Rating: 
Summary: good effort
Review: ok, first of all i don't know why people or at least few did't like this movie!!, it said at the beginning that the story took place when "the legend was over", so what's everybody talking about!!!! the story is well written and was well blended with reality!!! this movie is not about the story of john holmes is the story of the murders that took place in 1981!!! but not to worry if your're interested in the story of the real john, there's another dvd (bonus) with extensive footage and story of the man known as the "wadd". I suggest you watch this document first, so you understand this movie first (unless you know the story) this document, tlaks of how john met dawn, the wonderland murders, and other interest stuff, so buy it.......like know!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: What Up, Holmes?
Review: Wonderland's not bad, it just has that whole "been there, done that" kind of feeling about it. There are definitely worse things out there-like a certain movie from Zack Snyder! People comment on how bad or good Val Kilmer's portrayal of John Holmes is, but to be honest, I don't know enough about John Holmes and his offscreen personality in the real world to know how accurate Val's performance is. He seemed to do fine to me. He's certainly too good looking to be John Holmes though. The film takes advantage of that whole quick-cut, MTV-like camera work which I find quite annoying. I don't know quite how accurate this film is, but it does put Holmes in a few different scenarios where his role in the murders is different each time. That's probably the most interesting thing about the film. Each of these scenarios could have very well happened, you decide. There is virtually no time devoted to his film career at all, just a few references. This was a good play, coz we've already got Boogie Nights to basically tell us that story. All in all, a decent rental, but I doubt many people will want to own this.
Rating:
Summary: Movie is good enough, but bonus features a disturbing!
Review: The movie is well done. It was advertised as a movie about the fall of a porn king (which it is) but it is also about the horrific murders on Wonderland Ave....and more importantly, how the two stories overlap. The acting is great, especially performances turned in by Val Kilmer, and the surprisingly dramatic Lisa Kudrow!
However, I was more than apalled by the horrible "bonus" features. The documentary was good. The interviews were short but good enough. However, the crime scene video was extremely tacky. The actual video, including the graphic dead bodies at all is NOT entertainment and its just horribly wrong in my opinion. The movie was done well enough for us to get the idea of the crime itself...there was no need to add the actual video for rubberneckers to get their warped entertainment!
Rating: 
Summary: GARBAGELAND
Review: This is a movie which never should have been made. I watched it a second time and disliked it more. Based on this a third viewing would have been ill-advised, and the ideal number of times to watch this film is zero.The most disturbing character is played by Lisa Kudrow who spends all her on-screen time self-righteously wagging a finger at everyone but herself. After watching this festival of the bad -- both acting and dialogue -- I took a Prozac and snorted a couple lines of coke.
Rating: 
Summary: WATCH IT MANY TIMES!!
Review: I thought this would be a stupid and camp bio of John Holmes xxx film career, It is not. It is a dark, Twisted tale of four brutal murders that John was a part of. After the first viewing will want to watch it again, And you really should to pick up some details you won't catch the first time around. What role he played in the killings are still unknown. But the film puts out many ways he could have been. Everyone involved in the story are heavy into drugs and can't be trusted this includes Holmes. The film gives you his side of the story he told to the police. David Lind, A member of the Wonderland gang tells his side. He was not at the house the night of the murders, He lived to tell his tale. They both paint themselfs out as victims and or angels. The Bonus disc has a great documentary of John Holmes. Once you view that you will see what a liar we has in real life. It shows John Holmes in old interviews saying...He went to UCLA, John never completed high school. Said he never takes drugs, Big lie there!! Saying he didn't have any brothers or sisters, Another lie. At the time of the murders John was out of work as a porn star due to his drug problems. After double-crossing many dangerous people over drugs/money I don't know how he lived another seven years after it all. The end of the film leeds one to think he got put into the re-location program to save his hide, But this is not true. After the murders he cleaned up his act and returned to the xxx biz for awhile until he contracted AIDS in 1988 and died shortly after. When the film is over you will want to figure it all out and solve it... Good luck! Every way you try to put it together you will run into a wall. But that's what is great about this film and the story, It will never be solved 100%
Rating:
Summary: VERY GRIPPING, VERY POWERFUL
Review: THIS POWERFUL, GRIPPING MOVIE CHRONICLES THE 1981 LAUREL CANYON MURDERS, WHICH INVOLVED LEGENDARY PORN STAR JOHN HOLMES [PLAYED EXPERTLY BY VAL KILMER]. VERY GOOD, VERY INSIGHTFUL LOOK INTO THE LIFE OF JOHN HOLMES AND THE LAUREL CANYON MURDERS. FEATURES AN ENSEMBLE CAST AND IT HAS STRONG PERFORMANCES AS WELL. I WOULD ADVISE EVERYONE TO CHECK THIS MOVIE OUT RIGHT NOW! I FEEL EXTREMELY SORRY FOR THOSE WHO HAVE THIS ON VIDEO, CAUSE THAT MEANS THAT YOU'LL MISS OUT THE JOHN HOLMES DOCUMENTARY THAT IS INCLUDED ON THE BONUS DISC TO THIS MOVIE. THE DOCUMENTARY IS EVEN BETTER THAN THE ACTUAL MOVIE!
