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Shelf Beauties |
Hollywoodland It’s OK to admit it. I know you laughed a
little bit when you
heard Ben Affleck had a new movie coming out.
You probably rolled your eyes, might have gotten
scared or had Gigli
flashbacks that brought on post-traumatic stress disorder. However, Hollywoodland is
his comeback
vehicle, and one you’ll want to ride along with.
In a fictional story based
on real events, Adrian Brody stars as private investigator Louis Simo
– a
divorced Dad scraping by on questionable cases in the sleazy part of Did the beloved TV star
commit suicide? Who
would have the
motive and means to kill him? Director Allen Coulter has
delivered
a fantastic, mysterious story that excites your intellect, and wraps
you up
emotionally as you watch each possible scenario play out and try to
decide what
happened on that fateful night. Coulter
brings you the feel of old time I can’t believe I am
saying
this, but Affleck has revived his career with a brilliant performance
that
should be counted among the best of the year.
He will amaze you as he shows us Reeves’
deep regret and pain over
becoming a comic book hero, when he always wanted to be a leading man
like
Clark Gable or Cary Grant. You’ll
be
swept away in the look of sadness in his eyes as he realizes Superman
will
consume his career, gasp as he dies a little death every time he looks
at
himself in the mirror and lets out an exasperated and defeated breath,
feel
remorse as his shoulders slump out of sadness and pity the bravado he
uses to
cover up his embarrassment. He
is so
good, Affleck overshadows Lane is wonderful as the sexy
and desperate Toni Mannix – wife of powerful studio chief
Eddie Mannix (Bob
Hoskins), who is having an affair with Reeves.
We see life in her eyes as she fools around with the
younger actor, and
Lane knows just how to switch from being the happy girl in love to the
commanding, demanding and in charge woman who knows her lover is a kept
man who
should appreciate what he is getting.
Then, Brody runs the full gamut of emotions in each
part of his
character’s life – tender with his kid,
uncomfortable with his estranged ex-wife,
upset about his failing career, and obsessive in the way he has wrapped
himself
up in a mystery bigger than he could ever be.
He creates a character much tougher than you might
think he has in him,
and as complex as you know the actor can be. Another amazing aspect of Hollywoodland is the way real events and facts are dealt with. The movie has a great deal
of basis in
reality as the actual Helen Bessolo did hire a lawyer and investigator
to get
to the bottom of Reeves’ death and the mystery around what
happened that
evening at the house (questions kept alive for years by actor Jack
Larson, who
played Jimmy Olson on the TV show).
Toni
Mannix carried on a very public affair for almost a decade with Reeves,
and was
reportedly distraught and devastated when they broke up, so much so
that it has
been suggested that she or her husband had something to do with the
mysterious
death. Coulter also
goes so far to
include famous stories about the way some kids had trouble
distinguishing
between the fake Superman and the very real Reeves.
While it is a movie, you’ll learn a great
deal about someone and some time I wish they spent less time
on Simo’s personal struggles, but if every Oscar contender is
as good as Hollywoodland, it’s going to be a great fall at the Cineplex. 3
½ Waffles (Out Of 4)
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