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Ed Wood
Ed Wood is a Tim Burton biopic about arguably the worst director of all time. Burton's off-beat style is suited for the subject matter, and the opening montage is a neat collection of tongue in cheek B-movie clichés and deliberately oafish special effects. IMDB claims just the first few minutes of opening credits cost more than any film Ed Wood ever made.
Burton managed to swing a fantastic cast for this production: Johnny Depp in the lead; Martin Landau as a washed up Bela Lugosi; Sarah Jessica Parker; Bill Murray; Vincent D'Onofrio in a lame Orson Welles appearance; Patricia Arquette. Depp's portrayal of Ed Wood is very similar to his Willy Wonka, and I would rate it as a good but not great performance (by Deppian standards). Martin Landau pretty much steals the show anyway.
The film definitely applies a positive spin to Ed Wood's career, which really betrays Burton's love of camp/crap. It is essentially a film that glorifies a horrible filmmaker, someone so devoid of talent that the only thing he is known for is a complete and total lack of any artistic ability. It makes for a decent film, but I didn't have any sympathy for the character.
The film is full of nods to Orson Welles, with lots of scenes intended to replicate scenes from Citizen Kane. The appearance of Orson Welles in the film was contrived and a bit lame; there was no need to beat us over the head with the comparisons and contrasts between Ed Wood and Welles. The use of music (Howard Shore scored it) plays an interesting role in how the individual acting performances come off both within the context of the film's world, and from an actual real life viewer's perspective. There are, in other words, some layered dualities inserted into the film that give it a bit of added texture.
Ed Wood is a Tim Burton biopic about arguably the worst director of all time. Burton's off-beat style is suited for the subject matter, and the opening montage is a neat collection of tongue in cheek B-movie clichés and deliberately oafish special effects. IMDB claims just the first few minutes of opening credits cost more than any film Ed Wood ever made.
Burton managed to swing a fantastic cast for this production: Johnny Depp in the lead; Martin Landau as a washed up Bela Lugosi; Sarah Jessica Parker; Bill Murray; Vincent D'Onofrio in a lame Orson Welles appearance; Patricia Arquette. Depp's portrayal of Ed Wood is very similar to his Willy Wonka, and I would rate it as a good but not great performance (by Deppian standards). Martin Landau pretty much steals the show anyway.
The film definitely applies a positive spin to Ed Wood's career, which really betrays Burton's love of camp/crap. It is essentially a film that glorifies a horrible filmmaker, someone so devoid of talent that the only thing he is known for is a complete and total lack of any artistic ability. It makes for a decent film, but I didn't have any sympathy for the character.
The film is full of nods to Orson Welles, with lots of scenes intended to replicate scenes from Citizen Kane. The appearance of Orson Welles in the film was contrived and a bit lame; there was no need to beat us over the head with the comparisons and contrasts between Ed Wood and Welles. The use of music (Howard Shore scored it) plays an interesting role in how the individual acting performances come off both within the context of the film's world, and from an actual real life viewer's perspective. There are, in other words, some layered dualities inserted into the film that give it a bit of added texture.
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![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
