HOTEL RAWANDA In 1994 in Rwanda, a million members of the Tutsi tribe were massacred by members of the Hutus, in an insane upheaval of their ancient rivalry. Based on a true story, Terry George's film shows how the manager of a luxury hotel (Don Cheadle) saved the lives of his family and 1,200 guests, essentially by using all of his management skills, including bribery, flattery, apology, deception, blackmail, freebies and calling in favors. His character intuitively understands that only by continuing to act as a hotel manager can he achieve anything. Don Cheadle, Djimon Hounsou, Nick Nolte, Joaquin Phoenix, Sophie Okonedo
THE AVIATOR Before he was famous for dying (see Jonathan Demme's "Melvin and Howard"), Howard Hughes was famous for a lot of other things. He was the son of an oil tycoon, a movie mogul , and a famous Las Vegas recluse and germ-o-phobe who became addicted to prescription painkillers and tranquilizers. When he died in 1976 he had not appeared in public or been photographed for 20 years. But Hughes achieved his greatest career heights as an aviator and airplane designer during the 1920s through the 1940s, the period covered in Martin Scorsese's film. He not only set various speed and distance records but designed and built the largest airplane in existence, the "flying boat" transport plane known as the "Spruce Goose." Weighing 284,000 to 400,000 pounds (max) and with a wingspan of 320 feet, it flew -- but only once, in Long Beach Harbor in 1947. Leonardo DiCaprio, Alan Alda, Alec Baldwin, Kate Beckinsale, Cate Blanchett, Jude Law, John C. Reilly
