A Film About a man Who Did Things His Way by a Man Who Did Things His Way

Rating: 9/10 (18 November 2015)

First things first: this might be short thanks to the computer problems that I'm having. For what it's worth, I will say that it is humbling to have your life dictated by some machine. We have freed ourselves from many of Mother Nature's restrictions, but in their place, we have built ourselves gods of steel and microchips. I wonder if that's an improvement.
Anyway, as a person with (hopefully) more talent than the real Ed Wood, I hereby present this review of this cult classic by Tim Burton. Burton is a strange director for me; while I like most of his films, I do not absolutely love any. Some of you might think this has something to do with my not liking his style, but in fact that is my favorite thing about him. I like Batman Returns over Batman for specifically that reason; they gave him freer rain in the former, and he used it to carve out his own unique style. The closest thing he has to a great film in my book, Edward Scissorhands, is also the most flush with his handiwork.
If you are like me, and you love his style, make sure to check out this one. Despite being an ostensibly 'real world' movie, no one else could have made this movie. Perhaps no one else could have even made an Ed Wood film, or at least a good one; Burton, for whatever he may lack in pure cinematic skill, he more than makes up for in his ability to portray the complexities of dark and twisted, but well-meaning men.
This film flopped at the box office, and predictably so; people are used to the creepy reveries of Burton, but this is a whole different sort of weird and bizarre: a realer, more disturbing sort. And from a pure financial sense, who on the planet wants to see the guy who made Beetlejuice and Batman direct a film about an infamously bad director? Seriously; no one, kid or adult, male or female, who is not a serious film-goer or Burtonite, would ever go see this on their free time. Thankfully, it spread over time and now has gotten the cult love it deserves, the cult love it was perhaps always destined for.
I am perhaps more intrigued by this film than I am a fan of it. I feel more down-the-rabbit-hole here than I ever did watching Burton's mediocre adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. Ed Wood seems like the sort of man who I would eavesdrop on while pretending to listen to music, so interesting is his weird life. Despite the face that his flaws are evident, you can't help but like him. Depp (not yet a frequent Burton collaborator) portrays him as a man with no talent but a lot of heart, who kept going towards his vision no matter what the system or the world or reality seemed to shove in his face. As a writer, I can't say that this didn't have an impact on me, this dedication towards your dreams for as long as you may live. He is by no means a figure to be looked up to, but he is a figure to be respected.
The intro, where you are introduced to the film by a B-movie monster, is campily spectacular and sets the tone for the film. Now, if only it had done more to live up to that tone in the first third, which is slow and a bit limp. The other two thirds are better, but the film does fade sometimes, specifically during the filming sections. Ed is more of an interesting person than he ever was as a lousy filmmaker. And there are parts that are a little mish-mashed: some of the sections have too much dialogue, others too little.
But through these flaws, it keeps you intrigued. I picture a younger version of myself turning the pages in a giant Gothic storybook, wanting to know what's next. The performances are stellar. Howard Shore's score is not LOTR-caliber, but it is sneakily ambient. And Burton, like Ed, made sure to do it his way.