Rating: 
Summary: Strange, Interesting and Odd
Review: This movie, about Ed Wood, the director/actor/screen writer is very interesting and of course strange and odd (how could it not be with Tim Burton involved!?) I did not know who Ed Wood was before seeing this movie, nor had I heard of any of his movies. Now I want to know more about Ed Wood and see some of his movies... especially "Glen or Glenda" and "Plan 9 from Outer Space" which were both highlighted in this film ("Ed Wood"). The acting is excellent in this movie and the scenes are wonderfully filmed. This movie is a real treat for movie buffs and I recommend seeing it. Apparently Ed Wood, Jr. became known as the worst director of all time. In this movie you can see why. He only filmed scenes once and he ignored obvious mistakes ... thinking everything was "perfect." He did not even recognize poor acting! All in all this was an interesting movie, especially if you like to know more about Hollywood and the people who have worked there. Watch it soon and enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: What? NO DVD??
Review: What are they waiting for? This is probably one of the best films Tim Burton has directed, and one of the best roles ever played by both Johnny Depp (as Ed Wood) and Martin Landau (as Bela Lugosi). I don't want to keep buying VHS tapes that deteriorate on me over time. My last copy just konked out on me. Get this on DVD, PLEASE!!
Rating:
Summary: Funnier Than Charlie Chaplin--But Much Worse At Film Making
Review: Johnny Depp plays the infamous filmmaker Ed Wood, who gave us incredibly bad movies like "Plan 9 From Outer Space" (voted the worst film ever produced). Wood's life story (if we can trust the dramatized accounts) was a roller coaster ride of laughs and lunacy. From his fettish with cross dressing to his incredible wit, Ed Wood was anything but dull. Despite operating on small budgets, Wood even manages to lure a financially strapped Bela Lugosi out of retirement, only to embarrass the once great "Dracula" with a horrible part in yet another of Wood's films. -- This is a true story, but even if it were made up, it sure makes you laugh yourself silly!
Rating:
Summary: Sad and Beautiful
Review: As with "Raiders of the Lost Ark", I jumped to quick conclusions when saying that "Edward Scissorhands" is Tim Burton's best movie. Even if it is, it is in a tie with this movie. Tim Burton, with the Coen Brothers, is definitely my fav director. His visual style, his abstract humor and his outsider characters are so appealing, that I smile all through his movies. I just wish that he would tackle some other stories besides discrimination of the different. "Ed Wood" was probably the director's hardest task yet. As the movie is set in a realistic time and place, unlike his other movies which were fantasy, etc., Burton has no place to show off his actual talent, concept art. He had to actually work with the actors, give more importance to the story than the special effects. And he succeeded marvelously. How can I not see this movie as a sad one? It's probably the saddest movie I ever saw in my life! I'm trying to be a filmmaker, and they show me the worst filmmaker of all time, and how he just couldn't realize his mistakes and thought of everything as perfect. How can I NOT doubt myself now? Am I as naive as Edward, thinking that everything I write is good, but in reality it just sucks? God, not only is this sad, it's frightening. Johnny Depp, Burton's most used actor, is used once again and with glory. Every look in his eyes, every movement, it's all perfectly innocent, perfectly delusional, perfectly charming. Martin Landau- a name that some friends of mine recognized during the opening credits, but I didn't. Now I do, and boy, was he great. I laughed a lot at his character, and his accent in general. "Bevare! Bevare! Be very, very vare!" A stupid joke between me and my friends that I wish he had said. I couldn't believe Bill Murray was in this. I just wish he was in it a little more. His character could have been hilarious. OR could have failed miserably, when I think about it. Oh well. Vincent D'Onofrio is the best Orson Welles look alike. I have seen. I wish he was in Cradle Will Rock too, but Angus MacFayedn was good in that one. The cast also includes Sarah Jessica Parker and Patriccia Arquette . They both perform great, and match their respective roles. Yet, for me, the person who truly shines with this movie is Tim Burton. He has proved that he is a great director, even when there are no special effects, etc. involved. I applaud him with both my hands and feet, and I hope that he returns to do such stuff, instead of a big, summer blockbuster. Here is to hoping that Planet of the Apes will be good!! And Ed Wood? Well, I guess that his is a sad story. But it has become an inspiring tale of innocence, friendship and overall, passion in work.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most under-rated of all time
Review: Yes, Edward D. Wood, Jr. was eccentric. So was Richard Wagner, and Einstein, and.... Well, that may be pushing it--whatever "it" is--to compare Ed with those individuals. But, as I said in my review of Ed's classic "Plan 9 from Outer Space," Ed really TRIED. That's more than I can say for some blockbuster advocates. This docu-drama/comedy is fairly accurate. It's based on the book, a series of interviews of Ed's friends and associates called something like "Nightmares of Ecstacy" ...True, the acting was superb. I didn't know that Bela Lugosi was Martin Landau until the credits at the end of the film. And Martin did with the academy award for the role, and deserved it! A buddy of mine broke into explosive laughter when "Bela" blew up after one of Ed's buddies suggested that he'd played second fiddle to Karloff in one of their earlier flicks. (I've made letterhead out of Bela's statement in the script, and don't send it to persons under 18!) I thought Sarah Jessica Parker was great too, though I don't normally like her that much. And where did they get the guy who played the pro-wrestler character? He looks so much like the real guy that it's uncanny! How many know that this is the only Tim Burton film that lost money? That I find discouraging. I think this is far, far more entertaining--and educational, in a morbid, biographical sort of way--than, say "Invaders from Mars." And did anyone notice the overlap in cast with this film and "Bob Roberts"? I don't know that means anything, but... Anyway, if I weren't a Johnny Depp fan before this film, I was afterward. Why do I say it's underrated? I think it should be considered a classic, in effect an historical documeent. But, then, I'm an Ed Wood fan, so I must be in the minority. *sigh* Rest in peace, Ed. You tried so hard, were labled a "genius with no talent." But those of us who call you that, do so endearingly.
