poor man over.

Maggers Wrote:Well, I saw "The Aviator" today and was very disappointed.

I literally had a hard time staying awake, which is unlike me at a movie. It acted as a soporific and nearly lulled me to sleep. The movie began at noon and seemed so long that I thought for sure it would be dark outside by the time I left the theater.

DiCaprio was terrific, but he is still so young, so youthful in his demeanor and appearance, that I have a hard time seeing him as a 40 year old.

I was most let down by Kate Blanchett, whom I absolutely adore. This is the first movie in which I was aware that I was watching Kate Blanchett acting. Unlike Jamie Foxx in "Ray," where I completely forgot about Jamie Foxx and was thoroughly entranced watching Ray Charles, I had to keep reminding myself that the red-headed character on screen was supposed to be Katherine Hepburn.

And Alan Alda was SO BROOKLYN! He schmoozed his way through this part; no way was he a senator from Maine.

Interestingly, Scorsese's use of the color blue was striking. In nearly every scene, there was a gorgeous splash of sky blue, whether in DiCaprio's eyes or Ava Gardener's dress. Blue skies nothing but blue skies....

The art direction was great and the costumes were beautiful. Betcha it wins Oscars for both of those categories. But please, not best film. No way.

Fiddlesticks! I was really looking forward to this movie, and I was let down on all accounts.

I know that few people agree with me on this movie, except the friends with whom I saw the film. It was crowded and we wound up not sitting together. When we met at the end of the movie, we were each of us embarrassed to acknowledge that we nearly feel asleep. Then we realized we all did the same thing! One of us actually did drop off and woke to to find Alan Alda on screen with no idea how he got there.

Ahh well, to each his own, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, it takes all kinds....What would this world be if we all agreed on everything. Boring, that's what!

Maggers Wrote:About Hughes and your comments above, do you think he would have taken the medication were it available? Did he trust physicians enough to listen to them? Of course, the lack of trust is a manifestation of the illness. Intersesting line of thought.

Mr_Falcon Wrote:Maggers-
Dr Wilson makes some interesting points. As you know, I am a shrink, and OCD is my specialty. That is basically what I treat all day long. For an interesting look into Howard Hughes's OCD, read Tormenting Thoughts and Secret Rituals by Ian Osbourne.
What is sad is that even if SSRI's such as Prozac had been invented back then, there is a good chance he never would have been offered them, much less taken them. Remember, because he was so rich, he was ill, he was 'eccentric'. Also, because of his money, the people around him had good reason to keep him very sick, and to not allow him to get well again. It is ironic, but mental health treatment is one area where the rich often get away with being sick, because they are financially able to be sick. Howie Mandel has OCD, yet he doesn't get treatment. He simply has bought a second house that can remain "uncontaminated" that no one else can go in but him. Regular folk can't afford that, and hence they get treatment.
None of this would be an issue if there was any kind of public understanding of mental illness. Our society continues to remain ignorant of this. Howard hughes suffered from a neurological condition. just because it happens to be a neurological condition treated by psychiatrists, people brush it off and dismiss it, and that is wrong.
Sorry, I'm off my soapbox now.