From Hollywood’s legendary Cocoanut Grove to the pioneering conquest of the wild blue yonder, Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator celebrates old-school filmmaking at its finest. We say “old school” only because Scorsese’s love of golden-age Hollywood is evident in his approach to his subject–Howard Hughes in his prime (played by Leonardo DiCaprio in his)–and especially in his technical mastery of the medium reflecting his love for classical filmmaking of the studio era. Even when he’s using state-of-the-art digital trickery for the film’s exciting flight scenes (including one of the most spectacular crashes ever filmed), Scorsese’s meticulous attention to art direction and costume design suggests an impassioned pursuit of craft (more…)

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Collateral offers a change of pace for Tom Cruise as a ruthless contract killer, but that’s just one of many reasons to recommend this well-crafted thriller. It’s from Michael Mann, after all, and the director’s stellar track record with crime thrillers (Thief, Manhunter, and especially Heat) guarantees a rich combination of intelligent plotting, well-drawn characters, and escalating tension, beginning here when icy hit-man Vincent (Cruise) recruits cab driver Max (Jamie Foxx) to drive him through a nocturnal tour of Los Angeles, during which he will execute five people in a 10-hour spree. While Stuart Beattie’s screenplay deftly combines intimate character study with raw bursts of action (in keeping with Mann’s d (more…)