Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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85 of 90 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
When Films Collide--A Great Hollywood Story At Odds With An Average Detective Flick, November 2, 2006
There is a fantastic film within "Hollywoodland"! That film stars Ben Affleck and Diane Lane, both giving superlative performances. As TV Superman George Reeves, Affleck connects with a role that some say mirror his own situation. He's an appealing, handsome actor of limited range who is not generally regarded for having actual talent. And Affleck steps up to the task of inhabiting that persona--he shows the frustration, rage, and longing for respect that comes with being typecast as Superman. Diane Lane plays the wife of a studio exec who fancies Reeves and turns him into her kept "boy." Well, an older woman never looked so good! Lane just seems to get better and better as the years go by. She hits all the right notes in a performance that's wickedly sexy, desperate, charming, and funny--all rolled up into one.
This relationship, her open marriage to Bob Hoskins, his courtship with a golddigger played nicely by Robin Tunney, and the tale of Reeves' struggle in Hollywood--this is all grand entertainment. It's filmed and executed beautifully and is thoroughly fascinating.
Sadly, there is also an average film within "Hollywoodland." That film stars Adrien Brody as a two-bit private detective hired to look into Reeves' apparent suicide. Might it have been more? In addition to the investigation, we get many other glimpses into Brody's life--his strained relationship with his wife and child, his affair with a younger woman, another case that goes terribly wrong, and some backstory about how he ended up on the outskirts of the Hollywood machine. It's all fine, but nothing nearly as intriguing as the Reeves case--and nothing particularly original, either
Sadly, the two aspects never merged cohesively for me. Every time you're drawn into something interesting in Reeves' life--BOOM, the film pulls you out to see some parallel with the detective. Well, ultimately, I just had to say "who cares?" to most of those moments. Brody's relationship with his son, for example, plays prominently. Not enough time is spent with these subplots to actually develop feelings one way or the other--they just serve to shut down the main action. Now I'm not blaming Brody--his performance is fine--all the performances are fine. It's the structure of the film. It just doesn't serve the story well--however talented everyone associated with this production may be.
Part of the film was 5 stars, part was 3 stars. I'd rate the whole venture at about 3 1/2--with regret--because there is a film in here that I would have loved to see. KGHarris, 11/06.
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79 of 86 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Broken Lives, September 25, 2006
"Hollywoodland" is everything that the dreadful "The Black Dahlia" isn't: interesting, beautifully acted, intelligent, respectful to it's time and place which in both cases just happens to be Southern California circa 1945-1959. Both concern a death: one perhaps a suicide and the other definitely a murder.
Directed by Alan Coulter with a genuine empathy for his characters sad, sordid lives: a brilliant Ben Affleck as TV Superman George Reeves, a committed though out-of-the-box style performance from the always interesting Adrian Brody as a down-on-his-luck Private Investigator, Louis Simo and the luminous Diane Lane as Reeves paramour and fading beauty Toni Mannix.
Coulter spends a lot of time on the back lives of these three which adds texture and resonance to their film lives and by extension the film. Of particular note is Simo's story: his son, his ex-wife (the terrific Molly Parker), his father or lack thereof. Brody is particularly thoughtful and emotionally open in his scenes with his son. Brody is so good at conveying pages of exposition and dialogue through the iris of the camera by way of his huge expressive eyes.
"Hollywoodland" is terse, compact, humane, beautifully photographed and sensitively produced and scripted. That it comes from humble beginnings only makes Coulter's achievement all the more glorious.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
When Films Collide--A Great Hollywood Story At Odds With An Average Detective Flick, December 2, 2006
There is a fantastic film within "Hollywoodland"! That film stars Ben Affleck and Diane Lane, both giving superlative performances. As TV Superman George Reeves, Affleck connects with a role that some say mirror his own situation. He's an appealing, handsome actor of limited range who is not generally regarded for having actual talent. And Affleck steps up to the task of inhabiting that persona--he shows the frustration, rage, and longing for respect that comes with being typecast as Superman. Diane Lane plays the wife of a studio exec who fancies Reeves and turns him into her kept "boy." Well, an older woman never looked so good! Lane just seems to get better and better as the years go by. She hits all the right notes in a performance that's wickedly sexy, desperate, charming, and funny--all rolled up into one.
This relationship, her open marriage to Bob Hoskins, his courtship with a golddigger played nicely by Robin Tunney, and the tale of Reeves' struggle in Hollywood--this is all grand entertainment. It's filmed and executed beautifully and is thoroughly fascinating.
Sadly, there is also an average film within "Hollywoodland." That film stars Adrien Brody as a two-bit private detective hired to look into Reeves' apparent suicide. Might it have been more? In addition to the investigation, we get many other glimpses into Brody's life--his strained relationship with his wife and child, his affair with a younger woman, another case that goes terribly wrong, and some backstory about how he ended up on the outskirts of the Hollywood machine. It's all fine, but nothing nearly as intriguing as the Reeves case--and nothing particularly original, either
Sadly, the two aspects never merged cohesively for me. Every time you're drawn into something interesting in Reeves' life--BOOM, the film pulls you out to see some parallel with the detective. Well, ultimately, I just had to say "who cares?" to most of those moments. Brody's relationship with his son, for example, plays prominently. Not enough time is spent with these subplots to actually develop feelings one way or the other--they just serve to shut down the main action. Now I'm not blaming Brody--his performance is fine--all the performances are fine. It's the structure of the film. It just doesn't serve the story well--however talented everyone associated with this production may be.
Part of the film was 5 stars, part was 3 stars. I'd rate the whole venture at about 3 1/2--with regret--because there is a film in here that I would have loved to see. KGHarris, 12/06.
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