Shouldn't have passed on it for so long

Rating: 8/10 (21 March 2011)

I finally finished the movie Ed Wood after it sat sadly in its Netflix sleeve for over a week on my dresser. I don't know what my hesitation was, but after three attempted viewing sessions I finally got to it. I think initially it was the fact that it was a movie made in 1994. I have been finding movies made in the 90's and especially early 90's to have a trait about them that I find very cheesy. It may be the score, the transitional shotsI'm not sure. A good example, although it is from one of my favorite movies, is when at the end of "A Few Good Men" a big cursive "The End" is written across the screenlame! Anyways, Ed Wood is also shot in Black and White which initially doesn't either delight my eye or excite me. This movie on the other hand, as a whole, did those things very quickly! I thought Johnny Depp's portrayal of Ed Wood was very engaging. I didn't know anything about Ed Wood but whether he was as unique as a character in life as Depps portrayal or not, his life certainly made for a great bio pic. Everything is bizarre and I believe that Ed Wood would love this movie. As I watched with my computer by my side, I would pause to learn a little about the real life movie makers. It's interesting that Ed Wood never really reached critical fame with any mainstream movies of success. I guess the way that he made movies didn't lend to that kind of stardom.
The question is then, why do we know about him? Why was this movie made? Why do we care? The answer is that he was so passionate, entertaining and peculiar once people did find out about him, that I'm sure they wanted to know more and more and talk about him and his story to everyone.
The other performance in the movie that can't go unmentioned is the Martin Landau's performance of Bela Lugosi. Lugosi is the actor of Count Dracula fame that according to this movie met Ed Wood in a random occurrence and acted as Wood's leading man in many films until his death. I found his performance in relation to his drug abuse most entertaining.
I definitely recommend this move to watch and learn about an old obscure filmmaker.
If you rent the DVD I would recommend watching the bonus features as well, there is a really cool little section about the Theremin instrument! It's the one that makes all of the cool horror sounds and is controlled or played by the movement of your hands! Medium Popcorn with Butter! Check out more reviews or add your own to my new website www.popcornmoviereview.com, or email me at alan-just@hotmail.com with any suggestions or comments.