Imperfect Ambitious Visionary

Rating: 10/10 (16 May 2012)

Out of all the movie's from one of my favorite directors strangely this turned out to be my favorite one but most importantly one of my favorite films in general. This is strange to me because normally I'm not really into biopics, but this is probably one of the only ones I really like because not just was the guy in my favorite field of expertize but his story was actually interesting.
The cinematography was excellent, I'm glad it was all done in black and white it really helped capture the time when Hollywood was still young and it's sub culture was on the rise. I even like the music score by Howard Shore which also fits with the movie.
But most importantly I like how the real life characters were portrayed and performed. Ed Wood is my favorite role from one of my favorite actors Johnny Depp. Johnny really captured his spirit at least before the time things for Ed went down south. But what I really like about Ed is that you are on his side from beginning to end because you can easily emphasize. The guy was an underdog he was really down on his luck and constantly struggling to make his dreams come true. Most of the people that try to bring him down or discourage him are all rational people, and you don't like them because their total blow holes; I remember always thinking "Cmon just let him do his own thing." And that was a good feeling, a feeling I don't get much for character real or unreal.
Yes, it true that Ed is a hack and a flaw person, from writing scripts that have some really bad dialog down to being delusional and eccentric, but he was actually honest about it you actually see him putting it out there, like in one scene he wears a dress while directing a scene for "Plan 9" as a way to feel good, in a way it sort of reminds me of the common idocricies we would do to help ourselves think or feel something like I've seen some girls in my collage classes that would draw or write some things on the sides before taking notes, not kidding.
And he saw let alone worked on his films and there were lots of mistakes from bad production quality, bad context, acting, and other things. But it never discouraged him, he had a vision and was relentlessly determined to keep on building it and after it was done in his eyes the final product was perfect even though reality said something else.
But of course it was also Martin Landau's performance as Bela Lagosi that also carried out the film, this is my favorite role from that actor because you really believe your seeing and hearing Bela. Seeing the twilight times of this actor I'll admit is really sad and made me wonder about a lot of others actors and actresses out there whom are now out of the limelight. You really felt for the guy from beginning to end, from his desire to continue acting which is one think I admired despite how old he is he could still do it let alone acting is what made sense to his life. Down to the time in the film he passed away which made me shed tears, I know this was something that happen long ago but they way they build it up gripped at emotions.
The real life supporting characters are great, my favorite one is Bunny Beckaridge by one of my favorite comedian actors Bill Murray, what he says at the Babtism always cracked me up.
I really like the humor in the film, it's true this film is a biopic drama but it's not oh so serious which I feel is a tone that fits perfectly and makes the characters feel more human. My favorite humorous moment is when Ed and the gang go to the movie premiere of "Bride of the Monster" and everyone is booing, throwing popcorn, it's crazy though the strangest thing about that scene is their doing this when the movie is just starting. I have only two conclusions about this, one this could of been a simple technical mistake or the theater is just reshowing the movie, though if that was the case why the heck would anyone stay).
I really love this film because it really is an inspiring movie because it really has a good lesson on simply fighting for your dream. Ed didn't do it for money or glory (theoretically anyway) which I never found good reasons to do filmmaking for; he did it really just to be and do what he wanted to do because it made sense for his life. That the same for all of us for whatever we do or desire.
Visions really are worth fighting for.
Rating: 4 stars