Rating:
Summary: a love story!
Review: I know I will have all eyes up for me to say it's a love story (?) But I have no better way to title this movie. I guess if you look at the life and times of Ed Wood, you'd agree. The fact that he was himself and true to himself. The fact that he gave and stood by his friend. The fact that he did not care about the world but what he thought he was. He stood by the truth. The fact that he was true to his wife who left him. The fact that he did not hide for what he thought would hurt his second wife (to be). He stood for what he was. Which is why he is what Tim Burton knew and understood. I call it an orphan of a movie - Reasons, another under rated movie. With such beautiful script, acting & directing how can it be over looked. Does one have to be an actor to understand and give it two thumbs up? Disagree! I have been fortunate enough to find this movie to own. Have I been the lucky one, you bet! For starters call it a comedy with a heart of emotion which still does not justify the movie...
Rating:
Summary: JOHNNY EXCELLS - AGAIN
Review: The reason I saw ED WOOD was because of Johnny Depp. I like his careerchoices(Benny and Joon, Dead Man, Nick of Time, Don Juan deMarco - though not from 1997 and on). ED WOOD is a magical piece of moviemaking - a beautiful motion picture fable about a man who made motion picture trash. The production design, performances etc make this an all-time classic.
Rating:
Summary: Labled Worst Director of All Time
Review: I have been a fan of Bela Lugosi's for some time, but have never seen any of his Ed Wood pictures. This is the first film I have seen even pertaining to Ed Wood. It was quite good. A very loving recreation and recollection of a young mans vision to produce, direct, and star in movies. Martin Landau was excellent as the aged Bela Lugosi whom Wood befriends. A very heartbreaking picture in which Landau shows how Lugosi becomes a shadow of his former self. Highly recommended to Wood and Lugosi fans.
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating story of a filmmaker¿s life.
Review: This movie is very good. The idea that it's in black and white may seem annoying to some people but I think it makes the movie feel more "real" (like 'Schindler's List'). This movie doesn't make fun of Edward D. Wood. Jr. or portrays him as an idiot or an incompetent filmmaker, but as a man who really wanted to make movies, and believed they could be successful. The actors are great, Martin Landau got an Academy Award for playing the old, sick Bela Lugosi. The movie feels very real and it is a fascinating story. I suggest you buy it, especially if you're interested in Wood and his movies.
Rating:
Summary: To Live and Die in L.A.
Review: To begin with, I have one thing to say: Why is this film no longer available on VHS, let alone DVD? This film has been regarded by many as Tim Burton's best film. The majority of critics were full of praise, and the film went on to win 2 Academy Awards-one for makeup, and the other one for Martin Landau's grand and touching performance of horror great Bela Lugosi. Ed Wood, the posthumously famous, cross-dressing director of bizarre, laughable, poverty-row budgeted horror and exploitation movies, was given his due in Tim Burton's fractured fairy tale. Wood and his cronies and acquaintances were, for the most part, "fringies", those individuals who are marginally involved in show business, or once-greats who had fallen on hard times. The most famous of these individuals was, of course, Bela Lugosi, who, at age seventy, was near-broke, addicted to morphine, and for the most part, out of work. One of the few people willing to give Lugosi a break was Ed Wood. Wood's critics like to paint Wood as an opportunist looking to exploit Lugosi, but the man was there for him. Now, back to the film. The performances are very enthusiastic-the actors and actresses seem to be having a ball with their material-a funny and sad script that is, for the most part, historically accurate. There are no "composite characters" here. With such a collection of "characters", which includes 400 lb. Swedish wrestler/actor Tor Johnson, wasp-waisted TV horror hostess Vampira, bogus psychic Criswell, and outrageously effeminate "Bunny" Breckinridge, who needs to invent characters? The film is shot in a historically correct black-and-white, and the actors, headed by the artistically courageous Johnny Depp, bear an uncanny resemblance to their real-life counterparts (Landau as Lugosi, Lisa Marie as Vampira, George "The Animal" Steele as Tor Johnson, Jeffrey Jones as Criswell, in particular) The art direction is dead-on accurate, recreating every last absurd, cheesy detail of Wood's notoriously cheap sets, and the crowning touch is Howard Shore's evocative and eclectic film score. The score incorporates horror-movie cliches, complete with theremin, as well as mambo, bongos, and a wonderful "hootch" dance performed by the late, great beturbaned Korla Pandit on the organ. The fact that this wonderful looking and sounding film was not nominated for its score, cinematography or art direction is another mystery. But the biggest mystery is why Disney treated this film like a poor relation, did little to publicize or ballyhoo it, and then removed it from the video market is the greatest mystery of all. If you haven't seen this film, see it-if you can find it! If you already own it, pray for its re-release, preferably on DVD!
|
