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Rating of
3/4
"Hollywoodland" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 01/13/2012
Hollywoodland is a fictionalisation of the circumstances surrounding the death of George Reeves whose first acting role was in the legendary Gone With The Wind but found fame as the TV incarnation of Superman. Aping the Noiresque feel of 40s and 50s detective movies, Adrien Brody is excellent as the down at heel, ambulance chasing private eye who is more interested in self aggrandizement than justice, as is Ben Affleck who puts in a fine performance as the charming rogue who feels he is better than the lot in life he has been handed. Sensitively directed with a nice sense of period, this is not a lurid true crime story, more a character study with an intelligently plotted investigative spin and it works really well. Those expecting a slam-bang finale may be disappointed but it has a …
Rating of
2.5/4
Fair movie on 1 of Hollywood's greatest mysteries
The M.O.W. - wrote on 08/02/2008
"Louis Simo" (Adrien Brody) is a down on his luck private investigator who has been hired to find out the truth of the death of "George Reeves" (Ben Affleck), lead actor in the classic television series "The Adventures of Superman". It is a case which may make or break his career.
The movie switches between "Simo's" private life, which deals with his estranged wife (Molly Parker) and their son (Zachary Mills), and the "Reeves" case, which brings into his life the most likely suspects in what many believe to this day to be the murder of Reeves.
Ever since the actor's death, there have been two theories -- Reeves killed himself as his friends partied downstairs and Reeves was murdered. This movie does a fair job at covering both, though "Simo" leans toward the murder theory since …
Rating of
2/4
Franz Patrick - wrote on 12/24/2007
I decided to give this film a chance in spite of scathing reviews. Unfortunately, they were right to insult this film because it was too long, not to mention snooze-inducing. Even though I thought the actors did a pretty good job in their roles, the main problem was the storytelling. It could've been something really good if the film didn't meander too much. I thought the scenes where the main detective visits the crime scene was a bit too cliche and redundant. He must've visited that place five times or so without really getting anything from it other than guesses. I'm usually okay with films that don't provide exact answers like "Zodiac" because they were done well. This one isn't. It's a waste of an effort; other than to make money, I don't see why the studios released this film to …
Rating of
3.5/4
RashomonLand
uberalpha - wrote on 08/26/2007
Ben Affleck's role of a lifetime. The parallels between George Reeve's perception of self and Ben Affleck's afforded Affleck the opportunity to shine. How often would you expect to find that he does a better job than Adrien Brody in a film? A film like this was extremely hard to market, so it made even less of a splash than Black Dahlia, which dealt with a similar time frame. What this film has over the other is inspired performances and narrative ingenuity. This is not Rashomon, but by having alternative theories without an answer, Hollywoodland places itself well above most other films. Diane Lane manages to displays emotions that human beings can relate to, which is something that neither Johannson nor Hartnett pull off in the other film.
