Rating: 
Summary: Brilliance for the Short of Brilliance
Review: WHEN I HAD HEARD OF THIS MOVIE I WAS VERY ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT VIEWING IT. WHEN I WAS FINISHED WITH IT I JUST REWOUND IT WATCHED IT AGAIN. THIS MOVIE IS UNDOUBTEDLY ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANT FILMS EVER PRODUCED. IT SHOWS THE LIFE A LOSER FILM MAKER, WHO IS PLAYED BY JOHNNY DEPP, WHO WEARS ANGORA SWEATERS. THIS MOVIE IS FULL OF EVERYTHING THAT MAKES A MOVIE GREAT. IF ONLY IT WON AN OSCAR FOR ACTING MAKEUP AND BEST MOVIE. THE ACTING IN THIS MOVIE WILL MAKE YOU WANT TO SEE IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN. LANDAU WHO PORTRAYS LUGOSI IS POWERFUL. HE TAKES YOUR BREATH AWAY. YOU WILL NOT HATE THIS MOVIE GUARANTEED. I COULD NOT FIND A FLAW WITH IT. THE FACT THAT IT IS BLACK AND WHITE ADD THE 50'S LOW BUDGET FEEL. DON'T PASS THIS UP. VIEWERS WILL LIKE THIS FILM BECAUSE OF IT'S ATMOSPHERE. IT HAS ALL THE PRODUCTS THAT A GOOD MOVIE MUST HAVE TO BE LITERALLY PERFECT. VERY GOOD COMEDY, AMAZING DRAMA, AND A STRANGE TRANSVESTITE. I HAVE NEVER SEEN A MOVIE THAT MATCHES UP TO THIS. IT IS VERY ACCURATE. IF YOU FEEL COMPELLED TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ED WOOD AFTER THE MOVIE, WHICH YOU MOST LIKELY WILL, I WOULD SUGGEST THE LIBRARY AND SMALL VIDEO STORES.
Rating:
Summary: Please, Bring Ed Wood Back!
Review: I've been looking for this movie for ages (now I know why). I've seen Ed Wood about four times and it is one of my favorites. It's one of those movies that makes you feel so good to be alive. Ed keeps trying despite all sorts of obstacles. He finds the most creative ways to solve problems, imagine getting the curch to finance a horror movie! I cannot reccomend this movie enough.
Rating: 
Summary: A Skewed Vision
Review: The fact that "the studio is currently not producing this video" is a perfect irony. Ed Wood is an acquired taste; but you can scarcely fail to admire anyone with that much determination & belief in themselves. The fact that that belief was misplaced doesn't matter-Ed knew what he wanted to do, and somehow managed to do it, against all odds & in the face of all criticism. Of course his movies were terrible, but they DO have a certan style. You know immediately that you're watching an Ed Wood film. I have Glenn or Glenda, Plan 9 and Bride of the Monster on tape-I've forced my friends to watch each of them, and they have all asked to borrow the tapes repeatedly. I can't say the same for my Truffaut/Bergmann/Hitchcock tapes! Normally, I despise Tim Burton's work, but he got it right this time. The casting is absolutely perfect-Martin Landau richly deserved his Oscar. He doesn't just impersonate Lugosi, but brings the character to life. The film faithfully captures the spirit of independent productions, and refuses to take cheap shots at an easy target for ridicule. The opening/closing scenes bracket the film nicely-a first class effort, but a narrowly-focused target audience.
Rating:
Summary: A Tender, Touching Look at the B-Movie Virtuoso
Review: This film, though a comedy, is an excellent bio-pic about the life of B-Movie guru Ed Wood. His relationship with the aging, virtually forgotten Bela Lugosi is deeply explored, as are his relationships with the family of actors that he employed. Johnny Depp plays Ed Wood with naive aplomb, giving a boyish frankness and humor to the character. Other notable performances are had by Bill Murray and Sarah Jessica Parker. However, the true star of the show is Martin Landau, who rightfully deserved his win for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Bela Lugosi. His turn as the then-forgotten actor has made this movie one of my all-time favorites. It is a comedy tinged with sadness and triumph, a true film, not just a movie. Bravo to Tim Burton for creating such a masterpiece. A must-have for any movie buff's video library, as it displays the inner workings not only of the actors, but of old-school Hollywood itself. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: a child at large in hollywood/wonderland
Review: this movie was on cinemax today - i caught the end of it and was reminded of seeing it in a movie theatre up in santa cruz - admittedly that was at the end of the movie's run, and it was a weekday matinee - but i vividly recall that there were only me, my partner and our friend, the three of us spellbound in the dark, and all alone in the entire, big, empty cinema ---- re-visiting the picture on cable today, i was reminded that it's one of my all time top ten movies, and i thought "i'll order a vhs copy" - and look ! "the studio is currently not producing this vhs edition" (!) and that's the dumb attitude that wood was dealing with every day of his wildly creative life - that and a general public with no taste whatsoever - i've made excuses for the mainstream moviegoer for years, but have finally concluded that those of us with taste, those of us who just LOVE MOVIES, those of us who can give a movie a sophisticated reading, those of us who just adore ed wood's work because he was an eternal child making movies out of his own, gloriously naive vision, and doing it with the enthusiasm of a superannuated adolescent (three cheers for him and his wonderful band of motley friends) those of us who GET IT --- are a minority, and we have to keep cheering loud and long for ed wood, for bela lugosi's memory, for tim burton, for all the mavericks who will always matter because all they ever cared about was the integrity of their own vision, and the hell with the dreary, test-screening-watching, public-opinion-obsessed, money-grubbing, unimaginative and soul-destroying rest.
