Hollywoodland Reviews

ATMOSPHERIC

Fifty's film noir with Adrien

Brody very sensitive performance as a down at

heel private eye investigating

the death of Superman actor.

Very slow paced ,though excellent performances by

Affleck and Lane, with a tremendous small role for

Bob Hoskins. The film certainly captures the time with its film studios and movie star mansions scenes, but it is flawed effort

and could have been a classic if the screenplay was

a lot sronger.

[Highly rated reviewer]

World Exclusive - Ben Affleck can act

Rented this film, not expecting much but was pleasantly surprised with an enjoyable engaging movie. Even Ben Affleck is good in it, as the struggling actor George Reeves - prentending to be a guy, who can't act - oh the irony. Adrien Brody is great as the investigator. The whole thing has the feel of Chinatown.

If you loved the 50's, you'll love this.

Frustrated Superman

An excellent, truly evocative film about the darker side of hollywood.Ben Affleck gives his best performance to date in a moving tale about George Reeves , one of the earlier actors to play superman. Diane Lane and Bob Hoskins both provide great supporting roles as does Adrian Brody who is great as the seedy journalist investigating Reeves' death. Highly recommended.

meh?

One for a wet Sunday. Good cast and decent acting but it really drags along.

The ending is disappointingly bland, if like me you were expecting a big payoff of the hour or so you just invested.

Odd

I think I enjoyed this film, but am not sure!! It was set in a fascinating era and moved from past to present quite smoothly. It's definately worth a watch for Ben Affleck's acting - he should play darker roles more often.

LA Confidential, this ain't!!

I was expecting this to be a kind of James Ellroy well crafted whodunnit, and was only slightly disappointed. The casting is excellent, Brody gives a masterclass performance and Affleck plays his part with surprising empathy, I wont give away the ending but it left me quite dissatisfied, it was all a bit brisk, it seems as the film had gone on too long and they left a lot of background info on the various relationships in the film on the cutting room floor. That said its worth watching just to see what a class act Adrien Brody is.

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[Highly rated reviewer]

one of the most tedious films I have seen in my life,....

I am extremely disappointed with this film which i was really looking forward to. It is tedious in the extreme, boring, uninteresting, unrewarding, none of the characters are particularly likeable and it is difficult to emphasise with any of them. The story is slow and plodding - (stop reading now if you don't want to read a spolier) and is basically about George Reeves who played Superman in the TV series. Ben Affleck plays George Reeves in a spectacularly wooden manner. George dies - a detective (Adrian Brody)investigates ........ was it suicide? was it murder ? if so who dunnit ? you never find out the 'mystery' is left unsolved. I watched this film in 3 parts as it doesnt make you feel gripped or desperate to reach its resolution. I only ended up finshing it as there was nothing better on TV that day. Bob Hoskins also stars and is wasted in his role. Is it a bird? is it a plane - yes to the former - its a turkey

Slower than a speeding bullet, more ambling than a Virgin locomotive

George Reeves committed suicide aged 45 in 1959, two years after his starring role as US TV's Superman came to an abrupt end. Or did he? That's what gumshoe Louis Simo, and this film, intend to find out.

Unfortunately, they don't. Or rather, having pinned the blame on MGM exec Eddie Mannix (Bob Hoskins, understated but still great) it gets a bit 'Clue': if you don't like that outcome, here are some more, the makers not having the balls (or the lawyers?) to stick to their convictions. Equally it doesn't know whether to focus on (half-truths and urban myths surrounding) Reeves - surprisingly sympathetically played by Ben Affleck - or sniff around Adrien Brody's Simo; an approach which leaves both under-explored.

Was Reeves too successful as an actor, early audiences unable to see him as anyone but Superman? Or did television actually wreck his career (he'd been a promising player in 'Gone With the Wind')? 'Hollywoodland' shies away from saying.

A bit confused and meandering but not unentertaining. I'm just not sure why.

Ben Affleck is Under-rated

I remember watching re-runs of this Superman series when I was a child and had heard about Reeves's suicide so was intrigued by this. I watched it with a friend who I think found it a little dull but I loved it and was fascinated by the fact that althought the detective is fiction the basic story was true. I thought Ben Affleck was brilliant and think it's so unfair that people say he can't act when this was full of subtle, understated acting (and he's gorgeous!). Diane Lane and Adrien Brody were also very good and having just had my children traumatised by the thought of Doctor Who regenerating into someone else I can understand a bit of what a shock Reeves's death must have been for little boys like the detective's son.

Basically if you like the 50s and Hollywood you'll love it.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Strictly for the patient, thinking viewer. 8/10.

My wife and I were almost put off this movie by several really poor reviews, as some of the reviews were along the lines of ‘boring so I switched it off’ I guess we should have known better, this was genuinely a very good film. I can only conclude that action junkies are renting because they recognised an actor on the cover not because they believe this story would be right for them. This movie is based on the life of the actor who first played Superman, George Reeves (Affleck) whose life ended in mystery in the late 50’s. The story, which flashes neatly back to Reeves’ early life to provide background, is told through the eyes of the ever impressive Adrien Brody’s character Louis Simo, a private investigator. This film is slow burning but gripping as Louis Simo follows the clues that point towards a possible murder situation covered up as suicide. As we watched we were constantly drawn away from our own conclusions that we could not help but repeatedly make throughout the two hours and despite the style of film and the slower pace they passed very quickly. We both felt that Brody’s story was not really explored and were frustrated that no conclusion was really drawn but this did not ruin the film and allowed us to really explore the possible explanations and make our conclusion. This film is strictly for the patient, thinking viewer, if that’s you, give it a watch. Very good. 8/10. 4 Stars.