Mark and Barb Go to the Movies

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (dir. Wes Anderson) Wes Anderson is a moviemaker (like the Coen brothers) that polarizes moviegoers. Either you find his cinematic universes overstylized, precious, and annoying, or you happily surrender to live in them for 90 mimutes-plus. So fans, don't believe the (anti-)hype about his newest, the story of a Jacques Cousteau-like oceanographer gone deeply to seed. It's no Royal Tennenbaums or Bottle Rocket--missing the melancholy heart that deepened those comedies. But for two-plus hours of sui generis giggles, it beats the hell out of Christmas with the Kranks. Bill Murray, Anjelica Huston, and Owen Wilson are never funnier than in Wes' confections, and this time the repertory company also includes Cate Blanchett, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, and Seu Jorge, who sings a half dozen David Bowie songs in Portuguese to bossa nova guitar. Mark's review: ***½

The Aviator (dir. Martin Scorsese) This good, old-fashioned Great Person Biography is being hyped as Scorsese's "comeback," and I'll admit it's surer-footed than Casino or Gangs of New York and richer than Bringing Out the Dead. As with all those movies, it has some wonderful sequences, including the most horrifying plane crash I've ever seen on film. But what the hell Leo DiCaprio is doing in the same movie with John C. Reilly, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, and Alec Baldwin is beyond me--he sucks the oxygen out of this movie as surely as he and Cameron Diaz did in Gangs. And adorable though she may be, Gwen Stefani shouldn't quit her day job just yet. Mark's review: ***