The Aviator

Released: 2004
(Hollywood style) Biography, Drama
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, John C. Reily
Director: Marin Scorsese
Running Time: 170 minutes

Martin Scorsese does love his use of color and weird images in this one.
Overall, I thought it was good, but a bit long.

The breakdown:
This movie basically follows Howard Hughes through 20 years of this life from the late 1920's to the late 1940's.  The prime of Howard Hughes life.

If you don't know anything about Hughes, he was a very interesting person.  He inherited millions of dollars from his father when he was young, but made most of his money on his own business endeavours.  His father invented the "Hughes Rock Eater", it's a self sharpening tool bit which is still used today to drill for oil.
Hughes is from Texas, and was fascinated with planes and aviation at a young age.  He built the Hercules, also known as the "Spruce Goose" which was a HUGE aircraft designed to hold 750 people.  It flew but only for one mile before retiring permanently.

He built airplanes, dated gorgeous movie stars like Ava Gardner, Bette Davis, and Ginger Rogers, owned several Las Vegas casinos, made movies (and then reshot the entire movie), produced movies, and owned the airline that eventually became TWA.

Unfortunately, he also suffered greatly from mental illness - he was germaphobic, paranoid, OCD, and possibly bi-polar or schizophrenic - his crazed behavior in his last years might've been from a result of brain damage as he was in a severe plane crash, and several other accidents.  It is alleged that he only bought the Desert Inn in Las Vegas to avoid being evicted since he shut himself away in there for years towards the end of his life.  He was anti-Semite, had a strong aversion to black people, but hired Mormons for years to work for him because he didn't want anyone drunk on the clock.
And here's the really weird stuff:
He (allegedly) saved his urine in jars
Would only eat about 12 different kinds of food (things like steak, salad, tomato juice)
His heart was dislodged in his horrific plane crash (which by the way happened in a California neighborhood where his plane wing tore through the middle of a house and damaged houses all over.)
When his body was found at the time of his death, his toenails were unusually long, he hadn't cut his hair, and he was only 90 pounds! His height was 6'4" so he was grossly underweight, and malnourished.
One of his personal quotes, "I'm not a paranoid deranged millionaire.  Goddammit, I'm a billionaire."
He was also Stan Lee's inspiration for character Tony Stark, also known as Iron Man.

The movie kinda' jumbles up some of the facts to fit what the director needs so for that I can only give it a 3 1/2 ticket stub rating out of 5.