It's a two-fer review here at iJeff! There's more in common than you might think between Wes Anderson's indie The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and Marty Scorsese's big budget The Aviator. Each boils down to two eccentric men, one fiction, one real, one that sets its sights under the sea and the other in the clouds, and two entertaining movies with people who unfortunately have to live their lives on the ground.

Both men are brilliant if self-destructive when it comes to managing businesses and managing relationships with lovers and friends, yet still have the loyalty from those who recognize great talent sometimes equals great faults.

For instance, each man loves women a little too much, letting their pee-pees lead them into bedrooms rather than thanking their lucky stars for the classy broads who actually love them and want their commitment. Twice, The Lovely Cate (Blanchett, of course) is the love interest of both Bill and Leo, first as a pregnant reporter and then as legendary actress Katherine Hepburn. She's better for Leo, since the elegant Anjelica Huston actually looks pretty hot and is more deserving for Bill than Blanchett.

	The song is great, but I got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell.

Using the Wes Anderson scale, Aquatic is better than The Royal Tennenbaums, not as good as Rushmore. On the Scorsese scale, I'm no frickin' film genius, but The Aviator seems like a departure of sorts for Scorsese, whose previous works (at least the ones I've seen), are character-driven as well but far darker and bloody, such as Gangs of New York, Bringing Out the Dead , and especially Goodfellas, Raging Bull and Taxi Driver. Instead, The Aviator has plenty of good humor between the "serious Oscar parts" filled with colorful costumes, bright locations and blue skies.

The stellar supporting casts for both movies are so great it's almost distracting to see so many good actors and actresses parade past one after another. For instance, was Willem Dafoe trapped in a well for the last decade? Out of sight for a decade, all of a sudden he pops up in both Aquatic and Aviator, and it's nice to have him back. Also, was Jude Law as Errol Flynn necessary at all? Although, I will say that it's quite entertaining to see new Hollywood portraying old Hollywood. Kate Beckinsale (drool) is stunning as Ava Gardner, and Blanchett OWNS Hepburn.

I think the rule is, The More Bill Murray, The Better, and Aquatic is almost nothing but. Bill is a showboat and admittedly a little bit of a prick, but likable. He's also sensitive, weeps when people talk behind his back and even though he cheats on his wife, he yearns for the "rich bitch."

Life Aquatic isn't funny as much as it quirky. The Aviator may have more chuckles, even, though the story matter is certainly more staid on the latter. Among all the idiosyncrasies and curious dialogue, the story in The Life Aquatic is sweet and endearing.

In their 1979 book, "Empire: the Life, Legend and Madness of Howard Hughes," Donald L. Bartlett and James B. Steele summarize the typical Hughes movie as "rich in entertainment, low on philosophy and message, packed with sex and action." (From socalhistory.org.)

The Aviator is anything but, as a philosophical exploration by an acclaimed and artsy-fartsy director who is big on message. That's not to say that the movie isn't entertaining, and there is sex and action, but the focus is not on these styles.

If the movie is 1/10 true, Hughes needed to medicate something fierce. The millionaire businessman, film producer, film director, and aviator is stricken with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, so much so that he can never wash his hands clean enough and repeats sentences over and over again.

Hughes' was particularly troubling, but we all have our compulsive tendencies. I, for one, will spend hours while seated rubbing the extra buttons together on the underside bottom of a button-down shirt; I always order mushroom chicken and bourbon chicken at the Chinese place in the CNN Center, eating the mushroom part first, then the bourbon, with a spring roll always in between; I read newspaper sections from back to front, always starting with the Business section and "Dilbert;" I won't flip away from "Bliss" until I'm sure there won't be any heated scenes worth watching. ... Um, hey, now we're getting personal. Stay away!

	Hmmm ... yes ... I know, we'll call it an "airplane." No, a "soaring apparatus." Yes, much better.

Hughes likes his women as sleek as his airplanes, and caresses them with the same careful stroke. Problem is, he also pushes the envelope on whatever he's driven to do, obeying whatever whim pops into his head, which is bad for love and bad for industry.

The Aviator ends in 1947 after the flight of the Hercules, known more widely as the wooden behemoth derisively called the Spruce Goose. Hughes lived until 1976, so his further mental breakdown, time in Las Vegas, the Bahamas and Mexico, selling off of TWA as well as numerous other business transactions aren't covered. He had not been seen publicly or photographed for 20 years before his death, even marrying actress Jean Peters in '57, divorcing in '70.

As much as I want to detest Leo, he's a really good actor, and I hate that. He's too pretty. You think you'll watch the entire movie thinking, "hey, Leo sure is insane," but you forget it's Leo just like you forgot it was him on the Titanic, at the beach, etc. Dang.

While Leo's schmoozing among Hollywood's elite at the Coconut Grove, Bill's aboard the Belefonte as the title character, running a Jacques Cousteau-esque riffraff team of deep sea explorers and documentary filmmakers wearing matching outfits and red caps. Along the way, Bill's possibly long-lost son, Owen Wilson, comes aboard, and the crew must deal with pirates, but not cute ones like Johnny Depp, on a mission of revenge to kill the jaguar shark, one of many psychedelic, colorful, fake aquatic life.

The script girl in is usually topless, so Life Aquatic has that going for it, too, especially the DVD version where you can pause ... I'll stop here. Yeah, yeah, ladies, I know, I'm a pig, but in The Aviator you get plenty of looks at Leo's bare bum, so quityerbitchin'.

In fact, both genders have plenty to like about two movies, different in millions of ways, yet similarly entertaining character-driven dramadies. Life Aquatic and The Aviator each feature attractive casts, unique scripts, are masterfully and uniquely shot and teeming with laughs as well as tears.