I watched Hollywoodland recently on the recommendation of John Lau and
found it very good. There was no cut-and-dried ending, lots to think
about. And as Brian said in his 2006 post, Adrian Brody is just excellent.
Karin
On 16/03/2009 12:16 PM, Brian Thornton wrote:
> Mario wrote:
>
> "Let me follow up my own post to say that what I'm missing in most if not
> all American films of recent years is tranquility, deliberateness. It looks
> like they are trying to appeal to impressionable teenagers with a lot of
> gimmicks, explosions, shooting and noise. Hollywood needs to calm down.
> They're mostly hysterical."
>
> I refer the list back to the review I did of HOLLYWOODLAND a couple of years
> back when Jack Bludis and I were debating whether or not it was a "good"
> film. For my money, Hollywood has not produced its equal since its release
> (although another film with which Ben Affleck is associated, GONE, BABY
> GONE, is also a fine film in its own way). The link to what I said can be
> found here:
>
> http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/archives/200609/0260.html
>
> Here's the relevant portion (from the last part of my post):
>
> "And in the end, that's what really made this movie for me. I came away from
> it with the right combination of questions answered and unanswered, and I've
> been mulling it over in the two days since I went to see it, and have become
> even more convinced that in this age of hit-you-over-the-head entertainment,
> HOLLYWOODLAND is a skilled, ultimately satisfying, vehicle for the sort of
> cautionary tale about Southern California in general, and the entertaiment
> world (and the excesses of fame) in particular, that Chandler's THE LONG
> GOODBYE was when it was first published during the mid-fifties.'
>
> "And it doesn't have to hit you in the face with a chain to do it."
>
> I would welcome more movies like this, and based on his words above, so
> would Mario.
>
> If you haven't watched it, treat yourself. I'd think most of the Rare Birds
> here would enjoy it.
>
> All the Best-
>
> Brian
>
>
-- Karin Montin
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