Truly Unique, Strangely Captivating,

Rating: 9/10 (1 March 2018)

Ed Wood is a terrific movie with a very well developed plot and a stellar cast. You will not find anything else like it, a very unconventional biography that tells a story of a man who never did anything exceptional. Ed Wood was a man who always wanted to make movies, but had absolutely no eye for it, here we get to see the making of some of his infamous classics, and while we will laugh at his work along the way, we also sympathise with this man who just wanted to create, who simply dreamed. It was a perfect vehicle for Burton and Depp, you can feel their manic creativity come to life as they tell this bizarre true life story in an energetic manner, there is no other duo that could have told it more brilliantly.
While I did love and was fascinated with the making of his movies, I would have appreciated a deeper insight in to Wood's personal life. It skips over a lot of important elements, bringing them up but never scoping them fully, particularly in his two love lifes, it would have been interesting to receive more information there.
The ensemble cast is absolutely tremendous and fit in to this weird world brilliantly. Johnny Depp is, of course, the highlight as Wood, he is absolutely mesmerising in the role, shining and completely believable as this person one could so easily have made a caricature out of. Depp is also joined by the likes of Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette and Bill Murray, who all manage to be truly convincing, despite the absurdness of their characters. Martin Landau also deserves huge credit, usually playing a straight man, he completely transforms himself as Bela Lugosi, doing something immensely different from what we came to expect from his as an actor. His physicality and transformation is so amazing, I did not even know it was him until I saw his name in the credits, a very well deserved Academy Award win.
Beautifully frantic, never boring. Terrific performances and an immersing story, I would certainly recommend Ed Wood to anyone looking for an interesting true story.

An ambitious film director struggles to make his visions a reality.

Best Performance: Johnny Depp