Hollywoodland

My travels took me up to Canton, OH last night. After I got settled in, I picked out a few movies I was going to watch that evening. I picked out two completely different movies and got started. The first one on the list is Hollywoodland. It was the story about the mystery of the death of George Reeves, the 1950's Superman.

THE GOOD: This movie should of been considered one of the best movies of 2006. I liked how they played up the many ways George Reeves died. Adrian Brody's character, while being fictitious, takes us through the hell that George Reeves went through, trying to become a major actor. I liked how they showed how George Reeves hated playing Superman for fear that he would by typecasted and not well received in other projects. One example was when he sat in a movie theater while they were previewing From Here to Eternity, a movie that George Reeves was in. When the crowd saw that Superman was in the movie, the laughter started and Reeves was cut out of the movie. The movie did remind me of the movie Wired, the movie that had Bob Woodward trace the steps of John Belushi before his death. Unlike Wired, however, this movie was thought provokiing, interesting, and kept you on the edge of your seat. Diane Lane has a great performance as Toni Mannix, the wife of the head of MGM, who is George Reeves' girlfriend. She, alone, should of been nominated for an Academy Award for her role.

THE BAD: They focused a little too much on the Louis Simo's (Adrian Brody) life. They were trying to compare both lives of Simo and Reeves and, quite frankly, I don't think it was needed. The movie does drag a bit, but they could of cut down some of Simo's story and focus on the investigation of the Reeve's death,

THE VERDICT

This is a must see! While the ending of the movie won't be resolved (after all, this is one of the biggest mysterys in Hollywood), it will take you on a trip into the showbusiness hell that most actors go through.