I should know better

At last I managed to leave the canine maternity ward long enough to go and see THE AVIATOR, a brave choice for someone with two major allergies - penicillin and Leonardo di Caprio. But I`m so keen on the history of cinema and aviation that I gave it a try.

I should say right now and upfront that I have a problem with Scorsese. I read what he writes and listen to what he says about film, and it makes so much sense. But when I watch his films I have trouble getting beneath the surface of the dialogue to anything deeper - it`s like a glass wall.

I was disappointed. This tried for the complexity of the man and came up with scattered fragments. The history was all there, especially the aviation material, but that was it. It stuck closely to the format of the old biopics - and maybe this was deliberate, becuase period was delightfully adhered to in costume and even type of colour (I`m sure I even spotted a sequence imitating the old two-colour process.) - but it was limiting. The progressive mental illness was displayed but there was no adequate attempt to explain it or integrate it . Add to this a poor imitation of Harlow and an infuriating pastiche of Hepburn, and I came away wishing for more of the planes and less of the people.

I loved the flying sequences. And given a choice between di Caprio and the Spruce Goose, I`ll take the wood before the cardboard every time.