Rating:
Summary: Now one of my favorite movies
Review: The unending, hopeless innocence and optimism of Ed Wood, through all his troubles (no studio, no money, a difficult girlfriend, demanding producers, a drug addict friend) are hilarious and touching. The ending is my favorite part. I can't believe this video was allowed to go out of print at all, but I guess not enough people are deeply interested in Ed Wood or Bela Lugosi.It should be noted that the movie takes tons of liberties with the facts. Some of the sequence of the characters' lives, especially Lugosi's, is altered. Dolores Fuller is portrayed as a lot more disagreeable and less intelligent than she was in real life. A movie that this one sort of reminds me of is "Man of La Mancha", based on the book "Don Quixote". It has a little of the same naive enthusiasm and optimism.
Rating:
Summary: A funny, heartwarming look at a very interesting person
Review: I saw "Ed Wood" in 1995 with my girlfriend. It was actually our first movie date, and for a while, it seemed like a totally wrong move. I didn't really know it then, but she doesn't like films in general, and she hated "Ed Wood" in particular. I can understand this. The movie has very little of what is popular with the general moviegoer, the one who goes to see a movie for the rush and excitement of it . No car chases, no explosions, no gunfights, in fact very little action at all. It is also one of the funniest and most touching films ever made, if you're even slightly into movie history. Edward D. Wood wanted nothing more than to make movies, and he was an incurable optimist with a strong belief in his own genius. The problem was that he completely lacked any kind of talent, and the result were star turkeys like Plan 9 from outer Space, Glen or Glenda, Bride of the Monster and Night of the Ghouls. It would have been very easy to make a pure comedy out of Wood's life, to ridicule him and present him like some sort of nitwit with delusions of grandeur. But Tim Burton has not fallen into this trap. Instead, seemingly with much love for the source material, he portrays Ed Wood as a good and gentle man intent of following his own desires even when everyone (including his girlfriend and numerous theatre and movie critics) would suggest otherwise; much the way that Wood by all accounts WAS in real life. Johnny Depp turns in one of his best performances as the energetic and unflappable Wood, while Martin Landau is nothing short of sensational as the down-and-out horror-star Bela Lugosi (Surely the most deserving Academy Award-winning performance I've ever seen) that Wood befriends. The friendship between Wood and Lugosi is some of the most touching material in this movie, and the scene where Wood received message that Lugosi had died, and the subsequential burial where reporters were privately ridiculing Lugosi, were easily the saddest moments in the film. Being a film buff with a soft spot for old movies, and an even softer spot for old turkeys, I loved this film. It's my third favorite (behind "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Casablanca"), and I can't recommend it enough. And I must have had some redeeming values after all; my girlfriend married me anyway. Though she still hates "Ed Wood".
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious and touching
Review: I was expecting this film to be funny and interesting and it certainly was. What I didn't anticipate was how heartfelt and touching it would be. The relationship between Wood and Lugosi is handled so brilliantly that it rips your heart out while making you laugh. Somehow, the film never gets sappy and, as you're swept along, you realize that what Wood lacked in talent, he made up in heart. The scene where he smilingly says to an executive, "Worst film you ever saw, eh? Well, the next one will be better!" is hilarious and painful at the same time. Tim Burton proves here that he has the talent and heart to make an artful film about a sad, noble failure.
Rating: 
Summary: Okay
Review: I have to say, I really liked this when I saw it in a theater, and I rented it for a friend. Well, my friend didn't like it, and I have to say, watching it the second time with her, it seemed quite slow, in a way it didn't seem in the first viewing. So it's not a good movie to see twice, I guess. But it's quirky, and funny, with a performance I didn't expect from Johnny Depp, since his persona is that of a brooder. But here he plays comic stuff well. And I really liked the tolerant, humane philosophy it projected, summed up in the exchange between Johnny Depp and one his crew: "Ed, you don't judge people." "Of course not. If I did, I wouldn't have any friends." I wish more people in this life had that attitude!
Rating:
Summary: Difficult To Classify
Review: This is one of those video's that doesn't fall into a set genre. Yes it is a very comical reflection of Mr. Wood's life, but there is also a real sense of tragedy involved so it's a drama as well. Still, because of the sci-fi/horror motifs that Mr. Wood's film centered on, it could easily fall into a sci-fi/horror classification. It definitely has the feel of "film noir" though because of being shot in black and white. I think this movie succeeds since it strikes a balance of all the former mentioned aspects.
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