DVD : Hollywoodland

In association with Amazon.com

Rating:

- Up, Down and Away!
I enjoyed the bonus materials and the feature film delivered more than an hour of decent entertainment. I enjoyed the care the designers had taken to re-create Old Hollywood and I enjoyed the acting and the characters. And then the story collapsed and the film got weak--very weak. It was as though Superman just gave up fighting crime and became a Kryptonite junkie. Huh. Worth a rental.

Rating:

- Stars' Lives are Never Easy
I really enjoyed this well-acted and directed movie that brought back a lot of memories of earlier times. We see a frustrated George Reeves who tried to give an outward cheery demeanor to his adoring public (just about every kid in America) while being prevented from doing what he wants to do (star in mainstream films and direct). Some of the problems were related to being typecast (we see the audience laughing at him when he appears in From Here to Eternity) though I believe if you are good you can get past that (they laughed at Cher at the premiere of Silkwood). Other issues were related to having a controlling mistress who was married to a movie studio executive and she appears to use her influence to prevent George from doing anything outside the cape and tights.

There is an interesting subplot as we see George hating the adoration of all kids, while the investigator of his murder Simos (Adrienne Brody) is clueless to have any meaningful relationship with his own kid.

Simos tries so hard to unravel the "mystery" behind the night of Reeve's death and misses many obvious clues from another client that hired Simos to trail his suspected unfaithful wife. Several times during the movie Simos' focus seems to shift from one suspect to another until a little piece of film makes him realize what probably really happened.

I am surprised that this movie did not fare well as a theatrical release but it really should not be missed!

Rating:

- hollywoodland
always loved george reeves as superman. I wish the movie was a little more accurate.

Rating:

- Who are all of these people
This was a mish mash of a film. The screenplay was poor to begin with but the film editing left it so choppy and disorganized that it was hard to determine what was going on. There is no background,motivation,or connection, the characters simply appear and disappear. The casting made sure that all of the actors and actresses looked alike so it was hard to distinguish who was who. The film starts with a group of people who are never really identified as to who they are or why they are there. This is a problem that persists throughout the film. The actors do the best they can but they have very little to work with. The connections between the various people are left to the viewer to sort out and some of them never did make any sense. Brody does his best but the character Simo is really the only central theme and in an attempt to give the film direction and some sort of continuity and plot, Simo takes on several subplots that only serve to distract further from the film and what apparently was the central plot.

I gave the film two stars because it does offer three logical theories regarding Reeves death, without actually endorsing any of them. I thought the touch of gray hair at the very end made a huge statement and lent a silent credibility to the suicide alternative. The actors all did well with a very poor screenplay.

Rating:

- Great historical fictional film about a well known legend of tv
George Reeves will forever be known and best remembered as TV's Superman, but he actually tried his best to be a legitamate movie actor. This movie works through many different possible theories around his death, and how one P.I. hired by Reeves mother had a theory other than one the police came up with. Adrian Brody is great in his role as a struggling ex cop/private investigator trying to keep a grip on his family and his job. Even Ben Affleck does a descent job, but how could he not, this was a well directed and written screenplay. Worth a look at.

page 10 of 29