Hollywoodland

[rm]

I'm writing a real review for AC, but I saw Hollywoodland at the SAG screening tonight.

It's about the death of childhood. It's very well made. It contains several AMAZING performances (Ben Affleck, who I normally loathe, absolutely BLEW ME AWAY. Unfortunately, he also reminded me of my ex, which was kinda disturbing). Ultimately it's two and a half hours of sitting in a movie theater so you can say the following three things:

1. It's about the death of childhood
2. Woah, Ben Affleck
3. So it's a period mystery set in California -- did they have to try to imitate the Chinatown score?

Skip it. That siad, SAG film society is the greatest thing ever. The upcoming movies are really of interest and they are adding a lot more off-schedule bonus scrrenings than I suspected.


Aproppo to nothing, Kali and I are working on some Descensus sstuff you won't get to see for ages yet, but it's so fun, and involves an OC who I just love love love.

Comments

[neo-nym.livejournal.com]

I saw the same film this weekend, and like you, I am usually not impressed with Affleck. But he put in a stellar performance. I also thought Brody did an excellent job, I heard every throat swallow. Interesting that you saw it as death of childhood, I saw it as classic film noir, a throwback to D Hammett (sp?) but very effective. I also liked Bob Hoskins in his role.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Hoskins was good. And so was Adrien brody, I just wish he'd have more to do. He can do ANYTHING, and here he was little more than a device to get the fr more interesting story told.

an yeah, I was on teh film noir bandwagon,until the lat 10 minutes or so:

we can that film of George tryig to prove he's fit enough to wrestle, Bordys character having that stupid drunk moment with his son in teh school yard, the boy registering all that, then the home movie of the kid -- it was like "hey, hammer us with the message about men growing up and what happens when they fail to" And it was an interesting idea, but poorly integrated. I also thought there were a lot of false leads early in the film about what the story was really going to be about, that were sloppily dangled before us and not well integrated. Similarly, all the great oddities that added up to nothing when they should have tied in at least slightly more closely.

[neo-nym.livejournal.com]

Adrien brody, I just wish he'd have more to do. He can do ANYTHING, and here he was little more than a device to get the fr more interesting story told.
I agree, he seemed the fulcrum to move the plot. I think this role keeps him in line for further good work. He has a long career ahead of him and I am very interested in his future choices, but this movie SAVED Affleck's potential acting career.

I also agree on the points of overkill. THe script suffered from some true flaws. But overall, it was interesting and an inventive approach to the demise of a superhero and the face of Hollywood. I wouldn't see it again but I am glad that I saw it.

As for tight scripts, I was quite taken with Little Miss Sunshine. This script moved like a finely tuned watch. I am always pleasantly surprised at the roles that Toni Collette chooses. And I love Alan Arkin. The man is a silent treasure. Just the cadence of his speech... Have you seen it?

I look forward to your article on Hollywoodland.

[tommx.livejournal.com]

The death of childhood. Interesting. I saw it more as a movie about the fear of growing old. I found it interesting that they didn't focus more on the fact that George Reeves didn't have a lot of call to be depressed. He'd just signed a deal to do two more seasons of Superman (this time with more creative control and directing some of the episode), he'd recently curtailed his drinking, and he'd recently signed a 5 picture deal with Paramount. But then, those don't really fit with the view of the movie as being about the death of childhood.

[sykii.livejournal.com]

The Salon review made him sound like your ex, too. But also said that he was phenomenal in the role. Of course, they say that whenever anyone gains weight for a role, but it sounded warranted in this case.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Without the mean streak, yeah. It was just sad, by which I mean pathetic, but without the vitriol of the word. You should rent it just for the uncanny disturbing factor.