Rating:
Summary: Superbly Dark and Chaotic
Review: This is what Boogie Nights should've been! Val Kilmer is excellent as John Holmes, in my opinion his best work since The Doors. The rest of the cast is equally at home here, especially Lisa Kudrow. I was pleasantly surprised to see that she's capable of so much more than just Friends. The frantic pace of this movie entranced me and I could almost feel the rush of the mounds of cocaine that Holmes seemed to embibe at every turn. Take away the slickness and cliche of Boogie Nights, add a dash of the desperation of hardcore drug addiction and the horror of a good mass murder and you've got Wonderland, easily one of the best films of 2003 in my opinion and definitely worth the price of admission!
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't compare with the real thing
Review: The smartest thing director James Cox did on the DVD release of this grimy, unsettling film was to include the far more informative and engaging documentary, Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmes, chronicling the entire career of the late s.p. legend. Holmes (Val Kilmer) serves as the central character in Cox's fictionalized retelling of the most lurid chapter of the actor's life: a grisly drug-related multiple murder in which Holmes may have been directly involved.
Cox never allows you to care for or even like any character in the
movie. Washing his actors in slimy green and brown light, he makes
his entire cast look dirty and seedy, which, though it may be
accurate for Holmes' sleazy acquaintances at the time, never helps
us care about what happens to these creeps.
Rating:
Summary: You'll need a hot shower after watching this
Review: A gritty and violent study of a group of thoroughly unlikeable and pathetic lowlives. It's very well acted, and I was pleasantly surprised to see Lisa Kudrow put in a nice performance as John Holmes' first wife. You almost feel like you're a fly on the wall choking on the secondhand cigarette smoke as these people slither and stumble through their stoned paces. Features a cameo by the always-annoying and vapid Paris Hilton that is redeemed by Eric Bogosian(playing L.A. drug/nightclub kingpin Eddie Nash) telling her to "get out of here". The bonus materials are great(how did they get that LAPD video?) and the limited edition version comes with the documentary "Wadd" as a bonus disc, which is also very good, arguably better than the movie.
Rating:
Summary: Few Actors Better At Real Life Roles Than Kilmer
Review: Though "Wonderland" has its flaws...I am a sucker for period pieces and I will say this is a superb movie..mainly due to the strong performances of Bosworth, McDermott(I dare you to identify him w/o help), Kudrow, Lucas, others and of course Kilmer...This guy plays real life roles better than anyone!! The story of the gruesome, and they are gruesome Wonderland murders is told in Rashomon style but this movie grabs you and doesn't let you go...Superb music from the late 70's and early 80's as well..if you also look hard enough you'll notice a cameo by filthy rich princess Paris Hilton...This movie was very underrated in its theatrical release but now it should get its due on DVD...buy the DVD...you get like 5 hours of total footage..including a very graphic LAPD crime tape...very graphic...The Johnny Wadd Documentary...which is priceless..Deleted Scenes..Trailers..Interviews....Commentary..man it's got it all...check it out
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