XIII Oceans

Tonight at 8pm on BBC2 is Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator, the film of fruitcake millionaire mogul Howard Hughes.  After Gangs Of New York this enabled Scorsese to arrest a potential decline thanks to a story that tells itself.  As you’d expect the direction is excellent, quite a way from his best, and whilst the film never really gives us that much more for a biopic, it’s still enjoyable.  DiCaprio shows promise at times during the film, showing that he was starting to find his feet as an actor, but he doesn’t really grab enough hold of your attention to be anything other than a learning project for him.  There’s a star studded cast to go with him, covering several Hollywood icons, not least of which is Cate Blanchett being the pick of the film with her portrayl of Katharine Hepburn.

Monday night on Channel 4 at 11.20pm sees the Nick Cave scripted film The Proposition.  Shifting the western genre over to Australia, sets the usual tale of developing civilisation against a seldom explored backdrop of early life in one of the colonies.  It’s a very interesting film and one that I have had mixed reactions to.  The first time I caught the film I was disappointed, probably because I was expecting something different to what I saw.  Second time out I thought it was great and the disappointment of a script that I felt undersold itself with some of its commentary on Australia was overtaken by the visual look of the feel and some great action set pieces.  More recently I watched it again and my thoughts fell back a bit, however it’s still an interesting film.  Featuring a top notch cast with Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, Emily Mortimer and the ever superb, John Hurt, I think that amongst the aesthetics Cave does delve a bit into the soul of his own country and those bits are the film’s strength.

On Wednesday is a film from Vincenzo Natali, the director of minor cult sci-fi success, Cube.  Cypher (11.25pm Film4) received lukewarm reviews and as a result this was overlooked by many despite being one of the best sci-fi films in recent years.  It’s a very stylish piece of work and, unlike many films, manages to hit a consistenly good level from the beginning all the way through until a great end.  This isn’t your guns and aliens kind of sci-fi and is more a thriller in a futuristic setting and even if you don’t normally watch this kind of film I think that anyone who enjoys a good thriller will appreciate this film.  My film of the week.